Facebook has over 2.6 billion monthly active users. Facebook’s user-base is so large, it’s generated a reputation for being one of the premier platforms through which to spread brand awareness and generate new customers. For marketers looking to trade the incentive of free products for Facebook page likes and engagement, the Facebook giveaway has become a popular strategy.

While an increasing number of companies are using Facebook giveaway campaigns to generate followers or drive brand awareness, it’s worth asking: Is it really worth your time, money, and effort to run a Facebook giveaway? What will the return on investment be? Are there strategies out there that might get me more bang for my buck?  

Let’s talk a little bit about why Facebook giveaways may not be the best option for marketers looking to drive sales. Then, we’ll talk about how results-oriented, giveaway-centric alternatives can give you far more action where you want it most: on your bottom line. 

Do Facebook giveaways actually work?

Marketers typically think of running a social media contest when they have to generate leads or boost sales. The expectation is that, by giving away one or more of your products for free, you can generate a boatload of followers, emails, engagement: whatever your goal is. 

Unfortunately, on facebook specifically, it doesn’t often work out that way. Here are some of the problems inherent with Facebook giveaways

Platform dependency 

Marketers need to adhere to Facebook's promotion guidelines before running a Facebook giveaway. Facebook’s guidelines present a number of obstacles for marketers that define the way they can and cannot run their giveaway, including what you can ask for, what you can’t ask for, and what your responsibilities as the brand are. For instance: here are a few of the things you can’t ask people to do as part of your Facebook giveaway: 

• Share one of your posts. 
• Post on a friend’s timeline.
• Tag people in your posts. 

Besides the obvious challenges this presents for a brand, you also have greatly reduced organic reach on Facebook now that the platform core financial focus is to monetize advertisers like you. Why would facebook give you the organic reach for free when they know you’ll pay to reach those very same prospects?

Lack of audience ownership

Boosting engagement on one’s social posts and Facebook Business page is one of the most popular goals of a Facebook giveaway. The problem? To remarket to these folks after the fact, marketers need to pay a premium in advertising dollars. 

Not owning your audience makes marketers beholden to Facebook’s algorithm, its conversion tracking, and its targeting. Even if you are collecting emails, there’s a problem inherent with doing so in a Facebook giveaway:  

Lack of audience intent

Running an email campaign to a list gathered from a Facebook giveaway is a surefire way to earn high unsubscribe rates and low open rates. Why? 

Contestants who come in from Facebook lead ads will have had their information auto-filed. The barrier to entry is extremely low. Because there’s no guarantee you’re targeting people who are interested in similar brands, there is a strong chance you end up with a huge list of prospects who are only marginally (at best) interested in your product. 

Why co-branded sweepstakes dominate Facebook giveaways

What exactly is a co-branded sweepstakes? Why is it a more effective strategy than a Facebook giveaway? 

Social Media platforms like Facebook and Instagram control every interaction a business has with their followers while on their platforms. It’s almost impossible to reach new customers on these platforms without paying to reach the same person over and over again. 

The co-branded sweepstakes allows business to partner with similar, like-minded brands who target similar consumers. During the sweepstakes period, brands then collect emails that they know have an interest in either their own brand or their partners’ brands. 

With the right offers, messaging, and partnership, the co-branded sweepstakes is a surefire way to grow your email marketing list, leverage the clout of powerful brands, and market to new customers through high-converting channels like email and SMS marketing. 

Here are some of the benefits of a co-sponsored giveaway that is not reliant on a social media platform:

Audience ownership  

Audience ownership is of great value, especially when it comes to driving brand loyalty.

Co-branded sweepstakes give brands audiences they actually own, meaning the costs to re-market to these consumers is next to nothing when compared to facebook and instagram. These are prospects that have opted into marketing materials and have proven they have an affinity for brands like yours. During and after the contest period, brands can then engage these prospects through personalized email marketing that generates sales in volume. The average expected ROI from an email marketing campaign is $42 for every $1 you spend. 

Extended reach

When you partner up with a business to form a brand partnership, you get an opportunity to gain the interest of your partner’s audience. Branded partnerships, therefore, inherently extend your reach and give you exposure to new markets.

Here are some of the benefits of co-branded campaigns: 

• Growing your email list
• Rewarding contestants with additional entries 
• Leveraging SMS for high-converting text campaign
• Gaining access to net-new prospects with commercial intent

Co-branded giveaways made easy with FindKeep.Love

FindKeep.Love’s co-branded giveaway is a full-service giveaway that does all the work for you. We not only help your brand reach a wider audience by partnering you with quality brands like yours (we work over 7k+ consumer brands); we make every aspect of the giveaway process smooth and painless. 

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell: 

Step 1: Get partnered

We use our abundance of best-in-class consumer brands to partner you with like-minded co-sponsors. Similar to leveraging a PR agency for top news placement, you get access to our large portfolio of consumer brands. 

Step 2: Legal & compliance 

We provide turnkey legal set-up to make it easier for all brands to partner in a cohesive way. We also handle all technical implications, and make sure brands can launch their giveaways easily and quickly.

Step 3:  Live giveaway mediation

Once live, we closely mediate the giveaway to make sure all brands contribute as equally as possible. 

Step 4: Traffic & sales 

On the user-side, giveaway entrants are taken through an immersive flow in which they have the opportunity to genuinely learn about your brand. 

This includes watching a commercial, taking a quiz, and ultimately opting-in via email and SMS. Then users are taken through a welcome flow that re-introduces them to your brand and drives traffic to your site.

Step 5: Conversion rate optimization

All brands receive comprehensive coaching to make sure their marketers understand the most optimized strategies to convert prospects to new paying customers.

To Facebook giveaway or not to Facebook giveaway?

Running a Facebook giveaway can help brands drive engagement and spread awareness, but marketers are beholden to the Facebook platform, where costs to re-engage a consumer are high and return is often limited. 

Co-sponsored giveaways, on the other hand, deliver immediate sales opportunities by connecting brands to new audiences with commercial intent. They also deliver the long-term value of giving brands the opportunity to market to prospects again and again with owned audiences.