Giveaways are something of value given in exchange for personal information from the visitors to your website or sales page. Internet marketers give out free videos or e-books to those that visit their website in return for the email address of the visitor. The purpose is to increase the sales provided by the marketer’s website. In other words, increasing the Return on Investment (ROI) of the marketer’s efforts.
Giveaways have always been an effective marketing strategy. But beginning about 2-3 years ago, most visitors value their privacy over the value of the free e-book or video. The visitors would rather open up another tab in their browser and search for the same information presented in the Giveaway instead of giving out their contact information to someone they do not know. They do not do this out of spite, but to avoid giving out their email to an unknown Internet Marketer.
One way to counter that tendency is by using your creativity to leverage the self-interest of the visitor. The reason behind most giveaway failures is because the Internet Marketer asks the visitor to do something the visitor is not comfortable doing – giving away personal information. Asking for an email address from your visitor is like asking for the phone number of a woman whom you just met in the local coffee shop. She does not know you, so why would you expect her to give you her personal contact information? First you need to establish her trust in you. For marketing purposes, you can accomplish this when the visitor first visits your website. You website should be professional. It must set a good image. It should not be overly emphasizing “selling products” but rather “giving information that fixes a problem” that the visitor has.
There are other ways to obtain the contact details of the visitor. You can ask him/her to like your article on Facebook or to place a tweet on Twitter in order to access premium content. Ask your customer, with a pop up window, to show that he/she can follow you on Twitter to receive great articles whenever they are posted, informing them they would never miss one this way. Always assure your visitors that you will guard their information and that you will never share their information with others.
There are plugins that make this process easy for you to do. Websites can now use push alerts to send text messages or emails to your customers through their browsers or cell phone (of course, with the permission of the user).
Create Social Media Giveaway Contests
Create a simple contest, which is easy for the visitor to do and to enter. For example, you can ask for the visitor to take a photo of their pet with a “theme” (i.e. Christmas if it is December) and to post this on your FB page, Twitter or blog using a certain hash tag (#) and to share it with their circle of friends with a request to do the same again. The person with the most shares by a certain date wins the contest and the prize! Make the steps to the contest simple but as specific as you can. Leave no doubt about what is required to enter and win the contest. Be sure to follow all the rules which the Social media site has regarding contests!
Now to get the traffic you are looking for, you will need to advertise your contest. Advertising attracts quality subscribers who will help your business grow. If you can make viral contests that are targeted to your specific niche, you will see an increase in your list size (which will increase traffic to your website – which will result in increased sales).
Your contests should be geared around increasing social engagement. You need to have well-defined goals and targets. If you want to grow your email list using the contest method, you should focus on that one method. If you want to get more shares to your posts, concentrate on that one method. Do not get distracted by trying to do too much. Be single-minded… be FOCUSED!
You need to use your creative inspiration to come up with an exciting prize that is that expensive to you – but yet is valuable in the eyes of the visitor. Remember, the visitor has a problem or they would not be searching for a solution! A person who is a millionaire several times over is not going to be enticed by a free e-book dealing with “How to Make Money Online.”
Find your target audience. Gear your Giveaway towards that target. Be specific. Create an Avatar of the ideal person you are trying to help! Focus all of your marketing efforts on that Avatar! Do not try to be “all things to all people” thinking that is a better marketing plan. If you “give your all to all you give then you have nothing left to give.”
I love Giveaways! I especially love the Giveaway in contest form! You will receive more traffic, which translates into more sales, if you know who your target market and Avatar is!
The challenge of having visitors to your website give you their email address is not overwhelming if you are FOCUSED on providing value to your Avatar. In today’s marketing climate, you must GIVE VALUE while providing an answer to the visitor’s problem. Otherwise, they will probably just skip over your Giveaway gift and move on to another marketer who is giving away something the visitor deems as having more value.
Giving away value > Results in increased list size > Results in increased traffic > Increased ROI for your business.
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