giveaway: read this letter

Dear You,

I have watched people reward people for not using their business. Let me explain. I once watched a food business post on social media that they were giving 1 million naira to people to post a picture of themselves, and the post with the highest likes wins, as long as they tag them in the photo, and the "likers" must follow the handle. I also recently saw one that gave people cash and recharge cards as rewards.

While these might sound like brilliant ideas, these are the holes:

1. You're attracting people who don't care about you or your business, they only care about the rewards, and that is really sad because they will hardly ever be loyal. If 1000 people come as a result, they will most likely behave like spam because they are not interested. They don't care about your offers. So technically, you just clogged your lead-generation funnel with uninterested people who want your reward.

2. You might think that they would eventually care, but they won't. They are uninterested, so they are less likely to listen. Suppose you go viral for dancing with food on your head. If you change your mind and become a suit-wearing math teacher, chances are, you may experience a high drop-off rate because the people here didn't come to see you teach. They came to watch you dance, and only a very infinitesimal amount of them would stay to watch you teach. They are less likely to be interested. They will unfollow you and say mean things, probably. If you gradually evolve and tie the two characters together or explain the evolution, maybe. But it is less likely.

3. They will get used to the freebies and only engage when you have them, but not when it's time to sell or organically talk about your products. This will also impact the quality of the people they bring. Ps: there are professional giveaway mongers out there. They have a WhatsApp group. They know themselves and even have strategies for winning. Winning matters more to them than anything else.

So how can you avoid these holes? Is all hope lost?

Here's the good news! All hope is not lost! There's a way. One of the best and probably only ways to do this right is to tie your freebie or giveaway to your product or service.

That way, you'll only attract people genuinely interested in your product. You can reward them for buying or encourage them to buy. If you are a spa, your giveaway should be a discount off the massage or an actual massage, so you only attract people who need or value a massage to participate in your giveaway. If you sell clothes, your giveaway should be the clothes you sell. If you are a service, your giveaway should be a consultation or access to that service. If you are a travel company, your freebies should tie back to travel, e.g. percentage off visa processing fees, one night off the hotel bill on a trip [first five people will get it], and an all-expense paid trip. If you run a food business, people should win the experience of eating your food. Hilda Baci gave people the experience of tasting her food for free while she competed for the Guinness book of records. Guess what? They organically talked about their experience and attracted her customers. If you have a reward system where people are accumulating points, the points should add up to things they can spend in-app or in-business. The best part is you get to up-sell to them, and they may be more willing to pay to enjoy added benefits to their perks. Else, they were never your target audience. Remember, your customer is someone who needs what you are offering and is willing and able to pay for your service. Extract testimonials, pictures, and more from your giveaway winners, but this can only work if they try the product or service.

Gaming apps get this right. E.g. Duolingo. If you use Duolingo, you'll notice that you earn some serious gems for your hard work. When they do giveaways, they offer you gems as well. You spend these gems in-app, and it keeps you engaged. Candy Crush does the same as well.

If you want to attract engaged customers for your business, don't chase after "everyone". Chase after "the people who care". Chase after "the people who look like your target market". Chase quality, not quantity.

Also, be clear on:

• your goal

• your offering

• who it's for/who can participate

• the actions [tie the actions to your goals]

• the timelines

• and always add "terms and conditions apply" [be clear on the terms too]

Consider these words of advice my giveaway to you. So be kind enough to tag a social media manager, marketing person, or business owner who might benefit from this "giveaway" advice. The person who tells the most people about this article creatively in the comment section will get 15 minutes to discuss [any questions about their freebie, giveaway, reward, content, brand, or community strategy] with me. I'll pick one person within 12 hours. Terms and conditions apply [I have the final say on who impresses me the most 😂🤍].

Let's go!!!! 

With Love,

Blessing Abeng