Why Use Giveaways and Contests?
- Branding – get exposure for your book and/or your other services.
- Exposure – giveaways and contests can go viral giving you massive exposure.
- Reviews – ask the winners to submit a review for your book.
- Book Launch – a giveaway or contest is a great way to promote a new book.
- Sell More Books – after the giveaway or contest is over, remind those that connected with you where they can buy your book if they did not win a free copy.
And finally….
Everyone Loves FREE Stuff!
Basics for Conducting a Giveaway or Contest:
1. Decide on what you will give away. Make it something related to your target audience and what they would like.
Here are a few ideas for prizes:
- Autographed copies of your book – let them know it will be an autographed copy as readers love this.
- Digital copies of your book (PDF, via Smashwords 100% off coupon, gift a Kindle copy)
- Gift certificates
- Electronic (i.e. Kindle, iPad, etc.)
- Donations from other companies
2. Set up your giveaway/contest page.
- Use compelling text
- Create engaging photos/video
3. Promote your event.
- Email your list
- Direct mail to offline customers who have signed up via other avenues
- Online social networking – particularly:
- Google +
- Specialty forums
- Your blog
- Press releases
- Community events listings in local:
- Radio
- Newspapers
- TV
- Local radio interviews
4. Announce the winners and follow up.
How to Run a Rafflecopter Giveaway:
Rafflecopter.com is a FREE resource you can use to conduct your giveaway. You can use the Rafflecopter widget anywhere HTML is accepted. Simply copy and paste the HTML of the widget onto your webpage, blog, etc. You can also use Rafflecopter’s Facebook app to run your giveaway on your Facebook page.
Sample Terms and Conditions You Can Modify and Use:
Giveaway ends February 1, 2014 at 11:59 PM EST. Print copies open to Residents of the US only. Digital copies will be distributed via Smashwords.com where the preferred format can be chosen. Winners will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter.com and be notified by email. Each winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. If chosen for a print copy, Shelley Hitz will send the prize to each winner directly. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. Facebook and Twitter are in no way associated with this giveaway. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to Shelley Hitz alone. She will not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner. If you have any additional questions – feel free to send us an email!
Make sure to choose your winner in a timely fashion and be creative in how you announce the winners. Here’s how to pick a winner via Rafflecopter.
What the Rafflecopter widget looks like at different phases of your giveaway:
Image from: http://blog.rafflecopter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/differentwidgets.png
Rafflecopter Video Tutorial
Have you used giveaways?
Share your experience in the comments below!
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