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Online giveaways and social media contests are more than just fun, they’re powerful tools for growing your brand, increasing engagement, generating leads, and driving sales.
Whether you’re a small business owner or a marketer, choosing the right online giveaway tool is crucial to running a successful giveaway campaign. With so many options out there, it can be tough to know where to start.
In this article, we’ve rounded up the six best online giveaway and social media contest tools to help you find the perfect match for your needs.
Let’s jump in!
Why run an online giveaway?
Before we discuss the best tools, why should you run online contests and giveaways?
Running social media contests can be a powerful strategy for growing your brand.
Some of the benefits of running online giveaways include:
- Growth in social media followers: By offering entries and points to your giveaway in exchange for a follow or likes, you can boost your social media following.
- Increase in your website traffic: You can attract more visitors to your website by promoting your giveaway on different platforms.
- Rapid growth with your email subscribers: Asking users to sign-up for your email list for giveaway entries is a great way to increase your email subscribers.
- More quality leads and more sales: You can use giveaways to increase brand awareness and generate leads, then convert them into paying customers to increase sales.
Now that you have a better understanding of the benefits of online giveaways, let’s take a closer look at some of the different online giveaway contests so that you can make the best choice for your business!
Types of online contests and giveaways
Online giveaways and social media contests can take many forms.
The types of contests you choose to run should line up with the business goal you’ve set up. If your main goal is to increase your email subscribers, setting up a contest that encourages sharing is a powerful way to do that.
For example, Albert’s, a diamond jeweler, ran a photo contest where all participants had to do was enter their contact information and share the contest on social media.
The user with the most entries received one of their pendants. They held this contest right before Valentine’s Day as a way to ramp up awareness and sales for their TwoGether Diamond Pendant. That’s an excellent way to take advantage of a big holiday and grow an email list.
Let’s say that you’re trying to increase organic engagement on social media. You could run a campaign that shows off your business’ funny side and ask users to join in the fun. Take this excellent campaign by Kettle Brand Chips, for example:
To celebrate National Chip Day (yes, it’s a thing), Kettle Brand set up a contest where they invited contestants to share their best potato chip puns. The five jokes with the most likes won a case of Kettle Brand chips. This online giveaway contest was a success because it was relevant, encouraged creativity, and generated substantial organic engagement for the brand.
Here are some other online giveaway contest ideas to get you thinking:
1. Personality based quizzes
Buzzfeed is the undisputed champion of viral quizzes. You can take a page from their handbook and incorporate a quiz with quirky questions into a social media contest where contestants receive a discount for an item after completing and sharing the quiz.
2. Seasonal countdown sweepstakes
This is an excellent way to leverage holidays to boost engagement, attract new leads, and increase sales. The contest’s seasonality adds a sense of urgency while still capturing the fun of the holiday season.
3. Hashtag contests
Hashtag contests are another way of driving awareness and increasing engagement to celebrate the launch of a new product or a special sale.
When GoPro launched their new HERO 7 Black Camera, they encouraged their audience to use the hashtag #GoProHERO7 to be entered into their awesome million dollar sweepstakes. The result? Powerful videos and the grand prize of million dollars split amongst the best video entries.
4. Win a gift contest
A “Win a gift” contest is a simple yet powerful way to engage your audience and grow your email list. The concept is straightforward: participants enter for a chance to win a specific prize (e.g., a gift card or a free product).
6 best online giveaway tools in 2024
Now that we’ve covered why online giveaways are so effective, let’s dive into the tools that can help you create and manage these contests.
Here are six of the best online giveaway and social media contest platforms that provide tools for creating and managing contests, making it easier to engage your audience, grow your brand, and achieve your marketing goals.
1. RafflePress
RafflePress is a WordPress plugin that stands out as one of the top giveaway platforms. Even with its free version, you get a host of features designed to simplify running online giveaways.
Key features:
- Offers stunning free giveaway templates
- SEO-optimized giveaway widget
- 100 percent responsive so that your contests look great on any device
- Easily integrates with various social media platforms
- Fraud protection feature to remove fraud entries
- Pro Version pricing starts at $34/month (billed yearly)
2. ShortStack
ShortStack is a versatile social media contest app that is a favorite for marketers because there’s no coding involved and it allows you to create an internet giveaway in minutes!
Key features:
- Drag and drop builder including 20+ widgets like form, poll, newsletter, social media, gallery, and voting
- Easily customize colors, fonts, boxes, size, text, and every other element in your campaign
- Email notifications let you contact your campaign participants as soon as they enter a competition, after a number of days, or at a scheduled date and time
- Leads are stored in a searchable, exportable database
3. KingSumo
KingSumo is one of the many social media contest apps available for creating and managing giveaways. Built by the team behind AppSumo, you can expect a detailed, data-driven platform that gives you all you need to succeed with your contest.
For more robust features, you can upgrade to the paid plan (starts at $19/month).
Key features:
- Custom branding
- Integration with Zapier
- Facebook pixel tracking
- Unlimited giveaways
4. Easypromos
Easypromos houses an exhaustive range of contest types separated by the following categories: direct giveaways, entry forms, contests, video contests, and games. If you’re someone who wants more intricate online giveaways, Easypromos is the tool for you!
Key features:
- Responsive designs and widgets
- Analysis contest data with detailed reports to calculate the ROI of your campaigns
- Control and minimize fraudulent entries
- Supports 30+ languages for multilingual promotions
- Ability to create giveaways with influencers, brands, and sponsors
5. Woobox
Woobox is a 100 percent free and simple WordPress plugin ideal for creating and managing Facebook contests and online giveaways. Its drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create sweepstakes and contests in just a few moments.
Key features:
- Simple integration with 500+ tools like Mailchimp, AWeber, and Zapier
- Easily collect likes, comments, and hashtags on social media
- You can use embed codes to place a contest anywhere on the website
- Dedicated landing page for your giveaway
6. SweepWidget
SweepWidget is a powerful giveaway platform that offers more features than any other tool at an unbeatable price. Whatever type of contest you want run, SweepWidget will be able to handle it. They even offer quite a bit on their free plan.
Here are some of the best features:
- Easy-to-use drag and drop builder
- Fully custom design and CSS
- 90+ entry methods on 30+ social media platforms
- 20+ CRM integrations
- 103 language translations
- Viral giveaways, leaderboard competitions, and instant rewards
- Out of the box sophisticated fraud prevention tools
FAQ
Which platform is best for giveaways?
The best platform for giveaways depends on your needs. RafflePress is ideal for WordPress users looking for ease of use and strong social media integration. ShortStack offers advanced customization with no coding required, while SweepWidget provides extensive features and entry methods. Each platform has its strengths, so choose the one that best aligns with your campaign goals.
How to do a free online giveaway?
To run a free online giveaway, use a platform like RafflePress, KingSumo, or SweepWidget, which offer free plans. Start by selecting your prize, creating a compelling giveaway page, and promoting it through your social media channels. Set clear rules and entry requirements, then monitor participation through the platform’s dashboard.
How to pick a random winner for a giveaway?
Most giveaway platforms, such as RafflePress and ShortStack, have built-in tools that allow you to randomly select a winner from the list of participants. These tools ensure a fair selection process by automatically generating a winner based on the entries received. Simply click the “Select Winner” button within the platform to pick your winner.
Wrapping up
Running social media contests and online giveaways is a powerful tool for growing your audience, boosting engagement, and driving conversions.
With the right platform, you can easily create, manage, and promote your viral giveaways. From RafflePress’s user-friendly WordPress integration to ShortStack’s advanced customization and the feature-rich SweepWidget, each giveaway tool offers unique benefits to fit your specific needs.
By choosing the best social media contest and giveaway tool for your business, you can maximize the impact of your giveaways and achieve your marketing goals.
Ready to get started with an online giveaway? Try these win-a-gift popups:
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Written by
Nikolett Lorincz
Nikolett is the Head of Content at OptiMonk. She is obsessed with content marketing and loves creating educational content for ecommerce store owners. She truly believes in the importance of quality over quantity.
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Product updates: September Release 2024
