It all started when I saw a pin on Pinterest to win a new digital camera, as well as money and a ton of other prizes as part of a huge giveaway that was being held by a blogger I followed, like this one:
Soon, the more mommy bloggers and just regular bloggers that I happened to follow on BlogLovin’, the more chances I came across amazing giveaways that were being hosted by multiple bloggers at once. I realized that they were crowdsourcing and working together in order to come up with the money to host an amazing giveaway.
This tactic had allowed many of the bloggers I come to admire to rack up thousands of Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even Google+ followers. This is something so ingenious that even though I have over six years’ experience in the marketing industry, I would’ve never thought of before.
Even though I still don’t have all of the rules down, as I’ve never participated really as a blogger to sponsor these types of contests, here’s how it works:
1) Get group of bloggers together and decide on prizes and how much each person needs to put in to the pot in order to purchase them.
2) Have someone in the group for an external resource create a fun and bright graphic that promotes the giveaway, which makes it almost irresistible to share on social media, especially Pinterest.
3)Have each blogger that is participating in the giveaway publish a post (usually on the same day or within the same week) that shares the graphic and includes some information about the giveaway as text, so it is picked up by search engines. Below the instructions, include a contest entry widget like one from Rafflecopter, Giveaway Tools, or the social media interface itself: 
4) Sit back and wait for the new followers and likes roll in, as you continue building your social media and blogging empire.
What we can learn from mommy bloggers?
This ingenious tactic is something that marketers can definitely learn from. These bloggers’ creativity to create such a well-oiled machine that everybody benefits from its something that a true marketer rarely ever does. Besides utilizing giveaways as a way to reward readers for being loyal readers and followers on social media, it also is a great way to increase your social media presence, as well as increase your blog’s traffic, as referrers from the image that was created in step two which has been shared on Pinterest and other social media sites click through to enter the contest as well.
Here are some key takeaways of things I personally learned from this strategy (while also hoping to win a DSLR are or tandem bike of my very own):
- Follow through on what you’re promising. If contest participants are trusting you enough to follow you on their own social media accounts, have the social media accounts that back it up. Be interesting and engaging and continuously share great content so they’ll be glad that they had to like you on Facebook or follow you on Pinterest in order for a chance to win.
- Bigger is Better. Go big or go home when it comes to prizes. Besides DSLRs, last year, I saw a Valentine’s Day crowdsourced blogger giveaway that included a one night hotel stay, dinner out, and even flowers, so the winner could have their ultimate Valentine’s Day date a giveaway for this type of prize packages so unbelievable, people may be a lot more likely to enter then another giveaway for a $10 or $15 Amazon gift card, which are becoming more and more commonplace.
- Crowdsourcing Solves Problems. Very few bloggers can afford to give away at the DSLR camera or a $250 gift card. But by creatively crowdsourcing to come up with the adequate funds, these bloggers found a way to grow their presence without spending a ton of money on advertising or the prizes. While not all companies can afford to give away these levels of prizes, consider getting sponsors or other websites that are willing to barter giveaways with you. For instance, ModCloth could trade a $500 gift card with Tarte. Both have similar audiences and this may be a more economical solution than having to purchase a product to giveaway.
- Make it something your readers want. In the Valentine’s Day date package example, many of the bloggers participating in the giveaway most likely had a readership that was majority female who were married or in a long-term relationship. This demographic would be a lot more interested in a romantic Valentine’s Day package then something that they might not be are able to do, such as a rock climbing expedition to the Himalayas, which would take a level of athleticism and freedom to travel, which not all people have.
First image via Pinterest
Second image is a screenshot of The Girl Who Ate Everything
Third image is a screenshot of Tater Tots and Jello
Kelsey Jones
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What a freaking fantastic idea!
IKR? I’m trying a version out on my other blog…I’ve gotten almost 200 new instagram followers in a week and twitter is this week. I think I’m going to keep trying them!