Advantages of running a contest or giveaway on social media

Growth of your community
The first and foremost advantage of giveaways is mostly to enlarge your network. If for
example, one company has 1000 followers with 500 likes on any post, a contest can
undoubtedly prove a way to increase that number. If the giveaway or contest is done
correctly, it can be a great means to build a social media following for the company as well as
for influencers. For example, if a particular social media page is doing a giveaway, by telling
the existing followers to tag their family and friends to get more chance to win the gift, these
people also may subscribe or follow the page if they like the content. Thus enlarging the
network of the company.
Content to engage the audience
Through any giveaways, people can comment, like, share, tag or tweet on the content to try
and win the contest. This is called customer engagement. If the company or the influencer is
active online, but the latter do not post anything to engage the audience, the audience will not
be engaged. Thus by not finding anything interesting, the follower may unfollow the
company. But if the company tries to organise giveaway now and then this will keep the
audience engage thus not unfollowing from the page of the company and in a way the
company can gain more followers. At the same time, the company can promote its products.
It is basically measured by interaction on a particular social media platform.
Build awareness
Another advantage of social media giveaway is that it helps to bring awareness about a new
product of a company or at a larger scale it brings to awareness the company in itself to the
audience. For example, if it is a newly build company with a little number of customers, a
giveaway on any social media platform can be a great idea to promote the new company thus
gaining new followers and customers. For the giveaway to be more successful, the company
can work with an influencer who matches the target audience. This will help the new
company to make a place for itself and get more customers.
Increase in the number of sales
Apart from gaining more followers or subscribers and bringing awareness of the company in
itself, giveaways or contest help to increase the sales of the products of the company.
Giveaways will lead to a valuable customer for the future. As they are getting the product for
free the customers will try the products. If they like it, they will revert to the company to buy
the products this time and may even promote the products to family and friends thus the
company will get even more sales.
Pampering your community
One last advantage of giveaways is to pamper the community of the company. The people,
the followers, or customers are the primordial reasons why the company is in the buzz.

Without these very people, the company will be nothing so by organising giveaways, this will
show how much these people are a must for the company to function thus by making them
feeling pampered they will be loyal to the company and keep taking the services of the
company.
In conclusion, even if giveaways and contests can be a great way to connect to customers or
followers, these very giveaways may have some cons too. For example, one of them is short-
term followers. This happens when people start following the company or the influencer only
at the time of the contest to be able to get the gifts but once it is done, they unfollow the
company. So giveaways are important for the marketing of the services and products of the
company but it should be done in such a way that even after the giveaway is done, people are
still loyal to the company in terms of following, liking, commenting on the company’s post.