Essentially, the surest ways to gain followers on social media is through running contests and sweepstakes. If you don’t know what that means; well! Here are clear definitions of both. A contest is basically a campaign in which the contestants’ skills, efforts, or merits are required in order to win a prize that a company has placed in order to promote itself. This means that the element of chance is absolutely out of question here; and the winner is only determined by voting or using other judging measures.
A good example is whereby a company asks the contestants to upload a particular photo or video in order to be eligible to win the prize. A sweepstakes, on the other hand, is the contrast to a contest. It is a campaign in which prizes are won by chance. Therefore, the contestants don’t need to purchase, make any payments, or comply with certain requirements as the winner is randomly picked. As well, any considerations are out of question in a sweepstakes, i.e. the contestants don’t have to add any value in terms of money or non monetary ways to the sponsor in order to win.
Apparently, these two ways may sound very easy to execute in order to earn your company a good reputation; don’t they? But the truth of the matter is that they are not just “a pie” that you can implement instantaneously. Besides the strict and complex rules that you must comply with, you also need to be smart not to land your company in trouble and in many cases; you may require some legal assistance.
The good news is that there are some few tips, shared by Issa Asad, Florida-based entrepreneur, on how you can successfully run social media giveaways. Mr. Asad is the CEO of three companies located across South Florida, including Q Link Wireless, Quadrant Holdings, and Bond Media. Now, here’s some advice for running social media giveaways.
Limit the Number of Contestants
The first and certainly one of the essential tips is limiting the number of contestants who are entitled to register for your contests or sweepstakes. You may use any means of limitations, but the most common ones are by country or age. The reason why you need to limit your giveaways is so that you can deal with just a few numbers of qualified people besides having lesser rules to comply with. Without a doubt, the biggest mistake you can ever make is to entirely involve everyone who has access to your information on the giveaways. In real sense, this might even have bad implications on your company.
Limit the Value of the Prize
The next crucial aspect is to never give away huge cash prizes or incentives. Basically, every cash prize over a certain limit must be bonded with the state in order to ensure it is lawful give away as well as comply with tax requirements. In most cases, if the cash is too high or the reward is very prestigious, then you must send out a 1099 in order to cater for tax. As well the winner may be required to pay some tax on the prize. It is advisable to consult tax experts for further advice.
Be Transparent
Finally, avoid casting of votes to determine the winner; in actual fact, you should only use voting when determining your top ten entrants. Instead, you should always adopt random judging style to select the overall winner. This is not only the best and most genuine way; it also plays a greater role in eliminating voting frauds. As a precaution, you should be aware of organizations or voting groups that are always there to alter the voting results.
With the above tips in mind, you will definitely be ready for your next big step.
