Gain momentum and exposure for your products this year with Amazon Giveaways. Everyone loves free stuff, right? One of the best ways to gain traffic and attract attention to your brand is by hosting a giveaway. There are several services you can use online to organize your giveaway, but Amazon Giveaways are by far the best way to go. Check out this ultimate guide to hosting Amazon Giveaways.
What is an Amazon Giveaway?
First things first: what is an Amazon Giveaway exactly and who can host them? Quite simply, anyone with an Amazon account in good standing and a valid credit card can host a giveaway. There are no additional costs other than the price of the item, shipping, and sales tax. You just choose the product you’d like to offer, follow the steps listed below to set up the contest, and then promote it via your social media, email, your website, etc.
Amazon Giveaways are appealing to many business owners and brands because of how easy they are to run. You don’t have to worry about the logistics of buying and shipping the product, nor do you have to choose the winner. Once you set up your giveaway, Amazon takes care of the rest.
Why Should You Host a Giveaway?
Giveaways are a great way to generate excitement, broaden your customer base, and foster brand loyalty. Customers love giveaways, and when marketed well, giveaways can be a fun way to engage your audience. Giveaways can also be an excellent way to introduce a new product to the market and to create hype around it. Check out Shopify’s tips on how to plan a successful giveaway. You’ll want to have a defined goal and a marketing plan in place, but then Amazon will take care of the rest.
To help focus your campaign, think about what it is you want to gain. Is your goal to gain more followers on social media, sell more product, or increase your rate of email opens? Are you working on fostering a more engaged and responsive client base? Once you have a clear goal in mind, you’ll be well on your way to running a successful giveaway.
Advantages of Amazon Giveaways
Amazon Giveaways are extremely easy to set up and run. Amazon stands out from other online giveaway resources by supporting each of these steps:
- securing your prizes,
- enforcing entry requirements such as watching a video or following you on Twitter,
- hosting your giveaway,
- determining winners instantly,
- delivering prizes to winners,
- handling certain income tax reporting responsibilities.
In addition, your giveaway will have the brand credibility that comes with Amazon, making customers more likely to enter. You never have to handle the product yourself, and Amazon takes care of all the logistics for you.
Learn more by scanning these Amazon FAQs.
Steps to Host an Amazon Giveaway
- Find an eligible item you want to offer. Items should be available via FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), not merchant fulfilled.
- In Seller Central, choose the “set up giveaway” button.
- Choose the number of items you want to offer. You can offer anywhere from 1 to 30 items.
- Select the giveaway type. Options include sweepstakes, random instant win, lucky number instant win, or first-come, first-served:
- Sweepstakes – a winner is randomly awarded at the end of the giveaway period.
- Random instant win – each participant has a 1 in 1000 chance of winning by clicking on the giveaway at the right time.
- Lucky number instant win – you choose a number based on the parameters of your giveaway. For example, you may decide that every 1000th entrant is a winner.
- First-come, first-served – this option rewards the first participants. This is the least optimal choice since it ends after just a few people have entered.
- Set up the action you want participants to take in order to enter the giveaway: do they need to watch a video, answer a poll, or follow you on social media? Each of these options are described in detail below.
- YouTube video – requiring participants to watch a video on your YouTube channel can be a great way to gain subscribers and views. A logical choice for this would be to direct people to your product review video.
- Answer a poll – ask participants to answer a key demographic question or product preference question in order to gather data about your target market.
- Follow on social media – you can ask people to tweet or share a link to your giveaway, follow you on your platform of choice, or follow your Amazon page. Amazon will ask you to provide the text to be shared, so be sure to optimize with hashtags if you choose a share option.
- Choose the duration of the giveaway. 3-5 days tends to be the sweet spot. Too few days, and your giveaway may close before reaching enough people; too many, and you may lose an engaged audience.
- Enter giveaway details. Include a welcoming title, engaging copy, and an image of your product. You will also need to provide the text for the welcome, thank you, and win messages. The post-entry message is a great place to offer participants a valuable coupon code for your products.
Settings to double check: Be sure you allow the giveaway to be shared and discoverable on Amazon.
Once Amazon has received your payment for the product, including estimated sales tax and shipping, you’ll receive a message that your giveaway is live!
Market Your Giveaway
Now the fun begins! Build anticipation for your giveaway about 48 hours before the start. Use email marketing, social media, brand influencers, and more to get your giveaway in front of as many potential customers as possible. When all is said and done, be sure to advertise the winners! Let people know you’re legit and ramp up excitement for your next big contest.
Learn more about how to grow your brand with Amazon on our Amazon Promotions page. For help developing and executing a successful plan, talk to our team today. We’d love to book a quick chat with you to help you realize your goals. Contact us today for more information.