tactics for promoting your giveaways on Facebook

Putting your giveaways on Facebook is always a great idea. But how can you be sure they get some traction? Here are our top three, easy-to-implement tips.

1. Pin Your Giveaway to the Top

Sure, you’re posting your giveaways on Facebook, but it’s very likely you’re posting plenty of other things, too. And with each new post, your giveaway post gets pushed further and further down.

Luckily, the solution is pretty simple: When you create the post about your giveaway, just click the button in the top right corner of your post and select “Pin to top of page.” That way, no matter who visits your page and no matter when they visit it, they’ll see your post about your giveaway first.

And then, when your giveaway’s over, just unpin or delete the post.

2. Ask People to Share

It seems too simple to be true, but it is: Just asking people to share your post helps increase shares. Sometimes people just don’t think of things until you suggest it to them, and people who would like to share your post don’t do it unless you remind them.

Remember, too, that you don’t have to just say, “Share this post!” You can be a bit more friendly and fun with it. If you’re giving away a new moms gift basket, for example, you could say something like, “Know some new moms who could use a little pampering? Share this post with them!”

Often, you’ll be surprised at what an impact that “share” suggestion can make.

3. Test Boosting Your Giveaways on Facebook

Unfortunately, Facebook is making it harder and harder for pages to show up organically in people’s Facebook feeds. But that doesn’t mean that you need to set up expensive advertising campaigns for people to see your giveaways on Facebook.

If you have just a little bit of money you’re willing to spend, try boosting your post. Once you create your giveaway post (and pin it), click “boost post.” If you’d like to boost it to people who already like your page, you can—or you can boost it to an audience of people who have interests that match your target audience.

The best part? You can test this pretty cheaply. Boosting your post for just $5 can give you a sense of whether people are interacting with and sharing your post. And if they are, you can decide whether or not it’s worth it to you to continue boosting it.

Bonus Tip: Go Easy on the “Like This!”

Your giveaway certainly can (and likely will) earn you more likes on Facebook. But don’t forget: Facebook strictly prohibits requiring likes to enter a giveaway. (Which is why it will always show up as “optional” on your PromoSimple forms to keep you in compliances.)

So, while you can suggest that people like your page, don’t say things like, “You must like my page to enter!” That will get you into trouble with Facebook—and could even result in them taking down your page.

Just remember to keep your “liking” optional, and you’ll be fine.