8 Fun Ideas for Social Media Contest Giveaways this Christmas
With Christmas just over a month away, you’ll see several companies decorating their social media accounts for the season.Logos and landing pages will soon have designs adorned with wreaths, and jingle bells, or lanterns called parols for local businesses. People are also on the lookout for Christmas giveaways from their favorite brands. After all, Christmas giveaways and other holiday social media contests can help increase submissions by roughly 66%, according to ShortStack.
Want to make the most out of this seasonal spike in engagement? Just host a giveaway of your own! To help you get started, here are 8 merry ideas for a Christmas social media giveaway.
8 Fun Ideas for Social Media Contest Giveaways this Christmas
1. Holiday Photo Contest
Image source: Coca-Cola PH
Take one step up from the normal Christmas raffle by asking users to submit photos as their entries! This can be as simple as a wacky family photo. Ask users to share photos of themselves using your products. A solid example of this is Coca-Cola’s Sari Saring Happiness campaign from 2014. Customers built parols out of empty plastic Coke bottles and posted their creations on social media for a chance to win a Yuletide party in their barangay.
2. Essay Contest
Image Source: Tiffany’s Sweet Treats Facebook Page
Tug gently at consumers’ heartstrings by having them submit essays to enter your Christmas social media giveaway. Ask them to post their answers in the comments section. Give users emotional, meaningful topics to write about, such as family traditions, a past vacation, or a childhood holiday experience. Choose the best answer yourself or leave it all up to the number of likes and shares!
3. Photo Caption Contest
Image Source: The Book Cave Facebook Page
Ask followers to caption a funny Christmas-related photo on social media. Get people to participate by giving a prize they’re interested in. Watch as your followers post hilarious photos in response! Photos of children and animals draw lots of engagement here. For even more engagement, you can put up the best captions in the announcement of winners.
4. Wishlist Raffle
Image Source: Muji Australia Facebook Page
Want to bring joy to your followers? Ask them to enter your social media giveaway by writing down their wishlist. They can post the list either in comments or status updates, and the winner gets to take home everything they’ve written down for Christmas! Make sure to announce a maximum price for submitted lists so that you don’t end up giving your whole warehouse away.
5. Comment to Win
Image Source: When in Manila
Want to set up a social media giveaway quickly? Make a raffle where your users can win prizes by answering questions. Ask a question so simple that even new customers or potential clients can easily look it up! This can also take the form of the fill-in-the-blank question, like “The thing I want to receive the most this year is ___________” or “What I love most about [brand] is ________.”
DID YOU KNOW? Status updates following the fill-in-the-blank format receive 182% more engagement than other status updates, even if they have the same subject matter.
6. Follow-and-Retweet Raffle
Image Source: Michaela Facebook Page
Here’s another easy Christmas giveaway idea that is sure to increase your brand’s reach! What’s important is that because your followers will retweet your contest announcement, more people will find out about your brand and your giveaway. They might decide to follow you and join, too!
Follow-and-retweet raffles are specific to Twitter, however. If you’d like to do this on Facebook, you may go for the Like-and-Share version. For greater reach, ask users to tag their friends.
7. Product-a-Day Giveaway
Image Source: Loop Me
Aside from being a classic carol, “12 Days of Christmas” is a tried and tested social media giveaway theme. Post one prize per day over a span of 12 days! Because your raffles are spread over 12 days, people will anticipate your posts, creating hype for the last days with larger prizes.
8. Freebies for Buyers
Reward loyal customers and attract new buyers with post-purchase freebies. Offer buy-one-get-one deals, or package samples of new arrivals together with bestsellers for limited-edition bundles. Your brand’s fans will love you all the more for this!
A popular variation of this is having users Like or Follow your social media account to receive promo codes or discounts. Try applying the “12 Days of Christmas” theme here by offering Christmas coupons and deals that last until the end of each day.
Additional Tips for Your Christmas Social Media Giveaway
Here are additional reminders to make your Christmas giveaway even more attractive to social media users.
Make sure that your contest announcement is eye-catching. Include the instructions and the products at stake, but keep your text clear and concise. If you’re posting the announcement as a photo, be sure to include the prizes you’ll be giving away!
Team up with your business partners and have them promote the giveaway as well. This will help you expand into a new audience just in time for the new year!
Plan your giveaway according to what your company can afford. Will you do one big raffle? Or perhaps a series of smaller draws? A proper giveaway strategy can prevent losses on margins.
Choose a prize related to your business. It’s best to keep the contest focused on your products. Gift cards and bestsellers are safe bets to rake in submissions!
Ready to brighten up your followers’ holidays? Follow this list and pick the giveaway that suits your brand the most. Consumers won’t be the only ones enjoying these 8 promos, because you’ll probably have fun designing the contests and going through the entries yourself. You can thank your clients and give back through the giveaways while bringing up brand engagement to boot. Enjoy holding your Christmas giveaway!
Looking for more ways to increase brand engagement over social media? Visit our blog for more expert advice.