Giveaway Definition

A giveaway – often referred to as sweepstakes – is a type of contest, in which prizes are given to randomly selected winners. To have a better chance of winning, the participants are usually given an opportunity to earn additional entries in exchange for certain actions, where each entry equals one or more chances to win. Giveaways are usually used as a gamification strategy.

There are plenty of actions which can be taken as a giveaway entry:

• Sharing information about the contest.
• Liking, observing or following certain accounts or fanpages.
• Liking and sharing posts by giveaway authors and partners.
• Creating user-generated content (such as uploading a photo or writing a specific comment).

Some actions can be weighted – for example, if you are sure that the most valuable action for your company is sharing a giveaway on a participants’ wall, you may assign more than one entry for completing this action, just to encourage participants to choose it above any other.

The fact that the winners are selected randomly is the very thing that distinguishes giveaways (sweepstakes) from regular contests. 

Why do companies run giveaways?

There are plenty of reasons for running online contests and giveaways: acquiring new leads, advertising a new product or service, making your company more recognizable, as well as broadening your network. Also, giveaways are a great way to thank your customers or followers, or celebrate numerous occasions (such as company anniversary) with them.