Have you scrolled through your instagram feed to find a post with the big “GIVEAWAY” written in bold across the image or the caption? Have you ever participated in it? 

Giveaways are one of the biggest ways to increase both engagement and followers for your profile. It’s a way to authentically capture the attention of new potential prospects (if you do it right). At Smile Virtual, we see many doctors attribute their success in growth to participating in Giveaways. Not sure you’re buyin’ it? Here are some stats we think you might like: 

• Instagram accounts that run regular giveaways and contests grew 70% faster than those who don’t. 
• 91% of Instagram posts with over 1,000 comments are related to a giveaway or contest. 
• Contests and giveaways on Instagram receive 3.5 as many “likes” and 64 more comments than an average post.

Keep reading to learn why (and how) your practice should begin leveraging Giveaways to grow your presence. 

But first, what actually is a Giveaway?

One of the biggest misconceptions we hear is that a giveaway is akin to donating something for an auction. While there are many similarities (donated item or service, brand visibility, the occasional social media shoutout) the sole purpose of a digital giveaway is to grow your engagement. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be donating to auctions or event giveaways, but we recommend looking at them as separate initiatives. 

1. Gain Visibility 

It should go without saying that everything you do with your marketing is to serve a very specific purpose: get more eyes on what you’re doing (and make sure they’re the right eyes). From there, you want to get them to take an action. Whether that’s inviting more people to see you, convert to sale, RSVP for an event, etc. You should know that end goal, and target your activity to do just that. 

With giveaways, your primary goal is to get new people to interact with your page. You’re trying to gain a larger audience, and one that resembles your ideal patient. 

Pro tip with visibility: Make sure before you enter the giveaway world, your profile is one that people would really want to see. If your last post was from a vacation in July 2018, or your past 4 posts are of you at dinner with friends, spend some time giving love to your profile. If a stranger can’t land on your page and identify you as a talented doctor in your field, it’s a waste of money to invest in giveaways. 

2. Gain followers

The majority of giveaways have a multi-step process to be entered to win, most commonly including following the people participating in the giveaway. 

Building up your following can be deeply beneficial for your page and thugs your business. With new eyes visiting your page, as you grow your number of followers you’ll also be gaining trust earlier in the process because those followers validate that other people like what you’re doing. It’s like getting a recommendation for a doctor from a friend. You’ll trust their advice before you trust a random google listing for them. 

Pro tip with gaining followers: Partner up with an influencer or someone who has a great network. When doing this, think of it as a long-lasting relationship and not a transactional partnership. How can you both work together to help more people while building each other’s brands. 

3. Gain a List of Ideal Patients 

When you runna giveaway, it’s not only the winner that you should be in contact with. Every single person that responds to your giveaway is an indication of who may benefit from your services long-term. 

Look through those that participated, and try to get an idea for who is interacting with your post. Are there commonalities that may make sense with the patients you’re serving already? That’s called a persona, or the embodiment of common traits shared by your clients. Make sure your future posts are targeted to them! 

Some Mistake You Can Avoid

Don’t make it complicated. 

• Don’t make them jump through 20 hoops just to win a free toothbrush. Make it as simple as possible, and you’ll see a much higher return. 

Don’t forget to announce the winner publicly. 

• It can be SO easy in the midst of all the excitement to forget to announce the winner. But you’ll be missing a huge opportunity not only to show off and brag about the new winner (and give them a reason to re-share), but you’re setting an underlying foundation that you don’t follow through. People won’t know what happened, and it leaves a question. 

Don’t wait instead of create 

• The first giveaway can be really intimidating, but don’t waste time trying to create the perfect giveaway. Make sure you have something people want, determine what you hope the outcome can be, and give it a try!