Part 2: How to Run a Social Media Sweepstakes for Your Ecommerce Site

November 27, 2019 Published by Fulfillment Works

Social media provides incredible opportunities for ecommerce brands to connect directly with consumers and build a community. Through social media, brands have the ability to humanize their companies, showcase their products and grow audience loyalty and engagement. Random drawings in the form of sweepstakes are one of the many ways ecommerce brands can leverage social media to promote themselves.

If you are considering a sweepstakes for your ecommerce website (learn how to get started in Part 1 of this post), you’re likely somewhat familiar with the fact that these kinds of promotions are regulated by law to protect consumers’ rights and privacy. But did you know that when it comes to social media sweepstakes, each social media platform has their own rules about how brands can run contests, sweepstakes and giveaways? Before you consider running a sweepstake on social media, it’s important to familiarize yourself with these guidelines:

1. Official Rules

Make sure you have legally compliant rules and that you link to them from your social media sweepstakes. Your rules should also link to your Privacy Policy so consumers know what you’re doing with the information you collect. As laws vary from state to state, it’s important that a legal expert draft or review the Rules before you launch your social media sweepstakes.

2. Channel-Specific Guidelines

Each platform has social media sweepstakes and promotion rules and guidelines unique to them. Here are the official policies of the top B2C social media channels:

3. Know Your Audience

Ecommerce sweepstakes shouldn’t be created for the masses, but should instead be custom targeted to only your ideal audiences. Why? Because when it comes to marketing, the volume of entries is likely not as valuable as quality of the entries. With a social media sweepstakes, you are offering entry into a random drawing for a prize in order to collect contact information so you can later market to that list and promote new sales. If you focus on volume over targeting, your social media sweepstakes may not pan out in the long run. Make sure to tailor your social media sweepstakes to your core audiences, offer a prize they will love, and incentive them to spread the word and share the sweepstakes with like-minded friends. If you set up a great social media sweepstakes in terms of content and legal considerations, you’ll have the best foundation for success.

Not sure where to get started with your sweepstakes? Read Part 1.