How to Host a Giveaway!
What can I say? We love a good giveaway!
Giveaways are increasingly popular ways to draw attention and action to your social media and gain exposure for your business! But there are some things you should consider before hosting a giveaway to make sure you are helping yourself and not hurting yourself!
ARE YOU READY TO INVEST IN YOURSELF, AND PUSH YOUR BUSINESS ON TO THE NEXT LEVEL? I OFFER ONE-ON-ONE MENTOR SESSIONS + BUSINESS COACHING FOR PHOTOGRAPHER’S OF ALL LEVELS! IF YOU’RE READY TO INVEST IN YOURSELF, LET’S GET IN TOUCH!
HOW TO GET THE MOST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
First of all, think about what type of attention you need. What type of interaction will be the most beneficial to you?
For example:
If your goal is to grow your presence on pinterest, you could run a giveaway that requires the pin of something from your website to enter.
If your goal is to get more instagram followers, you could have people post something they love about your account on their stories
If your goal is to increase engagement to your instagram account, you could have people “scavenger hunt” for specific images throughout your feed, have them post their favorite post of yours, ask them to comment, like, and share 3 photos of yours, tell people to like the first photo you ever posted, as for comments on one specific post and say “the last comment at this time wins”, have people respond to a story poll or question as a way to enter… there are so many options besides “tag a friend”, but “tagging a friend” is always an option too! (just in my opinion, tagging friends gets less traction then requiring some other sort of engagement since people usually tag accounts that are’t really interested. If you do want to do the “tag a friend” route, consider requiring something else like “tag a friend and tell them in the comments why you want to win, or comment your favorite childhood memory and tag a friend” )
Make sure you keep in mind the value of your prize when you structure the requirements for the giveaway. Something bigger/more expensive will make people willing to do more for a chance to win. Keep the requirement/reward balanced.
**Another way to get more traction is to partner with other accounts. Be careful not to get a big loop going, as I think those hardly get the attention they used to, since people don’t want to follow 20 people, but have 1,2, or 3 collaborators is pretty reasonable and gives each of you access to fresh market space, and probably more capitol between you for bigger better prizes.
Remember that best friends are fun, but you probably have many of the same followers already, so consider partners who have a following that is relevant to your business but also potentially different from the following you already have.
WHAT SHOULD YOU GIVE?
My number one tip for giveaways is to AVOID GIVING AWAY PHOTO SESSIONS.
and here’s why.
First and foremost, you are furthering the widespread devaluation of photos and photography. Period. If people feel like they can get photos for free easily then why would they ever pay for them? (which puts us all out of a job my friends).
Secondly, you may end up resenting them by the end of it because you aren’t getting paid, and they may be extra needy, or hard to work with and since you are doing it for free you may not feel like being very accommodating, and both of you may part ways feeling frustrated which isn’t fair to you or fair to them.
Though I would recommend against giving any photos away for free, if you find yourself doing it— set some serious parameters. I’m talking, no more than a mini session, set a designated location that is convenient for you, and set a time frame so you aren’t stuck doing free photos in busy season for a giveaway you did in January when you had time on your hands. (I mean don’t do it, but if you do do it, literally say “giveaway for a MINI session, at THIS location. Session must be scheduled for a weekday THIS MONTH”)
Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you give away wedding day photography.
That is an unbelievable amount of work you are taking away from yourself and from other industry professionals. If you need portfolio content YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE AWAY FREE PHOTOS AND TAKE JOBS FROM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS.
Plan Styled shoots, book a mentor session, Second shoot for a photographer you admire. All of those options will give you experience, portfolio content, and credibility without creating massive devaluation of the industry you are trying to make a career in.
I have literally had MORE THAN ONCE had brides who ask for a contract, start the booking process with me, and then “win” a FREE WEDDING photography package. THAT’S CRAZY.
and
MORE THAN ONCE I have had brides who got free wedding photography reach out to me and say “sorry I ditched you for the free photographer, could you do my bridals because I hated my engagements” or had them talk to me after and say their wedding photos turned out horribly because the photographer didn’t actually care to be there since they weren’t getting paid, and now the day is gone and they are forever stuck with careless photos of the most special day of their life.
So in multiple circumstances, the photographer who did the giveaway isn’t even getting good reviews and word of mouth recommendations off of their free work— they did hours and hours of work without getting paid while I made money off of their free clients, and I’m the one that gets the good reviews too!
I think in most cases, if someone wins a giveaway for a free wedding photo package, the giveaway probably took place several months before the actual free service is given—meaning that those few extra followers and likes are so far in the past you can barely remember them, and maybe you have a lot more paid work a few months down the road than you did when you committed to a full day of wedding coverage for free, You may have even had to turn down paid jobs for this free one you took on—YIKES.
OR WORSE. More than just opportunity cost—what if you get sick, or something happens in your personal life and you can’t make it to the wedding—-now what? If they are a paying client, you hopefully have a plan in place such as finding another photographer to fill in for you—but if you don’t have money to pay another photographer to fill in for you what are you going to do? Spend your own money getting someone to do your free wedding? (I mean on the upside, at least you could write off those hundreds of dollars on your taxes…..lol) Or bail on the giveaway winner and get TONS of people hearing about how you bailed—thus getting the worst kind of “word of mouth” out there and costing you potential clients left and right? Any of these would be rough on all parties involved. So just STEER CLEAR.
PRO TIP: If you are already committed to some free photos, make sure you do a really good job. At this point, you have nothing to gain and everything to lose because, the only thing you are maybe going to get out of the free work you are doing is the positive experience the giveaway winner has with you and the potential for them to book you (and pay) in the future, or tell a friend about how much they love you and your photos and send a referral your way.
You want people to value you, so don’t sell yourself short with free photos.
Another reason photos are a bad thing to giveaway is….though it seems financially sound because you aren’t spending money on the giveaway, it is actually costing you in the end.
You can’t write off free photos. Photography is honestly a tough business tax-wise, because we have to collect sales tax on our photo sessions like they are a product (though we are mainly selling our time), but we cannot write them off because they didn’t cost us anything (but time). Basically we pay taxes on our time as if it has value but we can’t write it off as if it has no value. Its a bad situation, but it is what it is and we have to work with what we’ve got!
SO. If you give away something that costs only your time, you are giving away something you can’t write off on you taxes, and also taking money-making hours away from yourself! SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY COST. Those hours you are working for free are hours you could be working for pay, or hours you could be spending marketing yourself, improving your skills with courses, workshops, mentor sessions, online material, etc.
OK SO IF WE CAN’T GIVE AWAY PHOTOS WHAT CAN WE GIVE AWAY?
Great question, glad you asked!
Giveaways are STILL an awesome method of gaining social media exposure for your brand and business.
Choose something to give away that you can write off.
Something I like to do is around Christmas, or my birthday I’ll do a “favorite things” giveaway. I’ll buy things I love and give them away in a series of giveaways.
I can write off the purchases and the shipping costs, and it costs me minimal amounts of valuable time. It also gets people engaging with my page without telling them what I’m selling isn’t worth paying money for.
Give away something everyone would like—target giftcards, amazon giftcards, disneyland tickets, visa giftcards etc.
Giftcards are an awesome option for giveaways because they can be mailed easily in a standard envelope, and people love to get them!
If you are an educator, and you offer mentor sessions, sell educational pdfs and courses, are hosting a workshop, etc. These are up to your discretion for giving away.
Educational Content
Giving away educational content is still giving away something you want people to value, for free—however. In theory, you are giving it to someone who values the industry because they are in it. So you are hopefully not devaluing your own work with giving it away to someone who doesn’t think it’s very valuable.
If you have online courses, pdfs, etc. Those are things you have already spent the time on, so you aren’t spending much ADDITIONAL time by giving them away.
Same goes for a workshop spot, If you will be teaching the workshop either way, having one more person there isn’t going to cost you much more in time, and any materials you need to get for that additional person are write-offs.
Mentor sessions are another up-to-discretion giveaway…
My recommendation is “Don’t give away the farm”…meaning, if you offer open book, tell-all mentor sessions, that probably isn’t what you should be giving away for free. Ever. Alternatively, you could give away a “mini mentor session” and define that however you like (maybe it’s a 15 minute phone call, maybe it’s a 10 question Q and A, maybe it’s a 30 minute chat over coffee without equipment). That way you’ll (hopefully) leave them wanting more, and maybe end up booking a full mentor session from them or from a friend they tell about you!
PRO TIP: For ways to get engagement and bookings with educational content and sessions, consider “early bird discounts”, “flash sales”, or
”free with purchase” type promotions.
Just remember that if you want people to value what you have to offer, you have to show them you are valuable. You are the one playing the most major roll in how people view your business and your products.