How Amazon Giveaways Can Grow Your Audience

Is your business struggling to build exposure for your products or services? Amazon offers several options to help you build a buzz for your brand.
One of the best ways to increase awareness is by promoting your business through giveaways.
Since its release of the Amazon Giveaway program in 2015 businesses have been able to choose valuable prizes for their audience from popular items found on the shopping site. The tool is easy to use — anyone can create an offer and bring more attention to their brand. Who exactly can take advantage of this?

• Authors
• Small Business Owners
• Artists
• Bloggers
• Online Marketers
• Solopreneurs

This is a great program for just about any niche.
Steve Shure, Vice President Consumer Marketing at Amazon, explains it this way: “Amazon Giveaway is the first self-service tool that takes care of all the hard work of a giveaway, from setting up all of the rules to shipping prizes directly to winners.”
Rafflecopter, one of the leading giveaway services online, ran their own independent research of the program and here’s two types of main offers they discovered:

The first-come, first-serve offer

This is a quick offer for a limited number of entrants that is designed to create a sense of urgency. Once all of the prizes have been claimed then the offer ends. A campaign like this one may be limited, but can offer a fun experience for your Fans and followers.

Rewards based on luck

This allows your business to spread a contest out over time — for every maximum number of entrances a prize is given away. The methodology is similar to that of a scratch-off lottery ticket, and can boost the number of signups for what your are offering. The contestant needs to be at the right place at the right time in order to win — people enjoy the challenge of getting a chance to win.

The Amazon Giveaway program is unique in that the company will manage your contests directly from its website. Your business will need to choose from a list of products there — once the giveaway is launched you’re are provided with a unique URL that can be shared on social media with the hashtag, #AmazonGiveaway.

How does it all work?

In order to get started from your Amazon account you need to set up your campaign directly from the Amazon Giveaway page. There is no cost to run your contest; however, you are responsible for the cost of the items claimed by the entrants. Amazon makes it simple to get started:

Each giveaway is for one prize item with a maximum quantity chosen by the administrator of the contest. The rules are that this must be a maximum of 30 physical prizes or 50 digital. Additionally, the product cannot be valued over $5,000; however, there is no limit to the number of individual giveaways you can offer.
Amazon gives you the freedom to include a link to your contest on your website with the option to promote on places like Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, YouTube, and more.
Once a winner is chosen they are automatically notified by Amazon within two days and all transactions are handled right through the website. Keep in mind there are different tax rules for each state and to include the cost of shipping for the product(s) you are giving away.

What are the benefits?

Creating a special offer for your community can help you build a loyal following and allows your brand to reward your subscribers and social media network of followers. Since Amazon handles all of the winner entries you don’t need to worry about following up on each one and the shipping of your chosen product(s).
Growing a subscriber list is the bread and butter of any website whether you are a B2B or a published author. This program can help increase that number by inviting people to sign up for a chance to win a valuable offer. After setting up an autoresponder your business can provide additional benefits for your potential customers.
Finally, social media is your best friend when it comes to cross promoting any giveaways — use Facebook Ads, for example, to promote your Amazon Giveaway campaign and Twitter chats to host an informative session where your offer can be included and shared.
What are your thoughts?
Have you tried Amazon Giveaways for your brand or business?
Share your results below!