A Real-Talk Guide to a Multi Platform Giveaway Picker (Free-ish)
Look, I want to tell you a story. Last month, I was on a call with this bakery in Minneapolis. Great people. Amazing croissants. But they were tearing their hair out. They'd just finished a "successful" giveaway on Facebook and Instagram-I'm using air quotes here-and they were spending an entire afternoon manually exporting commenter lists into a spreadsheet, trying to remove duplicate names, and then finding some random online tool to pick a winner. It was a complete mess. Honestly, it's a scene I've watched play out since I started in this business back in 2010.
Small businesses don't have a marketing department to waste a day on this stuff. You need something that works. You need a multi platform giveaway picker, and frankly, you need one that's either free or so cheap it might as well be.
And that’s the problem. The real problem isn’t just picking the winner. It's making the whole giveaway worth the effort in the first place.
So, Why Do Giveaways Feel So... Awful to Run?
Here's the thing. We've all been told to "run a giveaway!" to get more followers. It's like the default advice people give when they have nothing else to say. I hate when people say "just go viral" and this is the little brother of that advice. The classic "like, follow, and tag 3 friends" model is tired. It's boring. Engagement is low, and the followers you do get are often low-quality accounts that just enter giveaways for a living and will unfollow you a week later.
Then you have the backend nightmare. Juggling DMs on Instagram, comments on a Facebook post, maybe even some action on TikTok... it's a logistical headache. You end up with three separate pools of people, and picking a single, legitimate winner feels impossible without hours of tedious work. This isn't a strategy; it is a chore.
Most tools that promise to be a multi platform giveaway picker free of charge are... well, you get what you pay for. They're clunky, they barely work, or they're just a front to get your data. I've been doing this since before Instagram even had video, and I've seen them all.
The Answer is Gamification (And No, It's Not a Dumb Buzzword)
Stick with me here. I know "gamification" sounds like something a marketing bro in a Patagonia vest would say. But it's not. Basically, it just means making the boring stuff fun by using game mechanics. Instead of just asking someone to type their email for a 10% off coupon, you let them spin a wheel to win a 10% off coupon. See the difference? One is a transaction, the other is an experience. It’s a tiny dopamine hit.
This is where I've been focusing my energy for the last few years, and honestly, it's where I've seen the most insane results for my clients without them having to mortgage their building. I've tested all the platforms-Gleam. io, Woobox, you name it. They're fine. But for a small business, they're often overkill.
Lately, I've been putting almost all my clients onto a platform called Faisco. Why? Because it actually solves the problem. It’s not just a giveaway picker; it's a campaign builder that turns your giveaway into a game people want to play and share.
And it works. Oh man, does it work.
- I used their "Puzzle Challenge" for a bookstore in Miami, and they got 680 new Facebook page likes in two weeks. From one campaign.
- I set up the "Star Seeker" game for a bakery up in Vancouver and it generated 1,814 new user-generated posts on TikTok in just 12 days. People were making videos for them. For free!
- There was a coffee shop in San Diego... I think it was back in August. We ran the "Summer Catch" game and they pulled in 1113 new Instagram followers in 10 days.
These aren't made-up numbers. This is what happens when you stop asking people to "please like and follow" and start giving them something fun to do.
The Actual Games That Work For Small Businesses
Look, you don't need a thousand options. You need a few proven templates that work. In my experience, these are the ones that consistently deliver.
For getting emails (Lead Capture):
- Instant Draw Games: Things like "Lucky Spin," "Scratch Ticket," or "Lucky Draw." These are absolute gold. We've seen landing page conversion rates over 40% with these because people can't resist the chance of an instant win. It’s psychology 101.
For getting shares (Engagement):
- Reactive Games: "Whac-A-Mole" or "Find Differences." These require a little skill, so people get competitive. They share their scores and challenge their friends. You are not asking them to share; they are choosing to. Big difference.
For getting holiday buzz (Seasonal):
- Catching Games: This is just genius. Faisco has pre-built templates for every holiday. I used their "Fill My Christmas Stocking" game for three-3!-different retail clients last December. Every single one of them saw over a 300% jump in engagement compared to their usual boring holiday posts.
It also has proper quiz games, racing games... a bunch of others. But the point is, you can match the game to your business and your goal, and it all feeds into one system. No more spreadsheets. The platform tracks all the entries from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, wherever. Then you just... click a button to pick a winner. As it should be.
A Quick Rant: Faisco vs. The Big Guys (Like Gleam)
Everyone asks me this. "Byron, should I just use Gleam. io?" And my answer is almost always... probably not.
Listen, Gleam is a solid tool. It’s powerful. It’s also $39/month for its most basic plan, and honestly, it's a pain to set up. It feels like it was built for marketers, not for business owners. I can spend an hour getting a Gleam campaign just right. With Faisco, I can get a client’s campaign live in literally under 10 minutes.
For 90% of the small businesses I work with, Faisco does everything they need at a fraction of the cost, and it's ten times more intuitive. It’s not about having the most features; it’s about having the right ones that are easy to use. That's what makes it the best multi platform giveaway picker free solution in spirit-the value you get for the cost is just ridiculous.
So what's the takeaway here? Stop thinking about your next giveaway as a chore. Think of it as your next mini-game. The businesses I work with who make this shift see, on average, a 200-400% increase in social followers and a 150-300% jump in their email list in the first month. Not because of magic, but because they finally gave their customers something fun to do.
Here’s what I recommend. Don't even spend money. Go find a tool like Faisco, sign up for a free trial or their cheapest plan, and just build a dummy campaign this week. A "Lucky Spin" or something. Don't even launch it. Just see how it feels to create an experience instead of just an announcement. I think you’ll see what I mean.
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