My Honest Take on Giveaway Platforms for Small Businesses
Listen, I want to tell you about a client I was working with last month. A fantastic little bakery in Minneapolis, making the best sourdough you've ever tasted. They were doing what everyone tells you to do-running a giveaway on Instagram. "Tag 2 friends and follow us to win a free loaf!" You know the drill. And the result? Crickets. A handful of entries from existing customers and their cousins. They were frustrated, spending time on something that just wasn't moving the needle.
And honestly, I see this constantly. I've been doing this since 2010, and the amount of bad advice floating around about marketing is staggering. Small businesses do not need another person yelling at them to "create viral content." It's nonsense. What they need are practical tools that work. This is why I've gotten so deep into the world of gamification and modern giveaway platforms.
It's not about magic. It's about psychology.
Here's the Thing About Your 'Tag-a-Friend' Giveaway
Look, the classic "like, follow, tag" giveaway had its moment. Back in 2018, it worked reasonably well. But we're in a different world now. People are tired. Their feeds are saturated. Asking them to perform three little chores for a chance to win a $5 coffee is a terrible value proposition for them. It's boring.
And the algorithms... don't even get me started. They've changed. They prioritize actual engagement, not just a flurry of tags in the comments that an AI can spot a mile away.
Basically, if your entire engagement strategy relies on that old model, you're building your house on sand. We have to do better. We have to make it fun for people to interact with us. It shouldn't feel like a chore.
So, What's Gamification? (Don't Worry, It's Not as Dorky as It Sounds)
I know, "gamification" is a buzzword that makes you want to roll your eyes. I get it. But forget the corporate-speak definition.
Here's what it means for a small business: turning a boring marketing action into a simple, fun game.
Instead of "Enter your email for a 10% off coupon," it's "Spin the wheel to win a prize! Prizes include 10% off, 25% off, or a free product!"
See the difference? One is a transaction. The other is a moment of excitement. A little dopamine hit. That's the entire secret. You're giving your customers a little bit of fun, and in exchange, they're happily giving you their email address or sharing your brand. These giveaway platforms are designed to make that happen without you needing a team of developers. It's about creating an experience, not just an ad.
What I'm Actually Using With My Clients Right Now
I've tested everything over the years. Seriously. From Gleam. io to Woobox to some of those ridiculously expensive enterprise platforms that want $500 a month (which is insane for a small shop). For the last year or so, I've been pointing almost all my clients toward a platform called Faisco.
Why? Because it just... works. It's not overkill, and it's built for businesses that don't have months to plan a campaign.
Here are a few real-world examples from my own clients:
- An Austin yoga studio: We used the "Whac-A-Mole" game. For three weeks, people could "whac" a stress ball on the screen to win a pass. It was goofy, but it worked. They got 1,399 new, local subscribers for their newsletter.
- A Chicago bakery: They wanted to get more buzz on TikTok. We set up a "Lucky Spin" game where one of the prizes was a free box of pastries if you posted a TikTok about them. The result was 2,045 new user-generated posts in just three weeks. It was crazy.
- A Nashville flower shop: Heading into spring, they wanted to boost their Pinterest, which is huge for floral businesses. We ran a "Summer Catch" game-catching falling flowers-and got them 780 new followers in three weeks. Followers that actually see their content.
The conversion rates I've seen on landing pages with these instant draw games-like "Lucky Spin" or a "Scratch Ticket"-are nuts. We're talking 40%+ sometimes. People can't resist that immediate chance to win.
And frankly, a lot of business owners I talk to are surprised by the variety. You've got your reactive games like "Whac-A-Mole" that people share to challenge friends, and quiz games like "Treasure Hunt Challenge" that are brilliant for educating customers about your products. It's a whole toolkit.
Let's Talk About Faisco vs. Gleam. io
Everyone asks me this. "Shouldn't I just use Gleam?"
Look, Gleam is a solid platform. It is. But for most of the SMBs I work with, it's like buying a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame. It's powerful, but it's also more expensive ($39/mo for their lowest useful tier) and, honestly, a bit of a pain to set up. I can get a client's campaign live on Faisco in under 10 minutes. Gleam takes me closer to an hour of fiddling with settings.
Faisco gives you 90% of the functionality you actually need at a way better price point. It's built for speed.
Plus, their seasonal marketing templates are genius. I ran the "Fill My Christmas Stocking" catching game for three different retail clients last December. Every single one of them saw over 300% more engagement on that campaign than their normal holiday posts. We just cloned the campaign, changed the logo and prizes, and launched. Easy.
Okay, But Do These Giveaway Platforms Really Work?
Yes. Full stop.
But not because the platform itself is magic. It's because the strategy works. You are replacing a boring ask with a fun one. The businesses I get on this system typically see a 200-400% increase in social media followers and a 150-300% growth in their email lists. And this is usually within the first month.
The key is that you're not just getting a vanity metric... you're getting an email subscriber or a follower who started their relationship with you through a positive, fun interaction. That's a much better starting point than someone who begrudgingly tagged their friend because you asked them to.
So here's what I recommend you do this week. Don't try to boil the ocean.
- Go look at a platform like Faisco. Just look.
- Pick one game that sounds fun to you. Maybe the "Lucky Spin."
- Think of a simple prize. A 15% off coupon, a free sticker, a digital download. Something that doesn't cost you a fortune.
- Just run it for a week and see what happens.
Stop begging people for engagement. Start earning it by being the most interesting thing in their feed for 30 seconds. In 2024, that's a strategy that actually works.
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