What Do You Think About Giveaways on Twitter?
I’ve taken to initiating (and participating in) giveaways through Twitter. Some people, however, don’t want any of it. They’re either taking Twitter too seriously, or they’re annoyed with the way people are performing giveaways.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with having fun – so long as it’s not overdone with friends and followers. I usually only tweet a giveaway action once, and that seems to be sufficient. Winners don’t seem to mind, either.
It’s so much easier to facilitate this over Twitter compared to my blog in most cases. I’ll actually do my best to tie the two together (especially if I’ve done a review of the giveaway in question).
For example, I totally forgot to mention the giveaway in my video review of Days of Thunder, but I was able to use the corresponding blog post to let people know they had a chance to score a license. We had tons of responses on Twitter, since my readers follow me there. Unfortunately, many of ‘em forgot to put the link in their tweet (per my directions) – and others didn’t understand that they needed to replace the [Car] variable with an actual vehicle:
Are Twitter giveaways worth doing?
Have you ever heard of Traffic Blazer? Submit your business info to more than 200 search engines and directories and position your Web site for top rankings with Google and other leading search engines - it's available through GoDaddy. Plus, as a listener of The Chris Pirillo Show, enter code CHRIS3 and get your .COM domain name for just $6.95 a year. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy!
9 Comments
dustin tompkins
February 8th, 2009
at 8:41pm
No they are not and Im thinking about doing them soon to with my site.
Lee
February 8th, 2009
at 8:42pm
Yeah, I think they still are. Sure, many can’t follow directions, but they might have a better shot at getting it right now that you’ve point this out on a blog post.
If nothing else, it’s fun to see the community’s reaction to the various questions. I definitely like your format of Twitter giveaways, as opposed to just saying “@reply me to win”.
Michael Seneschal
February 8th, 2009
at 9:15pm
I say go ahead and do what you want.
Jonatan
February 8th, 2009
at 9:51pm
I don’t really have a favorite car but if i have to pick one it would be a Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG
ReTweet
February 8th, 2009
at 10:24pm
I like the giveaways if they are done right. I think they should be super simple to enter and no BS. But… I also think caution should be taken so that the Twitterweb isn’t clogged up. If giveaways become to spammy then one person could ruin it for everyone. Maybe it’s best to be a little more creative with them?
Zach Mitchell
February 9th, 2009
at 3:19am
I like the giveaways being done on the stream, but that’s just my opinion.
TWinners
February 9th, 2009
at 3:36am
I think Twitter contests can be a lot of fun and some people will really enjoy participating. some people won’t.
Contests that encourage multiple entries run the risk of being perceived as spammy, which they probably are. But the great thing about Twitter is that its easy to unfollow a serial contester junking up the stream.
The challenge for those hosting contests is to be original and fun and yet still easy and simple enough to explain in the allotted 140. I think its very desirable to have an associated blog or twitwall where more space can be devoted to actual rules and workings of any Twitter contest.
Aryeh Goretsky
February 9th, 2009
at 11:59pm
Hello,
I think is is a good business move for Twitter if you do such things, however, I am not sure if it builds the Lockergnome/Gnomedex/Chris Pirillo brand as effectively if you focused on your own sites.
There is a finite amount of time that people can spend online participating in various activities, and the more services you spread yourself across, the less time you have to create innovative content. Also, consider what type of audience you currently attract and are trying to attract in terms of finding new sponsors and advertising opportunities.
It might be better to use a different site which improves your search engine (Google) results organically, or use the existing site, but in a different fashion.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Michael Darwin's Theory
February 10th, 2009
at 11:40am
I like giveaways. Our giveaway is simple.
Come and get it. That’s it.