How My Giveaways WorkBefore I announce the Giveaway I give it a Number or Name that everyone can remember. Such as “20KGiveAway”. This will be used to tell which giveaway we are working with. In this case it was for the giveaway celebrating the 20,000th view on my Mustang A Day Challenge Blog.
The Perimeters:Usually they are open to everyone but family members. Sometimes people who have won before cannot participate. This is to give new people an opportunity.
Usually I state that there is only one entry per person.
Then I set a time. Usually 3 days. Sometimes I will have short surprise giveaways that last only a few hours.
Venue for Entries:I usually set at least two venue options for entering in order to keep in compliance with the TOS of Facebook and also to allow people who are not using Facebook and Twitter a way to enter the giveaway.
Usually those venues are dependent on what we are celebrating and who the audience is. If its an Everyday Art giveaway then it would be that venue. Right now all the mustang related giveaways are on my Animal and Pet portrait page. The second option for entry is always an email address. Occasionally I will also use twitter.
Response Time:I also set a response time which is usually 48hrs for all winner to respond with their mailing address or forfeit their award. This keeps it simple for me and them. I will contact those who I am able to through facebook or friends because I want everyone to have their prize.
Choosing What to Giveaway:Then I choose a prize. When I first started doing giveaways I was giving portraits; however, that became really hard as people would forget to send in their photos or with horse people sometimes their travel and business precluded them from responding. Now I try to put together specialized unique signed prints before they are released for sale to the public. What makes them even more unique is that they are also remarked with the giveaway name.
Announcements:Announcements for giveaways and the particular for that give away is usually announced first on the corresponding blog. Then posted on the page on Facebook and shared on my Facebook personal page and other pages that might have an interest. It is also shared on Twitter.
How the Drawing Works:Each entry is logged and verified. On Facebook the verification is a checked “like” for the comment. For Emails a response is sent stating that the entry has been received. If you don’t get a response email your name wasn’t entered. So it might not have been received.
When the entries are closed each name on the verified list is assigned a number from one to how many the final number of verified entries are.
The numbers are then put on small pieces of paper and triple folded to make them heavier. Then all the numbered papers are dropped into a little plastic container with a lid. The lid has a hole in the top. When its time to do the drawing the container is shaken then tipped so that a piece of numbered paper will fall out. The first piece of numbered paper out of the container is the winner. Each runner up or second chance winner is chosen the same way. It’s not very high tech, I know however, it is very fair to all entries.
Announcing the Winner.The winner is announced on the same blog that the giveaway was announced on. Then that blog is shared on all the venues the original announcement was made on. If the winner doesn’t respond in 24 hours I contact them so they can provide me with the correct name and mailing address to receive their gift.
This is one of the most fun things I do and it gives everyone an opportunity to own a piece of my art even if they cant find a place in the budget to purchase an original.
