Collaboration is my favorite way to gain visibility. When some biz besties were throwing around the idea of hosting a giveaway, I was all-too-eager to handle it. I knew we would skip the endless back-and-forth emails by planning this in Airtable… and in my world? Fewer emails is ALWAYS a goal, amirite!
GETTING SET-UP AND ORGANIZED
The best approach for any type of collaboration is to get your ducks in a row FIRST. There are 3 keys pieces you want to have in place before you start recruiting collaborators.
CREATE YOUR LANDING PAGE
Your landing page will act as your collaboration headquarters. Everyone will be directed to this page to sign up for the giveaway and all of your collaborators will be featured here.You’ll have a few options to choose from as to how you want to host this. Either ::
- Create a sign-up page on your own website;I don’t recommend this. Only because this is a group thing, not a YOU thing. You don’t want this to be about your brand identity when you’re collaborating with others.
- Use an external landing page service;Something like LeadPages or Instapage will do the trick.
- Buy a new domain and load your own branded landing page;I personally love, use, recommend and am proud to be affiliated with BluChic’s Landing Page templates. They’re easy to use, customize and incredibly versatile.
#PROTIP :: I would recommend that you brand your giveaway with some type of logo. This consistent appearance will help instill that familiarity you want to foster throughout this giveaway and it allows your collaborators to use this image to support that. Choose a font, a color scheme and don’t over-complicate this – you can use something in Canva, choose something from Creative Market, or you could even get something done-for-you on Fiverr.
Here’s an example ::
COLLECT NEW LEADS
I’m gonna cut straight to the chase here :: you CANNOT slap any regular old opt-in form up, collect emails as you always do and call it a giveaway. There are laws whereby you MUST include the Terms and Conditions of your giveaway and participants must agree to receive correspondence from you (and the other collaborators, if your intent is to share this list among yourselves) after the giveaway is over.
TL;DR :: You must-must-MUST use a tool specialized in giveaways.Not only will it cover your butt legally, but it’ll also help you take the guesswork out of things like selecting winners and enabling extra entries for promotions.Some of your options include ::
- KingSumo :: if you use WordPress and you plan on hosting more giveaways in the future, this plug-in could be a good investment and it’s very user-friendly;
- Rafflecopter :: if you’re new and unsure about the whole giveaway thing, this cloud-based service is so easy and low-commitment to use that it may very well be your gateway drug into the wonderful world of giveaways;
- ShortStack :: while I have zero experience using this platform (but if you do, holla at your girl to share yours please!), it looks like a great combination to host both your landing page and collect your participant information;
- DojoMojo.ninja :: if you’re running a large scale collaboration where the collecting information will be shared among all collaborators, check out this great – although spendy! – option. As you see from the image below, participants have to actively opt-in to each of your email lists. This ensures that you are not breaking any GDPR or information-sharing laws and it limits the likelihood of confused participants asking why they’re suddenly receiving emails from all these new, “random” people.
WELCOME COLLABORATORS
Just as you would provide a Welcome Package to a potential new client to keep them informed as to how everything will go down, you’ll want to do the same for your collaborators to make sure everyone is on the same page. The idea is to tell them everything they need/want to know and get proactive about questions that would otherwise clog your inbox.
Here are some areas you’ll want to cover ::
- INTRODUCE YOUR GIVEAWAY
Define the ideal collaborators by being clear about your expectations on REACH (i.e. list size, social media followers, etc.), TARGET AUDIENCE, CONTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS (value of the product or service they’re expected to contribute) and your APPLICATION DEADLINE to be a collaborator.
#PROTIP :: It’s a good idea to state how long the application will take to complete. We’ve all been there when you’re filling out a form only to be, like, “how long is this thing? I have to go!”… and you never come back to complete it.
- COMMUNICATING
You’ll provide a link to your submission form(more on that in a moment!)Another bit of information to provide is a list of all the important dates, such as your promotional timeline, when the winner will be selected, when they can expect to receive their copy of the participants’ list, etc.
- COLLECTING
Put in a request for all the images you’ll need, including headshot, product image/service glamor shot and a description of the product/service they’re giving away. (Again, I’ll address the form with which you’ll collect these shortly.)
You will also want to request the URL where the winner can redeem the service as well as the appropriate coupon code.Finally, you’ll ask for a link to a related or popular free resource they have to offer. You’ll see why later!
- THE NOT-SO-FINE PRINT
Establish your promotional baseline to ensure everyone knows exactly what is expected of them. For instance, my agreement states that collaborators commit to emailing their list twice specifically to promote the giveaway and they commit to promoting at least 6 times on social media.
This is also where you would provide any additional “nice-to-know” details, such as how winners are selected.
- CONCLUDING
Always wrap up saying how excited and grateful you are to be collaborating. As the leader, your energy is contagious!Then, make sure they know your prefered method of communication and encourage them to reach out to you.
Because that’s how bosses do!
LEADING LIKE A BOSS
Speaking of bossing up, you’re running this show, boss boo! Let’s make this smooth as buttah, shall we? So I mentioned “forms” and “collecting images”. Allow me to show you how smooth this can (and will!) be, too!
SIGN UP COLLABORATORS
This is definitely easier to show rather than tell so I’ve included a video doing exactly that. Basically, you’re going to use Airtable’s Form View to not only collect everything you need from your collaborators, but also everything you need to share, like promotional images and email templates.And it’s even easier for me to share the whole system with you than it is to have you re-invent the wheel so click below to get your copy of the base featured in this video.
MAKING PROMOTIONS EASY
Everyone’s busy, amirite? You’ll write emails to send to your list and create graphics for you to use on social media anyways… so why not share your emails and graphics with your collaborators? You’ve suddenly made it insanely easy for your besties to promote this thing. #forthewin
As featured in the video, you’ll save your email templates and graphics in the sections listed FILES. Then, you’ll set the Gallery View as shareable to make the creatives easy to grab-and-go-promo. What’s especially nice about doing it this way is you email the link once and if you need to make changes – let’s say you add more graphics or you fix a typo – it doesn’t turn into a bunch of back-and-forth emails :: the creative elements are uploaded and updated like SNAP!
CREATING AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE
CONNECT YOUR COLLABORATORS
Just as you have a Gallery View to share your creatives, I also like to have a Gallery View of the collaborators. This makes it easy for everyone to see each other’s offers, access each other’s contact information, follow each other on social – whatever you want to share to connect each other!
CREATE A WINNING EXPERIENCE FOR NEW LEADS
You should start to see how everything you set up is paying off now. That free resource you collected from your collaborators? With only one winner, you’ll want to offer something to your participants for, well, participating. By providing a free resource, you’re accomplishing 2 things :: 1) you’re making sure nobody leaves empty-handed and 2) you’re also introducing participants to your offers and what you do.After the winner is selected, you send the winner an email. But you also send an email to the non-winners to share these resources! Everyone wins SOME-thing.
BEING ETHICAL ABOUT SHARING INFORMATION
I touched on this with collecting email addresses but look! GDPR is a real thing, there are real laws around how you use people’s contact information. I’m in no way a legal professional and you should definitely seek that out… but I do have some sense in my head and I know you do, too.Having said that, let’s remember and remind everyone to be ethical with this experience, shall we! If you’re collaborating with 12 people, you’ll want to remind them that the participants are about to receive correspondence from 12 new contacts. That can be a bit much!
Remind your collaborators that 1) they SHOULD NOT be putting these new leads directly into a sales funnel and 2) they should either invite these new leads to UNSUBSCRIBE if they’re not interested or force these new leads to click a link to stay on their list.
But as the leader of this giveaway, it is your role as an ethical boss to lead by example and state the things that need to be said.
AND FINALLY…
Show up and promote! Lead by example and make sure you’re putting yourself out there as much as you’re asking anyone else to. Again, I’ve made the set-up (and the emails!) super-easy for you – now you can focus on doing you, boss boo!