With more than a billion global active users, TikTok user numbers have exceeded that of other social media platforms like Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. With such a large audience, knowing how to run a giveaway on the platform is a great avenue to expand your digital marketing efforts and help your business grow exponentially.
However, with so many users, this also means that competition is fierce and running a successful giveaway or contest requires a certain level of finesse. We’ll break down how to best use this platform for promoting your giveaway.
Know the Legalities of Running a Giveaway
Before drafting your TikTok giveaway or contest, knowing some legalities is essential. Although TikTok doesn’t define their advertising requirements for the EU and the US aren’t as clearly as other platforms, there are still some legalities you should know.
Have Official Rules
Having official rules in place is required for any promotion. It can also be a buffer to protect you in court should an issue emerge. Optimal rules will specify who can apply, how they can enter, the prize, and how the promotion will end. Lastly, include a clause stipulating that your promotion isn’t sponsored, administered, or endorsed by TikTok. This acknowledgment must explicitly state these rules in any material you share about the contest, including the legal disclaimers.
Avoid Copyright Issues
Every TikTok video submitted as an entry needs to avoid copyright infringement. While you can’t altogether prevent TikTokers from using music they don’t own instead of an original sound, you can make such infringements result in automatic disqualification.
Follow Federal and State Laws
Certain states and social media platforms have guidelines and laws for giveaways and sweepstakes. Additionally, there are federal and FTC guidelines that prevent actions like using “contest,” “sweepstakes,” or “ad” in your hashtags or call to action. Make sure you know the ins and outs of these laws and guidelines as failing to abide by them can have serious consequences. For extra assistance, you can always consult an attorney or administration agency like us to discuss compliance.
Now that the legalities are out of the way, we’ll break down the best ways to run a giveaway on TikTok.
Plan Your Strategy Beforehand
While some campaigns succeed by luck alone, the best digital marketing strategies need careful planning beforehand. Start by determining the reasons why you want to run a giveaway. Some reasons might include:
- Bringing your brand to a broader audience
- Increasing your sales
- Creating a significant following to start your own company
Although TikTok videos and posts can quickly become viral, there’s one major drawback: you can’t include links on individual posts. Unfortunately, this means people watching your TikTok ads can’t click on a link to your website.
Your best strategy is to leverage engagement: views, shares, follows, and comments. You can start by studying recent TikTok trends.
Choose a Great Prize
Knowing how to do a giveaway on TikTok will always include choosing a grand prize. Unfortunately, even if the TikTok video or post you’ve formulated is enticing enough to grab their attention, failing to offer the right prize for your audience could mean users will lose interest quickly.
One of the best ways to entice users and promote your brand at the same time is by offering prizes specific to your business. However, even if you don’t have merchandise on hand or want to broaden your outreach, there are many prizes any company can offer.
For larger brands with a larger budget, consider prizes like:
- Cars or other vehicles
- Concert tickets or tickets to other events
- Large sums of money
- Fully paid vacations
Keep in mind that any prizes with a retail value of over $600 will require your winners to file with the IRS.
If you’re a smaller company or simply want to try your luck with smaller prizes, you can also choose:
- Gift cards
- Electronic devices (Sony Playstations, Apple iPads, headphones, etc.)
- Exclusive items for your business (perhaps a stuffed plushie of your brand that’s not available anywhere else)
- Clothes or beauty products
Promote Your Giveaway With a Special Hashtag
While TikTok videos have a lot of visual appeal, you still don’t want to forget the text that’s involved. So the perfect hashtag should be catchy and easy to remember, unique, and brand-specific if possible.
The perfect hashtag accomplishes two tasks:
- Help posts related to your contest boost your visibility in TikTok’s algorithm
- Help you keep better track of all your entries
Have Contest-Specific Rules
Although we’ve already covered rules following strict federal, state, and TikTok guidelines, your contest itself should have some strict rules.
A Time Limit for Each Video
While TikTok videos are known for their brevity, users can post videos that are 10 minutes long. In today’s digital sphere, 10 minutes might be an eternity. However, for most contests, three minutes should be more than enough.
While you might still get entries that go beyond your time limit, this rule will reduce these chances and allow you to disqualify anyone going over this limit automatically.
Entry Date Deadlines
If you’re running a straightforward contest with a single prize, an entry date deadline of one week usually gets the job done. For a contest that might have multiple winners and several different rewards, you might consider up to a month.
Specific Objectives for Users
TikTok challenges are becoming increasingly popular, and they even attract celebrities to join in. Whether your goal is to drive sales or brand awareness, challenges are a powerful tool.
While these challenges typically revolve around specific dance moves, you can always find a brand-related challenge. The goal here is something simple that will still take effort from the contestant.
Another route you can take is TikTok duets. TikTok duets allow users to reply or react to existing content on the social media platform. Both videos appear side-by-side and can result in highly engaging content.
Instructions for Entering the Giveaway
Another critical element for knowing how to do a giveaway on TikTok includes having specific instructions for entering the contest or giveaway. A simple formula might include:
- Visiting your business’s profile
- Following your business or brand
- Watching, liking, and commenting on a specific video
- Sharing the video using the unique hashtag
Doing so will limit entries while also helping your brand raise its engagement and followers.
TikTok Contest FAQs
Does a TikTok user need to be 18 or older?
There are no legal requirements that state a person needs to be a certain age to enter sweepstakes. However, if you are using user generated content as part of your promotion and plan to share it later, you’ll need to adhere to certain contractual laws, which don’t allow a person under 18 to release rights to their own intellectual property.
What’s the best way to pick a winner?
There are different ways you can pick a TikTok winner. Using distribution via a logarithmic method will ensure the most amount of likes. If it’s a TikTok challenge, you might choose the video that has the most engagement, while balancing that out with judging.
Lastly, if you have a small number of video entries, you might choose the one your staff most likes. For example, a video you believe that’s most in line with your brand or the challenge’s objective.
How long should the contest last?
While there’s no set period for how long the contest should last, many people find success when it is no longer than a week. Ultimately, you don’t want the time to be too short or long.
Contact National Sweepstakes Company Today
Running a TikTok giveaway or contest is a great way to promote your brand and increase user engagement. However, running a giveaway on TikTok can also be a logistical nightmare, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with the platform.
Luckily, our team at National Sweepstakes Company can help. We have ample experience running successful giveaways and contests for social media giants like TikTok, and we can show you how it’s done—call us today at 888-744-3217 for a free consultation!