Do giveaways benefit blogs?

When we explored the business side of blogging, we discovered that giveaways are an important promotion strategy used by brands to engage with bloggers and attract blog readers to the brand. As the popularity of the blogger grows, so does the number of giveaway requests they get from both upcoming and established brands. 

In her article titled: Do giveaways benefit blogs? Writer, Jennine Jacob attempts to tackle this difficult question. Which end of the partnership gains more benefits from the giveaway? Do the companies and brands gain anything from these giveaways? We are guessing more brand recognition perhaps, but is that truly enough? More importantly, how much money or benefits do bloggers gain from hosting these giveaways on their blogs? She brings up these interesting points: 

1. Giveaway blog posts as promotional content. One of the common aims of a company having a giveaway is to promote a particular product. For the blogger, giveaways generate more engagement with readers in comparison to a normal post, so the giveaway has value for both the brand and the blog. 

Perhaps the benefits are more unbalanced if the brand is up and coming while the blogger in question has an established reader base online. In that case, the brand relies more heavily on the blogger's reputation online to promote the product and to gain more recognition. Alternatively, when well-established brands collaborate with bloggers with giveaways, the brand is already known, and the blogger gains more traffic when the brand advertises the giveaway on its other social platforms. 

2. Giveaway blog posts as generating more traffic. Jennine Jacob notes that the downside of using giveaways as a way to generate traffic for bloggers is that the traffic gained from the giveaway does not stay. Readers who are attracted to the giveaway tend to unsubscribe after the giveaway is over. 

3. Giveaway blog posts as a give back to blog readers. The general consensus from bloggers is that giveaways should not be used as a means for gaining traffic and exposure. Instead, giveaways should be viewed upon as a reward to blog readers for their support to the blog. The question as to whether bloggers charge brands for giveaways is answered with more Nos than Yeses. Giveaways provide bloggers with an opportunity to build relationships with brands while giving back to readers. This division between bloggers who blog as a profession and those who treat it as a hobby is especially clear. Professional bloggers view giveaways as a source of promotion while others tends to view them as a way of giving back to the readers. 

4.   Do giveaways benefit readers? On the surface, the answer to this question should be an unequivocal yes. After all, who doesn't like freebies? Giveaways seem to be enjoyed by the majority of blog readers although that is also dependent on factors such as what the item is, and the chances of them actually winning the item. But what happens when giveaways begin to compromise the overall content of the blog? A minority of blog readers do not enjoy giveaways. Why? 

This is definitely something to explore further in the feature since giveaways seem particularly prevalent to our targeted demographic of young people.