Let’s be honest, people love presents. Whether it’s a beautifully wrapped birthday gift, a surprise swag bag, or winning something they didn’t expect, free stuff sparks joy and gives an instant serotonin boost.
For food and beverage companies, that is exactly what makes co-branded giveaways a powerful marketing strategy.
When you use social media giveaways and contests strategically, you don’t just make your audience happy; you increase engagement, grow reach, and turn casual followers into excited fans. In this article, we’ll go over a few tried and true ways you can run co-branded social media giveaways and contests effectively.
Table of Contents
- The Benefits of Co-Branded Social Media Giveaway for Food and Beverage Brands
- 5 Tips for a Successful Co-Branded Social Media Giveaway
- Grow Your Brand With The Missing Ingredient
The Benefits of Co-Branded Social Media Giveaway for Food and Beverage Brands
One of the most successful ways to boost your online presence as a food or beverage brand is through co-branded social media giveaways and contests.
Giveaways are an easy way to:
- Gain email subscribers
- Increase engagement
- Promote brand awareness
- Boost visibility from social platform algorithms
- Improve community interaction and loyalty
- Generate leads cost-effectively
With social media in our lives, it has never been easier to advertise your business with a giveaway campaign. You can run a product giveaway with a social media influencer to boost your exposure instantly. But social media is also a great tool for brands to collaborate with each other.
We’ll help you get the most out of your co-branded giveaway campaign with these tips.
5 Tips for a Successful Co-Branded Social Media Giveaway
#1: Choose a Scroll-Stopping Theme
Everyone loves a good theme, so have fun with it! The more memorable, the better!
Be bold, be creative, and make sure it actually fits your brand. Skip the obvious calendar holidays like back-to-school, Valentine’s Day, or Thanksgiving, or you’ll get lost in the dozens of other giveaways that pop up during these times.
You’ll stand out more when your giveaway ties into your food and beverage company’s mission, your audience, or a conversation people are already having. Think World Meat Free Day, Blue Monday, or even Carrot Cake Day. Yes, that’s a real one!
Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free and The Good Crisp Company, for example, teamed up for a summer giveaway centered around grilling season, offering a bundle of gluten-free buns and chips for the summer BBQs.
Photo: Co-branded-giveaway-3.png
Think about what celebrations matter most to your customers and build your theme around that. We’ve compiled a calendar list of fun monthly, weekly, and daily celebrations you can choose from that help you stand out from the crowd.
#2: Partner With Brands That Share Your Audience
Now choose a brand that works with this theme. Keep the brand’s social media following and audience in mind.
Some questions to consider when choosing a brand to partner with:
- How many followers do they have?
- Would their audience be interested in your product, too?
- Will they post about the giveaway on their social media accounts?
- Are they a non-competitive brand? You’ll want to find complementary food and beverage brands, not those that would take business from you.
- Are they distributed in the same retailers, or are they open to in-store co-promotions that can be tied back to the social giveaway?
Olly Wellness and Sweet Loren’s are examples of audience alignment done right. Both brands share values around wellness, with Olly offering vitamins and Sweet Loren’s offering plant-based, gluten-free, dairy-free, and nut-free cookie dough. Their giveaway offered a bundle of cookie dough and Olly products, which paired naturally together for both brands.
Photo: Co-branded-giveaway-2.png
Remember, the tricky part is that if your brand is still growing its social media presence, some partners may be selective about who they collaborate with.
Don’t lose hope!
It may take some time to become the go-to brand everyone wants to work with. Start by reaching out to a local or small family-owned business that you can grow alongside.
#3: Build a Pitch Deck That Sells the Collaboration
If the shoe were on the other foot, you’d prefer to work with a food and bev brand or business that has its stuff together, right? Then be that brand. Make sure your brand is just as appealing to other brands as you expect them to be.
A solid way to do this is to create a social brand partnership toolkit.
Your toolkit should include important information like:
- A brief yet captivating introduction to your business
- Your social media following and stats
- Your brand’s number of email subscribers
- Information specific to the giveaway campaign:
- Goals for the giveaway
- A step-by-step process on how the giveaway works
- How each brand will promote the giveaway
- Benefits of the giveaway for both brands
For food and beverage brands, your toolkit must also clearly address unique prize logistics such as perishability (shelf-life), safe shipping methods, and any special handling or refrigeration requirements.
If all participating brands actively promote the giveaway, too, it will increase entries, engagement, and overall performance.
For optimal collaboration, remember that every brand has its own guidelines and approval process for social media copy and content. Be sure to discuss this far in advance so you’re ready to go as soon as possible!
#4: Map Out a Promotion Timeline That Builds Momentum
If you are hosting a co-branded giveaway campaign with several food and beverage brands, it can feel like you’re juggling too much at once.
Save yourself time and headache by creating and sharing a timeline with your brand partners that includes specific deadlines.
When creating your social media calendar, ensure you tailor content to each platform to maximize engagement. For instance, consider developing a TikTok taste test, an Instagram Reel featuring a recipe with both co-branded products, or an interactive poll for your stories.
Your promotion timeline should include the following dates:
- Start and end of the promotion
- When items for photos are due
- Landing pages and platform publishing
- Social media calendar
- Email blasts to promote the giveaway
- When the winners are selected
- When prizes are to be distributed to the winners
The Missing Ingredient can help you outline and plan a timeline that works for your content, pacing, and goals.
#5: Spotlight the Shared Value of the Partnership
Of course, the first thing brands will wonder when you invite them to your giveaway campaign is: “What’s in it for me?” This is where you have to make them an offer they can’t refuse.
Working with you with the shared goal of mutual growth is the obvious answer, but there are also plenty of amazing benefits for any collaboration between brands:
- Sharing email lists that are collected during the campaign
- Including brand partners’ coupon codes or ads in your post-giveaway emails
- Making it a requirement for entrants to Like or Follow the other brand’s social account
Scooter’s Coffee and Califia Farms are examples of shared value in partnering. Their co-branded giveaway included a bag of coffee, a gift card, and Califia Farms products. This allowed both brands to increase visibility with each audience, which in turn drove reach and engagement.
Photo: Co-branded-IG-Giveaway.png
Working with other brands on giveaways should benefit all parties involved.
Increase the likelihood that other companies will want to work with you by communicating benefits and setting expectations. This way, everyone walks away with something valuable.
Grow Your Brand With The Missing Ingredient
Co-branded giveaways can be among the most powerful tools in digital marketing for food and beverage brands to grow their audience. Once you find the right partnerships with the right brands, it can make a giveaway even better.
Most importantly, though, co-branded giveaways are a wonderful way to give back and show some love to your loyal following while supporting other brands you align with.
Trying to improve your social media marketing strategy? The Missing Ingredient can help! We help food and beverage brands turn giveaways into measurable growth. Reach out today!