Christmas is the season for giving, and in the case of social media marketing, giveaways can also result in you getting: increased engagement, new fans, a boost in sales, and lots more. Running a successful holiday-themed contest can be quick and simple, so check out some of the following cool ideas and consider incorporating them into your own strategy.

1. Give away a wishlist of your products

Crabtree & Evelyn is running a Holiday Wishlist contest on Pinterest to attract more eyes to its products. The contest asks fans to follow the brand on Pinterest, then create a board to which they pin their favourite holiday-themed Crabtree & Evelyn products. When the competition closes, 3 lucky people will be chosen to win the lists that they created.

2. Ask fans to suggest someone to gift to

As a way to help promote its Christmas trees , Marks & Spencer asked Facebook fans to comment with the name of someone who deserved "a little festive magic and sparkle." Hundreds of people commented to suggest friends and family, whilst explaining why they would be deserving. Giveaways like this don't just make Marks and Spencer look generous, but also make fans feel good about themselves for nominating a friend.

3. Tagged photo challenge

Ask fans to enter a contest by taking a photo and tagging it with your username and hashtag. On Instagram, Air Berlin is giving entrants the chance to win a flight home for Christmas in exchange for posting a photo to show how they celebrate the season, and tagging it with #flyinghomeforchristmas and handle @airberlin.

4. 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway (pause a Vine)

Tetley Tea is using the 12 Days of Christmas to give away a dozen prizes, one a day.

For the first giveaway, it asked fans to pause a Vine video (uploaded to Facebook in the instance above) and to comment to say which "Christmas Festivi-tea" (geddit?) they landed on. Other day's entry requirements include commenting with your favourite Christmas movie, Christmas song, etc.

5. Drive traffic to your website

The Gardening Club is giving Twitter fans a chance to enter to win a £25 gift card to spend at its stores. To enter, they have to visit the brand's website...

... here, they'll find a fun time lapse that shows how they grow their poinsettia plants (entertaining, shareable) and some tips about how to take care of them (helpful)...

... finally, there's an offer for buying poinsettia plants and then the competition (for which you have to read the page in order to find the answer to the entry question). All of the above strategies help to ensure customers spend plenty of time with your brand, show your trustworthiness and expertise, and encourage them to keep your business top-of-mind for other Christmas shopping.

Over to you

Are you running any Christmas-themed contests this year? Will you be using any of the ideas listed above, or have you got another one you'd like to share? Comment below to let me know!

Andrew Macarthy is a social media consultant and the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips.

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