If you’re on Instagram, you’ve seen them: Businesses large and small are posting giveaways of all kinds now more than ever before. 

From Buffalo football gear and apparel to holiday-themed prize packs to tickets to fun events around the city, it seems like users have the opportunity to win just about anything on Instagram these days.

And not for nothing, promotional giveaways are actually a great marketing strategy for a lot of reasons, including: 

• Increased brand & business awareness
• Access to a larger audience that might not have been reached otherwise
• Encourages audience engagement with content & building followers
• Additional opportunities to collaborate with other businesses & local influencers
• And much more!

So how can you leverage promotional giveaways to help market your business online? We’re glad you asked. Read on for 4 great examples of local giveaways in the Buffalo area, plus breakdowns of why each one worked and how they were successful:

Meet the local businesses!

1. Sunshine and Bluebirds 

Sunshine and Bluebirds is a beloved small boutique in the Buffalo area that sells some of the cutest apparel, gifts, and accessories— especially when Buffalo football season rolls around.

This year, Sunshine and Bluebirds posted a giveaway for their new Buffalo enamel necklaces: 

Why it works: 

• Strategically posted during Buffalo football pre-season when people are getting excited about the season ahead and stocking up on Buffalo apparel and accessories
• Builds excitement around new arrivals & markets new merchandise
• The photo is high-quality and showcases all of the fun color options available
• Giveaway encourages users to engage with their content by tagging friends and follow their account to win
• Generates organic engagement & shares on Instagram

2. Buffalo Cigars – Buffalo Cigar Festival

The annual Buffalo Cigar Festival is a super fun, all-day event if you’re into smoking premium hand-rolled cigars, great beer, delicious food, and live music. For their 2021 event, Buffalo Cigars partnered with our team here at Step Out Buffalo to give away a pair of tickets: 

Why it works: 

• Giveaways are great for ticketed events because they help get people in the door at a low cost to the organizer
• The pair of tickets Buffalo Cigars decided to give away were originally priced at $129 each— a crazy good value for the winner
• Tickets also included more than just admission to the event— like one freshly rolled cigar, access to all concerts and showcase areas, all-you-can-eat food, and 3 beer tickets
• Ticketed event giveaways also help to drive event awareness— even if the people that enter don’t end up winning, they still might want to go or buy tickets for a loved one as a gift.

(P.S. – Want to chat with the Step Out Buffalo team about potential giveaways and other sponsored content opportunities for *your* business? Contact us today!)

3. Local Business Collab Giveaway

What’s more fun than a traditional giveaway? A giveaway where multiple businesses team up to create one massive prize pack! 

Check out this fun Hocus Pocus themed giveaway put together by Sarah Scrunchies, Ember Hollow Co LLC, Nina Grace Designs, Gifted By Dorothea, Sessy Sissy Stitches, and Bleach to Dye For: 

Why it works: 

• One word: Seasonality. This giveaway is perfect for spooky season, and it’s posted at a great time where everyone’s getting excited for Halloween and Buffalo football. 
• That prize pack! With so many awesome items included, who wouldn’t want to win?
• Collaborating with other similar local businesses in your area is one of the best ways to market your business at little to no cost. Not only does this giveaway encourage users to follow all of the accounts, but it gets all of these businesses in front of a larger audience that they might not have reached otherwise. 

4. Balanced Body Foods

Balanced Body Foods is a local meal prep company that serves the Buffalo and Rochester area. To help spread the word about their awesome, fresh-made meal prep meals, the company frequently teams up with local influencers to give away a week’s worth of meals:

Why it works: 

• Working with local influencers is a cost-effective way for businesses to generate buzz around their business or their products
• It’s also a great way to build connections and relationships in the community
• When local influencers share your business with their audience, you have the opportunity to reach thousands of new users you might not have been able to reach otherwise
• Encourages users to follow your business account to win
• Extra entries by sharing to stories helps generate additional organic shares and engagement
• Helps create brand awareness— even if users don’t win, they’re still hearing about your business and might still be interested in checking you out