"I want to give you a gift", said the singer Tiziano Ferro in one of his songs and often youtubers, influencers and social stars tell their followers shouting "giveaway"! The magic word that triggers the sharing and the massive like to try the luck of an extraction is just this: contraction of give away, indicates exactly the action of giving something to someone. Born in the United States thanks to influencers and personalities of the web to thank their followers who faithfully support them daily on social networks and follow their contents, this type of competition is often used at the achievement of important numbers - 10k, 50k or 100k followers for example or special occasions.
The activity of the giveaway is simple and with a minimum of effort: in fact, the stars usually ask users to post a post, tag a friend, share a picture, follow certain accounts, use certain hashtags, insert special emojis in the comments - all actions of immediate execution even in the flow of the scroll on the social walls. The giveaways have spread and continue to flourish above all by beauty gurus and fashion icons that are giving away products bought from them or made available by brands - the result of commercial collaborations. They have a limited and short duration, which can vary from the day following to about a month. The winners are usually drawn either automatically in a random way or by decision of the same influencer, for example by selecting between the comments.
One of the most famous Italian cases is the one launched by fashion blogger Chiara Biasi with Lancia Y in 2013: contacted to receive a personalized car, the influencer has decided to put it at stake for her fans with an extraction, making her "SuperMaxiFolle GIVEAWAY "one of the most important contedt made in Italy.
The objectives - collateral but not too much - of the giveaways are 3:
- increase engagement with the influencer, both with old and new fans, attracting them with the chance to win a prize
- strengthen their loyalty, rewarding them for their continuity support
- create profiled leads: especially if organized by brands, creating an ad hoc form for data collection
On Instagram, the hashtag #giveaway has more than 23.6 million posts, so why not organize one? Because despite such high numbers and very high diffusion, giveaways are more complex than they appear. In fact, from a legal point of view, they are considered like a prize competition and must therefore be regulated according to the rules in force, which are currently very restrictive. In Italy, the MISE (Ministry of Economic Development) on July 9th 2018 updated the rules relating to prize competitions, bringing the "modest value" of the prize to just € 1, including tax costs, as per the Royal Decree Law 25 July 1940, n. 1077: considering the prizes usually up for grabs, practically all the giveaways currently in circulation should follow another procedure.
What then are the steps to follow to organize a giveaway according to law?
- declare the competition to the Ministry of Economic Development;
- fill out the PREMA CO / 1 form;
- draw up a competition regulation;
- pay a deposit equal to 100% of the value of the prize money to the Ministry of Economic Development through a surety (bank or insurance) or cautionary deposit (cash payment or bank transfer to the Bank of Italy);
- to attribute the winner by means of an extraction performed in the presence of a notary or official of the Chamber of Commerce;
Moreover, to this the rules relating to every single social media ar added: in fact, the Italian law indicates that the data collection servers used by the promoter of the competition must be positioned on Italian soil, which is at least impossible given that all the major platforms are abroad. But not only that, because each social media has updated its internal regulations by placing additional limits to create a competition with prizes.
For example Facebook, if on one side:
- allows users to post or comment to sign up for a giveaway
- allows the use of reactions to cast a vote
- allows users to use a private message to participate
…on the other:
- does not allow to share a post, as a declaration of participation in the contest
- does not allow to tag people always as a condition of participation
- does not allow you to share a post on the wall of others
Going against Facebook, the risk may also be the closure of the account.
Giveaways are therefore a much more complex and structured operation that is not easy to do. The costs and burdens deriving from current regulations in force in Italy limit the opportunities for promoters, who often can not afford to turn a blind eye and may lose an opportunity to engage their users and fans really important.
E-Business Consulting can help you in the creation and management of a contest competition thanks to its experience in the sector, creating a complete project. Do you want to organize a prize competition for your business? Call us now for a free quote and we will develop an ad hoc project.
