Amazon announced a new self-service tool this morning that allows customers to host giveaways on its website. Anyone is eligible to run these sorts of promotions on the platform, though in Amazon’s case, the feature will likely attract authors, marketers, brands, bloggers, sellers and others looking to raise awareness about themselves, their products, or those who want to engage their audience using promotions.
The new system will leverage Amazon’s shipping capabilities, as the company says it will handle the distribution of giveaway prizes directly to the winners. These prizes can be selected from an Amazon product page, too, by clicking the “Set up a giveaway” link located near the bottom.
After doing so, the host of the giveaway will then input the details about the promotion and any other custom text or content, and they’ll specify the rules of the promotion, including things like whether prizes will go to multiple entrants or only the first few, for example.
When the setup is complete, Amazon provides a short link that promoters can then share elsewhere on the web, on social media, via email, or however else they choose.
There is no cost to use Amazon Giveaway beyond paying for the products used as prizes.
Amazon says that as many as 50 prizes can be awarded in each giveaway for a total value of up to $5,000. That limits these contests to some extent, as a business couldn’t offer up a large number of more expensive prizes, like computers or other pricier electronics. However, for the most part, these sorts of promotions don’t tend to go that route.
Though basically a simple web template, the giveaway’s page can be customized based on what the individual or brand wants to gain from running the promotion. Fox example, in some demo giveaways Amazon shared with us before launch, one showed a bouncing drawing of an Amazon box that you would click on to see if you won. Another featured a big, blue “Follow” button, and required entrants to Follow the company’s Twitter account in order to participate in the promotion.
If you’re chosen as a winner, you’re given a window during which you have to confirm your U.S. shipping address in order to receive your prize. And win or lose, the Giveaway page prompts you to tell your friends about the giveaway using Facebook, Twitter or email.
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While the platform is open to all customers today, Amazon is kicking off the promotions itself with a number of participating brand partners who are now planning to run hundreds of giveaways across social media channels using the hashtag #AmazonGiveaway. This tag has already been adopted by marketers, however, and has been used for some by those running their own contests and promotions hosted on their own websites. That could muddy the waters a bit for Amazon’s involvement, as it may not be immediately clear which links point to Amazon’s Giveaways versus those used by third-parties.
To see only those giveaways taking place on Amazon’s platform, the company is also hosting a new site at amazon.com/giveawaylaunch to find giveaways customers can enter today. Amazon says it will continue to promote giveaways through its social media channels including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Snapchat.