Should You Have Giveaways And Contest On Social Media Sites?

When I started my Youtube Channel years ago, I was very eager to jump in the arena and there were a lot of people having giveaways and I thought that it was a very nice way to get to know people and also a way of promotion for my Youtube Channel.

People were giving away some really nice things on their channel and I entered some contest and it was so fun to participate, and interact with other youtubers who started around the time that I did.

I decided to do a giveaway and before it was announced I started to gather the items that I wanted to give away. This was joyful to me and this gave me the opportunity to make some new friends online.

What started to happen was, people were only subscribing to my channel only to get into the giveaway and as soon as the giveaway was over, they unsubscribed.    Since this is also a form of promotion the decision was made not to do any more giveaways.

From this point I decided I  would do lovemail and  have enjoyed contacting some subscribers behind the scene's to send them things that they would like.

This is a way that I give back to the people who sincerely subscribed to my channel and who have supported me and we became friendly with each other.

I have been on other social media sites and have participated in some giveaways and have found, that, some people have a giveaway but they never give you the prize that you won.  I don't know whether these people changed their mind about the giveaway or what.

My feelings regarding this is; if you cannot follow through on your giveaway, just cancel it because things do happen that may prevent you from sending the prizes off.   This would be the fair way to deal with this situation.

Another thing that we must consider when we host a giveaway is; when you announce a giveaway, you open yourself up to dealing with some legal issues when you do not award the prizes, because this could be considered gambling fraud.

Make sure that you do a thorough research regarding contest and giveaways online to see if it is worth you taking a chance with the legalities of hosting a contest.  Also, be sure that you have the prizes already in your possession and the money to pay postal fee's before you post your giveaway.

Keep thorough records of when the contest started and it ending date and make sure that you save all receipts such as; sales receipts from the purchase of contest items and postal fee's.  This will prevent some problems in the future.

Are We Sharing Too Much On Social Media?

I have been active on social media for a few years now.  I wasn't exactly sure about what I should share and what I shouldn't share on social media.  When we start on our journey on Youtube and also start Blogging, our creative juices start flowing and since we are sharing our lives sometimes, we over share.  I am guilty of this myself, but what we don't realize is that anyone with an Internet connection is privy to all our personal information.

Sometimes we forget that there are people on  social networks that can view us and we don't know who they are.  Some of these companies demand that we use our real names which further put us at risk.  There are people who like us but there are also people for some reason or another do not care for us and we have to learn to be very careful about disclosing certain things on social media.

Like most of you, I have heard a lot of horror stories and most of the time it comes from someone becoming obsessed with you or don't like something that you revealed.  We must never forget that there are some really crazy people in this world and we have to take steps to protect ourselves and our families.

Let's make a conscious effort to share but don't share too much. We deserve our privacy like anyone else.  Do not give anyone an open door into your life.

If your life is threatened do not take it lightly and alert the proper authorities and tell the people that you love, what is going on.