How to Run an Influencer Giveaway in WordPress (And Actually Keep the Followers)

I still remember the first time I teamed up with an influencer to run a giveaway. I didn’t have a huge budget or a big audience, but the results surprised me. Our follower count jumped, traffic doubled, and we collected hundreds of email signups in just a few days.

You’re probably planning to run yours on Instagram or TikTok. That’s fine, but you’ll be sending your traffic to their platform, not yours. Most brands run influencer giveaways on social and lose all control of their traffic and contact list the moment the algorithm shifts.

Running it on WordPress keeps everything yours. In this guide, I’ll show you how to run an influencer giveaway in WordPress from start to finish, no coding needed.

• How to Run an Influencer Giveaway on WordPress
  • Why WordPress Wins for Influencer Giveaways
  • Step 1. Find the Right Influencers
  • How Much to Pay an Influencer
  • Influencer Giveaway vs. Sponsored Post
  • Step 2. Plan Your Influencer Giveaway
• Platform Rules for Influencer Giveaways
• Step 3. Create Your Influencer Giveaway in WordPress
• Step 4. Promote the Giveaway with Your Influencers
• Step 5. Set a Timeline and End Date
• Step 6. Draw the Giveaway Winners
• Step 7. Analyze Your Giveaway Performance
• How to Keep Followers After Your Influencer Giveaway Ends
• FAQs About Influencer Giveaways

How to Run an Influencer Giveaway on WordPress

You can run giveaways on social media or online forums, but those platforms own the audience you build there. When the algorithm changes, your reach drops and you have no way to contact people directly.

Running your influencer giveaway on WordPress means:

• You own all entry data, traffic goes to your site
• You can retarget entrants via email
• The giveaway page lives on your domain permanently

Third-party SaaS tools like Gleam charge $29-$119 per month. RafflePress is a one-time payment.

Why WordPress Wins for Influencer Giveaways

• You own the entry data: Email addresses and entry details stay in your WordPress database, not locked in a platform
• Traffic comes to your site: Visitors land on your domain, not Instagram’s, which means better retargeting and SEO signals
• Your page stays live: A WordPress giveaway page lives on your domain permanently and keeps ranking after the contest ends
• One-time cost: RafflePress is a one-time purchase vs. monthly SaaS subscriptions that add up fast over multiple campaigns

Step 1. Find the Right Influencers

Micro-influencers with 5,000-50,000 followers are often the most cost-effective starting point. They have tighter audience relationships than larger creators and typically charge far less per post.

To find the right social media influencers, you can:

• Search LinkedIn for thought leaders and authority figures in your industry
• Browse hashtags on Twitter and Instagram to find micro-influencers
• Use Google search to find blog posts relevant to your niche
• Try tools like Buzzsumo to find trending content and the authors who write it
• Use social media tools to look for trending hashtags and topics

After finding the perfect influencer, you’ll need to convince them to work with your brand. The best influencers are often in high demand, so they’ll need a good reason to choose you over your competitors.

Here are some effective ways to connect with influencers:

• Find influential figures who share an interest in your niche and gift them products or services in exchange for promoting your giveaway
• Look for bloggers with an impact in your industry and offer sponsorship to write a blog post advertising your giveaway
• Ask influencers to launch your giveaway on your website with a guest post

The key is finding influencers whose audience will find content about your brand relevant and valuable. For help with this, see my guide on How to Plan a Successful Branded Giveaway Collaboration.

How Much to Pay an Influencer

Micro-influencers (5K-50K followers) typically cost $100-$300 per post plus product gifting. Mid-tier creators (50K-500K followers) range from $500-$5,000 per post depending on engagement rate.

Some micro-influencers will collaborate for product gifting alone, especially if your product is genuinely useful to their audience. Always offer the product regardless of fee.

Influencer Giveaway vs. Sponsored Post

Giveaways generate more entries and follows in a short window. Sponsored posts drive awareness over time. Use an influencer giveaway when you need a rapid growth spike; use a sponsored post for sustained brand visibility.

Step 2. Plan Your Influencer Giveaway

After finding an influential figure to collaborate with, you’ll need a solid giveaway marketing plan. Your plan should include your campaign goals, the type of prize you’ll offer winners, and the rules for taking part.

Setting Giveaway Goals

Goals are crucial for ensuring your giveaway stays on track and can help measure its success when it’s over. Think about what you want your giveaway to achieve for your business, and devise a plan to accomplish it.

For example, if your main goal is to increase brand awareness, you’ll need a way for people to share your giveaway on social media. If the goal is to grow your email subscribers, entering should require an email address.

Keep your goals specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely to avoid confusion and overwhelm.

Choosing a Giveaway Prize

The giveaway prize is the incentive that will convince people to engage with your campaign. It should be relevant to your brand while offering enough value to your target audience to take action.

For instance, if you’re working with Instagram influencers in the beauty industry, your prize could be a new product not available elsewhere.

An exclusive influencer collaboration giveaway like this is an excellent way to generate hype, especially if it’s a trending product everyone wants to get their hands on.

What if you sell software? Consider offering a bundle of software products to give away to the lucky winner.

Thrive Themes did this with their Ultimate Tech Stack giveaway:

They partnered with influential brands in their niche to offer the ultimate prize, with excellent results for everyone involved.

For more inspiration, check out our in-depth list of giveaway prize ideas.

Setting Giveaway Rules

Your giveaway rules lay the groundwork for what entrants can expect when participating. It’s where people learn how to enter, who can participate, the prize on offer, and other relevant details.

You’ll need to display your rules clearly on your website and any giveaway posts on social media.

Some key giveaway rules include:

• How to enter your giveaway
• Any age or location restrictions
• When the giveaway starts and ends
• How you’ll choose and contact the winner
• Partner and sponsor disclaimers

For a head start, check out our guide on how to write giveaway rules, which includes a free template you can customize.

Platform Rules for Influencer Giveaways

Before you build anything, check the rules on the platform where your influencer will promote the giveaway. Each platform has specific requirements, and breaking them can get your content removed or your account flagged.

• Instagram: You must include a disclaimer that the promotion is not associated with or sponsored by Instagram. Avoid “inaccurate tagging” requirements (you cannot require people to tag themselves in content they don’t appear in).
• TikTok: No copyright violations in content; do not create giveaways that mimic TikTok’s own challenges or imply platform endorsement. Follow TikTok’s branded content policy.
• YouTube: Follow YouTube’s contest policies; clearly state odds of winning and eligibility requirements in the video description.
• FTC disclosure: Any paid or gifted influencer relationship requires clear disclosure. Your influencer must use #ad, #sponsored, or equivalent wording on every promotional post, including Stories.

Step 3. Create Your Influencer Giveaway in WordPress

RafflePress is a WordPress giveaway plugin that lets you run viral contests entirely from your WordPress dashboard. No embed code, no separate account, no third-party platform.

Template options align with specific goals, including:

• Email list growth
• Instagram follower acquisition
• Twitter follower growth
• Friend referral programs
• TikTok follower expansion
• Pre-launch campaigns
• Facebook page growth
• YouTube channel expansion

Choosing Your Entry Actions

Before jumping to the plugin setup, decide which entry actions you want to use. These directly determine what growth you get from the campaign.

RafflePress supports 30+ variations; here are the most effective:

• Email subscribe: The highest-value entry action; you own the contact permanently regardless of platform changes
• Follow on social: Grows your follower count on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Twitter directly from the entry widget
• Tag a friend: Expands reach organically; each tag is a referral that brings someone new into the giveaway
• Share to story: Instagram and Facebook story shares extend campaign visibility without additional ad spend
• UGC submission: Ask entrants to submit a photo or video using your product; generates social proof you can use after the campaign
• Refer a friend: Assigns a unique referral link per entrant; referred entries earn bonus points and extend reach significantly

Once you’ve chosen your entry actions, install and activate RafflePress on your WordPress site.

The drag-and-drop builder lets you customize the campaign in real time. RafflePress settings let you enable email verification, activate spam protection, and auto-generate your giveaway rules.

Publication options include WordPress blocks or shortcodes for any post, page, or sidebar, plus a distraction-free landing page that launches in seconds.

Step 4. Promote the Giveaway with Your Influencers

Once your giveaway is live, promotion turns it into a traffic-and-entry machine. Both you and your influencer need active roles in this.

Effective promotion from both parties includes:

• Announcement posts: Create attention-grabbing social media posts from both accounts featuring prizes and rules
• Momentum maintenance: Continue promotional posts throughout the campaign via blog posts, YouTube videos, Instagram broadcasts, or newsletters
• Participant engagement: Interact with commenters to increase post visibility and build personal connection
• Final reminders: Post reminders one to two days before close, giving anyone who missed the announcement a chance to enter via push notifications, web popups, and email

Make Your Giveaway Look Legitimate

The top search result for “influencer giveaway” is a YouTube video about scams. Readers are skeptical. Here’s how to remove that doubt:

• Announce the winner publicly: Post a screenshot or short video of the winner pick using RafflePress’s verified random winner tool
• Use a third-party winner picker: RafflePress handles this automatically, so you can show the winner selection is fair and unbiased
• Disclose the partnership: Your influencer must post #ad or #sponsored on every promotional piece, including Stories
• Respond to comments: Answering questions during the giveaway builds trust and boosts post visibility
• Keep entry requirements reasonable: Requiring people to follow 15 accounts at once looks like follower-farming and will drive skeptical entrants away

Step 5. Set a Timeline and End Date

Giveaway duration affects how many people enter and how engaged they stay. I’ve seen giveaways run too long lose momentum quickly because entrants assume they have plenty of time and never come back.

A 7-14 day window is the sweet spot for most influencer giveaways. It’s long enough to build word-of-mouth, short enough to maintain urgency. Agree on the start and end dates with your influencer before you go live.

Step 6. Draw the Giveaway Winners

Post-giveaway, winner selection is straightforward with RafflePress. Here’s the process:

1. Navigate to RafflePress » Giveaways in your WordPress dashboard
2. Click the Needs Winners link
3. View entrants and entry counts
4. Click Pick Winner
5. Select your options and click Choose Winners Now
6. The plugin highlights the winner at the top of the list

After selecting the winner, announce them on your website and social media channels. Ask your influencer to announce the winner on their social channels too, and request permission to share winner reaction content.

Step 7. Analyze Your Giveaway Performance

You can track your giveaway’s impact in Google Analytics. MonsterInsights shows this data inside your WordPress dashboard without complicated metrics.

Request a performance summary from your influencer too, including participant numbers, new follower acquisition, and engagement counts. Combined with your Google Analytics data, you can measure the full impact, assess goal achievement, and identify what to do differently next time.

For a deeper look at measuring contest results over time, see my guide on how to run a social media contest.

How to Keep Followers After Your Influencer Giveaway Ends

Most brands go quiet after the winner announcement. That’s the biggest mistake you can make. The new followers you just gained haven’t decided to stay yet.

Here’s how to keep them:

• Email new subscribers immediately: Send a welcome email the same day the giveaway ends. Don’t wait a week. The relationship is freshest right now.
• Post an exclusive offer within 48 hours: A discount, bonus content, or early access to something gives new followers a reason to stay that isn’t the giveaway itself
• Don’t go silent after the winner announcement: Post follow-up content about the winner, behind-the-scenes of the prize delivery, or a “thanks for joining” message to keep the community feeling active
• Segment new followers for a nurture sequence: New subscribers from a giveaway are colder than organic signups. Put them in a separate email sequence that builds familiarity before promoting anything.

FAQs About Influencer Giveaways

How do you do an influencer giveaway?

Find an influencer whose audience matches your target customer, agree on a prize and entry requirements, then build the giveaway on your WordPress site using RafflePress. Set clear rules, get your influencer to promote it with #ad disclosure, and use RafflePress to pick a verified winner at the end.

Run it on your own domain so you keep the email list and traffic regardless of what the platform algorithm does afterward.

How much does an influencer giveaway cost?

Costs vary by influencer size. Micro-influencers (5K-50K followers) typically charge $100-$300 per post, often in exchange for product gifting. Mid-tier influencers (50K-500K followers) range from $500-$5,000 per post.

Add the prize value and your giveaway platform costs. RafflePress is a one-time purchase starting at $99/year, which is cheaper than SaaS tools like Gleam ($29-$119/month) over any campaign lasting more than a few months.

How do you keep followers after an influencer giveaway ends?

Email new subscribers the same day the giveaway closes. Post an exclusive offer within 48 hours to give new followers a reason to stay. Segment giveaway entrants in your email tool and run a dedicated nurture sequence before any promotional emails.

Most follower drop-off happens because brands go silent after the winner announcement. Stay active with follow-up content immediately after the campaign ends.

Are influencer giveaways legitimate?

Yes, when run correctly. Legitimate influencer giveaways require FTC-compliant disclosure (#ad or #sponsored on every promotional post), clear publicly stated rules, and a verifiable winner selection process.

Scam giveaways typically require following dozens of accounts at once or ask for personal information beyond an email address. If your giveaway uses a third-party winner picker like RafflePress and announces the winner publicly, that’s the fastest way to demonstrate it’s real.

What entry actions work best for influencer giveaways on WordPress?

Email subscribe gives you the most durable asset from any giveaway because you own the contact permanently. After that, refer-a-friend actions compound reach significantly because each entrant recruits others for bonus entries.

Social follows and story shares are effective for rapid visibility but don’t survive algorithm changes the way an email list does. RafflePress lets you stack multiple entry actions in a single campaign so you can grow email, social, and referrals simultaneously.

Ready to Start Your Influencer Giveaway?

That first influencer giveaway I ran taught me that the platform you choose matters as much as the influencer. On WordPress, everything you build stays yours. Traffic, emails, and entrant data stay on your domain no matter how the algorithm shifts.

Get started at RafflePress.com and you can have your first campaign live today.

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