I Have a Shuffle to Give Away, But How?
So, I’m in the Apple Store this morning and several things happen. First, the associate helping me was named Brent, so instantly I thought he was cool. Second, I picked up the new Airport Extreme router cuz Derek said it was cool (or at least I think he did). Third, I grabbed a blue iPod Shuffle for the first iBAM giveaway. Here’s my problem… Not being a “seasoned” blogger or wizard of Internet marketing, I’m going to be honest and admit that I really don’t know how to do a successful giveaway to promote my blog. I have read some amazingly insightful articles about the subject, but for some reason, I feel as if I don’t have a firm enough grasp on the subject or know what my readers here would be interested in participating in. This is where you come in. I know I could be potentially opening myself up to a barrage of comment spam but, I will place my trust in the insight and intelligence that I believe my readers (that’s you) posses. This brings me to my question… I have an iPod Shuffle to give away, how should I do it?
I just got back to the office and snapped a pic of the Shuffle, just to prove I actually have it. (Actually, I just wanted to play with the camera a bit so I took this pic.) Enjoy!
You should give it away to the first person who posts a comment
haha… nice try! Actually, I will do something for ya since you kicked it off though, shoot me an email and I’ll handle it offline.
Thanks for jumping in!
Brent
You could always give it to the person who hates Mac the most.
But more then likely you could give it to the one person who doesn’t own anything Mac, yet is still the number one fan of Mac products. Your call really.
You could award it to the person who you feel has contributed (comment wise, link wise) most to the blog. Someone who you find engaging and inputs things. I know I enjoy adn find blogging more rewarding when people comment and join the conversation, so maybe you could use it to reward people. One giveaway in that manner, might make people more active and inclined to join in in the future.
well putting it on digg was a pretty good idea. Blue happens to be my favorite color, just an FYI. But yeah just see who has comments the most or made comments that are the most revelent.
I was only joking Brent, I saw the opportunity and I took it. No consolation prize needed, I enjoy visiting this site. Phil’s idea sounds reasonable.
Thanks AJ, I do appreciate your participation. BTW, we have a TON of really cool articles coming out soon, so please stay tuned. I hope that everyone finds them useful.
Back to the Shuffle post… I was fairly taken back today at the Apple store when the associate (also named Brent… Oh wait, I mentioned that already, right) asked what the Shuffle was for. I responded with “For my blog, iboughtamac.com” and he said, “I’ve heard of that site” - How crazy is that? Needless to say, that felt pretty cool!
Give it to someone who really wants it, maybe some teenager who likes cool technology but can’t afford it, or someone who proves they really want it.
I’ll take it!
And I’ll tell everyone I know that iBAM and I are BFFs.
Promise!
though I agree about digg as a decent place to post about it. If you can somehow rise above the fray. Possibly that’s un-possible. :-]
Speaking of Digg… Please Digg This Post
I would love the shuffle too. I am a Mac Addict. Everything Mac, I love. I wish I had money for a new shuffle, but unfortunately taht is not possible. My family went through some hard times, and unfortunately money is a big issue for us. A new shuffle could make the world for me.
I’m not asking who to give it to, but what type of contest we should hold to decide. I figured that a Mac site probably has a lot of creative people visiting it, so I was hoping for some creative ideas. Some pretty good ones so far.
I have no idea, some way to convince you?
What about a logo contest?
I know that the site has a great design, always will while Derek is designing for it, but it just occured to me that it might benefit from a logo of some sort. Just to enhace the sites brand a bit more. Plus I read you wanted more creative ideas and as a creative didn’t feel I had been original enough. But then this isn’t an original idea! *walks off to stop himself burbling any longer!*
*Consoles Phil
Good choice with with the Airport Extreme
I may not have remembered telling you it was cool, but it definitely is cool!
I say just throw it in the air above a printed list of all comments, and the person it hit should get it.
“Good choice with with the Airport Extreme
I may not have remembered telling you it was cool, but it definitely is cool!”
Apple does not release any uncool stuff, it’s not microsoft
Photo contests and design contests are always fun; you could try something like that…
I think I like both the logo and the photo contest ideas…..
give it to the first dutchman! or donate it to Unicef? the wales or the orks
Okay, I think I like the photo idea. Maybe a iBAM photo advert contest? We can base the winner off number of comments to flickr by a certain date. That way everyone who participates gets some publicity from the thing.
Thoughts?
If everyone thinks it’s a good idea, I’ll kick it off tomorrow with a new post. Thanks to all for the ideas, I’ll use them all for other contests… Now to figure out what else to give away (that won’t break my bank account)
just do a random selection
I did a contest, per Paul Stamatiou’s advice, where you have people tell you one of their favorite posts of yours and a little about themselves so you can get to know your readers. Then draw a name out of a hat. It worked well for my contest.
Excellent idea Wess… Hmmm… What to do?
I’m with Wess Daniels. Hold the contest in a manner that will build your readership a bit.
I like it! Okay, so a review & trackback contest with a random selection. Sounds interesting. I’m on it! Thanks everyone, back in a bit with the kickoff of the contest.
You could always run out of a Walmart and give it to the first person you see and keep running. And don’t forget to call me when you do it.
Bill Alexander
OnLine with Bill Alexander
Monday Through Friday at 10PM est.
http://www.OnLinewithBillAlexander.com
724-444-7444 id. 1832
haha… thanks Bill!! it was fun. Until next time…
Brent
I would LOVE to have an iPod Shuffle! I look at them on Apple.com EVERY SINGLE DAY! But, I can’t afford a shuffle