When I first started entering giveaways I really shied away from a lot of them because I was worried about getting tons of spam emails or cluttering up my Facebook and twitter to the point that I couldn't use it to stay in contact with my friends. The solution I had is that I actually have 2 accounts for pretty much everything. I have a separate hotmail *shameless plug I love hotmail* email account that I direct all of my giveaways entering through. It is linked to my main account too so i still see everything but if it gets a bit overwhelming I can easily sort through things. I should also add that the mass majority of things I subscribe to I really enjoy. It is not worth that one extra entry to follow or subscribe to something that you don't support or you disagree with the content. The same goes for product reviews. If you are not interested in the product you are asked to review then DON'T DO IT. It's not worth the stress of trying to put a positive spin on something that you really don't care about and it's not fair to the person giving you the product to review because they will be out the profit for the product (which may not seem like a lot of money but for small businesses every dollar counts) but they will have a lackluster review of a product that you just were not that into.
There is a thrill factor to giveaway entering I must admit. That feeling when you win something that you really, really want but could not have afforded otherwise is really hard to beat. BUT there is a flip side to this. There can also be great disappointment. The greatest disappointment I have come to experience is when I find a giveaway and I do EVERYTHING to enter and I do it everyday and I win. Sometimes it happens on the bloggers end and sometimes its on the vendors but somewhere along the lines the ball is dropped. That thing that you were so excited to win never shows up. It is frustrating and discouraging and admittedly it makes me lose a lot of trust and faith in the blog/vendor in question. You can be damn sure that I'm not going to recommend them to anyone if this is the way I am treated. It may sound silly since I am getting something for free but I see it is I am putting in quite a bit of time and effort to give you free promotion and if you agree to reward one of the people who is giving you this tons of free promotion then you should follow through with it. I also want to add here that this happening is a pretty rare thing but it DOES happen. There are some people who really go beyond the call of duty to track down contest winners and they are amazing but that is a post for another time (and more pictures!) .
One of my biggest pieces of advice for anyone who wants to get into reviews and giveaway entering is to find a friend to get into this with you. Or heck, make a new friend who is already into it too! I met one of my now closest friends through the wedding forum site WeddingBee because we both really liked giveaway entering and were planning weddings on a budget. Turns out we had a lot of other things in common too (sometimes it's almost scary) ! It makes it so much more fun to have someone to help you find new giveaways or to share in the excitement of a win. Also being able to share wins is pretty fantastic. For my friend's wedding we have won a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff for it between the two of us.
Well this is getting pretty long so I think I will end this here with the intent to make a part 2 somewhere down the line. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments or even suggestions on what you would like to see in the next part of this! I am working on a lot of exciting things in the next couple weeks for this blog so stay tuned!!!!!!
Oh and I really love T-Rex jokes so be prepaied for lots of things like this....
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