6 Fun Games for Giveaways That Actually Boost Engagement

It's 2025. Plain, boring marketing is officially dead. Our attention span is now no longer than that of a goldfish – and that's actually based on scientific research.

The average attention span of a human now clocks in at 8 seconds. A goldfish's? It’s 9 seconds. No wonder we can’t make it through a one-minute TikTok without either skipping or spiraling into the comments section for a dopamine hit. Attention is fleeting, and traditional content marketing is having an identity crisis.

So, you – the person who's actually reading this – may be a rare unicorn. Or a savvy marketer determined to find a way to keep your audience engaged long enough to actually sell something.

Giveaways are still one of the best ways to boost engagement, but if you’re still doing basic “Like, comment, tag a friend” posts… We’re sorry to say that this ship has sailed. Especially if your target audience was born after the invention of YouTube.

If your giveaways aren’t working the way you feel they're supposed to, you may want to try gamifying them. In this article, we'll share some fun games for giveaways you can try (using Socialman, of course).

6 Interactive Games for Giveaways

Now that we’ve established that goldfish are mentally outpacing us and that traditional giveaways are no longer exciting enough for people to engage with them, let’s talk solutions.

Here are 6 interactive games for giveaways designed to turn the plain old “like, comment, or tag a friend” giveaways into something more engaging, more exciting, and more mentally stimulating for your audience.

1. Trivia Quizzes

Trivia quizzes are straightforward but surprisingly powerful. You ask your audience questions related to your brand or industry, usually multiple-choice or true/false. Participants answer, and those who get it right enter the prize draw. It’s an interactive way to keep people thinking rather than just scrolling past.

Plus, it doubles as a subtle brand awareness tool that helps your audience remember things about your brand. For example, a skincare brand might quiz followers on which ingredient suits oily skin best, and a coffee brand might quiz them on what brewing method brings out the most flavor in a light roast.

2. Select a Photo

This one’s simple but effective! Show off a few images, like product options, new designs, or concepts, and ask your audience to pick their favorite. It could be a straightforward vote or a way to crowdsource ideas for your next launch. People love sharing their opinions, especially when it feels like their choice actually matters.

For instance, a fashion label could post five jacket styles and ask followers to comment with the number of their top pick. It’s a quick hit of engagement that also doubles as valuable market research.

3. Meme Contests

Everyone loves a good meme, and your audience is no exception. Meme contests are a smart way to spark engagement and show off your brand’s personality. For a giveaway, you can ask followers to share their favorite meme, create one from scratch, or caption a blank meme template you post.

It’s low-effort, high-reward content. People love being funny on the internet, and memes are made to be shared. Done right, this kind of contest has serious viral potential and gives your brand a fun, relatable edge in the process.

4. Point for Action

Points for Action giveaways reward participants based on how many tasks they complete. Each action earns points, and the more points, the higher their chances of winning. Just enough dopamine hits to keep people coming back for more.

You might assign points for things like following your account, sharing the giveaway, tagging friends, signing up for your newsletter, or visiting your landing page. For example, you could give 5 points for a signup, 2 points for a social share, and 1 point for a referral click. And the person with the most points by the deadline wins.

5. Pick a Prize

With a Pick a Prize giveaway, you let participants choose the reward they actually want. It could be a product from your store, a gift card, a subscription, early access, or whatever else makes sense for your brand.

It works because people are way more likely to engage when the prize feels personal. Plus, it's a smart way to do some market research. You’ll see which prizes get the most clicks, which tells you what your audience values without having to run a plain old survey. It’s a win-win (well, for one lucky person, but still).

6. User-Generated Content Contests

A user-generated content (UGC) contest invites people to create content featuring your brand: photos, videos, stories, reviews, weird TikToks... you name it. You set the rules, pick the format, and offer a prize for the best entry (or entries). Every entry is essentially a mini ad, created by real people who are genuinely into what you’re doing.

Whether it’s a fitness brand asking followers to share their workout routines using their gear, or a food brand collecting recipe videos, you’re building trust and community without lifting a finger – except for adding a branded hashtag to track submissions, choosing the best ones to showcase, and rewarding the creators.

3 Bonus Tips to Run Interactive Giveaways

Before you hit publish on your new giveaway, let’s make sure it's built to perform. These three tips will help you avoid the usual traps and squeeze more engagement, entries, and results out of your campaign.

Keep it mobile-friendly

Most of your audience enters giveaways from their phones while pretending to work, doomscrolling on the couch, or hiding in a bathroom stall. If your quiz buttons are too small, the images don’t load, or your form fields look like a spreadsheet from 2006, they’re gone.

Use a tool that’s optimized for mobile (Socialman, obviously), test your campaign on different screen sizes, and kill anything that requires pinch-zooming or desktop-only features. If it’s not a smooth thumb-tap experience, you’re losing half your potential participants before they even start.

Get as creative as you can

The more unexpected your giveaway is, the more it’ll stand out. Yes, you could do a basic “tag a friend to win” post... or you could ask followers to submit their worst product photos or caption a cringeworthy ad. People are tired of the same old same old, so don't be afraid to get creative!

Offer tiered prizes or instant wins

Not everyone wants to put in effort when the odds of winning are 1 in 50,000. That’s where tiered prizes or instant wins come in. People love knowing they’re guaranteed to get something. Even if it’s small. Give smaller rewards for certain milestones or offer a mini prize for completing an action, like unlocking a discount code after submitting a quiz.

Time to Kill Your Old Giveaway Playbook

The old-school “like, share, and pray” giveaway strategy doesn’t cut it anymore. Social media users now expect content that’s creative, funny, a little unhinged, and anything but boring.

Brands need to break free from traditional marketing comfort zones and start thinking outside the box. Using games for giveaways is a smart way to create more engagement by playing into what people actually want to see on social media platforms.

And if you want to create an interactive giveaway your audience will actually care about, you need a platform that’s built for it. We invite you to give Socialman a try (it’s pretty cool, if you ask us!). It’s built for modern marketers who want interactive, data-driven, and genuinely fun campaigns, all in one platform.