By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk

Last week I wrote about a unique Swarovski holiday promotion that integrates Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. The week before I shared a couple of Pinterest holiday promotions here. So this week I thought I'd cover some holiday promotions which I was invited to participate from an email message.Since Facebook just recently announced that buying ads is really a necessity to getting your message out to your fan base, running a sweepstakes or contest promotion and spreading the word through an email list is a great way to drive traffic to your Facebook page.

I was invited to participate in the Barclaycard Holiday Wish List Sweepstakes through an email that I received since I have their US Airways Dividend Miles Master Card.They want to help make my holiday wishes come true this year by giving me the chance to win one of 10 daily prizes or the Grand Prize which includes every item from the final list of most popular Top 10 items. I had to visit and Like the Barclaycard US Facebook page and then create my very own Wish List to enter the sweepstakes. My Wish List ended up consisting of some items that they suggested and I added a few of my own.

What I like about the new Gmail features is that I can leave these promotional emails in my "Promotion" tab and come back to them each day to enter for another chance to win. This sweepstakes has now ended and unfortunately I didn't win. The app now lists the daily winners along with the Grand Prize winner which was Helen H. from Prairieville, LA. The grand prize consisted of these 10 items: a Samsung Smart TV, iPad Air, Bose SoundTouch System, DSLR Camera, iPhone 5s, iPad Mini, Microsoft Surface, PlayStation 4, Kindle Fire HDX and a Xbox One. The Official Rules state that the Grand Prize could be valued at up to $10,000 which it looks like this was close.

My number one airline rewards program is US Airways Dividend Miles, however, I am also a member of American Airlines AAdavantage program. Since the two airlines just officially merged this past Monday I guess my miles will also merge at some point as well. I received an email from American Airlines offering to make my holiday shopping more rewarding by entering their AAdvantage eShopping mall Merry Miles Sweepstakes and playing the Instant–Win Game. So this email message is still in my Gmail Promotion tab which I have been playing daily.

The Merry Miles Sweepstakes is awarding four grand prize winners 250,000 AAdvantage® miles towards an American Airlines flight. You just have to enter your email address or you can Connect through Facebook to receive a daily entry. Then you are invited to shake the snow globe for a chance to win one of the 40 daily instant prizes that consist of 5,000 AAdvantage® miles and $100 eGift cards to top merchants in the AAdvantage eShopping mall such as WalMart, Home Depot and Nordstrom.

I think both holiday airline promotions are doing a good job of keeping people engaged in a fun way while promoting their brand. They have the opportunity to use a member email list to create awareness of their promotions.  For those that are looking to add to their email lists, sweepstakes are one of the best ways to do this. You just might have to purchase some of those Facebook ads though to help get your message out there.