An Instagram giveaway or contest is an ideal way for companies to build and promote their brand simultaneously. Companies can achieve multiple goals with a single campaign that has the potential to delight their target audience.

Instagram is a visual platform that has more than a billion users. It is an ideal platform to run giveaways and contests that can potentially produce tons of user-generated content related to your brand.

A campaign that generates tons of leads, website traffic, and social media followers on a platform filled with eager content-hungry users is a marketer’s dream. It is highly recommended that your brand should consider a marketing campaign, such as an Instagram giveaway or contest.

In this guide, we will go through every aspect of an Instagram giveaway and contest while sharing some useful tips to help you get started.

how to create viral instagram giveaway

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Choose a Goal for Your Instagram Giveaway

Before you get started, clearly determine a goal for your Instagram giveaway. Giveaways serve multiple purposes, which is why, without a goal, you could lose focus on what you are trying to achieve. 

Some examples of Instagram giveaway goals include:

  • Grow your Instagram following
  • Grow your email list
  • Generate traffic to your website (or physical store)
  • Create user-generated content (UGC)
  • Get more exposure for your brand
  • Increase engagement on Instagram

You can use an Instagram giveaway to accomplish just a single goal or multiple goals at once. If all you are looking for is just more followers, then users can simply ‘follow’ your brand to enter. The same goes for growing your email list, request users to submit their email address to enter.

If all that you are looking for is more Instagram followers, you can still use advanced strategies such as ‘tag a friend’ or ‘refer a friend’ to boost your giveaway.

Such requirements will get your audience to invite friends who potentially share similar interests to them. This is an excellent way of building your target audience with an Instagram giveaway.

VYPER how to get more instagram followers
https://vyper.ai/blog/how-to-get-more-instagram-followers/

Looking to boost your Instagram followers? Visit our ultimate guide on growing your Instagram followers to learn new growth hacking techniques that you can use today.

Read the full post here.

Multiple Goals Work Well with Contests Too

There’s also the possibility of hosting a single giveaway that can potentially tick off more than a couple of goals of your list. A good example is Coconut Bowls, an e-commerce store that successfully ran a giveaway, which dramatically boosted their Instagram followers, email list, and website followers.

Hosting a giveaway at the end of the year is a great way to build up hype for your brand during the holidays while also boosting your followers and email list. If a December giveaway is successful in doing this, then the company will begin the new year with a good amount of new leads that they can market to throughout the year.

More Case Studies

Click on the images below for in-depth case studies that analyze the strategies used by brands that successfully boosted their audience after hosting a contest or giveaway with VYPER.

Coconut Bowls Case Study
Waiakea Case Study
Foundr Case Study
Topaz Labs Case Study

Research Your Audience

It’s crucial to consider your target audience and their behavior on Instagram. 

Ask yourself:

  • What type of posts do they post on their feeds? If your company is a technology startup, you would want to associate with people with a passion for technology ideally. 
  • Which type of posts do they respond to best on your Instagram account? You can ‘view insights’ on all of your previous posts to determine your most popular type of post.
  • How active is your audience on Instagram? Not everyone is constantly commenting, liking, and sharing posts on Instagram. Some people prefer to just scroll through posts without even double-tapping to like. Try to determine your audience’s behavior and understand how they engage with posts on Instagram.

If you spend some time researching your audience, you will have a better understanding of what they are looking for every time they log into Instagram. This will assist you in effectively tailoring an Instagram Giveaway for your audience.

You can use ‘Insights’ within the Instagram app to gather some useful info such as location, gender, and age. This is an excellent place to start when researching your audience.

Source: Later

It’s important to remember that Instagram is a social network first. It isn’t just a place to promote your brand. People are on Instagram to socialize and fun, which is why your content must be fun and appealing to Instagram users. Knowing your audience is essential when producing great content.

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Determine How Users Enter Your Instagram Giveaway

There are various contest entry methods available, which is why you should carefully select the entry method that suits your contest requirements best. Contestants can enter by submitting a photo, video, or audio, as long as the content is in line with the rules of the contest.

If you are hosting an Instagram Selfie contest, you can request users to upload their pictures to your contest landing page. However, this option will mean that there will be little to no content regarding your contest on Instagram. This is when contest hashtags come in handy.

Hashtags

If you set a relevant hashtag for your contest, you can then request Instagram users to upload their entries to their Instagram profile accompanied by your contest hashtag. This way, you will be able to track entries on Instagram. This entry method also allows users to easily tag and follow you on Instagram as they will be on the platform when they submit their entry.


Researching hashtags for ‘Backpacking

Keep it Simple

The most straightforward way for a user to enter an Instagram contest is to upload their photo along with the contest hashtag. However, If you are using your contest to grow your social media profile and email list, then its best to request users to submit their email address and follow you on Instagram as part of their contest entry. 

However, it is also recommended to make the entire contest entry process as simple as possible. Requesting too many actions from a user will either discourage them from entering, or they may not qualify to enter. An example would be only to accept entries that follow your brand on both Facebook and Instagram. People who don’t have a Facebook account will not qualify.

Try to keep the entry process under three steps. This is why you should assign a single main goal to your contest. That goal can serve as the main entry method. If you want to build your email list, then make it compulsory for users to submit their emails.

Bonus Entries or Actions

If you have additional goals, like getting more followers, shares, reviews or traffic to your website, then you can look into using a bonus entry system that rewards users with bonus entries or points after they have completed certain tasks such as following you on social media or sharing a blog post.

By using bonus entries, you will be able to maintain a simple entry method while incentivizing users to complete more tasks that benefit your company.

Setting Up Bonus Actions

One of VYPER’s most essential contest features is ‘bonus actions.’ As mentioned above, bonus actions are an excellent way to growth hack your brand’s online presence. You can use bonus actions to guide users towards completing tasks that will benefit your brand.

Some examples of popular bonus actions are:

  • Follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
  • Watch this Youtube video
  • Upload an image or video (UGC contests)
  • Download our app from the App Store

To Create a bonus action with VYPER, simply go to your contest settings, click on ‘add/edit bonus actions,’ then click on ‘new action.’ This will take you to a screen with pre-made bonus actions (pictured above). You can then choose the bonus action that you wish to add to your contest.

After selecting your bonus action, you can add further instructions and edit the number of points a user receives after completing the bonus action.

Instagram Bonus Actions

If you are looking to get more exposure on your Instagram contest post, then you can use the Instagram bonus action labeled ‘Repost this on Instagram.’ This bonus action allows users to download an image from you so they can repost it on Instagram.

An example would be to let them download your Instagram contest image (the image you are using to promote your contest). They can then repost that image along with the contest hashtag on their Instagram profile. This is an excellent strategy for getting contestants to help you promote your contest.

If you find this strategy valuable, then you could assign a high number of bonus points to it so users will be more eager to complete that action. Instead of using 50 points, try using 150 points or more.

More bonus actions that can boost your Instagram contest:

  • Follow us on Instagram – This will help you gain new Instagram followers
  • Like this photo on Instagram – This will help you get more likes and comments on one of your Instagram posts. If you use your contest post, then that post could potentially become viral on the platform
  • Post a photo on Instagram – A great way to get users to submit user-generated content to you via Instagram

Custom Bonus Actions

You can also use VYPER to create custom bonus actions. If you are looking to use your Instagram contest to generate more traffic to your website, then you can create a custom bonus action that directs users to your website.

This works great for brands that want to direct users to their product pages or blog posts. Custom posts also allow you to ask questions to confirm that a user has visited your website.

For example, you could ask users, ‘where are our products manufactured?’ They will have to visit the product page to get the answer, which will have to be submitted to earn the bonus points.

FREE: Contest & Giveaway Viral Growth Guide

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Download all the guides, checklists, and outlines we use to build and market viral contests. See our case studies for examples of brands using these to collecting 50k emails and social followers in 3 weeks.

Choose a Theme for Your Instagram Giveaway

If you are hosting an Instagram giveaway that is meant to produce tons of user-generated content, then having a theme for your contest is essential. Your Instagram giveaway theme will guide contestants by giving them an idea of what type of photos or videos they will need to post.

It’s best to select a theme that is related to your brand in some way. A viral Instagram giveaway can also be seen as publicity for your brand. The last thing you want is for your brand to be associated with something uncharacteristic of your brand. 

It’s ok to use themes associated with seasons, holidays, and other trends. Again, whatever you choose should still align with your brand’s image.

Choosing a Winner

Selecting a clear winner is an absolutely vital part of any contest that’s often overlooked. Too many brands have made the mistake of focusing only on the marketing aspect of a contest while randomly choosing a winner. Some companies even unfairly pick a winner that suits them best.

Selecting a winner yourself is something that you must avoid at all costs, as it can leave all your contestants feeling like they were cheated out of winning the contest.

This can negatively impact your brand. The last thing you want is to have your new followers, and email subscribers despise you when you begin your next marketing campaign.


You can randomly pick a winner for your contest when using VYPER

Random Winner 

As mentioned above, you can randomly select a winner for your contest. This is ideal for Instagram contests that only require users to participate and not compete with each other. 

For example, users submit a selfie with your product to enter your contest. There’s no determining a winner, just an entry method. This method also keeps the contest clean and friendly as people can get very competitive at times. 

Also, if a contestant knows that a winner will be picked fairly at random, they won’t be too discouraged if they don’t win. 

Placement Winner

If you run a leaderboard contest, then the user that is placed at no.1 at the end of the contest will be the winner. A leaderboard contest can be fun and engaging for contestants. You can set up tasks (using bonus actions) for contestants to complete. 

Each task a contestant completes will earn them points that will go towards their total points. This makes for an exciting and competitive contest that will have users competing with each other for first place. 

Use a Voting System

Allowing the public to vote for a winner is one of the safest and most fair methods of selecting a contest winner. It is also a great way of getting contestants to share your contest on their social channels so that they can get more votes.

The more shares your contest gets on social media, the broader your audience reach will be. Using a public voting system is also a great way to get contestants to refer more leads to your brand.

If a contestant is interested in your brand, chances are they will refer a friend who has similar interests to them. One of those interests could be your brand and its products.

The downside of allowing the public to vote for a contest winner is that it leaves room for suspicious activity such as artificial likes. It is possible to use Instagram bots to boost likes on a post, which is why you should clearly state that if a contestant is caught using such a service, they will be disqualified.

Tracking votes can be a tedious and challenging affair. However, VYPER contest management is automated, and the service is designed to pick up on any irregular entries.

Milestone Rewards

With milestone rewards, every contestant has a chance to be a winner. This works great with e-commerce stores that are willing to give away products in exchange for contestants who complete bonus actions successfully.

For example, if a contestant achieves 500 points during a contest, they will receive a T-shirt. If they surpass 1000 points, then they will receive a jacket. This may sound like a substantial investment from your side.

However, contestants will be completing challenges that will potentially boost your online presence, new leads, and sales.

Tiers

Utilizing tiers are a great way to host a contest that is focused on rewarding loyal customers. 

For example, You can host a contest that has unique and special tasks and bonus actions that allow users to earn more points than what they would usually earn in your rewards system.

These points can quickly boost contestants into the next tier of their reward system, where they will qualify for high discounts and rewards.

Point Redemptions

Point redemptions allow users to redeem the points they have earned through bonus actions. Points can be converted into coupons, products, or gift cards. 

Similar to tiers, you can run a contest that allows your loyal customer base to earn points that they can redeem at your store quickly. The purpose of such a contest is to help you boost your current marketing campaign.

This is why its a great idea to run a point redemption contest along with your latest marketing campaign (e.g., summer sale).

Choose a Relevant Prize

Anything will do when choosing a prize for your Instagram contest. However, if you really want to get the most out of your contest, then you should consider these guidelines for choosing a relevant prize:

  • Select a prize that attracts your target audience
  • Create a budget for your contest that includes the prize
  • Select a prize that is simple and will look great in marketing campaigns. Especially in UGC contests

A Unique Prize for Your Audience

You must select a prize that will entice your target audience to enter. One of the biggest mistakes that most brands make when hosting a contest is choosing a prize to attract the most entrants to the contest, even if that prize isn’t related to the brand.

The problem with this is that you will end up with too many contestants that are only interested in the prize and not your brand and its products.

For example, If a high-quality fashion store hosts a contest with the prize being an iPhone, they will get tons of entries that exceed expectations as the prize is a product that is desired by a broad audience.

However, the majority of the entries will only be interested in owning an iPhone and not shopping online for high-quality fashion.

This means that the contest will produce too many low-quality leads, which are people who do not fit into a brand’s audience and are not considered potential buyers.

Golds Gym Giveaway

If your business caters to people above 35 years old with interest in the high-end fashion, then the last thing you want is an email list filled with people below 25 years of age and with no interest in fashion, but an interest in technology and smartphones.

A high-quality fashion store should instead consider using their own products as the prize or a fashion voucher. The entries might be less than expected, but you will build an email list with people that are interested in the brand and its high-end fashion. 

Those who would typically enter a contest that has an iPhone as a prize will most likely not enter a contest with a fashion voucher as a prize. Especially if they have little to no interest in that brand’s clothing. 

VYPER Gym giveaway Demo

Budget to Meet Expectations

Your budget should align with your expectations and goals. If you are looking to generate email leads and/or Instagram followers, then the more valuable the prize is, the better your chances will be of generating more leads.

Remember, a user has to go through the effort of entering your contest. This will involve them having to create some form of content for your contest. People, in general, won’t commit so easily to a contest that has a prize that is of little value. 

On the other hand, if the prize is worth a lot of money, then users will find it worth their while to enter. Because of this, you will have to decide if spending a lot of cash on a prize will be worth your while in new leads and followers. 

A Marketable Prize

You will have to market your prize effectively if you want to entice people further to enter your contest. Just using text to tell people about a prize won’t do. The prize must have a visual appeal and allow users to picture themselves using that prize.

This helps to build a desire for the prize in a user’s mind, which can further motivate them to enter the contest. 

When selecting a prize, try and envision what that prize will look like in posts related to the contest. Does the prize look good next to your brand logo? Does the prize fit in with your brand’s image?

Tenikle ran a contest that was targeted at travelers and backpackers, a target audience that is known for using their camera mounts. They bundled their products with other products that their target audience will find useful.

Terms and Conditions

Apart from determining your own rules for the contest, you will also have to consider Instagram’s promotion guidelines, as well as the legal guidelines that are unique to your country or location. 

You cannot hold a contest without listing specific rules and terms and conditions. Even if contestants go against the law and Instagram guidelines, you will still be in trouble for not making the rules of your contest clear. 

Instagram states that they will not be liable for any aspect of your contest and will probably not assist you if a problem arises. If an incident does occur, you will be left alone to deal with the incident, which can negatively impact your brand.

VYPER does have some general preset T&C’s, but it’s also recommended that you consult someone for legal advice as we are not lawyers and don’t know your specific situation.

The bottom line is that don’t force people to do anything (E.g., like a page to enter) and don’t require them to make a purchase to enter. We always suggest having at least one prize or reward set as a random winner, so everyone has a chance of winning.

Tips on Drafting Terms and Conditions

When drafting the terms and conditions for your contest, you should try to include some of the following:

  • Contest dates
  • Who can enter
  • Minimum age to enter
  • Contact details of the brand hosting the contest
  • Guidelines on how to enter
  • Guidelines on how a winner will be chosen
  • The date when winners will be chosen
  • The method of how a winner will be contacted (email, Instagram DM)
  • Where the winners will be announced (website, email, or Instagram)
  • The exact information about the prize (list the total contents of the prize)
  • ETA of the prize and delivery method
  • State that the contest is in no way sponsored or associated with Instagram
Laws around giveaways and contests

Looking for more info on the law around giveaways and contests?

Visit this post to learn more.

Launch and Promote Your Instagram Contest

Once you have finished planning and prepping your contest, you can now begin launching your contest on Instagram. It’s important to remember that your content will not go viral after just creating a single post on Instagram. 

You will have to put in additional work towards promoting your contest. If your brand has an online business, then you will already have a few marketing channels available. Use these channels first to get the word out. 

Alternatively, you can look at promoting your contest through these marketing channels:

  • Social media
  • Email
  • Blog
  • Influencer marketing
  • Contest and giveaway promotion websites
  • Other media

Social Media

Social networks have users with various interests from different locations. You can effectively tap into social networks to discover new leads within your target audience. Create posts regarding your contest and post them to all of your social channels, including Instagram stories.

If you already have an established audience on social media, then you can request users to like, comment, and share your posts. The more social engagement there is on your post, the better it will perform on the social platform. 


Source: Instagram

Also, if your current audience shares your post, the post will become visible to all their friends or followers. Getting your followers to tag friends in the comments section of your contest post is also an excellent method of getting your followers to help you promote your contest.

If you are having trouble with your contest post connecting with the right people, then perhaps you could try sponsored posts. Paying Instagram to show your contest to a group of people selected by you might just be what your contest post needs to gain some traction early on.

YouTube is an excellent platform to promote your giveaway. You can create a short video to inform users on how to enter your giveaway and also show off the giveaway prize.

Click here for our 3-Step Youtube Giveaway Guide.

YouTube Giveaway

Email

Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels out there. People still check into their email accounts regularly from their computers and smartphones. A well-constructed email marketing campaign can be an effective way of promoting your contest. 

Getting started is as simple as emailing your contest to friends, family, and co-workers. You can request them to help spread the word by forwarding the contest to all of their email contacts. 

If your business already has a growing email list, then you can set up an email campaign that’s focused on promoting your contest. If done correctly, you can use your contest emails to generate traffic to your website, as well as additional sales.

When using email to promote your contest, you must send out the following emails:

  • Announcement email – An email that informs recipients about your contest
  • Engagement email – An email that reminds recipients about your contest. Eg. ‘Only 10 days left to enter’
  • Congratulations email – An email that announces and congratulates the winner of your contest
contest winner announcement templates
You can take a look at this post that goes over the types of emails that you should be sending out before, during, and after your contest. The post also has email templates which you are welcome to use.

Its recommended that you also include clear call-to-action in your emails directing people to your contest. As an option, you can also include links to your website and your products.

If your own product is the prize, then you should direct users to that product page so they can get more information on the prize.

Blog

If you have an active blog on your brand’s website, then you could feature your contest in a blog post. A blog post will allow you to present information related to your contest in detail. You can create multiple posts, such as:

  • Announcing the contest
  • Prize details. If it is a product of yours, then you can include reviews and real-world use examples
  • A blog post in the middle of the contest that features some of the top entries

It doesn’t have to end there. You can insert links or banner ads in other posts within your blog that directs visitors to your contest page. In other words, advertise your contest within your blog posts. You can also create guest blog posts on other websites to promote your contest.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing allows brands to connect to an already established audience that shares a similar interest to a person, group, or brand. Most influencers are well connected to their followers and usually engage with them consistently. 

Apart from getting your product into the hands of an influencer so that they can introduce it to their audience, you can also request an influencer to introduce your contest to their audience.

Instagram is popular with influencers and creators, which is why partnering up with an Instagram influencer to promote your contest is a great idea.

Contest and Giveaway Promotion Websites

There are plenty of websites that are dedicated to featuring contests and giveaways. People frequent these websites with the hope of finding good contests to enter.

These websites do get a considerable amount of traffic, which is why featuring your contest on a few contest promotion websites is a great idea. Especially if you are looking to boost interest in your contest early on.

The downside of using contest promotion websites is that they tend to have low-quality traffic. Most of the traffic on these websites are made up of people looking to win something and not buy something. 

However, contest promotion websites are still a great way to get people to boost Instagram engagement and shares on your contest. Especially during the early stages of the contest.

Other Media

Remember, a contest is a marketers’ dream. Not only does it produce viral content for your brand, but it also gives the brand something to talk about. There might be limitations to promoting your products (people don’t want to see the same ads all the time), but with a contest, you can keep promoting it daily. 

This is also an excellent opportunity for you to promote your brand. People will discover your brand for the first time. If the prize is your own product, people will go to your website to find out more about the product. Use this opportunity wisely to get people to learn more about your brand and its products.

Aside from using the above marketing channels to promote your contest, use other mediums such as physical media (newspapers, flyers, posters, etc.), radio, TV, and podcasts.

Try to create as much buzz as possible around your contest. The more people that find out about your contest, the more people will get to know your brand.

Fortnite Giveaway Marketing

For more marketing tips and tricks, check out this post on Fortnite Marketing to find out how an unknown brand used a free game to turn itself into a multi-billion dollar empire.

Click here to learn more about Fortnite Marketing.

Evaluate Instagram Contest Results

Constantly track the progress of your contest from start to end. This way, you will be on top of achieving your goals at all times. If you feel you are falling behind regarding your goals during the contest, then you can put more effort into promoting your contest or increasing engagement on contest posts.

What you track is dependant on your goals. Here are some of the most common data that brands track during and after hosting a contest:

  • Email subscribers
  • Social media followers
  • Likes, shares, and comments on social media
  • Clicks to your brand’s website
  • New accounts created on your website, software downloads, or new trial accounts
  • Total participants and the top participants who were the most active during the contest

The data you gather from an Instagram contest will confirm if you have reached your goals successfully or not. Also, if you properly evaluate the data from a contest, you will be able to understand your strengths and weaknesses better when hosting a contest. 

Learning where you went wrong after evaluating your contest will be of great help the next time you host an Instagram contest. Perhaps your prize was not appropriate, or your contest landing page did not link to your website.

Your Instagram contest data will give you a better understanding of this, so the next time you will be more prepared for your shortcomings.

VYPER Free Account Signup WW

Follow up on Your Instagram Contest

Once your contest is over, it will be time to review submissions and announce the winner. This is when the terms and conditions (that were set by you) start to play an important role. You will have to use your Instagram contest rules as a guide when selecting a winner. 

If you used a voting system (e.g., ‘the post with the most likes’) to determine your winner, then you must adhere to that system. This ensures that the contest was fair to everyone that entered.

People can claim that the contest was rigged after a winner is announced. Even if you did follow the rules 100%. At least you will have proof that you are being fair. 

If you were not fair in selecting a winner, someone could investigate the contest on their own will to expose you. This can leave a negative impact on your brand and can also potentially upset the winner.

Its also recommended that you stick to the contest winner announcement date and ensure you announce the winner on the platforms that you mentioned in your terms and conditions. People are going to wait for the winner to be announced patiently. 

If you are late, people will get restless and will start messaging you directly on social media. Then you will have some explaining to do.

Using Vyper to Manage Your Instagram Contest

After reading the above guide to hosting an effective Instagram contest, you probably think that there is just too much work to be done. From planning your contest to managing the data you have collected throughout the contest. You also still have to pick out a winner.

Yes, there is plenty of hard work that you need to put into hosting a contest. But the truth is, contests are fun for both you and your audience. It would be best if you were making the most out of the contest that you are hosting and enjoy every moment instead of obsessing over the numbers that you manually collect.

Taylor Swift Contest

But how do you collect contest data, manage entries, and implement bonus actions while still having fun promoting your contest? 

You can let contest management services like VYPER manage and administer your contest. VYPER allows brands to build their very own custom contests easily. You can create a contest from scratch or with the help of a template. 

With VYPER, you don’t have to design a separate page on your website for your contest. You can easily use VYPER to build a contest landing page for free. If you still want to keep the contest on your website, then you can again use VYPER to manage your contest and simply embed your contest widget on your website to track entries. 

As far as contest management goes, VYPER can assist you with the following:

  • Manage entries by collecting a list of emails
  • Bonus actions feature
  • Manage data such as website traffic, social engagement, and new social media followers
  • Randomly selecting a winner
  • Cheat detection
VYPER Music Contest Demo

Instagram Giveaway Examples

We regularly feature Instagram Giveaway Examples in our blog posts. These examples help us to better understand what it takes to host a successful giveaway.

We analyze these giveaways to find key takeaways that you must consider when creating your own Instagram Giveaways.

Here’s a roundup of our favorite Instagram giveaway examples taken from our blog posts:

Makeup Giveaway – Laroc

Laroc Makeup Giveaway Instagram
Source: Laroc Cosmetics Instagram

Key Takeaways:

  • A partner giveaway – Laroc teamed up with Face Halo to host their Instagram giveaway. Two brands working together means more prizes that will attract more users which will then lead to more results. Both brands can also better promote the campaign and share the expenses and workload.
  • 2 Giveaway posts on Instagram – Each brand created their own Instagram posts to announce the giveaway. They both asked their followers to go and follow the other brand. Two posts by two brands for one giveaway will double your chances of going viral.
  • Worldwide Giveaway – The giveaway is open to users globally and supports multiple entries.

Camera Giveaway – Photography Tricks

Photography Tips & Tricks Giveaway
Source: @photography_tricks007 Instagram

Key Takeaways

  • It’s a camera giveaway hosted on social media to build an audience and brand presence.
  • This camera giveaway is a collaborative effort between 3 different brands. 1 massive giveaway that 3 brands can promote and benefit from. 
  • The giveaway post can easily boost engagement and get users to share the post. This will increase the chances of new users discovering the brands associated with the giveaway.

Gift Card Giveaway – Lola Blu Boutique

Lola Blu Boutique
Source: @lolabluboutique Instagram

Key Takeaways:

  • This is a gift card giveaway that creates engagement and new fans on social media.
  • Using your own store gift card reduces costs and makes it easier for brands to host giveaways regularly. 
  • An excellent example of hosting a gift card giveaway on social media (for Shopify or online stores).

Black Friday Giveaway – The Diamond Guy

The Diamond Guy Black Friday Giveaway
Source: @Thediamondguy_sa Instagram

Key Takeaways:

  • An excellent example of how to host a partner giveaway. 
  • With a partner giveaway, your brand can team up with other brands to build a larger, more desirable prize that will attract more people. This means better results for all brands to share (more followers and engagement. 
  • The Diamond guy can appeal to a broad audience of jewelry lovers. Instead, he chose to niche down to couples looking to get married (bridal niche). This is an excellent audience for him to tap into. He attracted this audience by teaming up with brands that specialize in bridal wear, suits, and other wedding accessories.

Valentine’s Day Giveaway – Bogart Beauty

Bogart Beauty Instagram Valentines Day Giveaway
Source: Instagram @BogartBeauty

Key Takeaways:

  • The main benefit of a partner giveaway is that multiple brands get together to create one huge prize. Each brand contributes something from their end towards the prize. And, each brand also helps out with promoting the campaign. A larger prize with additional help for marketing will certainly increase your chances of a successful campaign.
  • The giveaway also appeals to single women that would love to be treated on a girls night out. 
  • Users must engage with the post (comment or tag users) to enter. Following brand partners are also necessary to enter. These entry methods will ensure that engagement and follower count are increased.

New Year’s Giveaway – Zoughaib & Co.

Zoughaib & co New Year giveaway on Instagram
Source: Instagram @ZoughaibAndCo

Key Takeaways:

  • The giveaway is hosted over New Year and ends on 02 January.
  • Winners are announced on the Facebook page while the giveaway is hosted on Instagram. This strategy allows you to cross-promote your brand over multiple platforms. 
  • The entry method will ensure that the host builds more followers and increases engagement.

Instagram Contest FAQ

❓Are Instagram Contests Effective?

Contests, in general, are popular. People love to take part in contests, either competitively or casually. Online contests and social media contests have risen in popularity and have become easy to manage due to contest management services like VYPER.

Brands have been able to grow their email lists, social media profiles, and website traffic with Instagram contests. 

Contests generate tons of hype from both the brand that is hosting the contest and the audience that engages with the contest. People that take part in Instagram contests love to share their submissions. 

The same goes for those that don’t take part. They will still share contest posts with friends who might be interested in entering. Because of this, Instagram users can promote your contest for you. 

Every piece of content related to your contest will also be related to your brand. So the more your contest gets shared, the more your brand will be acknowledged. 

What Kind of Instagram Contest Should My Business Use?

It depends on your business’ goals and your brand image. A few examples of contests include:

👉 Once-off contest to generate hype for your brand – A contest in the middle of a massive summer sale

👉 Weekly or monthly contest – Works great with gaming brands. A weekly online gaming tournament. First place wins a gaming peripheral bundle

👉 UGC contest – A contest that produces tons of user-generated content. It can be anything from a selfie contest to a graphic design contest. This is an excellent way for getting Instagram users to create content that has your brand name attached to it

👉 Partner contest – Your business can partner up with another brand or an Instagram influencer to host a contest. You won’t be alone when promoting the contest, and you both can share in the success of the contest.

❓How Do I Promote an Instagram Giveaway?

Common contest promotion strategies include:

– Posting your contest to social media
– Creating blog posts on your website
– An email campaign specifically for your contest
– Custom Instagram hashtags
– Run ads on social media and Google
– Get contestants to refer family and friends to enter your contest
– User other media like podcasts, TV, radio, and newspaper

❓How Do I Generate Subscribers or Followers from My Instagram Giveaway?

If your goal is more Instagram followers, then you could request users that users must follow your Instagram profile to enter the contest. If you are looking to build your email list, then you could make submitting an email address to enter compulsory. 

Its recommended that you don’t ask for too much from users as it can make the process of entering your contest tedious. Instead, stick to just one entry requirement, then allow participants to complete bonus actions such as ‘follow us on Instagram’ or ‘read this blog post.’

❓What Must I Do Once My Instagram Giveaway Is Over?

After running a successful Instagram contest, you will have to:

– Select a winner as per your contest rules
– Research the winner to make sure that they also followed your contest rules
– Contact the winner and ask them for their personal info and the address where the prize will be delivered to. Ask for permission to use their name when announcing them as the winner
– Give the winner an idea of when to expect delivery of their prize
– Announce the winner of your contest to your new audience on the platforms that you stipulated in your terms and conditions (email, Instagram, website, etc.). 
– Ensure that you thank everyone for entering. If you are emailing contestants, try to offer them a gift for entering your contest as a good gesture. Something like a voucher for your store will be ideal.

TL;DR

There you have it. Everything you need to know about running your very own Instagram giveaway or contest. If we did leave out anything, please let us know in the comments. We will be glad to add more info to this guide.

Have you ever hosted an Instagram Giveaway? We would love to know how it turned out. Let us know in the comments below.

Jack Paxton
Jack Paxton

Jack Paxton is the co-founder of VYPER, a marketing tool that helps brands build email lists, social followings, and revenue using viral giveaways, referral, and reward programs. After millions of dollars spent testing different marketing strategies at his marketing agency. He then also co-founded Hyax a fast, conversion & design-focused course and funnel builder for creators.

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