Every small or big brand strives for user attention on Instagram. Online eCommerce stores, small businesses, influencers, beauty brands, bloggers, restaurants feel stuck due to a lack of following and less engagement on their posts.
Hosting a great giveaway on Instagram is one of the most incredible ways to build brand awareness, drive engagement, increase followers and grow more sales in the future.
You can also host instant win money sweepstakes if it resonates with your brand. But, if we talk about hosting Instagram giveaways, well there are plenty of benefits.
- It boosts your follower base, engagement count, and enhance brand awareness
- Build good relationships with current followers
- Engages current followers and build an emotional connection
- Motivate your audience to connect and engage more
- Amplify your brand’s trustworthiness
- Add excitement for your products or services
- Giveaways are cost-effective and easy to setup
7 Steps to Run an Instagram Giveaway
Here are the following steps on how to run a contest on Instagram. Let’s discuss each one in detail:
1. Set Your Goal
This is the first thing that you need to decide when you create an Instagram giveaway. If you don’t identify your goal, you won’t have an idea what you’re trying to achieve from a contest and end up giving away the prize for free.
Different types of goals that you can set for your Instagram giveaway include – increasing Instagram followers, generating user-generated content, boosting posts engagement, growing website visitors, boosting email subscribers, and increasing product awareness.
2. Master Collaboration With Brands
Make sure that brands or influence you collaborate with are of the same niche so you can grow your presence on Instagram and generate more and more traffic. If you are joining hands with a brand then the contest participants have to follow each and every brand to enter and win.
The influencer you have partnered with will post your contest announcement on their Instagram profile to help you get a loyal customer base. If your objective is to boost your Instagram presence then this has to be the ideal way to attract a wider audience.
3. Follow Instagram Rules
There are certain Instagram terms and conditions that as a host you must adhere to avoid being kicked off this platform.
- To prevent legal troubles, try to use the terms, ‘sweepstakes’, ‘contests’, or ‘giveaways’
- Name the sponsor running the giveaway
- Include ‘How to Enter’ details
- Mention the complete details of prizes
- Include eligibility requirements
- Mention how the prize will be shipped to winners
- Mention the contest duration
4. Choose the Ideal Prize For Your Audience
The prize at the end of the contest is the only thing that entices the users. So, it must be relevant to your brand and the one that your audience needs. This way, you get people interested in your business’s offerings.
Now, you must be wondering what prizes you can offer. Well, there are a lot of options including your business services (loyalty points or free membership), your gift card or store credit, and a prize package containing your own products.
5. Finalize the Giveaway Duration
Choose the right duration for your Instagram giveaway which can be 1 day, 1 week, or 2 weeks depending upon the goal of running it. Many sponsors stick to a 7-day campaign as it increases the sense of urgency and creates buzz among the contest participants.
Besides, the duration of your sweepstake should match the prize amount.
6. Create the Amazing Instagram Giveaway Post
Make an effort to create a highly captivating and high-quality giveaway post to attract the attention of your users. Two important elements that need to be included in your contest post are colorful images and text announcing the giveaway.
Create a visually appealing and attractive image to make it stand out from your competitor’s posts. For the giveaway text, you can use emoticons, emojis, mentions, and hashtags to expand your user reach.
Once you have finished creating that perfect post for your giveaway, launch it. The next step would be to promote it to make it viral globally.
7. Select a Winner
Once the Instagram giveaway is over, it’s time to announce the winner. There are a lot of Instagram Giveaway Picker tools that you can use to choose a winner from your Instagram giveaway and avoid fraud.
After you have selected the winner from a big lot of participants, do cross-check whether he/she has followed the rules or not. Contact the winner through a message to send them a notification of their prize. You can even publish their name through a campaign story, post, or DM.
We’d be highly elated if this comprehensive guide helps you conduct a successful sweepstake contest on the Instagram platform. Just follow the above steps properly and accomplish your well-defined goals. As you attract the target users, you’ll have more engaged followers that will help you meet your social media marketing goals on time.