How to run an Instagram giveaway
Did you know that an Instagram giveaway could help your account grow 70% faster in three months than if you didn’t host a contest?
Before we get stuck into my top tips, a quick Ted Talk from yours truly on Instagram and social media in general:
Like any growth or social media tactic, it’s important to be realistic with your goals for giveaways, consistently try new things and ultimately not be disheartened if one technique doesn’t catapult you to Insta-fame.
Most importantly, remember that vanity metrics (like followers) aren’t the be-all, if you have 10k followers that are spam accounts and not engaging, that’s much less effective than having 100 engaged followers who will buy from you!
Collaborate to host an Instagram giveaway
I’ve popped this point first, as if you are running a joint Instagram giveaway it will impact all the below steps! Collaborating with another brand or influencer can widen the reach and impact of your giveaway.
Consider collaborating with accounts that have your dream audience! It’s likely that your account will also have its dream audience too.
Not only does collaborating mean that you can give away a bigger/ better prize, but you can also use the Collab feature. This feature is a gamechanger because it means your giveaway post will feature on BOTH your profiles. This means that all your collaborator’s followers will see the post on their feed AND it means all engagements will pool on one post.
You 🤝 Me
— Instagram (@instagram) October 19, 2021
We’re launching Collabs, a new way to co-author Feed posts and Reels.
Invite an account to be a collaborator:
✅Both names will appear on header
✅Share to both sets of followers
✅Live on both profile grids
✅Share views, likes and comments pic.twitter.com/0pBYtb9aCK
Selecting a prize
So, whether or not you’re collaborating, you still have to select a prize! In my experience, it’s better to offer ‘real things’ rather than gift vouchers. I know gift vouchers seem easy and provide people with choice BUT in general, people love things, and they are more likely to share pics of their prizes (especially if you make the parcel Instagrammable).
Once you have your prize ready, set about creating an asset to support it. Again, there are always exceptions, but I would recommend an asset that clearly shows ‘giveaway’ or ‘win’ on it. If you don’t do this, be sure the caption starts with caps, emojis ETC that exclaim: “THIS IS A GIVEAWAY”.
Writing a killer caption for your Instagram giveaway
Your caption should clearly state:
- What they can win
- How to enter
- When it closes
- Who the competition is open to
- How winners will be contacted
- And clearly state the competition is not sponsored by IG
- You should really have T&Cs for the competition too, these can be hosted on your site
Keep it organic
Again, this is a pointer from personal experience. Unless you’re a big brand, in which case, I’m shocked you’re here, I would recommend sticking to organically promoting your giveaway. If you’re not a household name, a random Instagram ad is unlikely to secure you entries or follows.
When thinking about terms for entry, I would consider adding ‘sharing on stories’ as a bonus entry option. This provides you with a big organic reach without putting off more private users. I would create a spreadsheet or document tracking bonus entries, noting someone’s Instagram handle.
Keeping momentum
So, you’ve created your giveaway, what’s next? It’s important to make the most of Instagram’s features to amplify your competition.
When posting your competition also consider using the new ‘add reminder’ feature too. This means those who enter can track the closing date AND you can easily share a countdown to the giveaway closing date on your stories.
Lastly, as Reels have the opportunity for big organic reach, you could also consider creating Reels that showcase the prize. While the Reel itself wouldn’t be the giveaway, when sharing to your stories you can use the ‘link’ feature to redirect people to your giveaway post and mention in the Reel caption, that to win the prize you need to visit your profile.
Selecting a winner
Phew! You’ve run a killer Instagram giveaway and have lots of entries! How do you pick a winner? The manual way would be to create a spreadsheet with all user handles on it, including duplicates for bonus entries. Then simply use a random number generator to decide who the winner is!
Or, if you’re lazy (like me!) you can use a free tool like CommentPicker to connect your Facebook and link to the giveaway post.
