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How to do instagram giveaway for followers


Get Fans, Not Just Followers, With a Instagram Giveaway

What's your strategy for building your Instagram audience? Many profiles focus on the number of followers - they're desperate to break that 5k, 500k or 1 million ceiling. But in the long term, your Instagram will thrive or fail based on engagement, not just numbers.

There are now 1 billion registered users on Instagram, and it continues to grow. And as the platform looks for new ways to make money, your feed is filling up with more ads and recommended posts. Long story short: if someone just clicks "follow" on your page, they may never see your posts again.

So how can you get active fans instead of passive followers? How do you get users to like, comment, and share? One tried and tested method is an Instagram giveaway. In this post, we'll talk about how to do a giveaway on Instagram, how to get the most from an contest, what you can achieve, and what you should avoid.

Get your Followers Talking

The best Instagram giveaways start with an open-ended question. Share a post and ask your followers to comment with their ideas, opinions, and stories. Here's a cute example from a babywear company, which asked parents to share stories of special memories and clothes:

Or you could run a contest where followers can pick the prize. You've seen the Insta craze for stylish water bottles - gotta get that hydration! This brand ran an Instagram giveaway where followers had to comment with the water bottle design they'd like to win.

We love giveaways like this. The photo has a neat design, and explains the whole Instagram giveaway without using too much text. When you organize a giveaway, make sure your posts and Stories look tempting. Show off the prize, and make it seem exclusive and valuable.

Bring a Friend

You can ask your followers to mention a friend in the comments. This is one big advantage of Instagram: other platforms, such as Facebook, don't allow tagging in giveaways. Just make sure that the Instagram giveaway is something with wide appeal - you don't want to be responsible for users spamming their friends.

For example... food seems like a safe choice! This Papa John's franchise gave away 5 deliveries of their Cinnamon Pull Apart bread. Their followers just had to tag the friend they like to snack with. And that big, glossy photo was carefully designed to trigger cravings. We're getting hungry just looking at it.

Mix your media

Remember that most of your followers are using several different social networks. And chances are, you're posting in multiple places too. Use a giveaway to bounce users between your different social media profiles and content.

Sound complicated? It doesn't have to be! Here's a simple example from a leading French cookware brand. They shared a cooking video on their app. Then, they asked their Instagram followers to answer a question about the video, to win an automatic food processor.

If you'd like to combine followers from your different socials, then try a multi-network giveaway. You'll get the same benefits for your online audience, without the hassle of organizing contests on each individual network.

Now Follow Up

Of course, it's not enough to run a single giveaway and then forget about your followers. You need to keep the conversation going and maintain the relationship. Here are a few things to try:

  • Run a giveaway series, with a weekly trivia contest or theme,=.
  • Create puzzles for your followers. One simple method: share part of an image in your Stories. When followers find the full photo on your profile, they can enter the giveaway in the comments.
  • Share live updates in your Stories: count down to the prize draw, announce winners, and post their reaction.
  • Ask your followers what the next giveaway should be.

Here's a great example of following up, from a craft liquor distillery. First, they shared a giveaway with tickets to an exclusive event, and asked followers to tag their friends:

Then they used their Stories to share winners' reactions, drinks and menus from the event, and other guests' snaps:

Giveaway Implementation Options

As we mentioned above, Instagram giveaways are a fantastic way to build engagement, followers and brand recognition. The first thing you will have to decide when creating your giveaway is the implementation of it. Is it better for you brand to go with a native Instagram giveaway or use a 3rd party app.

The benefits of using a 3rd party app like VYPER is that you have much more flexibility on how you incentives your social actions. The other additional benefit is that you can actually collect the users email etc.

Ideally you want to leverage a lead as much as possible so by using a 3rd party app you can reward multiple actions such as follow, tag friends, upload and tag or even a regram. If you chose to use a native giveaway, these are limited but you might have a higher engagement as there is not as much effort required on the participants end. So before you plan out your giveaway, decide if you want to run it through a 3rd party app or natively on Instagram.

One Last Thing

Instagram giveaways are a fantastic tool: they're quick, affordable, and effective. But there are limits to what you can do. Social networks are cracking down on spam accounts right now. Make sure you know the rules, or risk having your account suspended.

Here's what you can't do with an Instagram giveaway:

  • Require users to follow you. There's no way to confirm who follows you as part of a comments contest.
  • Require users' friends to follow you. Again, there's no way to confirm followers - and asking users to spam their friends is an unpopular move.
  • Require users to repost your photos and Stories

Of course, you can invite followers to do all these things. And if you're offering great prizes, many people will choose to follow you, all on their own. But you can't push or demand. And as we said at the beginning… that kind of forced engagement is no good for your audience in the end. When you create a genuine connection, then your online users become more than just followers. They become fans. And that's when your audience will really start to grow.

How to Host an Instagram Giveaway: A Step-by-step Guide

If you want to grow your following on Instagram, hosting a giveaway can be one of the most effective tactics.

With the right strategy, you can reach thousands of potential new followers -- all while building a stronger sense of community around your brand.

Ready to get started? We're sharing everything you need to know to plan the perfect Instagram giveaway in this guide.

Table of Contents:

  1. Why You Should Host an Instagram Giveaway

  2. How to Do a Giveaway on Instagram

  3. How to Pick a Winner on Instagram

  4. 3 Instagram Giveaway Ideas

Why You Should Host an Instagram Giveaway

Instagram giveaways are a powerful tactic for encouraging engagement from your community and reaching new audiences.

Accounts that host giveaways hold the potential to attract hundreds, if not thousands, of entries and followers.  

In fact, a study conducted by Tailwind found that Instagram giveaways can help grow your followers 70% faster in three months than if you didn’t host a contest at all. 

Source: Tailwind

But brands and businesses can often see drop-offs once the giveaway is closed.

So it’s all about hosting intentional, well-planned giveaways that attract your target audience -- so you can reach  people who actually want to stick around and engage with your content. 

Find out how in our step-by-step guide below.

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How to Do a Giveaway on Instagram: A Step-by-step Guide

Instagram giveaways may seem straightforward, but there's a huge difference between a good giveaway and a great one.

A great Instagram giveaway will support your overarching marketing goals, tap into your target audience, and support your brand values.

Step #1: Determine Your Marketing Goals 

The first step towards running a successful Instagram contest is to understand what you want to achieve.

The best and most successful Instagram contests are intentional and well thought out, with a clear underlying goal.

Do you want to grow your following? Give back to your community? Promote a product? Boost brand awareness? Raise awareness of a social issue? Increase engagement? Show affinity with another brand?

Having a crystal clear vision of your goals will help fine-tune your strategy and keep your campaign on track.

Step #2: Decide on an Instagram Giveaway Prize 

Next up, it’s important to consider exactly what you’ll be giving away --  a compelling prize that elicits excitement and motivates users to enter is the name of the game. 

Make sure the prize is relevant and fits your audience’s needs. Whether it’s a ​​product, service, or experience, you’ll want to choose a prize that’s enticing to both your existing and target audience.  

You can get super creative here. if you were to partner with another brand, what brand does your audience really love? What products or experiences would make your community feel great right now?

And it doesn't have to be something directly within your industry. For example, beauty retailer SpaceNK partnered with a luxury retreat destination to offer their community the opportunity to win an exclusive getaway.

When you have a few ideas lined up, test them out! Ask a few of your community members if they'd be excited by the opportunity to win the prize, and whether they'd be motivated enough to like, tag friends in, or share the post.

Step #3: Set the Entry Criteria 

Once you've got your eye on the prize, you'll need to define how someone can enter your giveaway. This will all depend on your goals (see Step #1).

For example, if your top goal is to attract new followers, you'll want to make sure that following your account is part of the entry requirements. You might also want to specify that entrants must tag 3-5 friends to be eligible.

You’ll also need to cover some of the admin details, such as:

  • How long will the contest run for? Specify closing dates and don’t forget to include timezones.

  • Will your contest be open to certain countries?

  • Is there an age limit? If your contest is only open to ages 18 and above, note that.

  • Include  Instagram’s

    regarding promotions on the app.

These details may seem a little boring, but transparency is key for a successful giveaway.

Step #4: Promote Your Instagram Giveaway 

Now it’s time to launch your giveaway. 

For example, if you’re on Instagram, announce your contest through a grid post, story, and Reel -- take advantage of all avenues. 

​​Be sure to use a strong image for the post itself and include a clear call-to-action in your caption to encourage as many entries as possible.

For the best results, don't forget to share your announcement post at your best time to post.  

If your brand lives on multiple platforms (aka Twitter, TikTok, Facebook) consider cross-promoting for additional reach. 

TIP: Re-promote your Instagram giveaway on stories before the contest ends!

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How to Pick a Winner on Instagram 

If you want to host an Instagram giveaway, it's important to have a fair and objective process in place to select a winner.

To do this, you can manually add all entries to a spreadsheet and use the random function to generate a winner. However, this can be quite a time-consuming process.

Alternatively, you can use an automated system to speed things up, such as:

  • Easypromos Easypromos uses the official Instagram API to import all the comments from your giveaway post to help determine if users entered the contest correctly and help you randomly select a winner.

  • Instagram Comment Picker This free and trusted tool does all the heavy lifting for you by selecting a random name from any contest ran through an Instagram Business or Creator account.

  • Wishpond Wishpond allows you to easily manage and monitor your Instagram giveaway by ​​keeping track of all entries -- their tools will help you determine a randomized winner.

Whichever option you choose, always make sure your process is fair and (if required) transparent. Trust is important on Instagram -- and a sketchy giveaway can do more harm to a brand's reputation than good.

3 Inspiring Instagram Giveaway Ideas

As we've already covered, there are tons of ways you can approach an Instagram giveaway. 

To provide some context, here are three different tactics you can take inspiration from:

#1: Introduce the Triple Threat: Tag, Follow, and Share to Enter

One of the most popular strategies to gain social traction is through a tag, follow, and share entry requirement. This format is a super straightforward and clear way to gain tons of engagement from various lanes on a single post.

F.Miller used this tactic like a pro by asking users to tag a friend for a chance to win their fifth-anniversary Necessity Kit.

#2: Partner with a Brand that Taps into Your Target Audience

Not only is teaming up with a like-minded brand an easy way to leverage their audience, it's also a great way to ensure you're attracting the right followers.

Think about it: double the traction, double the engagement. It's a win-win. 

For example, Fresh Restaurants collaborated with their health enthusiast neighbor, Spinco to launch the ultimate workout package giveaway. 

In a combination of various social requirements, users had to follow both accounts, like the post, tag their favorite workout buddy, and share on their Instagram Story for five additional entries -- generating a lot of engagement. 

#3: Generate a Social Buzz With a Task-based Entry 

For a creative spin on an entry, you can ask your followers to whip up a caption, answer a question, or create a piece of content to enter your giveaway.   

This type of entry requires a little more effort from users, but it's an awesome way to build brand loyalty and wider awareness. 

For example, documentary maker Louis Theroux encouraged his audience to redesign the cover of his new book, Gotta Get Theroux This, for the chance to win a signed copy.

This creative concept amassed over 13K likes and 585 comments, while the contributions were shared widely on social.

With a slew of audience-building advantages, Instagram contests are a treasure-trove for driving engagement.

Brands both large and small are taking advantage of Instagram giveaways to increase visibility, drive social shares, and boost brand awareness.

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How to run a giveaway on Instagram in 2022

After creating an online store on Instagram, the page needs to be promoted to attract customers. One of the best ways to do this is by giving away prizes. In this article, we will tell you how to conduct draws, about their varieties and the goals that they solve.

What is the purpose of Instagram giveaways and contests? But contests have their own special benefits, which are especially useful on Instagram. By using this promotion method, you will increase user engagement. They will start mentioning you, liking, commenting on your posts and sharing posts more often. Profile engagement and mentions are important success factors in the social network, without which page promotion is impossible. By making your profile more recognizable, you will attract subscribers and new customers. You can read more about this in the article about Instagram algorithms in 2022. nine0003

How to run an Instagram raffle based on comments

Before the raffle, it is important to decide on the prize that the winner will receive. This approach will be correct for any type of draw. In the case of an online store, the best gift will be a product or a discount on purchases. After you choose a prize, you can think through the rest of the details of the draw.

The mechanics of the draw based on comments is extremely simple - the user needs to leave a comment under the post with the action. What kind of comment it will be depends on the conditions of the competition. If you want to add interactivity, then, for example, invite users to tell why they subscribed to you. It is not necessary to complicate the competition too much, so as not to discourage people from participating. nine0003

It's best to allow any comments, but with the condition that subscribers like the post and tag their friends. Clarify that you can leave an unlimited number of comments and this will increase the chances of winning. You will solve two problems at once - increase engagement and attract new users to your page. Thanks to active commenting, the post will be promoted on Instagram and attract additional attention.

MasterZoo prank got 1292 comments with 9 friends tagged0006 There is no need to delay the drawing by comments. The optimal duration is one to two weeks. After that, you can choose the winner. To do this, use randomizers that will give out a random number and this comment will be the winner. Also, there are specialized services for choosing winners, such as YouToGift or LIZONAIR.

The store posted a video with the process of choosing the winner in stories

The draw through stories

The draw through stories is in many ways similar to the draw by comments. You need to make a post with a contest, and users need to write under it. The main condition is that they must repost the contest to their stories and mark your profile. The point is that regular reposts to the feed are less effective. Firstly, users make them reluctantly so as not to clog their page, and secondly, stories are viewed more often than regular posts. nine0003 Comfy combined the mechanics of drawing through stories and comments

The winner is selected according to the already familiar scheme, with the help of a randomizer. Stories are stored for 24 hours, so it is advisable to hold the draw in a short time. But even if the history disappears, you can still check if the user has fulfilled the condition. By going to direct, you will see a notification about the mark.

Despite the relative complexity of the organization of the draw, it allows you to reach a large audience. Thanks to the repost, the subscribers of your subscribers will see the post and, possibly, go to your profile. The draw through stories will give impetus to the development of new pages with a small number of readers. This effect can be enhanced by enlisting the help of popular bloggers. We wrote earlier about how to order advertising from bloggers. nine0003

Draw through hashtags

The essence of the draw through hashtags is that users make thematic posts on their pages, according to your conditions. For example, you will announce a competition for the best photo with your products and come up with a special hashtag for it. To participate in the contest, the user must post a post, tag you and write a hashtag. The winner will be the one who gets the most likes or who you choose yourself.

The hashtag draw is suitable for profiles that already have an impressive audience of subscribers. The competition will further promote the brand. Pay attention to the prize - make it valuable so that users have an incentive to complete your task and be original. Here are some contest ideas you can use:

  • a story about his acquaintance with the store;

  • product display in action;

  • unpacking of goods;

  • short video review of the product;

  • holiday themed photo.

A jewelry store came up with a draw through hashtags with difficult conditions, but valuable prizes

Conclusion

Instagram pranks cost you little but promote your profile well. Start with a simple comment raffle that works for profiles with any number of followers. And then try all kinds of pranks and see which one will be the most successful. But remember that all efforts to promote the store on Instagram can be multiplied by zero if the account is blocked. To accumulate your success, we recommend opening an online store with a separate website where users from Instagram will go. nine0003

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How to run a contest or giveaway on Instagram

Contests and giveaways on Instagram provide an opportunity to increase the engagement of subscribers, reach new audiences and increase brand awareness. But before you start the first activity, you need to familiarize yourself with some important rules.

Draw difference from the competition

How to run a contest or giveaway on Instagram

How to draw on Instagram comments

How to draw on stories

Creative contest ideas

based on data

More details

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on Instagram with clear conclusions and advice ------ on account promotion

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Difference between a giveaway and an Instagram contest

between two terms. These are not interchangeable words at all, but completely different activities, with their own rules.

Draw is a free game of chance. Participants perform simple actions, for example, write comments, mark / repost in stories, subscribe, put likes. Among them, the one who will receive the prize is randomly selected. nine0003

Competition is a prize promotion where participants complete activities or tasks that can be scored. Here you need to show your skills and show your skills. Unlike free giveaways, there can be different conditions for participating in a contest: paid entry, purchase of a product, a review about you or your service, a photo of a participant with a product, some kind of creative task, etc.

How to run a contest or draw on Instagram

In order for the contest/draw to go smoothly, you need to indicate all the conditions and organizational points so that you are not bombarded with questions in Direct, and users do not have questions about the honesty of the results. nine0067

Timing

Clearly define the date and time when you will start and finish accepting applications, taking into account the time zone.

Restrictions for participation

Announce the restrictions for participation, if any: age, location, type of account (for example, to keep it open during the contest/draw).

Conditions of entry

Describe all the steps to enter a contest or sweepstakes. For example, write a funny caption for a photo in a comment and follow your account. Like and tag friends in the comments, etc. nine0003

The winner and his prize

Specify how many winners are planned, how and when they will be chosen, randomly or according to some criteria. Will there be a recording of the summing up or a live broadcast will be organized. Explain how the winner will receive the prize and who pays for shipping.

Explain how the winner finds out about the prize. Maybe it will be a separate post dedicated to the results and you will mark the winner. Or just send the winner a private message in Direct.

It is worth considering that the more actions you ask participants to perform, the higher the value of the prize should be - people need an incentive. To have as many participants in the contest/draw as possible, you can run ads or use free promotion methods.

Before starting the draw/competition, we recommend creating response templates in LiveDune, they will allow you to quickly answer the same type of questions in Direct.

Prize options for contests and sweepstakes

The key to a successful contest is a good valuable prize for your audience, otherwise users simply won't want to participate. For extra stimulation, multiple winners can be made (depending on budget), as the more chances users see to win, the more likely they are to participate.

Gift options:

  • Brands can give away some of their products. For example, a women's clothing store will present a dress from a new collection. If the company offers services - a certificate for a certain amount or access to the service. nine0036
  • Bloggers can also give away a certificate for a store or their own information product. It can be anything: a place on a course, a personal consultation, an individual training program, a recipe book, etc.

You can also get ideas from competitors. Analyze which contest posts got the most comments and likes, most likely, it was the prize that helped to get such a reaction.

How to draw on Instagram comments

The purpose of the giveaway: increase engagement, reach and attract new subscribers.

Variations of conditions:

  • participation from a real and non-commercial, open page;
  • following an account and liking posts;
  • repost in stories;
  • tag friends in comments;
  • in addition, you can ask in the comments to tell about yourself or share your opinion.

How to sum up the draw: connect your account to LiveDune and use the "Monitoring" module to upload comments from the desired post to Excel. This is a quick and convenient way, even if there are several thousand comments under the post with the draw. nine0003

    Next, turn on screen recording or broadcast live. In the randomizer of numbers, enter a range of numbers - the number of participants in the drawing, in this case, the number of uploaded comments. For example, if you uploaded 2500 comments, specify the range from 1 to 2500. Click on the "Generate" button.

    The resulting number is your winner. Go to the Excel file with comments and find the participant with the winning number (in our case 73). Check the participant for fulfillment of all conditions of the draw , announce the winner and write him the good news. You can duplicate the total in stories and post by adding a mention of the winner.

      How to draw in stories

      The rules of the draw for stories are based on the same principles as for comments. The difference is that there are only 24 hours to fulfill all the conditions. Also, drawing on stories is completely convenient, since you need to manually look at each mark and give the participant a serial number. nine0003

      According to the standard conditions, the participant must repost the post with the draw or a screenshot, post it in his stories, adding a mention of the organizer. After that, the organizer receives a notification in Direct, where he awards the participant a serial number and sends it back in a message. The winner is then chosen using a randomizer.