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How to win a contest on instagram


How to Run an Instagram Contest: A 10-Step Guide

With more than 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram has established itself as an obvious platform for brands looking to expand their reach and engage with their audience.

Figuring out how to launch a successful Instagram contest, however, is much less obvious. Sure, it sounds like an effective strategy for stirring up conversation -- it capitalizes on user generated content (UGC) and typically requires very little commitment for participants. But where do you start? And how can you be sure that you're covering all the bases?

How to Run an Instagram Contest: A 10-Step Guide

To help give you some direction, we put together a detailed list of steps to run through when planning an engaging Instagram contest. From setting goals to monitoring submissions, we've covered all of the basics below -- and we've included some inspirational examples along the way. Check it out ...

Disclaimer: This blog post includes some information on legal issues surrounding internet marketing, but legal information is not the same as legal advice -- applying the law to a specific circumstance. We’ve conducted research to better ensure that our information is accurate and useful, but we insist that you talk to a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is accurate. In a nutshell, you may not rely on this information as legal advice, nor as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular legal understanding, and you should instead see this post’s info as for entertainment purposes only.

1. Plan objectives and goals.

Before you dive into an Instagram marketing contest, it’s important to plan it out first. The key to running a successful contest is to have a purpose -- one that aligns with the interests and behaviors of your target audience.

Whether you're looking to grow your brand presence on Instagram or build out your list of followers, it's important that you set a specific goal so that you're not left wondering whether or not you were successful in the end.

To help narrow your focus, think about the audience you’re trying to reach: What kinds of posts do they like seeing on your account? What kinds of posts do they enjoy posting on their own feeds? How do they behave on the platform? If you're looking to drum up a lot of engagement, you should aim to center your goals and purpose around content that your audience actually wants to post and engage with.

Don’t forget to establish a time frame and budget for your contest, as determining these logistical details upfront will help you design a more effective contest.

2. Create an entry method.

Although the most effective and engaging Instagram contests are those that actually prompt your audience to post their own photos, there are number of different ways brands can create contests on Instagram. Because of this, it’s important to establish and emphasize what it takes for your audience to actually enter the contest.

Here are some ideas for how your audience might enter your contest:

  • Have your audience post a photo or a video to Instagram with a specific hashtag and a specific theme.
  • Have your audience solely follow you or do so in addition to creating a post.
  • Have your audience tag your brand in their post.
  • Have your audience Like or comment on one of your posts.

(For more ideas, click here.)

Make sure you establish what the guidelines are for entering the contest, and make that clear on your promotional materials. Maybe your contest is centered around a hashtag that doesn’t include your brand name. If you still want your brand to be tagged to gain recognition, you have to make that clear in your rules.

3. Find the perfect hashtag.

A good hashtag is a key to any engaging Instagram contest. Without it, there’s no link between the contest and the content being generated. In other words, hashtags help create brand and/or contest recognition by serving as a mechanism for sharing and driving participation.

Trouble is, creating the perfect hashtag can be tricky. If your contest is going to have a time frame (and it should), you want to create a hashtag that you’re not going to want to use over and over again. Not to mention, there are tons of hashtags being created each day, making it difficult to land on something unique and catchy.

To help you come up with the best fit, consider these contest hashtag guidelines:

  • Short: Create a hashtag that sticks in people’s minds. The more readable and identifiable your hashtag is, the better it is for your contest.
  • Relevant: Make sure you’re creating a hashtag that is very clearly related back to your brand name, product, or services. If you settle on a generic, crowded hashtag such as #ThrowbackThursday, it's likely that you'll have a hard time figuring out who your participants actually are.
  • Memorable: Users are likely to see promotions for your contest prior to actually posting the content. This means your hashtag needs to be memorable enough for users to think about it once and remember to act sometime later. Try to make your hashtag catchy, easy to search, and easy to write. Avoid weird spellings and confusing word choices.
  • Universal: Think about your audience. Does everyone speak the same language or use similar words? If you have an international audience, make sure you’re careful about using slang words or region-specific terms that might confuse people.
  • Rare: Do a search before you choose a hashtag. Are there lots of users using your ideal hashtag for some other purposes? If so, you may want to head back to the drawing board.
An example of an effective, engaging hashtag:

Mint.com, an online personal budgeting and financial management company, hosted their #MyMintMoment contest.

The contest was well-designed for a number of reasons, one of which is its hashtag. The hashtag -- #MyMintMoment -- is simple, short, memorable, and easy to understand. It stayed on-brand and had a clear theme.

The goal of the contest was to get users to post about the things they were saving for. Participants posted pictures of tattoos, vacations, weddings, children, cars -- you name it.

This is a great example of an effective hashtag, but it’s also a great example of how UGC can be used to drive marketing decisions. Think about it: Mint asked participants to share posts about things they were saving for. Sounds like an easy way to gain insight surrounding the unique motives and interests that fuel the usage of their service, doesn't it?

4. Clearly define a theme.

Because most Instagram contests are UGC-based, it’s important to pick a theme so your users know what kinds of pictures and videos to post.

Ideally, you want to a pick a theme that aligns with your market, product, or services. But you can also take advantage of holidays, seasons, and events that align with your product or brand.

An example of an effective theme:

Last summer, D Magazine, a city and lifestyle magazine based in Dallas, used the Texas summer heat to create an effective #StayCoolDallas contest. The contest encouraged participants to submit photos of ways to stay cool in the Dallas heat. Submissions included everything from cold drinks at favorite bars and restaurants to fun summer activities.

This contest and hashtag worked particularly well because of the double meaning of the word “cool” -- which ultimately left room for participants to get creative with their interpretations. This is a great example of how to make engagement super easy.

While the hashtag wasn't totally brand-specific, the theme was very much in line with their brand and passion for all things Dallas. And as a result of the contest, they were left with a ton of new material to get ideas for their next issue.

5. Decide how winners will be chosen.

Part of a well-designed contest is informing your participants of how the winner will be chosen. Most contests are determined based on one of two ways: a vote or a jury. Let's explore how each option works ...

Voting:

A great way to boost the virality of your contest is to have participants compete for the most Likes. If the prize is valuable enough, your participants will likely share their posts with their friends across channels in order to get as many Likes as possible.

This strategy helps maximize your audience’s reach. At the same time, it can be detrimental to your contest, as you run into issues with folks using “Like bots” to gain artificial Likes. To avoid any complications here, you'll want to put forth very specific rules that address the use of these types of workarounds.

Jury:

For the sake of quality and overall fairness, the jury method is the clear winner. With the jury method, you select a group of experts to decide upon a winner, rather than relying on a voting system.

There are pros and cons to votes or juries, but no matter the way you choose, make sure to clearly state your method so your users know what they’re vying for. Many brands choose to have a mixed-method approach and use a combination of voting and jury to determine the winner.

6. Choose an appropriate award.

When determining what the award for you contest should be, you need to consider your target audience, your budgetary constraints, and how aggressive your goals are.

Remember that by asking your audience to participate in the contest, you’re asking them to take action on something. As with any effort like this, you'll need the value of the prize to outweigh the cost and energy required to enter the contest. While people might gloss over an opportunity to win a free t-shirt, it's likely that they'd be willing to jump through a few hoops for something like a free trip.

While your prize should match the entry action, it should also align with the interests of your target audience. Ask yourself: What might my target audience like to have? Your list of answers for this -- budget not considered -- might be huge. Sure, everyone wants that free trip we mentioned earlier, but that's not the point. The goal is to find a prize that's both valuable and relevant to your brand.

Gift cards, free services, coupons, giveaways, and product goodie bags are all common prizes that brands use for contests, but we’re always in favor of getting creative, too.

Example of a creative contest prize:

One of our favorite examples of contest prizes was Sperry’s Photo Real Design Contest. Sperry encouraged users to post “epic photos” that represented an “odyssey.”

Participants then submitted photos of all kinds of things -- nature shots, colorful art, real people, etc. -- to be judged based on creativity and the number of Likes it received.

The winner that was chosen received a unique pair of Sperry shoes featuring their photo. Talk about a creative prize, right? Not to mention, it served as a great example of how brands can use contests to inspire real product ideas.

7. Create terms & conditions.

Don’t forget that when you create a competition with a prize, you must follow legal guidelines. The laws that will apply to you depend on where you’re based and who you allow to enter your contest, so you should consult your lawyer for help drafting your terms and conditions. Creating a terms & conditions page is a must.

Here are some common terms people include:

  • The name and contact details of the promoting brand
  • The dates of the contest
  • The rules of who can enter (such as age and employee restrictions)
  • The guidelines for how people enter
  • The guidelines for how a winner is chosen
  • The date and way winners will be announced
  • The date and way the winner will be informed
  • The time period the winner has to respond and claim their prize
  • The specific of the prize (including number of prizes, description of prizes, and any caveats)
  • The details of how the prize will be delivered
  • Acknowledge that the promotion isn’t sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram or any other social media used throughout the contest.

Note: Check out Instagram’s Promotion guidelines and make sure to comply with their rules.

8. Promote like crazy.

Now that you've got a solid plan in place, it’s time to promote the heck out of your contest.

Where's the best place to start spreading the word? The possibilities are seemingly endless, but here are a few ideas to inspire your promotion efforts:

  • Your blog. Write a post on your site detailing the contest, and use it as a launch point for your contest's landing page.
  • Social media. What better place to launch a social media contest than on social media? Direct your existing followers to the contest by including a shortened link in your bio and referencing that link in your promotional posts.

  • Email. Extend the invitation to participate to your email subscribers by sending over a quick and friendly email to announce the offer.

9. Monitor submissions.

Monitoring both your promotional efforts and the level of participation during your contest is essential for meeting your goals and creating a plan to follow up on your contest.

Make sure to determine what metrics you’d like to use and how you’ll keep track of them. Here are some metrics to consider using:

  • Number of submissions - Total number of posts submitted in compliance with your terms and conditions.
  • Likes per submission - Helps you keep track of potential winners if your contest is decided by vote.
  • Number of participants - If users can submit more than one submission, how many unique participants contributed to your contest?
  • Top participants - Who shared the most content during your campaign? Keeping track of this helps you better engage with your biggest fans.
  • Total Likes - Measures the total number of Likes on all submissions in your contest.
  • Total reach - Captures the number of followers of your participants at the time of submission. Meant to show you the potential reach of your campaign.
  • Follower growth during contest - Measure how much your following increased during the contest’s time period.

If your current audience is relatively small, and you don’t expect more than 30 submissions to your contest, you may decide to monitor your contest manually. To do this, assign someone the task of keeping track of submissions each day. At the end of the contest, someone will have to go through each submission and measure and write down the results from each submission.

If you’re monitoring your contest manually, try using a tool like Tagboard or Google Alerts to keep track of when your hashtag is being mentioned online, making it easier to track submissions. (HubSpot customers: You can set up a custom Stream in your Social Monitoring tool to keep tabs on a specific hashtag. Learn more here.)

If you’re expecting well over 30 submissions, however, you can imagine how difficult monitoring your submissions might be. If that's the case, you may want to explore an Instagram-specific tool such as Iconosquare.

10. Follow up accordingly.

Once the contest is over, you can’t forget to follow up on the rules you set in the first place. Keep your terms and conditions in mind when reviewing the submissions to ensure that you're being 100% fair in your evaluation.

Again, this is why establishing your terms and conditions early on is so important, as it will provide you with an documented plan for selecting, contacting, and awarding the winner.

Once you've selected and notified the winner, don't forget to make the announcement publicly. Here's an example of how to do so from D Magazine's #StayCoolDallas contest:

Instagram Contest Ideas

Now that you know how to run a contest, you'll need to dream up ways to make your contest interesting, compelling, and appropriate for your brands. Here are some of the top contest ideas for Instagram:

1. Caption Contest

The perfect caption can make or break an Instagram post, so why not source the creativity of your audience and get some laughs along the way?

The caption contest is a great choice for Instagram because it allows your audience to stop and think about the contest (and, in effect, your brand) while providing a low-friction way for them to participate.

2. User-Generated Content

User-generated content — or any content produced by unpaid contributors — is a win/win for a brand. They get to participate and possibly win prizes; you get to enjoy extended reach by tapping into your audience's audiences (say that 10 times fast). Not to mention that your brand benefits from the social proof of de facto testimonials from their participation.

Plus, to get even more mileage from the contest, you can ask participants' permission to feature their content on your channels, giving you more content to promote.

3. Trivia Contest

With a trivia contest, you're challenging your audience to demonstrate what they know. This encourages engagement on your posts and generates awareness for your brand and/or the topic that you're shining the spotlight on. All you have to do is ask a question and reward those who get the answer correct. That reward may come in the form of a prize or as entry to win a prize.

4. Engage to Win

These types of contests are perhaps one of the more popular on Instagram because they solicit direct engagement as a way to enter. This may come in the form of likes, follows, shares, or tagging people. By doing this, you receive a ton of engagement as a result of the incentive, and this can increase your brand reach.

5. 1 Like 1 Vote

This contest usually relies on user-generated content but takes it a step further. The content gets promoted, and the audience is asked to vote (with a like) on the best entry, whether it's a song, drawing, selfie, or other showcase of talent/personality. For this reason, your "contestants" are further incentivized to promote your contest to their audiences.

6. Raffle or Game

A raffle is just as possible online as it is in person. You can direct your audience to participate in whatever way you see fit to choose a random number or receive a raffle ticket. At the end, use a random number generator to select the winner. You can also do games such as "guess how many marbles are in the jar" or "how many differences can you find in these two pictures" as a way for participants to win/enter.

7. Offline Challenge

Just because you're spreading the word of your contest through Instagram doesn't mean it has to be based or held on Instagram. You can incentivize your audience to do something outdoors, participate in a fitness challenge, or perform some other activity.

Ready to Run a Contest on Instagram?

Now that you know everything it takes to run a successful, engaging Instagram contest, go put your knowledge to work for your brand.

Not only will you end up engaging and expanding your audience, but you’ll also end up with great new content you can use to inspire future content and contests.

 

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

How to Run an Instagram Giveaway Successfully

Running an Instagram giveaway or contest is a strategic way to engage your audience and grow your following. Plus, it’s a fun way to give back to your followers—and work to turn more of your followers into customers.

There are so many social media contest ideas out there that could be a perfect fit for your brand, and they can even be a stellar tactic for building a library of user-generated content and new followers.

Throughout this article, we’re going to dive deeper into what an Instagram giveaway is and why you’d want to host one—plus a step-by-step showcasing how to put on your own giveaway successfully.

Why should you host an Instagram giveaway?

An Instagram giveaway or contest tends to start with an Instagram post that asks your audience to complete some sort of task to enter into a giveaway to win a free product or prize. This type of campaign can generate a lot of excitement around your brand, bringing in new eyes and increasing reach and engagement… sometimes by a lot.

There are a number of benefits to employing this strategy—let’s cover the most important ones.

Get more followers

Many brands require that users entering their giveaway must first follow them on Instagram. Follow-gating your giveaway like this ensures that your Instagram following grows alongside your entries. While you’ll likely start receiving entries from those who already follow you, prepare to see some growth as your giveaway gains traction.

Generate higher engagement

Instagram giveaways can generate higher engagement on specific posts (your giveaway announcement, obviously)—but it can also improve your engagement overall. Algorithms work in funny ways, but once it realizes that you’re getting a lot more engagement than usual, it’ll start to place your content in front of even more eyes, boosting your total engagement.

Increase reach and impressions

Similarly, your Instagram giveaway can help you increase your overall reach and impressions. The more engagement on your giveaway posts, the more likely your content will be shown to followers. If users keep seeing your content and interacting with it, you’ll pop up at the top of their feeds more often, helping to increase your reach.

Create an opportunity to collaborate with others

Lastly, Instagram giveaways present a great collaboration opportunity. Many brands (as you’ll see us cover shortly) choose to co-host giveaways. Find a brand with a product that’s complementary to yours (i.e., if you sell silk pillowcases, collab with a brand that sells hair masks) and give away those products together in a beautiful little bundle.

Types of Instagram giveaways

There are five main types of Instagram giveaways that you’ll see brands utilize. We’ll walk you through how each of these works and why you might want to choose that route.

1. Like, comment and follow

One of the most popular methods of entry is to have people like your photo announcing your Instagram contest, leave a comment and follow your account in order to gain entry.

Or, you could make commenting the most important part of the entry, like we see in this fun holiday-themed giveaway from Edible Arrangements:

When you use this tactic, simply name your prize, lay down the ground rules and watch the entries fly in. You can ask people to comment on why they should win, nominate someone to win or simply tag a friend to spread the word.

That last option is a great contest idea all on its own — read on for more ways to make tagging friends in contests work effectively.

2. Tag a friend

Want to really get the word out about your Instagram contest? Ask people to tag a friend when they enter! Users can tag as many friends as they like in order to get even more entries.

Then, those users are likely to enter and tag some of their own friends, creating a ripple effect of awareness around your contest and brand. You can also host a tag-a-friend Instagram contest in order to ask your followers to nominate someone who deserves a prize.

Here’s an example of what this might look like from Edible Arrangements:

Edible Arrangements asked users to enter the contest by tagging a friend in the comments. Many giveaways allow users to tag multiple friends as a way of entering more than once, increasing their chances.

3. User-generated content

If you’re looking to put together a campaign around gathering user-generated content (UGC) to share online, creating an Instagram giveaway around that concept can be a great way to do it.

Ask your audience to share a photo onto their feed using a specific branded hashtag or tagging your business so that you can easily find all of the entries in one place.

Not only does this reward your customers for helping you out, but it gives you an entire arsenal of user-generated photos to share on your feed for future content planning.

Because this type of giveaway entry requires a lot more effort on your audiences’ part, you’ll want to make the prize worth it.

4. Collaboration

As we mentioned earlier, another way to broaden your audience is by collaborating with a similar brand for your giveaway prizes. This way, the audiences of all involved brands can learn about new, similar brands, and have an even better prize at the end.

Here’s an example of this type of collaborative giveaway where three brands got together to offer a major prize bundle as their giveaway prize:

Many influencers also host collaborative giveaways like this, meant to help their followers discover new brands and bloggers, and vice versa.

If you’re working to grow your Instagram presence, a collaborative contest or giveaway might be your best bet.

5. Instagram Stories

While Instagram contests are all about giving back to your audience, there are important benefits for your overall Instagram marketing strategy too: brands can garner a lot of attention and generate a bigger audience through them as well.

Having your audience share a post on their Instagram Stories as a form of entry can be another great way to get the word out there.

It’s super easy for users to share posts to their Instagram Stories, so asking for something like this as an entry isn’t asking too much of your audience, and can be a great way to spread the word.

How to run an Instagram giveaway in 6 steps

Running an Instagram giveaway is a fun way to increase engagement and followers, but you need to follow the right steps to maximize your success. Utilize this blueprint for your next contest or giveaway to make sure you’re covering your bases before you announce the prize(s).

1. Define your Instagram giveaway goals

Before anything else, you need to make sure you define the overall objective of your Instagram giveaway. Otherwise, how will you determine whether or not it was successful in the end?

A few questions you might ask yourself to determine your goals are:

  • Are you trying to engage your audience more in your content?
  • Are you aiming to generate a larger following?
  • Is your plan to build a library of UGC to share on social media?

This is going to determine what type of Instagram giveaway you run. Whatever your main goal or objective is, keep it in mind throughout your entire contest planning process so that everything you do makes sense for your end goal.

2. Identify your budget and prizes

The next step is to identify what your budget is and how large of a prize or prize bundle you’re able to give away for free. You might start with a single, small prize for your first giveaway to test the waters before eventually moving onto a larger prize down the road.

Keep in mind that your prize should be specific to your target audience and something unique for hem to win.

For example, a cash prize or an iPad or iPhone could apply to anyone, whereas a gift card or limited edition product from your shop would appeal only to the people who would buy from you anyways. This helps engage your target audience further and can also help your awareness goals. If the winner posts their own photos of the products they received from your contest, you’ll get additional awareness and reach out of your efforts.

3. Plan and run your Instagram giveaway or contest

First things first, are you running a giveaway or a contest?

For the most part, these are one in the same. However, some brands choose to create more in-depth contests, where entrants are asked to put their best foot forward and a winner is selected by their performance.

A giveaway, though, has a randomly-selected entrant win the prize.

The next thing to consider is how users will enter your Instagram contest. Think back to the examples we shared above. Which contest or giveaway type falls most in line with your main goal or objective?

Whatever you decide, make sure it’s easy for people to enter your contest. No one is going to enter a contest that requires them to do a lot of work–people want your entry process to be simple and easy.

Once you decide the best entry method for your contest, it’s time to start planning out the rest of the details.

First, determine how long your Instagram contest will last. How many days will your audience have to enter? Make sure that deadline is predetermined and that you clearly let your audience know when entering will end.

Second, are you going to use a hashtag for your campaign? Whether you have people post photos with that hashtag or ask them to use it in the comments, creating a campaign-specific hashtag that no one else is using is a good idea. This way, you’ll be able to tell the contest entries from regular posts about your brand.

Third, what is the theme for your contest? This is especially important for UGC-focused contests. You want to make sure your audience knows what types of photos you’re looking for them to share.

And finally, how will you notify the winner? Will you tag them in a comment? Share a new post? Message them? Tag them in an Instagram Story?

These are all things you need to plan before you launch the contest.

4. Design your campaign assets

Next, you need to put together campaign assets to announce and promote your Instagram contest. Not only will this draw attention to followers, it’ll help you cross-promote it on various platforms, in your email newsletter, on your website and more.

Create imagery for both your Instagram feed and to share on your Instagram Stories to increase the number of followers who see the contest early on, giving you plenty of time to collect entries. You’ll want these to stand out and increase the total number of entries. Consider getting high-quality photos of the prize and add “GIVEAWAY” or similar copy in big, bold lettering to the top of your graphic.

Next, you need to think about your captions. Start with an attention-grabbing hook so that you can reel viewers in. Then explain what the prize is, how to enter the giveaway and what the overall rules are. You must also follow Instagram’s terms and release them of any affiliation with the giveaway.

5. Measure your giveaway entry results

Keep a close eye on how many people are entering your giveaway, if you’re receiving any questions about it and how many relevant entries are coming in with the giveaway hashtag.

Use a social media management tool such as Sprout Social to generate reports on hashtag and keyword use, follower count, engagement rate and more.

Keep an eye on all related posts and comments so that you can pinpoint whether or not you met your initial goal with the giveaway. If increased awareness or reach is one of your goals, track the performance of your giveaway hashtags in the Instagram Business Profiles Report to measure the hashtags associated with your brand. You’ll be able to tell if your branded giveaway hashtag is creating the buzz you’re looking for:

Also pay attention during and right after the giveaway to see if you’ve generated an influx in sales as well.

6. Select your winner with an Instagram giveaway picker

Once your giveaway timeframe has ended, it’s time to choose a winner. The best way to do this is by using an Instagram giveaway picker tool. There are a number of available tools for you to take advantage of specifically for these purposes.

Many brands will even record themselves using a tool to select the winner and share the video on their Instagram Stories as a way to prove that the winner truly has been randomly chosen.

A few popular Instagram giveaway pickers include:

  1. Wask
  2. GiveawayPick
  3. Comment Picker
  4. Iconosquare

Turn Instagram giveaway entrants into customers

Start running your own Instagram giveaways to boost your followers, increase social media engagement and, best of all, ramp up conversions. By introducing new people to your product, you’re increasing the chances of introducing someone to your brand for the first time and becoming a customer.

For even more ideas on how to convert your social media audience into customers, check out the latest Sprout Social Index™.

How does the random number generator for the draw on Instagram work: how to win in such a contest

Dear users!

This article was placed before the recognition of the mentioned service as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation. The site administration warns that the article is informational and does not contain calls to use the platform. The use of services for users may result in consequences under the laws.

Contents:

  • How useful is the random number generator
  • Where to use the random number generator
  • How the winners are selected through a random number generator for Instagram
  • Which tools to use
  • Popularity rating

Many bloggers prefer to maintain social activity in social networks by the power of entertainment activities aimed at attracting subscribers and increasing interest in the content published. We are talking about contests and sweepstakes, where the winner is not chosen manually, but randomly - with the help of mathematical generation, which excludes fraud.

Why a random number generator is useful

Promotions with the distribution of gifts to random winners are impossible without an honestly organized process of actions. If earlier the participants did not even try to dispute the results and agreed with the traditional methods of announcing the results (no specifics, just a banal text summing up). Soon there appeared lovers of "material" evidence of the entire draw from beginning to end.

In the latter case, special tools come to the rescue - number generators that can identify winners on Instagram for an ongoing online contest.

Features of "randomizers":

  • The choice is impartial, not subject to external interference;
  • Each action is accompanied by visual confirmations;
  • As a result, a link to the page with the results will appear, which is easy to transfer to the participants for the “judgment”.

An additional plus is that it is not necessary to delve into all the intricacies of the operation of generators: it is enough to understand the basics. Where to click, how to announce everything to subscribers, where to look for additional information, what rules to refer to if the situation suddenly got out of control. A few minutes to study the nuances, and you can start the competition!

How it works

Number generators are based on a random value selection system based on mathematical, but chaotically changing algorithms and parameters. Such an unusual tool is rarely presented in the form of program code. Mostly appears on web pages where heads and tails or numbers from a given range are randomly selected. There are plenty of similar services on the web. Practice will help you choose your favorite. After a series of experiments, there will be a chance to find a disadvantage and deal with the advantages.

The main thing to remember is that draws must be carried out according to all the rules of randomness, excluding outside interference. The participants of the drawing will only have to watch the events taking place (if the organizers provide the opportunity to watch the event live) and go crazy with adrenaline!

Where to use the random number generator

Social media account holders are able to attract new audiences and support already conquered audiences both with ready-made entertainment contest schemes and hand-made ones. The last option is not suitable for beginners, because while the bicycle is being reinvented, there is a high probability of losing a lot of time, and at the same time losing public interest in the upcoming draws. Even colorful content and the constant “warming up” of the public by the announcement of prizes will not help.

It is better to turn to ideas and concepts that have been circulating on social networks for a long time. The “familiar” is always closer than the new and the unthinking to the end. As a result, the fewer experiments, the more chances to attract a new audience.

Giveaway

A common form of entertainment centered around pairing sponsors looking to promote products or services with blogging contests to attract new followers. As a result, unusual collaboration brings many benefits. For participants: valuable prizes, a guarantee of honesty due to the participation of bloggers with a “name” in the contest, unpretentious tasks with long-known rules.

But the main thing is that everyone has equal chances to win in the Giveaway format.

Gifts for completed tasks

A classic way to encourage subscribers. Conducted by bloggers without sponsors. They help to spur public interest in content, and at the same time increase social performance. To win, the participants will have to deal with the tasks: prepare a repost of the publication, invite friends, like, write a comment. In some situations, the goals are combined, thereby raising the stakes, the competition becomes even higher.

The prizes are also changing: the simpler the tasks, the closer the prizes are to the status of "symbolic". And if the tests force them to be active for hours, then valuable rewards can await subscribers (including promotions from brands advertised by the blogger).

Choosing the best

The quintessence of ongoing contests, both creative and classic: for speed, observation and even endurance (everything depends on the imagination of the blogger who launched the contest). Winners are often determined using "randomizers", services that randomly select values ​​based on complex mathematical algorithms.

Generators will help identify those who left a comment faster than others, liked or wrote in private messages within a month. Regardless of the conditions set, it will be possible to fix the procedure for identifying winners, reinforce interest in the competition and not offend those who lost.

How the winners are selected through a random number generator for Instagram

Every blogger can distribute prizes between the winners - it is not necessary to understand all the intricacies of random generation. It is enough to remember how to start and implement the draw:

  • Preparation of rules, specifics, set of tasks;
  • Adding hashtags;
  • Support for participants, recommendations for beginners, tips, and at the same time - reminders of the ongoing draw and gifts that are at stake;
  • Summing up with the output of additional statistics.

An important feature of social networks is the continuous collection of analytical information, which is necessary both when compiling the parameters of the target audience, and in situations where it is necessary to choose the format of the contests.
But it's more useful to deal not even with prizes, hashtags, reminders, but with honesty and truthfulness. Subscribers will remember the event if the winner is chosen at random, is not associated with the organizers, but still took the award. The task is handled by services that randomly select the necessary results: page IDs in social networks, numbers, nicknames.

What tools to use

The principle of operation of random number generators is based on the selection of values ​​from the specified range in automatic mode. From the point of view of Instagram, this approach will come in handy during the draws, where the winner is determined by the comments left under the photo. An alternative way of summing up is the choice of nicknames or names. The option is much more complicated, and therefore not all services will cope with the task. After all, the algorithm becomes more complicated by 2-3 times. In addition to the range of numbers, you will also have to:

  • Select service;
  • Log in to social networks, attach a link to a contest or post on Instagram, where you need to determine the winner;
  • Set parameters: number of winning positions, additional criteria, method of displaying the necessary information;
  • Preparation of a record with the results of the competition.

The last point is especially important . Portals that do not issue confirmations will not please participants and will arouse suspicion among those who have not won anything. Yes, no one bothers to film the process, but viewers and subscribers trust URL links more, where the results are easy to check.

Popularity rating

It's time to move on from theory to practice. Or, to be more precise, to the choice of a suitable tool that can deal with the generation of random numbers and identifying the winners of contests organized in social networks. Despite the variety of similar services, it is difficult to choose a “favorite”: there are too many criteria to consider:

  • Popularity among bloggers. A factor contributing to additional trust;
  • Universality of the platform: conditions, functionality, options for determining randomness;
  • Cost: whether you have to pay for access, whether a subscription is required, the presence of advertising;
  • Guarantees, the ability to display results, links to statistics.

A separate item is the attitude of the administration of social networks to the use of third-party tools. Facebook does not offer a similar “official” functionality, but sometimes it punishes for trying to supplement the ongoing contest with random number generators. Attributes to bloggers an attempt to "change the code of the social network" or "fraudulently affect the indicators of social activity." As a result, the competitions held were subject to sanctions, and the organizers had to prove the truth in support for a long time.

A list of platforms that have never had problems will help you avoid trouble. The selection was carried out in accordance with all the points described above. And, therefore, it excludes one-day services that can violate the confidentiality and security of Instagram accounts.

Random.org

A web resource developed by an Irish PhD in Computer Science specifically for randomizing and simulating some actions that are sometimes indispensable. We are talking about a coin toss to determine the “eagle” or “tails”, gaming dice with faces, cards. A little later, the "starting" ideas were transformed, and Random.org turned from a tool that solves trivial problems into a kind of "tote" and a source of random number generations.

The fault is the algorithm for determining the winners, based on the noise generated by radio receivers on free frequencies without broadcasting. The generated "white noise" helps in sampling and solves thousands of problems related to the selection of numbers in the selected range, the definition of strings of characters and the generation of sequences of the desired length.

As a result, impartiality rules the score. This means that even the losers will remain loyal to the competitions held and will not be able to pick up even a couple of claims. What can we say about the results of lotteries, promotions, entertainment events.

Online-Generators

Online-Generators is a portal that specializes in random generation of numbers, nicknames, text, dice edges, jokes and even compliments. Offers a detailed description under each tool, allows you to flexibly adjust the elements, starting with a range, ending with separators, excluding repetitions. And at the same time display detailed statistics, copy the results, send information by e-mail or through private messages on social networks.

Although the proposed generators do not include those that are adapted exclusively for Instagram, there will still be no problems with holding contests. On the contrary, new prospects will appear related to creative or gaming events, where, in addition to luck, you will also need ingenuity, and even logic. And with the tasks set, Online-Generators will definitely help, including the participants, and not just the organizers.

Giveaway-Generator

A highly specialized service that determines the winners of contests in social networks. Previously, it was often used by bloggers during broadcasts, when the winner was chosen systematically in real time.

Giveaway-Generator does not store statistics about past giveaways, but displays a link to recent results, and therefore allows sharing statistics with participants.

Despite the adaptation for entertainment events on Instagram, the developers do not guarantee full functionality due to frequently changing algorithms and rules of the social network. There is a possibility of busting while the generator is running and at the time of issuing the results.2

RandStuff

RandStuff is a non-profit platform that randomly determines the winning numbers, indicates the winners of competitions on social networks, draws lucky tickets. And also - it tempts fate, helps to find interesting phrases, generates passwords.

SEO professionals often suggest using RandStuff in situations where the event is not global and there is not enough funding. After all, you won’t have to pay for the functionality, the results will appear immediately, and the statistics will remain for a long time.

Randomous

Randomous is a project that appeared in 2013 as a "local" tool for summing up the results of draws, selecting random numbers, generating passwords and names. After the release, the developers have repeatedly changed the functionality, and at the same time the interface. As a result, a stylish design appeared that complements a wide range of actions: drawing graphic results, compiling promotional codes, descriptions.

The creators attribute full-fledged work with lists to the advantages of Randomus: the resource will cope even with a million lines - built-in algorithms will instantly identify the winners, share a link to the results.

Random number generators are indispensable companions for every blogger who decides to organize and run an Instagram contest without hindrance. The winners will be delighted, and the losers will not be able to make claims, because the drawing took place according to the rules - impartially, within the specified time, without fraudulent manipulations.

How to Run a Contest or Giveaway on Instagram: Step-by-Step Instructions

There are many ways to draw attention to your Instagram account. There is little interesting content and design - you need to be able to attract new subscribers, otherwise potential customers simply “will not get” either to a beautiful visual or to your useful posts.

Major bloggers and brands hold contests to increase awareness, activity and engagement. In this article, I will tell you how to run a giveaway on Instagram and get the maximum feedback from your followers.

Which type of competition should I choose?

It is worth starting a promotion on Instagram by choosing its specifics. Different types of contests give completely different returns and involve performing actions (from a simple like to creating creative works).

For example, you can offer your subscribers…

Leave a comment

Suitable for those who want to increase the activity in their account. The only condition is that you must have at least a medium-sized audience.

The blogger offers to leave a comment in which subscribers should tell about what they like about her account

To make such an interactive, let's come up with a task for our readers. For example, let's ask them:

  • to explain why they should get the prize;
  • tell a story or answer a question in detail;
  • guess what you depicted (closed / painted over) in a photo or picture;
  • guess which of the facts you wrote are lies;
  • leave comments until you type "STOP".

The choice of the winner depends on the task - award the most creative answer to the question or give a gift to a random user who found the object hidden in the photo.

Complete a creative task

To hold such a contest, we will set a specific tag and invite subscribers to post a photo with creative work in their account. Then we will choose the winner by the number of likes or the most interesting photo.

To win a children's dress, the participants should come up with a new outfit for the brand's mascot - pandas

Here are some examples of tasks:

  • make a video review of the product;
  • come up with an interesting recipe with your products;
  • depict the logo or mascot of the brand;
  • talk about getting to know the company;
  • come up with an interesting story about the brand or its mascot.

The contest will increase awareness, engagement and activity of your subscribers.

And here, a major cosmetics brand awards a beauty box for high-quality make-up in an interesting style (an example of a participant’s work)

The only drawback is that for a non-promoted account, you will have to set up a target or buy additional advertising from bloggers.

Share the post in Stories

This format is relatively new, but due to its simplicity, it is the one used by most companies. To participate, your readers repost the draw to their stories with your account tag, and tag friends, like or simply leave a comment in the post itself.

A cosmetics brand raffles off lipstick for a repost in Stories and a comment or goods.

The mark in the stories is needed so that you can check if the person made a repost. The mention of the mark will remain in Yandex.Direct.

The only drawback of such a contest is that not all Instagram users know how to repost and make marks. And the stories themselves live no more than a day.

Like and comment

The easiest option. The result of such a contest depends on how valuable a gift you are ready to send to the winner, as well as on the number of your followers. Members:

  • like the post;
  • tag one or more friends.

To increase activity and attract attention, you can not limit the number of marks.

To win a lamp, just like, subscribe and tag a couple of friends

Even if not all users tagged in the comments are interested in the prize or subscribe to the account, your company's recognition will be increased.

Subscribe to sponsors (Giveaway)

What is a Giveaway? This is probably the most popular type of Instagram prank. At least, most of the major bloggers with an already recruited and loyal audience use it.

The so-called "givas" are usually hosted by well-known influencers, and the prizes (cars, large sums of money, phones) are provided by sponsors. The mechanism is the same as the previous version - subscribe to several partner accounts (from 2-3 to 20-30), leave a like and a comment.

In this case, you need to subscribe to all sponsors to participate. Why? Here are a few reasons:

  • not your target audience subscribes to your account, but random people;
  • they are not interested in your products and will not like/comment on posts, over time more than 50% of them will unfollow;
  • , engagement rates will drop, and Instagram may stop showing your posts in the feed, as the algorithms will consider them uninteresting (followers do not like them and generally leave the profile).

The only solution in this case is to initially participate only in those giveaways whose organizers have a similar or the same target audience.

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What to give?

Before holding a contest on Instagram, we will choose a prize for our subscribers. The reward should be one for which the followers want to compete. It can be your product (if you are running a giveaway in your store) or some product related to your industry (if the contest is on a personal account).

Are you talking about motherhood? Play an educational game or smart gadget for kids.

Account dedicated to needlework? Gift your subscribers a creative or storage kit.

Is your target audience girls who want to lose weight? Try offering them a personalized workout plan or a tracksuit for tagging in stories.

Services are much more complicated. For example, if a beauty salon will raffle off a hair care complex, even those who live in another city will want to participate in the competition. Of course, after the announcement of the results, they will unsubscribe.

Therefore, it’s better to draw a certificate for your services (this way you will be sure that all participants are from your city) or try to interest a nonresident audience with posts (for example, in the same hairdresser’s account, tell not only about the work performed, but also publish life hacks on hair care).

How to compose an advertising post?

A bright and eye-catching post is one of the most important success factors for the competition. To interest followers will help ...

Detailed description

Specify all conditions for participation in the draw. The post under the photo must contain such information as:

  • a caption to attract attention - understandable for users, for example, “Raffle”, “Gift a car” or “Get a chance to win an annual subscription to our gym”;
  • prize description - tell us what the lucky ones will get, who will be chosen by the randomizer or organizer;
  • participation conditions - when the results will be announced, what participants need to do, how many comments / posts under the hashtag can be left, in which region or city you need to live to participate.

The more details, the less likely to hear claims after the announcement of the winners. For example, if a participant from another country got the most likes, and you forgot to indicate in the rules that you are sending the prize only within Russia, when announcing the results, he may naturally be indignant.

Specific dates

Nobody likes to wait. And even more so, no one likes it when the announcement of the results is constantly postponed - trust in you will fall, users will delete their comments or even unsubscribe. The draw will appear to be "fake".

Long periods are suitable only for competitions with expensive prizes, and at the same time, you need to constantly stir up the interest of the audience by reminding them of the draw. Long contests are also not suitable for small profiles - it is best to limit yourself to three to six days.

Attractive photo

The photo can show a beautiful layout with your products or a blogger who holds the product in his hands (sitting next to him, using it, etc. ). It is better to add text to the picture itself, since many users do not read the posts and scroll through them in their feed.

The main thing is that the text looks organic and fits into the overall composition of the picture. For example:

inscription “ drawing ” fits into the composition

Some posts without “identification marks” in the photo itself risk being pierced:

without reading the text, you can not guess, and not guess competition is held

What will help make the competition recognizable?

The success of the competition depends on how much people trust you and your brand. If you have few followers:

  • Tell us about the competition in your personal account. If you are a blogger with your own brand, tell your subscribers about the contest and invite them to take part in it.
  • Buy ads from another influencer. Make sure that your target audience is the same, and the blogger does not have likes or subscribers. Some services (for example, InstaHero) immediately give out information about geolocation, age and gender of followers. Be sure to ask for statistics from the influencer himself.
  • Run targeted ads on Instagram. Potential members will see the post in stories (or feed) and be interested in your offer.

The method you use depends on your budget and the direction of the account.

How to determine the winner?

Art contests let you know the lucky winner in an obvious way - give the prize to the most creative participant of your choice, let you choose the most interesting work by voting, or simply find the post with the most likes.

There are only two options for randomly determining the winner.

Special services for choosing a winner

The easiest and fastest way is to copy the link to the post, paste it into the field on a special site and look at the result. The winner is determined by:

  • tag - the service finds the entry with the maximum number of likes or randomly;
  • comments or likes - the user is chosen randomly.

You just have to check if the participant complied with all the rules (some sites do this automatically, sometimes you have to check manually).

For example, try Giveaways and Lizaonair. The latter has a premium version, with which you can automatically check for a repost in stories and compliance with other rules.

Randomizers

The random number generator (randomizer) is an old method used on the Internet since the first contests appeared. Participants receive personal numbers, and the application itself determines the winning number.

How to assign numbers? You can ask followers to leave a comment with a serial number (and then check the correctness by sorting the comments by date) or write it to readers in Direct when you receive a message about the mark.

By the way, it is not necessary to indicate the serial number - suggest choosing a “lucky” number in the range from 1 to 100. After uploading comments using Insta Comments or any similar site, just find the lucky one using the Excel spreadsheet search. The main thing is that the numbers do not repeat - be sure to mention this in the description of the competition.

There are several sites with the option to generate random numbers: I personally managed to try out You to Gift, Randomus, RandStuff. All of them are quite primitive, but this is even a plus.

To avoid being accused of "rigging" the results, be sure to record the screen when summarizing. To increase loyalty, broadcast live.

How to work with a new audience?

In order not to “catch” a shadowban and avoid a large number of unsubscribes (and the outflow of users is inevitable, no matter how sad it may sound), new followers should immediately be interested in something. There are several solutions: