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If you need new Instagram followers, run a giveaway!
Contests and giveaways give you the opportunity to reach a new audience, increase awareness and encourage a potential customer to take the action you need. People love excitement, so they always actively respond to any opportunity to win a gift from a brand. That's why Instagram sweepstakes are currently one of the most popular activities that help to significantly increase engagement.
In this article, we'll take a look at why you should run Instagram giveaways, how to run them correctly, what mistakes can be made, and what prizes you can give away. This article will also cover ideas for giveaways that you can run.
So, let's dive in!
What is an Instagram giveaway?
Giveaway is a popular method of promotion on Instagram that allows brands, bloggers, and influencers to attract new followers, increase engagement with the audience, and increase their profile awareness. The main idea of a giveaway is that the organiser holds a prize draw among their subscribers or those who fulfil certain conditions of participation
The main attraction of a giveaway is the prizes, which can be both physical (goods, gift cards) and digital (access to online courses, subscriptions to services). The choice of prize often depends on the niche in which the organiser operates.
Giveaway participants must complete certain actions to have a chance to win a prize. This usually includes subscribing to the organiser's account, liking and commenting on the post about the giveaway, sharing information about the giveaway on their stories, or inviting friends to follow their profile.
A giveaway usually lasts for a certain period of time, after which the organiser randomly selects a winner. It can be a few days or a week, depending on the goal and promotion strategy.
Once the giveaway is over, the organiser usually announces the winners in a new post or story, indicating what prizes they won and how to contact them to claim the award.
A Greek jewellery store gave its followers a chance to win a €60 voucher. All they had to do was like the post, subscribe to the page, and tag their friend.
The post received a lot of likes and comments, which shows that it was successful in increasing brand awareness and engagement on social media.
Why is it worth running giveaways on Instagram?
Giveaways are a powerful tool for attracting new followers because they encourage users to sign up for your account to enter the contest. By setting up rules that require a subscription, you increase your audience and give them the opportunity to get to know your content and products better.
Users actively engage with giveaway posts through likes, comments, and shares to increase their chances of winning. This activity helps to increase the visibility of your account in other users' news feeds.
Giveaways attract the attention of not only regular followers, but also new users who may be interested in your products or services. They help you spread the word about your brand to a wider audience.
Giveaways can directly or indirectly drive sales. If the conditions of participation include the purchase of products or if you are giving away your own products, it can motivate users to make a purchase. Even if they don't win, a positive experience with your brand can encourage them to come back.
By running sweepstakes, you can gain valuable information from participants, such as email addresses, demographics, and preferences. This data can be used for further marketing activities, creating targeted advertising campaigns, and personalising your content.
Giveaways demonstrate that your brand values its followers and is ready to reward them. This contributes to a positive image of the company, increases brand trust and creates an emotional connection with the audience, which is important for long-term customer loyalty.
How to run Instagram giveaways?
STEP-1: Determine the purpose of the giveaway
Determine what you want to achieve with your giveaway. This could be to attract new subscribers, increase engagement with existing subscribers, promote a new product or service, or increase your brand awareness.
STEP-2: Choosing a prize
Choose a valuable prize that will be of interest to your audience. It can be a product of your company, a gift certificate, or a unique experience. It is important that the prize is of high value to your subscribers.
STEP-3: Determine the terms of participation
Develop simple and clear terms of participation. Typically, this includes liking the post, following your account (and the sponsor's account if you have one), tagging friends in the comments (1 to 3 friends), and possibly sharing the post in a story.
STEP-4: Create visual content
Create an attractive graphic or video for your post. The visual content should clearly show the prize and the terms and conditions of the draw. Use bright colours and large font for keywords to grab attention.
STEP 5: Write the post
Write a clear and concise post that explains the terms of participation, the prize, and the timing of the draw. Include a call to action.
STEP-6: Using hashtags
Add popular hashtags that are relevant to your audience and content. Create a unique hashtag for your giveaway to keep track of participants easily.
STEP-7: Promote the giveaway
Use Instagram Stories for an additional promotional giveaway. If you have the budget, consider using paid advertising to reach a larger audience and increase your reach.
STEP-8: Selecting the winner
Use special services or applications to randomly select a winner among those who have met all the conditions of the draw.
STEP-9: Announcement of the winner
Create a post or story announcing the winner. Be sure to contact the winner via personal messages to arrange the prize delivery and confirm the details.
STEP-10: Analysing the results
Analyse the results of the giveaway: the number of new subscribers, likes, comments, and overall engagement. Use this data to improve future giveaways and increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Mistakes in running giveways
Unclear rules
It is important to clearly define the terms of participation, the timing, the criteria for selecting the winners and how the results will be announced. Anything less can lead to misunderstandings.
The wrong audience
Holding a giveaway without taking into account the target audience may not bring the desired results. You need to know who your potential participants are and target your giveaway to them.
Not interesting prizes
Prizes should be attractive to your target audience. If the prizes are not interesting or do not meet the interests of the participants, the giveaway may not generate the desired excitement.
Lack of transparency
Participants should be sure that the draw is fair. Transparent announcement of the results and fair selection of winners will help avoid negative feedback.
Failure to account for costs
Organising and running a giveaway can require significant resources. It is important to estimate all costs in advance, including the cost of prizes, advertising and other organisational issues.
Brand inconsistency
A giveaway should be consistent with your brand's image and values. A mismatch can confuse your audience and negatively impact your reputation.
What prizes can you give away?
The key is to understand the needs and interests of your audience. This will help you choose the prizes that will really interest participants and motivate them to take part in the draw.
Products of your brand
Gift certificates
Invitations to private events or parties
Places to masterclasses or workshops
Personalised accessories or gift sets
Vouchers for travel or holidays
Tickets to concerts, performances or sporting events
Products created in collaboration with famous bloggers or other brands
Smartphones, tablets, headphones or other popular gadgets
Free subscription to your service or app
Membership in your VIP club with exclusive offers and discounts
Sets of cosmetics or skin care products
Spa kits or certificates for spa treatments
Clothing and accessories
Sets of delicacies or exclusive products
Gift certificates for restaurants or cafes
Decorative items or goods for the interior
Certificates for fitness or yoga classes
Training courses and books
Creative kits
Instagram giveaway ideas
"Like and share this post in stories to win"
The conditions for participation are very simple - users only need to like the post and share it on their stories. This increases the number of potential participants.
As participants share the post on their stories, it becomes visible to their followers, which significantly increases the reach and potentially attracts new followers to your account.
Likes and reposts are a form of engagement that improves engagement metrics and helps increase the visibility of a post in social media algorithms.
When users see that their friends are participating in a live event, they may also want to join in, which creates a word-of-mouth effect.
It's easy to track participants who have liked a post and shared it in stories using built-in social media tools.
"Subscribe to win"
The main goal is to increase the number of account subscribers. This is done by attracting new users who are interested in winning a prize.
The conditions for participation are very simple - users only need to sign up for an account. This makes the sweepstakes accessible to a wide audience.
Since the main condition for participation is signing up for an account, this type of sweepstakes significantly increases the subscriber base, which is useful for long-term audience growth.
People who sign up to participate in a giveaway may be interested in your content or products, which can lead to more interaction and engagement in the future.
A large number of new followers and their activity can improve your account's position in social media algorithms, which increases its visibility to other users.
"Tag your friend in the comments"
When members tag their friends in comments, these people receive a notification that they have been tagged and, as a result, may become interested in your post and account. This leads to an increase in your reach and the attraction of new potential followers.
But it's worth remembering that although this type of giveway can generate a lot of participants, not all of them will be valuable leads for your brand. Some people may only enter to win a prize and have no interest in your product or service.
"Offer the best caption"
This type of contest encourages users to be creative and original, as they need to come up with an interesting and witty caption for a photo or video. It can be a great way for brands to see how their followers perceive their content.
But it can be difficult to judge captions fairly, as everyone has a different sense of humour. This can lead to disappointment for participants who thought their captions were better.
"Publish a post with a hashtag"
The use of a unique hashtag allows you to create a centralised place where all the posts of the participants are collected. This increases the visibility of the community and can attract new users who find these posts using the hashtag.
When users publish posts with a hashtag, their followers see these posts, which helps spread the word about the giveway and attract a new audience.
Emoji contest
Emoji contests often include conditions, such as leaving a comment with an emoji, creating a story with certain emoji, or guessing the meaning of an emoji combination. This increases the level of engagement with your content.
Contest conditions are usually easy to track. You can quickly review comments, posts, or stories with emojis to pick winners.
"Solve the riddle to win"
This type of giveway encourages users to interact with the post because they need to think and answer the riddle. It can be a great way for brands to engage their audience and make communication with them more interesting.
This kind of contest attracts audiences who like intellectual challenges and puzzles, which can help you attract a more diverse audience.
"Give the right answers about our brand to win"
Publish a post with questions, for example:
How old is our brand?
What is our most popular product?
What are our core values?
Participants will learn more about your brand. Contests help you attract a new audience. Users spend more time interacting with your content.
"Tell the stories of your love for our brand and get a prize"
This type of giveway encourages people to share their personal stories and experiences with your brand, which can help create a more emotional connection with your target audience.
"Post a review of our brand in your story and get a gift"
Positive reviews from real people can help you build social proof that can convince other people to try your product or service.
Holiday giveaway
A holiday-themed gif is a great way to engage your audience during the festive season, using the festive atmosphere to increase engagement with your brand. Here are some of the main characteristics of such a giveway:
The festive theme adds fun and joy, which attracts users and encourages them to participate in the contest. It creates positive associations with your brand.
Festive periods are often accompanied by heightened emotions, and themed sweepstakes can effectively use these emotions to engage the audience.
"Contest for the best brand name"
Such a contest encourages the audience to show their creativity and take part in the important process of creating a brand or product name.
Participation in the contest creates a sense of involvement in the brand creation process, which can increase audience loyalty and engagement.
Competition for the best brand slogan
Analysing the slogans submitted by participants can help you better understand how people perceive your brand. You may end up with a tagline that you would never have come up with on your own.
Involving people in developing a tagline for your brand can help you create a deeper connection with them.
"Register on our website and get a gift for it"
This type of giveway can help you quickly increase the subscriber base on your website. When people sign up, you get their contact details that you can use for further marketing.
By offering people a free gift for signing up, you can encourage them to interact with your site and learn more about your brand.
Joint giveaway with another brand
You can reach a new audience by partnering with a brand that has a different target audience than yours.
Joint giveaways tend to generate more engagement than separate giveaways because people are more likely to participate if they like at least one of the two brands.
You can combine your strengths to create a more attractive offer for participants.
Conclusion
This article on Instagram contests and sweepstakes demonstrates how important and effective this tool is in promoting brands and attracting new followers. It looks at the main stages of organising such events, as well as common mistakes to avoid in order to achieve the best results.
Key takeaways:
Sweepstakes can not only increase the number of subscribers but also increase the level of engagement of the existing audience. They draw attention to the brand and help create a positive image.
Prizes should be valuable and interesting for the target audience. It's important to consider the needs and interests of your subscribers when choosing prizes to maximise their participation in the contest.
The terms and conditions of the draw should be simple and clear. This increases the likelihood of more people participating and minimises the risk of misunderstandings.
Transparent announcement of the winners and fair selection builds brand trust and helps avoid negative feedback.
It's important to analyse the results of sweepstakes to improve future campaigns. This allows you to determine what works best and what aspects need to be improved.
Practical recommendations:
Clearly define what you want to achieve with the giveaway. It could be to increase the number of subscribers, increase engagement, or promote new products.
Use vivid images and clear text to draw attention to the giveaway.
Add popular and unique hashtags to increase the reach of your post.
Use different channels for promotion, including Instagram Stories and paid advertising if possible.
Use special services to randomly select winners and announce the results publicly.
Instagram giveaways are a powerful marketing tool that can bring significant benefits to your brand if used correctly. It's important to follow best practices and avoid common mistakes to achieve maximum results.
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