Is your business or brand active on Instagram? Are you looking to throw a contest to catch many eyeballs, increase website traffic and increase brand awareness?
With more than 400 million active Instagrammers each day, sharing more than 90 million posts- either videos or photographs, Instagram has entrenched itself as a sovereign of the social media platforms.
It is an excellent destination for companies looking to grow and nurture their brand and target a broader audience.
Are you brainstorming on how to launch a triumphant Instagram Contest?
Plunge in this article and get your facts cleared.
I mean take some time off and learn the rules and regulations you’ll need to get your Instagram Contest started.
Here are two crucial highlights:
- Make your entry process real easier.
- Also, always clarify which third-party organizations you are teaming up with to run the that the Instagram contest.
4 Easy Steps To Run An Instagram Contest
STEP 1 – Get your hands on the right type of Instagram Contest
The rationale of why Instagram contests are the most successful is that it doesn’t hold any promotional limitations.
That means your brand can be more creative as you want it to be.
There are a plethora of contests you can launch on Instagram. I’ll share a few with a detailed description of how each competition works:
A: Comments Contest:
The vogue exalter!
Just like the Facebook comment contest, you can ask your target audience to comment on your post as an entry pass in the competition. It’s as easy as it sounds like.
If your objective is to gain feedback and grow your brand awareness, then this is the contest type you must go for.
You can also ask your customers to target their friends and family to get a broader clientele.
B: Like Contests:
The easy-breezy!
The easiest contest anyone can host- a likes contest.
Ask your users to like your daily posts. This will not only increase the prominence of your brand but will also let you know your regular followers.
C: Polling Contests:
The trending one!
Polling contests are gaining immense popularity these days. Your audience tends to show more interest in these types of giveaways.
When launching a polling contest, provide two options. Let your audience select one as a means to participate in the giveaway.
STEP 2 – Share appropriate rules:
Unlike other social media platforms, Instagram doesn’t have many promotional limitations as described earlier.
This makes it ideal for running contests. Share the rules and regulations you have for the Instagram contest.
Let them know how to participate (what makes them eligible or ineligible for the Instagram contests)
Say, users, with two or more comments will be disqualified.
Meaning they have to comment once to be eligible.
Also, do not share restricted content that is red flagged by Instagram and other social media platforms.
My advice, create a page with the guidelines and share before launching the contest.
STEP 3 – Relevant Prizes and Giveaway:
This is the most common mistake brands make while throwing Instagram contests. They offer prizes that have nothing to do with their brand. Most of the time, their audience finds them useless.
Always keep in mind that the more interesting the prize, the more engagement and participation you’ll get from your contest.
Create scarcity. This means you should limit the number of prizes available. This strategy has physiologically been proven to boost up your brand promotion.
If you have a large budget for your contest, you could opt to give phones and expensive earphones.
However, if you have a lesser budget or you have just stepped in the market, freebies will also work in your favor.
STEP 4 – Hashtags are Wonderful:
Every contest you launch should feature a branded hashtag.
Utilizing the right selection of hashtags in your Instagram contest is the key to unlock into a wider audience.
Always target hashtags that are very prominent in your industry.
Incorporate hashtags like #contest, #your company’s name, #Giveaway, #freebies, etc.
Is your company thinking of organizing an Instagram contest or giveaway?
Don’t hesitate to take complete advantage of this platform and promote your brand and giveaway contests.
I bet It will work in your favor and grow your audience making your Instagram contest a blockbuster hit.
I help entrepreneurs like you create profitable inbound marketing strategies (using social media) that attract, nurture and convert leads into sales in record time. Are you ready to win in a competitive market?
Feel free to book a call and let’s discuss your options.
These are some great ideas. Never been part of insta contest before, but i am exploring insta marketing, and this might be the way to go.
Glad to know and good luck with your Instagram marketing.
I never thought of running an Instagram contest. If I will ever do I will follow your tips in this post.
I’m sure you would find them useful
I have heard so many good things about Instagram contests. It may be time for me to host one.
They are an excellent way to grow your list and increase brand awareness.
Good to know! I’ve never done this before. I rarely enter other Instagram contests because they want me to tag people and I don’t have a lot of family or friends on Instagram so it’s tough to do.
Same with me. I always avoid those that require that I tag someone to be eligible to win.
This is so timely. I have been learning about Instagram marketing and getting into a contest isn’t such a bad idea. Thanks for sharing these success tips.
You’re welcome!
Nice tips. This is really helps about Instagram Contest great article from you.
Thank you Maysz.
These are some great ideas. I had never been part of instagram contest before. I will follow your tips when I do it.
I hope it helps Olga.
Great tips! I have been thinking about doing the same sometime soon.
Good luck with it.
Holding a contest is definitely one way to gain my attention on Instagram. I’ve found a lot of awesome new brands that way when a few band together to offer a bundled giveaway. It’s an awesome way to get your brand out there. Thanks for sharing these great tips!
I’m glad you find them useful.
Great info! I’ve never had a contest before but I need to probably up my game and have one!
Go for it! I am sure you would love the results!
Great tips on running a contest. I run them daily on my blog and Instagram.
I am still finding my way around instagram. Still building followers there but I have yet to understand its workings haha Too old for it maybe.
Hahaha too old? Not at all. I am sure you would soon find your way around it. It takes a few months to master it all.
I always see some contestant in different account and I sometimes join them. I think it’s a great help for real interactions and for your account to gain attention. and followers.
That’s right. It helps in building your audience or when you plan to launch a product or service.
I have certainly not maximized my Instagram account, especially not for business purposes. I had no idea there was an option to run contests!
There is Dr.K! I hope you’ll make good use of from today:)
Great read for every business owner who seeks to use instagram in growing thier enterprise.
I have a post about product promotion online where I added “running contests” as the first point.
I just linked to you so that my audience can get value too from this awesome piece.
Kindly check it out. https://khrisdigital.com/promote-product-online/
I just read your article, Chris. Love it. I’ll share it with my community on Twitter.
Alright… I will appreciate that! I just followed you
I’ve been wanting to hold an Instagram contest but always thought I didn’t have enough followers to make it happen. I might try some of your suggestions and do smaller giveaways to help build a bigger following.
I`m glad you find it useful Stephanie!
I have never thought about using IG to run a competition but now i am more informed
I hope it helps!
Thanks for these steps. I’ve been reluctant to put much focus on IG for awhile now. I’ll have to give Instagram contests a shot now that I’ve got nice plan. 😀
This should be an essential read for anyone trying to build their business using Instagram
I have a post about how I started a home business with no money – just wish I’d read this post first, it could have gone even better!
I have linked to you in my Evil Marketers FB group so my community can benefit from this.