Instagram is not just a social network for communication, but also a platform for commercial and advertising activities that can bring in a good income. Are you an entrepreneurial user? Then your page should be interesting. To do this, you need to publish posts aimed at a specific target audience. Another important rule is to constantly communicate with your subscribers and build a two-way relationship. A great way to increase trust and attention from visitors is to hold a giveaway. Heat up the audience’s interest with a useful and valuable gift. In this article, you will learn how to hold a giveaway on Instagram and what you will need for it.
How to start a prank, tips
Many people have noticed that famous and popular bloggers, show business stars actively engage with their social media pages and periodically hold interesting contests, giving away valuable prizes or their own brand’s products. This is a smart approach, once you have promoted your account and gained enough followers, you should not forget about them. It is important to regularly communicate with your readers and involve them in your creative activities. A giveaway is an ideal way to attract subscribers to your content and interest new viewers.
This approach to developing your social media page has a positive impact if you are engaged in commercial or advertising activities, promoting your own brand or product. After such actions, your subscribers’ trust in you will increase, and interest in your content will grow.
Before starting a campaign among your visitors, you need to spend time preparing and thoroughly analyzing the desires and needs of your target audience. Let’s consider the main recommendations on how to organize a contest:
- First of all, you need to calculate the overall budget for the future campaign. Can you afford an expensive and valuable gift?
- Come up with a prize for the winner, it does not necessarily have to cost a lot of money, but it should be useful.
- It is important that the gift fully corresponds to the theme of your Instagram page or commercial activity. For example, if you sell clothes from world-famous brands, it is not worth holding a fishing tackle giveaway among your target audience. Such events will not bring any benefit. Yes, such bonuses can attract new audiences with different interests, but after the end of the campaign, such people are likely to unsubscribe from your page.
- Think about the design of the contest. It is especially important to come up with textual support and clearly indicate the rules of the game. After reading the message, the user should become interested and want to win.
- Another important parameter is the duration of the giveaway. Do not delay in determining the winners. For starters, two weeks is enough. A month is too long if the prize is not expensive.
- Do not hold contests among subscribers too often, over time it will become boring, and you will have to spend money.
- Don’t forget to announce the results. When determining the finalist, use additional random search services, this will increase trust and leave no doubt about the fair victory.
Another important rule, do not launch a giveaway if only a small number of users are subscribed to your page. The recommended level is 2 or 3 thousand active followers. Otherwise, the offer will not gain enough popularity and will not receive a good response.
After simple preparation, you can start the campaign.
What type of lottery to choose: examples
The next step in the design process is to determine the type of contest and its direction. Currently, there are many ways to give away prizes on social media using the platform’s standard tools, such as liking a post, reposting, following a page, and others. You can create your own presentation method on the platform by using your imagination. Below, we will consider common strategies and types of contests on Instagram.
Likes of publications
The easiest and most common way to conduct a giveaway is to use the standard function of a social network – to put a like on a contest post. Ask your followers to put a heart under the publication in the news feed, after which they just have to wait for the results of the contest. The rules are simple and understandable to everyone. This approach is often used by cafes or restaurants, and the prize can be a discount on food or a free menu.
As a result, you will get a lot of audience engagement, and your publication will rise to the top of the service and be seen by visitors. Soon your content will appear in the recommendations of completely unrelated people. This is a quick and convenient way to promote your own page and talk about products or goods. To achieve excellent results, you need to conduct several similar promotions and soon you will feel the difference.
Comment contests
The next type of Instagram giveaway involves writing comments under a post. Ask your followers to come up with an interesting and funny caption for a photo, let them show their imagination. Currently, it is especially popular among bloggers to launch a campaign that requires users to post a certain word in the comments, letter by letter, so that no one interrupts them.
Here is an example of an Instagram contest based on comments, with simple requirements:
1. Follow the page.
2. Like the post.
3. Write the word “I want a gift” in the comments.
Make sure to include a call to action and thank the visitor for participating at the end of the post.
Hashtag and photo contest
Another interesting competition in which participants will have to show their resourcefulness and creative skills. As an organizer, you need to come up with a specific hashtag that will correspond to the general theme of the content or your business. The principle of action looks like this:
- Ask users to post a photo on the chosen theme.
- Participants must publish it on their page and put the hashtag declared in the competition under the photo.
Organizers often ask subscribers to post a photo with their product and leave a positive review on it.
Creative task
Many bloggers hold very interesting contests that require participants to show imagination and creativity. It’s not enough to just like a post, you need to write a poem, come up with a life story. The subject of consideration can be anything – a picture, a video, a parody of your content, a song, music. It should be noted that the prize for such activity should be worthy. Hardly anyone will want to strain their brain and come up with an idea for a regular chocolate bar.
Repost of publications
Another type of giveaway is to repost a publication on your news feed or in your stories section. The principle of operation and rules are simple:
- Post a specific news item on your channel.
- Describe in detail the rules for conducting the contest.
- Ask subscribers to copy your post and place it in their stories.
- It is important for participants to tag you in the post or provide a link to the owner.
How to indicate the conditions and rules of the giveaway
When preparing a giveaway, an important requirement is a detailed and clear description of the rules. If you don’t specify the task accurately, users won’t understand you and will refuse to participate. Listen to these simple tips:
- Don’t ask too much from users, as it will complicate the contest. Choose any type of giveaway.
- Sequentially describe each step and action of the subscriber.
- Try to express yourself in simple and understandable language.
- Be sure to leave a call to action and praise the visitor for participating.
At the end of the post, specify the exact criteria and method of determining the winner, the duration of the promotion, and the main restrictions. Never deceive your subscribers and don’t delay in identifying the finalist, adhere to the designated deadlines.
Determine a valuable prize for the participants of the competition
To attract users on social media, you need to choose a valuable and useful gift for the winner. It is not necessary to give away a car or expensive equipment, the prize should be beneficial and evoke positive emotions in participants.
If you are engaged in commercial activities or promoting your own clothing, footwear or cosmetics brand, the prize should correspond to the business theme and target audience. If you have opened a restaurant or cafe, give away coupons for discounts or a free dinner and delivery. It is not worth reaching for another industry.
Summing up – choosing the winner
We have reached the final stage of the contest – determining the winner. There are three possible options for choosing the lucky one:
- Post a publication in which you tell your subscribers about the results of the drawing. Upload a video or photo to your news feed.
- Launch a live auction.
The last method is the most advantageous and effective. By launching a live broadcast, you increase the trust of the participants. The number of dissatisfied people with the results will be minimal, as you will make your contest transparent. Post the news in your feed or stories so that everyone can see the results. Use special services and applications for randomly selecting the winner.
The article explains how to conduct a contest on Instagram, discusses the main recommendations and the order of organizing the promotion. Try to carefully approach the creation of the drawing, prepare a valuable and useful gift, and thoroughly and sequentially explain the rules to your subscribers. As a result, your page will be interesting and attract new visitors.