With 80% of Instagram users following at least one business, it makes sense you wish to improve your own visibility and reach on the platform — however, with such immense competition, it could be a difficult task to accomplish.
Luckily, there are a few specific Instagram marketing strategies you could implement which have proven effective. For example, you may optimize your posting times to make sure maximum engagement, partner with an influencer to spread awareness or designate a content creator to craft more compelling content.
Moreover, to delight your current fans and attract new visitors to your page, you may consider hosting Instagram giveaways.
Simply put, Instagram giveaways permit you to offer something free of charge in exchange for an Instagram like comment, or other pre-determined requirements.
Right here, we have created a complete guide on how to run your own giveaway, to make sure you are capable of delight and engage both new and existing followers on Instagram.
How to do a giveaway on Instagram
- Select the prize for your giveaway.
- Determine the entry-criteria for your contest.
- Decide on a purpose for your Instagram contest.
- Consider a brand partnership.
- Choose a campaign hashtag.
- Put a time-limit on your contest.
- Launch and promote your Instagram contest.
1. Select the prize for your giveaway.
The first thing you will wish to do is decide on the product, service, or experience you will giveaway as your prize. It will vary relying on your purpose — if you wish to spread awareness round a product launch, for example, you will likely want to giveaway that particular product as your prize.
Alternatively, perhaps you wish to associate with a brand and make a unique prize that’ll appeal to each of your audiences.
Lastly, you may try offering an experience instead of a particular service or product — like a weekend trip, a spa day, or the chance to meet a leader in your industry.
2. Determine the entry-criteria for your contest.
Your entry-criteria depends, again, on your ultimate purpose. For example, when you simply wish to spread brand awareness, you may ask each participant to love your post and comment with the name of a friend — this permits you to improve your reach rapidly and can result in new followers.
Alternatively, maybe you want to draw attention to your blog, or another page on your site. If this is the case, you may ask participants to go to your blog or web page to find entry-criteria there — like a question you then want them to reply in your Instagram comments section.
Lastly, maybe you have partnered with a brand and, in exchange for one of their products as a prize, they have asked you to include a request to follow their brand as part of your entry criteria.
3. Decide on a purpose for your Instagram contest.
By determining a particular purpose, you are able to tailor your strategy more particularly and keep track of whether or not your giveaway was successful.
Your purpose may be an increase in site traffic, more followers, an increase in engagement, or a boost in sales — it is to you to choose what makes the most sense for your brand.
4. Consider a brand partnership.
To discover the advantages of brand partnerships for Instagram giveaways, I spoke with Conor Janda, an Associate Manager of Marketing Partnerships at Chomps. He told me, “A giveaway is a nice method to align with peer brands and partners, and drive traffic to your account.”
Janda also talked about giveaways are particularly successful when new brands partner together. “For example, a brand may post a recipe, and then mention particular brands in the ingredients section,” He told me. “A successful giveaway is usually when a brand partner with a content creator or influencer to make something particular, and then they push that prize out via both of their channels.”
Ultimately, a giveaway can permit you to reach the same brand’s fans, and vice-versa — a win, win.
5. Choose a campaign hashtag.
On Instagram, hashtags help your content surface on Explore channels, and oftentimes improve visibility on the platform. Consider making a compelling and unique campaign hashtag to help spread awareness of your giveaway. For example, along with #giveaway, you may include #winitwednesday #[yourbrand]giveaway #[yourbrand]contest or something of similar nature.
6. Put a time-limit on your contest.
Tell your participants how long they’ve to finish your requirements by putting a time limit in your caption and then including “Giveaway Closed” at the end of that time. For example, you may put, “Giveaway! Over the next 24 hours, please tag a friend in the comments and embody your favorite place to travel for an opportunity to stay overnight at one of our resorts.”
The time-limit will ideally make a sense of urgency, and incentivize followers to engage with your post more rapidly — which will also help your giveaway stay at the top of your fans’ Instagram feeds.
7. Launch and promote your Instagram contest.
Once you have selected your prize, entry-criteria, potential partners, hashtag, time-limit, and purpose, you are finally ready to launch and promote your post! Remember, Instagram users favor posts during a certain time in the day, so you will want to plan wisely.
Moreover, you will likely attract further attention to your giveaway when you also post giveaway details on a blog post, Fb page, or another social channel. Think about where else you could promote your giveaway for optimal outcomes.
Instagram Giveaways Rules
Instagram’s rules are relatively easy in terms of giveaways.
Firstly, it’s critical you add a statement like the following, so viewers know your promotion isn’t tied to Instagram:
“Per Instagram rules, this promotion is in no way sponsored, administered, or associated with Instagram, Inc. By entering, entrants confirm that they’re 13+ years of age, release Instagram of responsibility, and agree to Instagram’s terms of use.”
Moreover, you will want to ensure you do not ask participants to tag themselves in your content or tag something that is not in the picture — Instagram will penalize you for this.