One of the most effective ways to gain a popular Instagram account is by coming up with and executing some Instagram contest ideas. If this sounds good to you, and we are pretty confident that it does, then read on for exactly how to run a successful Instagram contest that will bring your business the attention it deserves.
Let us begin with some facts:
Posts that are related to Instagram contests tend to earn roughly 64x more comments and 3.5x more likes when compared to ‘normal’ content.
91% of the posts that have achieved 1,000+ comments are contests.
These stats highlight how running Instagram contests is one of the best ways to improve brand awareness.
It is important that you are aware of some important best practices before you run your first contest. Failure to follow some of these best practices could mean that you’re going against the rules of Instagram.
First, ensure that you write a clear and detailed description of your contest. Include the following:
What the rules are
What people need to do to be eligible
Any restrictions on who can enter
The prize
The deadline
When you will announce the winner
You also need to ensure you’re giving away relevant prizes that your target audience will feel compelled to have. This will naturally generate better results.
It is no surprise that giving away items of high value tends to produce higher levels of engagement. If this is something that isn't within your marketing budget just yet, consider arranging a partnership deal with another brand. Provided that you have a large enough follower count, there will be brands that are willing to provide a prize for your contest in exchange for some promotion.
Now you have an understanding of the basics of Instagram Contest rules, now it is time to show you how you can run a successful contest and supersize your follower count.
1. Tag to Win
You can start with a nice and simple “Tag-to-win” contest. All you’re doing is asking people to tag a friend in the comments section so that they can enter the contest, as well, and become eligible to win the prize. Once people are tagged by someone, they’ll likely receive a notification and these people will then check out your profile and potentially become a follower. They may also tag others, which creates a viral feedback loop, bringing more people into the competition.
2. Like to Win
Similar to the above, this one is also very simple but effective. You ask people to like your content if they want to enter the contest and have a chance of winning. You can use the phrase ‘double-tap to win’ because on the Instagram app, double-tapping a photo automatically likes it. If you want to boost your follower count, mention that people also need to follow your profile if they want to be eligible to win.
3. Selfie Contest
With a selfie contest, you ask people to post a picture of themselves while they’re using your product, or with the product somewhere in the background. This contest format is especially useful for a business because it helps show potential customers how a product can be used. It’s an excellent form of user-generated content. You can even create a unique hashtag and then ask people to use this hashtag whenever they post their photos. You can then find the pictures people have uploaded for this contest by searching for the hashtag on Instagram. Then simply choose the image you like the best as the winner.
4. Voting Contest
This one is asking quite a lot from people in terms of actions, so it's best utilized when you have a really engaged audience. It is great at generating engagement because you’re asking people to take a lot of social actions. Plus, the people who enter the contest will promote their own entries through their social channels. You ask people to upload a piece of content alongside a designated hashtag and ask them to tag your profile in the description. Your followers then search Instagram using this hashtag and vote for the one that they think is best. The easiest way to collate votes is to ask people to like the photo that they think should be the winner. Based on what you find, you pick 3-5 finalist images and host them on your own profile. You then ask your followers to like the one that they think is best, and the photo with the most likes wins.
5. Challenge Contest
This one works really well when you are pushed for time. You just need to come up with a simple challenge for people to meet, and the person who solves the challenge wins. Simpler contests generally draw more social engagement and participation. Think “guess the number of sweets in a jar” type of challenge. See, this really doesn't need to be complex in order to yield results. Simple and fun are the key.
As soon as you run your first contest, you’ll find that the whole process is a lot of fun. It’s also probably much easier than you expected. Remember to start by asking family and friends to participate, and before you know it you will start to see results, and your follower count rise.