Instagram Contests
If you are active on Instagram, you might have noticed that many social media influencers, small businesses, and content creators create Instagram contests regularly.
Now some people think that the reason Instagram contests exist is so the person can give back to their following. While this is certainly a reason why they do these contests, there’s also a smart strategy behind these contests.
In fact, Instagram contests are an incredible way for brands, people, and companies to increase their following, engagement, and customers.
Let’s talk about the most common type of contest rules we see on Instagram that seem to work well with most businesses.
- Like this post.
- Must be following @______
- Tag 3 friends in the comments below.
The most important step is step number 3, to ask your followers to tag 3 friends.
When you make this step mandatory the process introduces your account to people who have never heard of you before.
Chances are, when their friend tags them in your photo, they will check out your account.
If it’s a giveaway that they are interested in, they will then follow you so they can enter the giveaway too (because following you should be one of the rules as you saw in step 2). Then, they too will enter the giveaway themselves and tag 3 of their friends.
And so on…..
Instagram contests are pretty much free advertising. Who doesn’t like free?
Sure, you are giving away a product for free, but in return, you will gain new followers. These new followers not only make your account look more successful and contribute to the growth, but they are potential customers as well.
Each time you host a giveaway and gain a bunch of new followers, it’s important to make sure your next post is an educational/informational one.
There’s nothing wrong with saying something along the lines of “I just wanted to extend a welcome to all of my new followers! Here’s a bit of what you can expect from my account: ______”
This is a great tip because it not only tells new followers what you are all about, but it also refreshes the memory of previous followers.
Try doing just one Instagram giveaway and see how it works out. If it’s successful and you gain followers, why not try doing a contest every other month?
Instagram contests aren’t just something that you have to do alone.
There are many brands and companies that partner up with each other to do these giveaways. This is an amazing strategy to do because it doubles the amount of interaction and new followers that you will get.
Here is a typical post that you will see when 2 brands partner together:
“We are hosting a giveaway in collaboration with @_____ to giveaway their (whatever the product is) and also one of our (product____)!
To enter, you must be following us and also @_____ (we will check)
Leave a comment under this photo tagging 2 friends, and make sure to do that underneath @_____ giveaway photo as well.
One winner will be randomly chosen on (day, month, year). Good luck everyone!”
As you can see, one of the mandatory rules was that you must be following the other account. Try to find accounts that have either a similar following as you or a higher following than you to do these giveaways with for the best results.
I hope this article opened your eyes to the world of Instagram Contests and provided you with an explanation of why you are seeing so many of them lately.
They truly do work and will definitely increase your engagement and following.
