With the immersion of Instagram as one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, you can’t imagine an Internet business without it. If you wish to increase your following and have a high level of engagement, Instagram is a must. Is there a better way to increase people’s interest in your brand than by giving away free products? If you wish to know how to run an Instagram giveaway to captivate the attention of your new and current followers, you’ve come to the right place. 

What are Instagram giveaways? 

If you are familiar with Instagram, then you might’ve stumbled upon a giveaway before. Both small and big businesses alike use this type of promotion to inform their audiences about new products, attempt to reach new users, and gain a larger following. 

The general concept of an Instagram giveaway looks like this: 

• You give away a product or service of your choice 
• It lasts for a limited time 
• You pick the terms on which the participants enter the giveaway (the most common way to do it is to like a giveaway post, follow the Instagram page that announced it, and tag a couple of friends) 
• You pick the winner by the rules that were specified in the beginning (it is often done at random). 

Why do people participate in giveaways?

People are easily persuaded when they can get something for free. If it is a product they are even slightly interested in, they don’t hesitate for long before entering a giveaway contest, especially if they are not required to do much to enter. 

Why should you hold a giveaway? 

Have you heard the expression: you must spend money to make money? Giveaways fall under this category. We have briefly mentioned what Instagram giveaways are and what their purpose is. Why might you consider holding a giveaway? It is mainly done for a couple of reasons:

• To increase the engagement with your Instagram account 
• To grow your Instagram following
• To improve brand recognition 

Ideally, the point of an Instagram giveaway is to achieve all of these goals. We have prepared some tips to help you reach them. 

The prize

The first and probably the main thing is to pick the prize for the giveaway. You need to pick a prize that people are interested in, remember that you should choose a product that ties back to your business. This way you will reach the audience that is interested in your products and there is less of a chance that people will unfollow your account after the giveaway.

The rules of the giveaway 

What is the goal of the giveaway? If you wish to increase your followers, don’t make the entry requirements complicated. Ask the participants to: 

• Follow your account

Because of the easy entry-criteria, participants will enter the giveaway more willingly. 

• Repost the Instagram giveaway 
• Tag friends in the comment section 

The last two criteria will ensure the growth in brand recognition, simply because more people will see the giveaway post.

The more actions are required to be done, the more you will increase your reach. If you want to heavily promote your account, ask people to take several of these actions at once. Don’t overdo it, though, the more options are required to be done to enter the giveaway, the fewer people will take part in it. However, if the prize is worth it, then people might think differently. 

Creating a hashtag is also a necessary part of a giveaway. Choose one that is related to your business and products and is also easy to memorize. Of course, it is mainly done for promotion and measurement of the success of your content. 

Choose the duration of the giveaway

This is pretty self-explanatory. You need to choose the period of time during which the giveaway is held. But, you must note a couple of key points. 

Don’t make the contest too long, as participants can simply forget about it. Although, if the prize is valuable and many people will take their chance to win it, you should make the giveaway longer. 

Make it too short and you risk people not caring enough to enter. If you’re giving away a smaller prize just for the sake of engaging your audience, then it makes sense to make the giveaway short. Run this type of contest once in a while, to keep your followers engaged. 

Create an Instagram giveaway post 

The most important thing is to create a unique post specifically for your giveaway. Simply follow these steps, for an engaging Instagram post: 

• A clear and bright picture of your prize (which ideally should be your product) 
• A short text announcing your giveaway 

Altogether, do not overwhelm your participants with a load of information. Make it as easy as possible for them to understand the rules of the giveaway. 

Reminder posts 

Regularly provide your followers with updates on how much time is left to enter, when you will choose the winner and what is the prize. This will prompt more engagement with your profile and increase the chances of new participants to enter. It is up to you to decide how many reminders to post, but remember not to spam too much. 

Promote your Instagram giveaway 

Now that you’ve chosen the prize, set the rules, and launched your post it is important to find ways to promote your Instagram giveaway. Here are some options for you:

• Announce the giveaway before you start it
• Promote the contest giveaway through other social media platforms
• Send email notifications to your customers
• Use paid advertisements 

Instagram giveaway ideas 

Let’s take a look at the most effective ideas for Instagram giveaways. These are the options you can offer to your followers: 

• Like the post to win 

For a chance to win a product or service, ask your followers to like the giveaway post. You can also have your followers share the post on their own Instagram pages, as this will increase your brand recognition.

• Follow for the chance to win 

Participants simply follow your account for the chance to win. 

• Tag a friend 

Ask your participants to tag one or several friends in the comments, who knows, maybe their friends will want to participate and follow you as well. This will significantly help you gain new followers and increase brand visibility.  

• Post a creative photo with your product 

This is an idea for businesses with already established sales. Ask your followers to share a post with your product in it. You can also add a fun hashtag, which will increase the engagement even more. 

• Write a witty caption for the giveaway post

This will boost the engagement with your followers and give them a chance to show off their creative side. Additionally, you can like and comment on the captions you think are the funniest to support your followers in return. Your followers will appreciate this small gesture of attention. 

• Ask your followers to write why they should win 

Your followers write a short story describing why they deserve to win the main prize. Simply choose the story you liked the most and pick the winner.

• Create a slogan

This method can also be a great source of engagement with your audience. Specifically, if you don’t yet have a slogan. Have your followers write a short phrase in the comments and pick the best one as the winner. 

• Write a review for your products 

This way you can start a contest asking your followers to write a detailed review of your products, services or your store as a whole. After the giveaway is over, you can use these reviews on your Internet store to increase the trust of your customers. 

• Create a video review 

It is very similar to the previous idea, but instead of writing have your followers record a video where they review your product or have them tell a fun story related to your product. The number of participants will be significantly lower, although this type of contest will help you to better understand your target audience. 

• Like and share post during a certain period of time 

This idea is suitable for those who post regularly and are ready to keep a close track of the participants’ activity. In this case, to win the prize your followers would need to like and share all your posts, for example during a week, or a month. 

As you can guess, this would require you to create new engaging posts consistently, and keep track of the giveaway participants’ activity. In order to come up with catchy, memorable, and entertaining entries on a regular basis, a good idea would be to use special helpful tools for automated social media promotion.

Whatever type of business you run, a giveaway is an engaging and fun way to interact with your audience. A successful Instagram giveaway will result in new followers, an increase in brand awareness and product recognition. At the same time, automated promotion tools will give you the opportunity to create engaging and customer-focused posts to keep your followers interested in your social media activity.