It is undeniable the fact that a good digital marketing strategy heavily depends on consumer engagement, especially on social media. In addition to offering relevant content, calls to action, and responses to comments, running a giveaway on Instagram can be an exciting way to drive customer engagement.
You’ve probably seen some companies doing this, haven’t you? If you want to get into this game, check out our tips below!
1. Offer a good reward
People love to get gifts – and the better (or more useful) the item, the greater the interest. Think of the draw as an investment: your business pays a certain amount to ensure a toast to the winner, and in the process you will gather new followers and visitors interested in what you have to offer.
An efficient way to promote your brand and generate attraction for your products is by giving away something related to the company or, for example, a free service. If you have a bar or restaurant, offer a free night with a companion; if your business is a clothing store, giving away a few pieces will do the trick.
Consider what would interest your target audience and use it to your advantage to generate maximum engagement!
2. Choose the path to engagement
As for the methods for the followers to participate in the giveaway or contest, there are 3 that can be considered the most used in Instagram:
Like a post
The ”like to win” model is the easiest method for people to enter the draw. Using this method, you reward one of the users who liked your post. This is an interesting strategy, both for simplicity and for allowing greater visibility for your page. This is because Instagram shows users the posts liked by people who follow.
On the downside, just liking a post can be way too easy, which means the small barrier you place to participate may also means low brand engagement. It is recommended that you also request something else from your followings (rather than just asking them to like your post) in order to make it work properly.
Tagging friends in the comments
Tagging friends is a way to ensure the progressive increase of views on your network. You can ask the user to tag two or three other Instagram profiles in the comments of the post and draw more people’s attention to the content of your profile. As a consequence, the interest of who is tag in the promotion will be aroused. These people will also indicate others, and so on, generating a “snowball effect”.
Post with hashtags
Hashtags are very important on Instagram. They can be part of an advertising campaign and brand identity, as well as indicate the most commented issues. Its use may also be a way to enter a contest on Instagram. First, be careful to create a short hashtag, simple and catchy that refers to the company in some way. You may even use your slogan or something like “#ILoveBrandX”.
Use your creativity and create something that can produce results without generating too much margin for mistakes. The second step is to establish, as a promotion rule, the publishing of a post by the user with the hashtag in the description. It is also recommended that you require the user to appear on it to prevent any image being searched on Google from being used.
As for the post itself, decide what is best: whether it should contain a creative theme, or the follower using some branded product or interacting with something that resembles your brand in some way.The hashtag has an interesting factor: by requiring it, the brand uses the image of the participants to ensure greater visibility among their followers.
3. Have clear rules
We have already mentioned this in previous topics, but it is always good to make clear the importance of defining the rules of the giveaway well. Explain, step by step, what the user should do to participate in the giveaway: like a post? Leave a comment? Post a picture using a hashtag? How should the post be? Make clear the conditions of participation.
This is important to ensure more transparency at the moment of announcing the winner. If there is well-established criteria, there will be no room for complaint. Keep in mind that reactions from people who feel wronged may not be so reasonable. Therefore, it is important to maintain clarity and honesty with your followers.
Specify, also, the date on which the giveaway will be held and the date of the winner’s announcement. Also, if possible, how the prize will be delivered.
Finally, it is useful information to tell which tool will be used to determine the result. This shows the followers that the giveaway will not be carried out randomly and, much less, will be subject to favor or fraud.
Examples of resources for this purpose are Instagram Sweepstakes, Wooobox and Wishpond.
4. Pay attention to the formalities
Depending on where you are running your contest there may be a legal responsibility you should watch out for. So if your business is a regularly constituted company, you might need to collect a taxes, which may affect on what you might wanna offer.
Lastly, always read for Instagram’s terms of use and keep in mind it may have its own rules regarding promotions, contests and giveaways.
Done the right way, contests and giveaways are awesome and will help you greatly increase engagement levels on Instagram!