Instagram contests are a phenomenal way to grow your audience, spread the word about the products and services that your business offers and celebrate your wins as a company.
Here's how to boost your engagement: a beginner's guide to running an Instagram contest.
A year or so ago, one of our clients was celebrating crossing the 2000 followers mark on their Instagram. So, we celebrated by initiating the “2k Giveaway”. It was a massive hit! So, here’s how it went down.
In every contest like these we need to have a prize to allure folks to enter, and we need the requirements to enter the contest. A contest should always have a desired end result – ours was to gain more followers.
The prize that we chose was a new Milwaukee Drill Set. We had an employee bring the set by the studio and we got some cool photos of it with a cheesy 2k balloon in the background. The copywriting went a little something like this:
Since we’re so close to having 2,000 followers, we wanted to thank you for all of your support with a HUGE GIVEAWAY! 🙏
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One lucky winner will be awarded a Milwaukee Drill Set and a SteveBuilt Hoodie and Hat! (Est. $650 value) 🏆
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The drill set includes:One hammer drill/driverOne impact driverTwo XC5.0 batteriesOne M18 & M12 chargerOne carrying case
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To be entered in the draw, all you have to do is follow these simple steps:
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Like this post Comment tagging 3 peopleFollow our Instagram page if you don’t already
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**Bonus** We’ll throw your name into the draw twice if you share this post in a story tagging us.
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It’s almost too easy.
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The ONLY RULE: Participants must live in the Niagara Region (anywhere from Fort Erie to Grimsby) ✅
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Have an awesome day!
And that’s all there was to it. That post got 288 likes, 247 comments and we were able to gain 300 or so organic followers in about a week. Best of all, at the end of it one lucky guy won the drill set – and he was an apprentice in the trades so he actually really needed it!
Now, depending on your industry, you can steal this idea and apply it directly to your own marketing strategy. Choose a prize that a lucky winner would really value and appreciate, and don’t be shy – you can run these kinds of contests as often or as scarcely as you like.
Keep the post up for a week or so, and then at the end of it draw a name and make a big announcement. Remember to get some photos or a video when you deliver the prize as well – this kind of stuff harbours a good sense of community and also makes for excellent content.
The way we did the draw itself was kind of ridiculous. We actually printed out every single name and drew on from a hat. Ha!
I think next time I would just put all of the contestants names in a word document, close my eyes, move my finger up and down on the screen and then stop somewhere. Whoever I’m pointing at is the winner.
Have fun with this, and as always, if you live in Barrie, Orillia, Muskoka, Toronto or any of the surrounding areas, we’d love to work with you. four32 MEDIA uses videography and photography to meet the marketing needs of small businesses. Reach out for a chat!
To Your Success,
Jay Ashcroft
four32 MEDIA