5 Successful Instagram Giveaway Ideas (and How to Create Your Own)
Instagram is currently the 7th most visited website in the world, boasting a staggering 2.9 billion total visits – from over 2 billion people – per month. It’s continued to grow exponentially since its release in 2010 and was named the most downloaded app in Q4 of 2021. With 59% of U.S. adults using Instagram every day – 38% of who are logging on multiple times per day – it’s no wonder that Instagram has become a powerhouse for digital marketing, allowing e-commerce brands to interact with their existing consumers while reaching out to countless potential buyers. In fact, according to Instagram, 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business, so it only makes sense for your e-commerce brand to strike while the iron’s hot by increasing your Instagram presence.
Still not sure if Instagram can help your e-commerce brand grow?
Instagram User Data
- 50% of users have used Instagram to discover new brands, products or services
- 50% of users are more interested in a brand when they see ads for it on Instagram
- 70% of shoppers look to Instagram for their next purchase
- 80% of users turn to Instagram to help them decide if they’re going to buy something
- 44% of people use Instagram to shop weekly
- In 2020, Instagram accrued 17.4 billion dollars in ad revenues in the U.S. and is projected to reach around 40 billion dollars in annual ad sales in 2023.
- While Facebook’s global advertising reach grew by 6.5% last year, Instagram’s growth in advertising reach more than tripled that (20.5%).
- The total potential reach of Instagram ads in 2022 is 1.8 billion people
Simply put, Instagram is the place to be right now for consumers and e-commerce businesses alike. In fact, 78% of marketers admit that social media has been the most effective avenue for marketing their brands. The data is clear – if you aren’t using Instagram to promote your e-commerce business, you’re missing out on lots of opportunities to build your brand.
One way to use Instagram to increase brand awareness and grow your following is through an Instagram giveaway. Giveaways are a great way to generate buzz about your e-commerce brand. And, some giveaways recruit your own audience to help drive additional traffic to your business.
What is an Instagram Giveaway?
Instagram giveaways are limited-time promotions where e-commerce brands promise to give away a product or service to a lucky winner. Who doesn’t love free stuff? Giveaways are a great way to increase the awareness of, and engagement with, your e-commerce brand. By offering freebies to your audience, in exchange for users’ participation – either through likes, comments, reposting or using hashtags – you get people talking about your business, ultimately boosting traffic and driving sales. Below we’ll take a look at some different types of successful giveaway ideas and how to create your own.
5 Successful Instagram Giveaway Ideas
1. Like and/or Comment to Win
This is one of the most common forms of Instagram giveaways. It’s great for consumer engagement and is also designed to help you gather valuable data to use for future campaigns. Your audience doesn’t need to do anything extravagant in order to be entered. They simply need to like your post to have their name put in the hat. Your campaign could be purely based on likes, but it’s a good idea to add the additional layer of commenting. Add in a requirement for a specific type of comment and you’ll to weed out the Instagram bots.
2. Tag a Friend
This is another popular giveaway campaign that asks followers to tag a friend in your post for a chance to win. It’s often combined with the follow to win approach, asking users to follow your account and tag their friends to enter. It’s great for reaching a broader audience and increasing your number of followers. Something to consider here – instead of limiting your followers to a set number of friends, why not allow them to tag as many friends as they want? By offering unlimited contest entries for every friend they tag, your giveaway will produce a much wider reach.
3. Caption Contest
A caption contest is a great way to entice users to interact with your brand as it asks them to caption a photo you’ve posted. These giveaways are popular because they’re fun for audiences, easy to enter, and boost engagement with your business. A caption contest lets you pick a winner based on the caption that’s most fitting for your e-commerce brand. You can increase user engagement by asking users to like their favorites. Then, award the prize to the person whose caption gets the most likes.
4. Trivia
Folks love a good game of trivia. By creating a trivia contest for your Instagram giveaway, participants have the opportunity to show off their smarts to win a prize while your business reaps the benefits of user engagement. Trivia contests are great because they also let you get creative with your content. You can use random questions unrelated to your e-commerce brand, or you create trivia questions about your brand and the products or services you offer – the sky is the limit!
5. Run a Hashtag Contest
Hashtags are still one of the most effective strategies for growth on Instagram. A branded hashtag is a custom hashtag that is unique to your e-commerce brand. When users include a hashtag in their posts or Stories, that content will appear on the page for that hashtag – allowing users who may not be following you (yet) to see your hashtagged posts in their feed. Asking your audience to post a photo with your branded hashtag is a cost-effective way to build brand awareness by reaching anyone who follows those particular hashtags. Not only that, it also allows you to collect user-generated content to use for future marketing campaigns. Don’t forget to ask for permission prior to using the content, though!
How to Create Your Own Instagram Giveaway
1. Set a Goal
Determine the reason for your contest. Do you want to increase likes, followers, sales? Outline the metric(s) you want to increase as a result of your giveaway.
2. Choose a Prize
Preferably, you want to choose a prize that’s relevant to your e-commerce brand and attractive to your target audience.
3. Outline Giveaway Criteria
Define how participants can enter your contest, what rules they need to follow to be eligible to win, as well as how the winner will be chosen.
4. Create Terms and Conditions
Creating a terms and conditions page for your Instagram giveaway is a must. Instagram has strict contest rules that help reduce spam and also absolve Instagram from any possible legal trouble so it’s recommended that you consult a lawyer here to avoid finding yourself in any hot water.
5. Set the schedule
Clearly outline when you will be running this giveaway campaign, the date by which participants have to enter the contest and the date (and way) the winner will be announced.
6. Choose a giveaway hashtag
One study found that Instagram posts with at least one hashtag see an average of 12.6% more engagement than posts without one. So by creating the right hashtag for your giveaway, you increase your chances of audience participation right out of the gate.
7. Launch and Promote
Get the word out! Promote your giveaway on any and every platform you have at your disposal. This includes your blog, website and other social media accounts.
8. Pick a Winner
Selecting a winner will depend on the type of Instagram giveaway you choose. If your giveaway is based on creativity, like choosing the best caption for a post, for example, then choosing who wins is at your discretion. If your giveaway is based on chance, though, then you’ll need to choose a winner at random. You can randomize your entries to select a winner by using a social media content tool, like SweepWidget.
By keeping your audience engaged with regular Instagram giveaways, you will increase your organic reach, brand exposure and overall profitability. With so many users turning to Instagram to find new brands and products, offering up freebies is a sure-fire way to increase brand awareness. So many e-commerce businesses use Instagram to interact with their followers while attracting new traffic because it works – and we can help get you started. By increasing visibility through the use of Instagram giveaways, your content will be shown to a wider targeted audience resulting in the growth of your e-commerce brand.
About the author: Alyssa has spent the majority of her career specializing in the Accounting sector of Affiliate Marketing. With a persistent urge to learn new things, Alyssa returned to McGill University in Montreal, Canada in her 30s to study Public Relations and Communications Management where she discovered a passion for writing – and she hasn’t looked back!
Her interests include adventuring in the great outdoors, cooking up a storm, and not sitting still. She aspires to take a million pictures of her Siberian Husky/Saint Bernard mix, Jax, and is probably getting pretty close.
