How to set up a holiday giveaway on Instagram
Holiday movies are rolling out on Netflix, decorations are sneakily being strung up with care, and maybe you’ve even picked up your first carton of eggnog already. With the general gloom of the year, many people are starting the holidays early this year to get ahead of shipping delays.
So that means if you’re planning a holiday giveaway, it’s time to plan and launch it now rather than waiting until December like you usually would.
And with anything on social media, planning your holiday giveaway on Instagram involves following the rules to protect your account.
Did you know, nearly 50% of giveaway contests on Instagram are actually against their terms of service rules? Many people get away with posting their contests as they like, but some unlucky people have their accounts reported and shut down over it.
So it might be time to ask yourself if you want to get on Instagram’s naughty list. If not, you can follow these guidelines for posting an Instagram contest this holiday season.
Running a giveaway
First up, it’s time to decide what you want to give away! It should be something valuable that you know people want, like some one-on-one time with you to discuss their business or maybe a sampler of your top-selling products?
Here are a few ideas:
Three best selling products in a lovely gift box
Partner with a couple of other people to create a gift basket of similar/related projects
Partner with many people for an ultimate giveaway
Offer a consult one-on-one.
Offer one of your services to be booked at a later date when your business is slower.
Purchase a gift card to give away
Decide on your goals.
Now that you know what you want to give away, it’s time to decide on what your goals will be. What do you want to have your contest or giveaway DO for your business?
Define your goal:
Do you want more traffic on your site?
Do you have a new product you want some buzz around?
Do you want more leads?
Do you want to increase sales immediately?
No matter what your goal is, you should have an idea of what you’re trying to achieve from your Instagram contest or giveaway.
Who can enter to win?
Depending on your giveaway item(s), there might be a geographic restriction around your contest.
If you have a product, are you only doing local delivery or shipping it internationally to the winner?
If you have a service, can it be done on zoom like a consult, or will it be restricted to a geographic location because it’s something like spa services?
The delivery of the gift/product/service will need to be outlined in the room, so make sure to think carefully about the delivery before launching your contest.
Type of contest
Now that you know what you’re giving away and who you’re targeting, it’s time to decide the type of contest you want to use.
There are several types you can opt for, depending on the size of your prize and how motivated your audience will be to work for it:
A hashtag contest
A sweepstake
Vote contest
Tag a friend contest
Share with your friends contest
A video contest
A caption contest
Sign up for my email list contest
A photo contest
Most people will opt for tagging a friend (1 tag per entry), which is the easiest to keep track of.
Caption your contest details:
It’s very important to caption your post on Instagram so that people know the rules of the contest. Here’s a quick rundown on all the details you need to include:
Announce the giveaway. Capitalize and emoji your announcement at the beginning of the caption to get their attention.
Start with the prize. What are they going to win?
Include the start and end dates.
How they can enter to win.
How the winner will be selected.
All giveaways must explicitly mention that Instagram is in no way involved in developing the contest’s rules. This requirement is surprisingly easy to fulfill; simply include a disclaimer stating something like, “This contest is not endorsed by Instagram.”
Include a line that says the platform is also not responsible for anything that may happen to followers who participate in a particular contest.
Make sure any sponsors and influencers are tagged and clearly identified in all contest-related posts.
Create some catchy images
Slow the scroll by making sure ‘GIVEAWAY’ is on your initial image. And then consider a series of images of the prize to distribute during the contest.
Reshare the initial giveaway image on your stories regularly.
Remember that for every image you share on social, you’ll need to track all the entries on all the images.
Consider boosting your initial giveaway image to reach new audiences.
What to do after the contest:
It’s time to choose a winner. Make sure you capture each handle on any/all images shared with the giveaway and use an online raffle generator to select a name for you.
Once you have a winner, make a post on Instagram and tag them, giving them 24 hours to claim their prize. Use this opportunity to thank everyone for entering and to look forward to the next contest as well.
Finally, make sure you close your contest. A great example of how to do this is by editing the original contest image like seen here on local influencer Kayla Short’s Instagram feed:
