One of the leading strategies to gain followers on Instagram right now is through giveaways. A social media giveaway is when a business or influencer posts a service or product they are going to “giveaway” if you follow the rules given. These rules typically include following a list of accounts, signing up for a newsletter, liking the post or tagging multiple friends.

 

There are two goals you are trying to reach while hosting an Instagram giveaway:

• Encourage social sharing of a specific Instagram post
• Grow your following

 

Ideally, a good Instagram giveaway should accomplish both of these goals. A highly shareable post will drive social shares by itself, which leads to greater exposure and impression share, while the giveaway entry criteria should accomplish the secondary goal of growing your Instagram audience.

The more people participate, the farther your post will be shared, which means more entries, which means more followers, which means more shares… you get the idea.

Here is how YOU can host an effective giveaway.

 

1. Pick Something Of Value To Giveaway

We have seen giveaways that are very successful and ones that aren’t. What will determine the success of a giveaway is the product or services you choose. When consulting with clients on what product or services to giveaway, one word always comes to our mind. Bundles.

Bundling up services or products to let your audience think they are getting a deal is the best way to go. We want your audience to say, “I have to enter, it’s such a good deal!”

 

2. Don’t Make It Complicated To Enter

The other factor that will determine if your giveaway is successful or not is the how complicated you make the rules. We suggest to our clients to have no more than two rules. Here are some options.

• Follow these accounts
• Like this post
• Tag your friends
• Sign up for my newsletter
• Share this post

 

3. Host With Other Businesses

The purpose is to attract like audiences to your business and Instagram page. What is a like audience you ask?

Lookalike Audience (n) : A group of people with common qualities, demographic information and interest of your current community.  

Hosting with other “lookalike” businesses will attract the same type of demographic to your Instagram page. This is what we want. These are the users that will sign up for your emails, read your blog posts and purchase your products.

Hosting with another business looks like:

• Follow this account
• Sign up for both of our newsletters
• Like both of our posts
• Share this post with a specific hashtag and tag us

 

4. Make Sure Your Profile Looks Amazing

Want to know something interesting? Users decide between the first 1-2 seconds of looking at your profile whether or not they want to engage or follow your page. This means that they aren’t reading your bio, they aren’t reading your captions, they are ONLY looking at the first nine pictures of your grid. We need to ensure that your brand is being accurately portrayed in these nine photos always.

With your giveaway, the number profile visit numbers to your page will sky rocket. Be sure that before you post the giveaway, your brand is being portrayed to the best of its ability in those nine pictures.

 

If you are looking to reach your social media goals this year, reach out to us! We would love to help you.