Run An Effective Instagram Contest

With Instagram currently standing at 400 million active users, it has established itself as an effective platform for businesses to expand and reach your target audience. One of the most creative ways to access this audience or to retain potential customers is to launch a contest. It is a great Instagram advertising strategy to strike a conversation. It doesn’t require much commitment from followers, but it takes it to a whole new level of fun and excitement.

Have an objective

Plan out your contest before diving into it. Your content should have a purpose. It should align with your audience’s interests and behaviour patterns. What kind of audience do you plan to reach? What do they like posting on their feeds? Center your goal on the content your audience wants to see and engage with. The content will need a budget, determine these details in the beginning to make it a more effective process.

An entry to the contest

How would your audience enter the contest? Is it open for just followers or can anyone be part of it? Emphasize the rules at the start so that no one is left feeling confused. Some ideas on how your audience can gain entry to the contest include posting a photo or video to a specific theme, get your audience to tag you brand, and have them follow or like a post.

Creative hashtag

Your content needs to have a creative hashtag, something that will get your audience excited. It will not only give your contest a buzz, it will also bring recognition to your brand. This is a tricky thing to do. There are hundreds of thousands of hashtags created everyday; you don’t want your one to sound similar. It should be unique. Here’s a tip, make the hashtag memorable, universal and relevant.

Define a theme

Your content should have a clear theme. Pick a theme so your audience knows what type of photos or videos they need to post. Pick a theme which preferable aligns with your product or services. In case of upcoming holidays and seasons, this is an excellent way of getting your audience excited for the contest.

How will you choose winners? Inform your audience how the winner will be selected. A contest can be done either through a voting system or jury. For instance, participants can compete for likes. This will help you reach people outside of the demographic. The jury method, on the other hand, is a fairer view of who the clear winner is. Get a panel of experts and let them choose who wins top prize.