With more than a billion members, Instagram is a top performer among social media sites. Instagram has more users and more interactions than any other major social media platform.
As a result, modern businesses can’t afford to ignore Instagram. You may significantly increase your Instagram following by holding contests on occasion.
But before we get into the “how,” let’s first figure out why we should host a contest on Instagram.
So, Why Do We Need an Instagram Contest in the First Place?
In today’s social media-driven economy, businesses of all stripes are booming thanks to an explosion of content types including blog posts, infographics, podcasts, and videos.
But what if this is your first foray into the world of internet business? Perhaps your current company is struggling to compete with more established names in the industry. Anything that makes you stand out from the crowd is what you need.
That is to say, in business, you have to jump through hoops while getting every area of your business proper in order to achieve your various goals, such as raising brand recognition and growing sales.
That’s exactly what an Instagram contest can do for you.
An Instagram contest generates nearly 64 times as many comments and 3.5 times as many likes as a regular post, so it might be a useful tool if user engagement is one of your marketing KPIs.
However, if you’re looking to expand your consumer base, contests are responsible for bringing in 34 percent of new users.
Want a higher rate of conversion? As compared to the conversion rates of other content kinds, contests have an astounding 34%.
Those that are interested in taking part in your contest are more than happy to provide you with information about themselves (such as their preferences and contact information) in exchange for the chance to win a prize.
That’s all it entails; you’re just coming up with a fresh strategy to learn more about your potential clients so you can service them more effectively in the future. In the end, this will motivate customers to stick with your company for the long haul.
Follow these easy steps to host a successful Instagram contest
You should now have a better grasp of how to go about creating your own Instagram competition.
Focus on the final result
The first step in every successful campaign is to define its objectives.
Some typical Instagram competition outcomes include:
Send them to pages where they can buy something
Get more customers by spreading the word about your brand
Establishing a mailing list
Increasing one’s number of adherents
Acquire interest from your readers (likes, comments, shares)
Increase the amount of content contributed by users.
Maybe even stimulate business.
Choose campaign targets that will have a meaningful impact on your business and accelerate the expansion of your brand.
Think carefully about the kinds of competitions you want to engage
After settling on a goal for the campaign, you’ll need to consider how you’ll come up with concepts for any competitions you could run.
In order to save you time, we have compiled a list of some of the most common alternatives.
Contested by the public
Using user-created content is a great approach to gain followers without putting in much effort.
The idea is straightforward: get people to help produce content on your behalf, and your exposure will increase exponentially.
Competition for the Best Selfie
It’s very much like the first one, however this time you share pictures of yourself instead of merchandise.
Wordplay Challenge
You post a photo and people submit captions for it; you pick a winner based on quality (or the number of likes) of the submissions.
Simply like, follow, then share or tag relevant content.
It’s a simple technique to increase the prestige of your competition.
Just invite your audience to engage with your business on Instagram by like, following, sharing, or tagging your account.
Your contest will have a larger audience in a shorter amount of time if more people participate.
Prize for the Best Instagram Success Story
This is not the best option for individuals who have never run a contest before, but it is another innovative contest concept to consider if you already have some customer success stories and want to invite those people to take part in the contest.
The best aspect is that it increases the value of your brand among those who aren’t even consumers yet since they learn that your company is assisting those in need.
Up the ante on the contest’s design and copy
The design and text of your contest materials are the first line of defence in convincing potential participants that they should participate.
If you fall while trying to set this one straight, it will be very difficult to win over those followers again.
You don’t have to spend a lot of time or effort on your design, but it should be able to effectively communicate your message to a wide audience.
In addition, compelling writing can persuade readers to do the steps you provide.
Choose out an awesome incentive
One of the biggest challenges for marketers is deciding what kind of incentive to provide.
Several companies make huge blunders when choosing contest prizes because they believe that offering an Apple product is the only way to get good people to participate in their giveaways or follow their social media accounts.
The truth is vastly different.
It’s OK to offer an iPhone, but you’ll probably end up with false followers and people who don’t want to interact with you if you give them other unneeded stuff.
Choose a bunch of people to win something
Quality should always be kept in mind. Quantity is something you should consider as well.
Consider for a moment that if a contest offered only one reward to one winner, very few people would enter it.
But, if you happen across a contest with the potential to award prizes to more than one person (say, five people), you could be tempted to enter.
It’s a mental trick designed to make you feel like a winner, regardless of the outcome.
It’s the same with your target market. Such people will enthusiastically sign up for the competition.