How to Run a Competition on Instagram: Part 3

It’s time for the final chapter in our article series all about how to run a fantastic competition on Instagram to build excitement about your brand, help you reach and engage new fans, and ultimately increase sales! We’ve covered deciding on a prize, the rules, the types of competition you can choose from, and today we’re looking at how to actually create and promote your competition.

Step 4: Run the competition

In Part 2 we discussed some keywords to include in the caption (#win!) and your options to include an image of the prize or a graphic to show off your competition. Another option is to choose video. We’re in a world where video is king – for instance, see how Facebook has evolved whereby text has been replaced by video. Brands need to be authentic to generate a real following, therefore it could be an idea to have a member of staff or a brand representative explain your competition and how to enter and show the prizes – make sure you include subtitles so that everyone can understand the rules.

For your caption, it’s easiest to do a 1,2,3, bullet point list so it’s easy to see what your entry requirements are, for instance in our competition you can see from the image below that we have included 3 steps to enter.

Step 5: Promote!

You have 2 choices here – you can choose to grow your competition organically, or you can do a paid promotion. For an organic competition, ensure you share it as much as you can on your Instagram story, and other social media platforms if you want. Instagram Ads are another way to go and they’re fantastic as they use the Facebook Ads platform to run so they’re targeted toward your target market. Your option here depends on your budget and what you want from this competition. If your budget allows and you believe that particular competition will help to grow your business then, by all means, invest in a sponsored promotion. However, your competition will still do well if grown organically – as your followers will be the first to see it, and they will be interested in your brand, then the people who they tag to enter are likely to be interested too, therefore, you shouldn’t miss out on reaching your target audience through an organic Instagram competition.

We hope you have as much fun running your competition as we do! In the meantime, head over to @totalmerchandise and enter our competition to win a £50 Amazon voucher. Good luck! 

Written by

Adam Carter | Head of Products

Adam has been leading the Product team for over 18 years, during which time he's built up an enviable reputation as one of the industry's most trusted authorities on promotional merchandise. As well as supplier relations, product sourcing and pricing, Adam is also responsible for ensuring our promotional merchandise is presented on the website in the most effective manner. His expertise makes him the go-to person on the team for spotting merchandise trends and he's highly experienced in identifying the best branded products to meet our customers' needs. When he's not working, Adam enjoys travel, electronic music and all forms of cinema.

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