More followers with an Instagram giveaway

A good (!) Instagram giveaway always yields new followers. Generating followers is just a little less easy than a few years ago. Let's do something about that: a giveaway and then one with the best possible result!

More followers with an Instagram giveaway, here are the eleven steps for a successful plan.

1 Determine your goal and make a plan

The key to a successful campaign is a plan and goal setting that fits your target audience. What kind of image is popular, what do they often post themselves, how do they behave, are you looking for interaction or more followers? If you want more followers, for example, how many? 30, 100, 1,000? Write it down!
Also, don't forget to set a deadline and budget for the giveaway. A deadline for when the giveaway starts, when it will run and when the prize will be awarded.

2 Create the giveaway guidelines

It is great fun letting customers take a photo themselves (you call that UGC-based, user generated content) and have it shared, but there are several 'to do's' that you can set as a condition, such as:

• Your audience posts a photo or video on their Instagram account with a particular hashtag and theme
• Let your audience follow your account (this can be an additional condition)
• Let your audience tag your account in a photo or video of their own
• Ask for a like on a photo or video, 'double tap to win' so… it's possible, but I wouldn't recommend it
• Ask for a comment under a particular photo or video
• Make sure the giveaway guidelines are crystal clear.

3 Find the perfect #hashtag

A good hashtag is key for an Instagram giveaway. Without this hashtag you simply cannot find the entries. Fortunately, our official language is Dutch and you don't get bogged down in English hashtags, which makes it easy to find the right one. Think of:

• Short – create a hashtag that 'sticks'. The more readable and recognizable the hashtag, the better
• Relevant – make sure the hashtag is related to your brand, product or services. With a generic hashtag like #throwbackthursday, you may never find all of your submissions
• Easy – maybe your audience will think twice before entering the giveaway. Then it is useful if the hashtag is still fresh in the memory. Avoid weird spelling, slang, jargon and confusing word choices
• Search – if you've come up with a hashtag, search for it on Instagram too to see if it's already in use or not
• By the way, do you already follow Sell your stuff on Instagram? Click here !

4 Keep your theme clear

If you're running a UGC-based giveaway, it's important to set a theme so users know what kind of photos and videos to post. Ideally, you should of course choose a theme that matches your company, product or brand. But you can also use seasons and events that match your company, product or brand.

5 Create a good landing page

Write a blog post or create a special attractive (!) landing page in your webshop or website in which you describe and design the giveaway. You can also immediately post the general terms and conditions of the giveaway below (see point 8).

6 Decide how winners are chosen

Part of a well-organized Instagram giveaway is that you let the participants know beforehand how the winner will be chosen and that can be done in two ways:

• Choose – instantly a great way to try to make your giveaway go viral. This works best with UGC-based content, ie participants' own photos or videos. They have to generate likes for their participating post themselves and then it can go fast with the fame of your giveaway and brand. Of course that works best if the price is a bit 'worth it'. This strategy helps for maximum reach of your target group. But watch out! It can also be harmful to the giveaway if people start using 'Like bots' that generate artificial likes
• Jury – when it comes to quality and fair conduct, the jury method is a clear winner. With the jury method, you have a group of experts who decide the winner

7 Pick a good price

You determine this on the basis of your target group and also your budget. What are you willing to do? Try to estimate what your target group likes and what they would like to do something for. Simply ask yourself: What would my target audience want? Make a list (including budget). It can be a product from your webshop, goody bags, shopping money, your own service, but it can also be concert tickets, something else that is high on the report list with your target group. As long as it is relevant to your company and fits within your budget.

8 Set the conditions

Don't forget that when running a giveaway + prize, you have to follow legal guidelines. Create a page online with the general terms and conditions for the giveaway (so they can also be at the bottom of the landing page). Here are some commonly used terms for such a page:

• Company name and contact details
• Dates of the giveaway
• When you may or may not participate (such as age and employee limitations)
• Guidelines on how to get involved
• Guidelines on how the winner will be selected
• Date and way the winners will be announced
• Date and way the winner will be notified
• Time the winner has to respond and claim his or her prize
• Specifying the price (including number of prizes, description of the prizes and any warnings)
• Details of how the prize will be delivered
• Statement that the promotion is not sponsored, endorsed, organized or associated with Instagram and/or other social media used in the giveaway

NB: When in doubt, always check Instagram's promotion guidelines and make sure you follow their rules.

9 Promote!

So, have you checked all of the above? Promote wherever you can. The possibilities are endless, but here are a few ideas for inspiration:

• Blog – write a message in your blog (webshop or website) promoting the giveaway, and immediately use it as a giveaway landing page
• Social media – there is no better place to start a social media giveaway than on social media. During the giveaway campaign, make sure you have a shortened link in your bio that refers to the giveaway landing page on your blog, website or webshop
• Newsletter – invite your newsletter readers to participate in the giveaway

10 Follow the submissions

Stay up-to-date on the progress daily during the campaign. What is happening, is there activity, are you going to achieve your goal? Comment on posts, like them, communicate and rate! Take a good look at what's happening and get inspired for a follow-up of the giveaway. Is this worth a repeat?
Take a look at the following statistics:

• Number of entries
• Likes per submission
• Number of participants
• Top participants (who shared the most content during your campaign? Keeping track of this will help you discover your biggest fans)
• Total Likes
• Total reach
• Growth of the account (followers) during the giveaway

Useful

If the current target group is relatively small, and you don't expect more than 30 entries, for example, you can manually check and keep track of the giveaway every day.
If you manually check your giveaway, you can do so with a tool like Tagboard or Google Alerts to track when your hashtag is mentioned online. This makes it super easy to track submissions.

11 Ensure good follow-up

Once the giveaway is over, you must follow the rules you have set. Adhere to the terms and conditions and be 100% fair in the evaluation and winner selection.
Once you've chosen a winner, don't forget to make this announcement public. With an (online) party! And thank all participants in a nice way. You can do that with a message online, but also with a discount for your webshop, invitation to the newsletter to stay informed of new promotions, etc. Be creative!

More followers, customers and sales with Instagram? Which can!

A professional Instagram account with a lot of target group followers supports the image of your shop, attracts the right new customers and ensures more sales. You know that Instagram is interesting, a beautiful medium where your target group is also active and it is becoming more and more fun to use it as a marketing tool. But why are you unable to get followers?

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