Instagram Giveaways: Read This First!

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Instagram hates giveaways. But it still remains a viable option to grow your following and influence. This guide will walk you through the giveaways pros and cons. Which Instagram giveaway template, picker, or generator to use. And how Instagram giveaway rules look like.

Let us jump right in.

Summary:

What Are Instagram Giveaways?

Instagram giveaways are a type of promotion aimed to grow your followers.

People are invited to follow you and engage with your content for a chance to win a prize.

The idea of a giveaway is to get as many people as possible to discover your Instagram account and follow you.

And if they like your content, continue following you after the giveaway is over.

Instagram giveaways may seem like a simple and easy way to boost your following and engagement. But in reality, it is not necessarily so. Let us see why.

Instagram Giveaways Cons

The biggest problem with giveaways is that people start unfollowing you once the giveaway is over and the winners are selected.

While those who continue following you do not engage with your content, bringing your engagement stats and account health down.

It happens for a reason: people want to win a prize. They are not interested in your account.

If you participate in giveaways, be prepared to see your engagement drop and lose all your new followers overnight.

Instagram Giveaways Pros

Despite the above cons, Instagram giveaways may still be a viable option to grow your account and engagement if you know what you are doing.

That said if you are planning to use giveaways in your Instagram growth strategy, follow these best practices.

Instagram Giveaways Best Practices

Check Who Is Hosting The Giveaway

The giveaway host should be someone close to your brand and niche. The host must have an audience that displays a close affinity to you and your content.

For example, if you are a raper, you should participate in giveaways hosted by other rappers. As in this case, your audiences are similar. And they have a strong affinity with rap music.

Do Your Math

Giveaway participation may cost you from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars.

If a giveaway is hosted by a celebrity with millions of followers, your participation may cost you $15-20k. And bring you 300k-500k new followers, overnight.

Is it profitable after all? It all depends on your budget and the purpose of why you need these followers.

Calculate your return on investment using the most conservative and pessimistic number.

Giveaway managers tend to overestimate the positive effect of their giveaways. And the authenticity of the host’s audience. Which may include mainly bots and inactive accounts.

Check The Rules

We will go through the typical Instagram giveaway rules in a moment. But please note that the rules may change on a case-by-case basis.

Make sure you thoroughly check the rules of the particular Instagram giveaway you are about to enter.

You may also like to learn more about Instagram Pods

How To Do A Giveaway On Instagram

Here are the typical rules and steps for Instagram giveaways.

  1. The giveaway manager finds an influencer or a celebrity to host the giveaway. Let’s say the celebrity has 10 million Instagram followers.
  2. The Manager and the Celebrity agree on the revenue share: 80% to the Manager and 20% to the Celebrity.
  3. Then, the Manager sells 11 slots to giveaway participants. $10k each.
  4. The Manager spends $10k on giveaway prices. Puts $80k in the pocket. And gives $20k to the Celebrity.
  5. On the agreed day and time, the Celebrity shares a giveaway post. Tags 11 giveaway participants. And invites the followers to follow the participants, like 5 of their latest posts. And leave a comment under the giveaway post.
  6. The giveaway Manager uses a giveaway picker or generator to run through the comments and randomly select 5-10 winners.
  7. All winners get their prizes.
  8. The rest of the people start yelling for not winning the prizes. And unfollow in mass.
  9. The giveaway Manager became richer for $80k and is launching a new giveaway.
  10. Our Celebrity became richer for $20k and deleted the giveaway post.
  11. The end.

Instagram Giveaway Template

instagram-giveaway-picker-generator-template-rules

If you are looking for an Instagram giveaway template to launch your own giveaway, you can look at creative marketplaces like Canva. Where you will find some fresh ideas for an easy start.

Instagram Giveaway Picker Or Generator

If you are looking for a free Instagram giveaway picker. Or generator to randomly select the giveaway winners. Random.org can do the trick for you.

Roman Gurbanov
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