Useful Tips for Running Photo contests on Instagram
Are you promoting your business or brand on Instagram? Need more engagement on Instagram? Add Instagram photo contest to offer your feeds a boost.
It is no surprise that any business small and large is using interactive tools increasingly like photo contest on Instagram. Using such contests on this extremely popular mobile photos sharing website can get your business shared and marketed by millions of people.
They are also an astonishing way to get authentic user-generated content linking your consumers with your products.
In this post, I will give you the top tips to make the next Instagram contest a quick success!
Pre-Planning For the Contest
To make the contest a great success, you should plan it out first. The better you plan, the better are the chances that your contest will offer you with the results you require. Hey, it may even exceed your expectation.
Here are some contest planning tips:
Create goals
Like any great marketing campaign, you should know your objectives and goals. Without them, you will not be able to gauge your result, or your ROI – which means that you will not know how thriving you’re with the Instagram contests.
Define your targeted market
Think of your clients and the specific target markets you wish to engage on Instagram. Your contests will be greatly different if you are marketing to.
Create your budget
Ensure you know your own budget – and just stick to it always!
Select your prize
Have some prize idea to decide what you wish to give away. Your contest prize is what offers people the motivation to enter.
Select the kind of your contest
There are different kinds of contests that you can utilize to generate customer interaction. There are group offers, sweepstakes, video contests, essay contests, vote contests and more. On Instagram, photo contests are most recommended to get your fans doing whatever they love – sharing photographs.
Make theme for your contests
If you have chosen a photo contest, for instance, choose a topic needed for contestants. Remember the market you wish to attract as well as your goals.
Run and handle your contests
On Instagram, you can set up your contest simply by using a particular hashtag, and getting entrant to utilize it in their images to enter, however…You will gain much more thorough contests management tools by using third party app.
Determine your contest time frame
Prior to you begin your contest, plan how long you will run it for. In case you are offering a grand prize, you will wish to run it out for a long time, in order that you can endorse it widely and get to spread through the entrants’ social networks.
Determine frequency of your contest
If you are doing a week long contest, run them each week. It’ll build impetus for you, as contest spreads via “word-of-mouth online” through your contestant social networks.
Determine guidelines and rules
Yes, you should get all your regulations and rules sorted out. For instance, if you are looking to use UGC later you should ensure that you have got the right legalize for that.
Decide your entry way
Decide how your contestant will enter your contest on Instagram. Can they enter via Instagram only? Will you let them to enter via Facebook, – or Twitter, your site, etc? Do they have to use a particular hashtag to enter the contest?
Sort your tools to measure success
Get the analytics tools selected prior to the beginning of your marketing. This offers you a baseline for measuring your achievement. Instagram does not have in-built analytic features, therefore you will need to establish third party monitoring about your KPI’s.
Build Your Contests
Now that you have got your well-known ducks in proper order, and you have got the base set for your advertising campaign – it is time to create your Instagram contests.
Use an application
Ok, I am biased here, but I’d use a contest application to create your Instagram contest. It makes it much simpler to handle. It takes nearly five minutes to establish a contest, and then you get the customer management tools, real-time analytics, and even option to run your Instagram contest through other social websites like Twitter, Facebook, or your site.
Make campaign specific hashtags
Create hashtags for your promotional campaigns. Hashtags are super imperative on Instagram – it is an astonishing way to link with any Instagrammer.
Write attention grabbing title
Create a title for the contest which grabs interest of people. Include the prize that you’re offering, your company’s name, and the theme of your contest.
Create an attractive visual of the prize
The prize tends to be very imperative for your marketing success. Make or get a cool picture of your prize, and incorporate it in the contest and your contest promotional materials.
Include the details about contest rules
Ensure you include details of your contests, like when it begins and ends, what theme is needed, and the compulsory use of campaign hashtags. If you’ve more legal stuff that you want to include – ensure that you do it!
Include details regarding how the winner will be selected
Are you selecting your winners at random, through a panel of judges, or a vote? The vote element adds in virality to your contests, as entrants will definitely spread the words to get their family and friends to vote!
Include your rules about UGC
– Yup, this is more regarding rules as well as legalese stuff. However if you wish to get users generated content to utilize later for promotional purpose – be upfront regarding it, and ensure you get the permission of entrants’.
Tell how a contestant can enter
Incorporate information about how the people can enter a contest. Some apps let the contestants enter via Instagram only, via other social websites, through email, through computer, etc. You can select how to expand or limit the easiness of entry.
Make it clear and easy to your market about how to enter the contest. A straightforward CTA will boost the total number of entrants that you get.
Market Your Contest
You have planned the Instagram contest now, you’ve created it – now you want to market it. Here are a few tips to quickly spread the words to your targeted clients.
Use emails
Yes, great old email marketing. Still it works. Use segmented, personalized emails to reach to your target and to get them engage on Instagram with you. Create subject lines along with enticing and clear Call to Actions. Incorporate your prize, how to enter, and your company name.
Make your email body simple to read, take in visuals of your award, your photos theme, and simple to click CTA.
Do cross promote on many social sites
Post invitation to participate in your contest via your Facebook Page, Pinterest, Twitter, and other social websites you’ve. Highlight your updates on Facebook. Incorporate your hashtag in Twitter and Pinterest posting as well.
Post articles on your blog
You should write an article regarding your contest, with links to your own Instagram directly and to your contest specifically. Again, include visual about your photo theme and your prize. Make clickable, easy CTAs.
Write guest blog to market the contest
If you’ve the opportunity to write a guest blog on industry related websites, do it. You do not wish to make your post sound like spam. Use this opportunity only if you have established a presence on such blogs, or if that fits with blog posts that they publish.
Utilize earned media via press release about the contest
Many businesses miss this chance to go through more traditional media way. If you are a local business, try to write a small press release and get it published in your local newspaper. You never know when it can get your own profile raised, get more contestants, and more neighborhood traffic via your doors.
Utilize Google ads
Utilize targeted ads via Google to reach the market. Geo-target the ads if you’re a geographically based, ensure your ads are noticed on mobile.
Utilize Facebook Advertisements
If you are hosting your new Instagram contests on Facebook, or you update any post about it, utilize Facebook advertisements to reach Fans and beyond.
Use Twitter Advertisements
Utilize Twitter advertisements to reach the mobile market. Use the post about your Instagram contest to make a sponsored post, and reach out your demographic beyond your Followers only.
Put banner on your site
Promote your contests with a well designed banner on the homepage. Any visitors you get to the site will notice it, and that will not cost you much necessarily.
Put QR code on your printed promotion
Use QR code that link to your own Instagram contest directly. Print them on in-store promotional piece, and other print marketing that you do.
Include contest details within your e-letter
Are you sending out e-letters regularly to your clients? Ensure to incorporate a piece regarding your contest. Include visuals and clickable, clear CTAs.
List contest on contest websites
There are various sites particularly for contests.
Monitor The Contest on Instagram in Real Time
After you have got your contest running, and promoted, keep a track of your success and tweak your plans to enhance your results.
Below are a few tips for monitoring your contest.
Utilize Google Alerts. Check your campaign and company hashtag mentions by establishing Google Alerts.
Use Analytics
If you are running Google advertisements, ensure you monitor the results, and tweak ads as required.
Utilize Facebook Insights
Monitor your Facebook updates regarding your contest via Facebook Insights, and observe the result of any Facebook advertisements you run.
Tweak your advertising campaigns
Depending on real time result, tweak your advertisements and other promotional ways.
Tweak your contest
Now if you want to get better results for your contest, add better keywords in order to describe your contest, or update with better visuals about your prize.