The Instagram Giveaways We’ve Run

One of the highlights of our HighKey journey so far was being able to secure a giveaway campaign with Kevin Hart, someone who’s not only known for his stellar comedic timing but also his brilliant business mind. That was a $20k giveaway and it involved following certain accounts and then leaving a comment on the giveaway post. There are several ways you can do an Instagram giveaway. In this piece, we look at the tried and tested method of marketing.

Why do an Instagram Giveaway?

Grows your following. You’re probably reading this article because you have the goal of growing your Instagram following. Well, there’s no better way to legitimately grow your account than with a giveaway campaign. Giveaways attract more followers.

Fosters engagement. Instagram often reminds users that the way to bear that pesky algorithm is to engage, engage, engage. Giveaways create a flood of engagement, especially if one of the entry requirements is that people need to comment on the post and you then respond to those comments. The algorithm will love you, which means you’ll get featured more often.

Builds rapport with existing followers. People often spend so much time on an acquisition that they forget about retention. Getting new followers is great, but not at the expense of old followers. Giveaways appeal to both old and new. It creates a relationship and bond between you and your existing followers.

It promotes your product or service. Not all your competition entrants will win, but they’ll certainly all be aware of your products by the end of the campaign. This awareness is what creates longevity and staying-power for your brand.

How to do an Instagram Giveaway

1. Establish your goal

There are several reasons to do a giveaway and it’s possible to have all of the above checked, but figuring out a core reason will help with establishing your entry process and giveaway theme. Do you want to get your name out there? Gain more followers? Promote a product?

Our giveaways at HighKey Clout are often cash prizes and we join forces with different celebrities. The giveaways on our HighKey Technology (@highkeyco) account there is a combination of cash and tangible prizes like laptops or iPhones. These prizes line up with our overall theme for each business. HighKey Clout incentives people to follow a list of giveaway sponsors to enter the giveaway where HighKey Technology incentivises product purchases to enter the giveaway.

2. Outline the rules

This builds on the “establishing your goal” step. If you want to increase your follower count, then keeping the rules simple is key. If your goal is to promote your brand or product, then having participants repost a photo or tag friends in the comment section is a solid strategy. If you’d like to work with Instagram’s algorithms and increase your engagement, then ask your followers to give feedback on what they’d do with the prize if they won and reshare on their Instagram story. Make sure to respond to these comments as much as possible. It’s a great way to engage with new and existing followers.

The giveaway rules we live by are different for each of our businesses. We’ll always try to stay on brand, even with competition rules and prizes. At HighKey Clout, because we work with various celebrities, and we consider followers and engagement to be a form of clout or power, we ask competition entrants to follow specific accounts and then leave a comment. For our HighKey Technology. giveaways, our goal is to get people to buy our products. Every $1 spent is an entry into the competition. Our products include masks, sockets, key chains, earphones, hoodies, and bags. Purchasing any of these products gets you between five to 100 entries into the competition.

Note: Make sure to consult with a legal professional for any legal Sweepstake rules.

3. Promote your giveaway

Just because it’s a giveaway and people love free things doesn’t mean that you can slack on the promotion aspect of it. This step is often neglected in the giveaway process and without proper marketing, your competition won’t gain enough traction. Posting on your Instagram feed is the first step. You can also:

• Writing a blog post about it
• Create a countdown landing page
• Post on Instagram stories
• Run a sponsored ad
• Post it on your Instagram bio
• Pay influencers to promote the giveaway

Give yourself some time between your first promotion post and the start of the competition as this builds excitement and will result in more competition entries. However, don’t wait too long because then people will lose interest. The same thing applies to the competition duration. A 48-hour gap between when your first post and the start of the competition is ideal and a 72-hour competition time usually works well. If you’re giving away quite a big prize, then you can extend the competition length.

How many followers can you actually gain?

This is quite a volatile number and depends on your current follower count, your prize, and how much marketing you’ve done for your competition. Our prizes are quite attractive, we market it well, and we have 5 Instagram accounts that have over 500K followers across to naturally market to.

Usually, during HighKey Clout competition time, we see a 50k – 100k increase in followers. Giveaways are certainly a fantastic way to check all the Instagram marketing boxes. Just remember – people are still following you for your content, so keeping the balance between promotions and quality content is imperative.