Contests in Instagram – Aspects to consider before launching one    

It is true that there was already a lot written about how to create contests on Instagram or what tools to use to keep track effectively. In fact, we ourselves have talked about this before in other articles. However, this time we want to talk about what no one or very few speak before launching a contest in Instagram.

We’re going to reveal 5 things you should consider before launching your first contest in Instagram, unless you want to end in failure. Advice that we would have received before launching our first promotion with Instagram and that surely would have achieved higher goals, spending less time and money.

Preventing your first contest on Instagram is a disappointment.

The 5 points that we are talking below, from our point of view, the most crucial time to develop a good promotion strategy Instagram. They are based on our own experience and clearly define what aspects influenced directly distorts the outcome of our first contest in Instagram.

1.Previous promotion. One of the most important things if you want to significantly increase participation in a contest is to create a buzz about it. The more promotion you do before launch, there will be more participants. And when we talk about previous promotion, not referring to announce the contest 1 or 2 days before launch as we did :-/. We’re talking about the contest to publicize the whole community instagramers and that takes time. At a minimum you should start 2 weeks before, and ideally 3 weeks to 1 month.

And how should to promote? Well, besides publishing it on your website and all your social profiles, you should publish several articles mentioning your competition in other related blogs. In addition, you should create a good sign about the contest and encourage all your followers to share on your social media profiles. Another technique of promotion would be to search websites on contests (we publish on our Web Facesorteos.com) and send them yours. Finally, you can also use advertising and invest a little money to create a campaign to advertise your competition.

2.Across platforms. One of the mistakes we made in our first contest in Instagram was put as a necessary condition to participate, submit entries through a form on our fan page on Facebook. As expected, very few people are properly enrolled in the contest, simply for having crossed both platforms. I.e. needed to sign into Facebook, but to participate had to make it through Instagram. A real mess!

Then why did you? Basically, in order to monitor the competition. The problem is that the only way to get statistics and data on the evolution of the competition was to record participants through the blissful form Facebook. Now there are much easier ways to keep a thorough control of the contest without affecting the participants. Whatever you choose, do not make the same mistake we did.

3.Make it easy. If you want to have a good number of participants, then try to participation requirements as low as possible. Based on our experience and comparing with other Instagram contests, two requirements suffice to launch your first competition and would:

• Post photos or videos. It is always with public profile.

• Tag each post with the hashtag contest. The hashtag should be unique, that has not been used before, that is related to the competition and that is easy to remember.

That would be enough for the shares were valid and well able to take control of them at least. Obviously you can add more requirements, such as: it is mandatory to follow your profile or your brand, or that each publication is related to the theme of the contest.

4.Competition vs Sweepstakes. Although from the beginning of the post we have always referred to competitions, you can make a drawing more interested in Instagram. And no, it’s not the same. Each has its peculiarities, its advantages and disadvantages. A contest winner is chosen by a “jury” that is what determines what picture or video is the best. Instead, in a draw, all participants have the same chance of winning, since chance is chosen.

Think carefully before launching the promotion, identifies goals you want to achieve through Instagram and based on that, choose an option or another. For example, if you want a lot of participation at the expense of the quality of publications, then you should make it a draw. But if what you want is to create a community with devotion to your brand, then you better make a contest.

5.Basis of well-defined competition. It is the most cumbersome and least favorite part, but if you do not want to have problems, it is best that you spend a little time. If you’re not sure how to make them, you can hire an expert who will write the. Another option if you do not want to spend money is to use bases other contest in Instagram as a template and modify it to fit your particular conditions.

Take the time necessary and leave clear all major points, such as: date and start and end time of the competition, countries or regions to which is limited (if that is not open to everyone), system of election winner, prize or use of participant data. Always remember having provided free access to the document so that any participant can read and download.

In short, create contests Instagram is not easy or immediate. It takes time and dedication if you want to do well and achieve your goals. We’ve already given you an idea of the 5 key aspects to consider before launching your first contest in Instagram. Now you take the next step and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes that we made.