5 Types of Instagram Contests that Win Hearts and Increase Sales

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These last few years, Instagram has been a prominent platform for photo sharing, both for those who leisurely do and those who market their brand or wish to elevate their sales. Instagram has grown into an immensely effective tool with its 400 million active users per month and 40 billion photos shared in less than 6 years, which many take advantage to gain new viewers and engage their existing followers.

With its massive number of users, you could easily get lost and be unknown amidst the crowd. However, one of the most effective ways to gain new followers is through contests and as Instagram doesn’t have as many promotion limitations as other platforms, you could get as creative as possible with the concept.

1. Like Contests

This is the easiest kind of contests to hold. All you need to do is ask participants to like one or maybe more of your photos in order to enter and receive the possibility to win the prize. The goal of this kind of contest is the engagement that people have with your account.

Once users like your picture, the probability that your picture will show up in their followers’ discover feed will be higher. This automatically increases your exposure to other users that you previously never know before.

2. Follow Contest

Similar to the Like contest, users have to follow your account in order to be counted into the competition. The goal of this contest is of course the followers count, and consequently will create more viewers on your subsequent pictures even after the competition ends.

And again, with more people following you, the chance of your profile or picture emerge in their followers’ discover page will also increase.

3. Repost Contest

In order to gain entry, participants must repost one or more photos. This picture can be a particular one which is related to the contest or any picture from your feed. You should remind participants to tag you in their reposted picture so that you can trace whoever has entered the contest.

As more people repost your photos, then your photos can reach more of their followers. When more people see the picture that they repost, it will give you exposure and there’s a possibility that some of them might actually check out your account, and become your future followers.

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4. Most Likes Contest

This can be perceived as one of the most user active contests. You can ask participants to post a certain type of picture or repost an existing one from your profile and the one with the most likes will be the winner.

Participants will have to ask their inner circle of friends to help liking their photo or ask their friends to tag their other friends, too. This kind of contest will indirectly force them to introduce you to their peers and as the result, will gain you more viewers. However, in order to emerge a competitive enough environment for participants, you need to be careful with the prize that you provide.

Remember that it has to be interesting enough to make participants willingly take part in the contest, and it must also relate to the service or product that your brand stands for.

5. Challenge Contest 

This may be the most popular and most creative type of contest in Instagram. Tell users to post a certain photo on their personal account with specific hashtag and your Instagram account.

You can innovate a challenge as interesting as possible which not only will provoke other users to participate but it should also incorporate your brand name, product, store, or your campaign.

Marc Jacobs took his model recruiting to a new level when he announced the #CastMeMarc in his account.

Applebees ran the #Fantographer campaign where they asked customers to take interesting photos of their food and get featured in Applebees official account. Through this campaign, Applebees increased their followers by 32 % and engagement by 25 %.


These are only some ideas on how to conduct Instagram contest, while on the reality, there’s no actual boundary on how you should do it. Content and creativity must also be taken into account. An engaging theme combined with interesting content will definitely raise the name of your brand and products.

5 Tips to Create Better Instagram Captions for Your Business

           

Instagram is all about visuals. Once a customer visits your page, the first thing that they will notice is the pictorial. People will click the ’follow’ button based on the aesthetic images that they see.

You may assume that the pictures with beautiful edits and great shots are the most important elements for your Instagram business page. However, captions are what actually engage your customers and surely able to boost the retention rates for your products. It is where you voice what the photo is about and make people to take actions. If you are curious about how a single caption can significantly help your business, you can follow these tips from us on how to write a good Instagram captions.

Don’t post immediately; write drafts first

Instagram has changed its rules that our Instagram feeds now will only show the posts that they think matter the most to us. In the other words, the visibility of your posts in your followers’ feeds will only hang on the number of Likes and comments and your relationship with the users. Thus it is logical to write something that attracts followers rather than to post things sequentially but it does not appear on their feeds.

Write important stuff on the front

Instagram caption’s character limit is 2,200, however you need to notice that the captions will be cut off after three lines and followers will need to click ‘more’. It is okay to write long, but always keep in mind that the main story should be on the front so your followers will directly understand the content.

Always have ‘call-to-action’

With this tips, followers can actually take actions instead of passing by. Some of the examples can be by writing “do you have any similar story? Write on the comment below!” or ask a question such as “TGIF! Any plans for this weekend?”. Asking your followers to tag their friends in a post is also one strategy to gain more awareness. Another way is to create a contest in Instagram.

Use 0-4 hashtags

Using too many hashtags in a caption will be seen as somewhat tacky. We understand that hashtag is a way to be found by potential followers, but always remember to play it smart. You can put hashtag in between your caption such as: “Happy #WorldOreoDay! What is your favorite #flavor?”, or putting hashtag at the end of your caption or even do not put any hashtag when you think it is unnecessary.

Be cheerful 

Instagram’s tones are fun and lighthearted, so it is not a right place if you want some serious copy. You can use punch lines; throw jokes and even emojis to show the human side of your brand. Followers would actually be more attracted to simple and brief captions rather than long copy.

Those are some tips to create better Instagram captions for your products. You can test out how it makes differences to your follower numbers by creating manual analytics. Do you have other tips to write Instagram captions? Share your thoughts!

Instagram Do’s and Don’ts to leverage your business

Instagram is a medium that marketers shouldn’t ignore. In fact, Instagram is the app to make a deep impact on your business status. Some companies have set up and updated their Instagram accounts regularly. If you haven’t started yet, then this article will show you how you can use Instagram effectively to build your brand. P.S It’s not necessary to buy Instagram followers!

Dont’s

Don’t feed your followers with advertising. People want to interact with human not a company. If you can show another angle of your business instead of exposing your hard selling method, your Instagram may be filled with loyal customers.

Don’t buy Instagram followers. There is a chance that the followers you order are not real human. You are paying something that doesn’t bring engagement to your profile. Your profile might look perfect with lots of followers but it’s useless if they never actually comment or like your posts.

Don’t overused hashtags. Eventhough Instagram gives permission to add up to 30 hashtags, it does not mean that you maximize the use of them. Give your picture hashtags according to the topic. Add some popular hashtags if you like.

Don’t leave your profile empty. If you are not ready for a plan, don’t sign up on Instagram. What would the customer think if your business has a profile abandoned? Your Instagram is a representative of your business. Update regularly and accordingly.

Do’s

Hold a contest. People love rewards and prize. It doesn’t have to be millions Dollars or a trip to Africa. You can give products or vouchers for customers who already spend time joining your contest. Be generous when you hold a contest. Don’t win one of your employees or suddenly cancel a contest. Pick winners from the real customers.

Take customers to behind the scenes. People eagerly want to know what’s behind a successful company like yours. If you are having an event, post some pictures of the booth you’re setting up and what kinds of promotion you will give to the attendants. It gives a sense of personality in your brand. You may also post the people who have contributed to the event.

Show off your new upcoming products. It gives a sense of curiosity to your customers. You can provide your official page on the comment box so people can directly go to that link. You don’t have to post the product but you can give a clue using words like “Soon” or “Wait and See”.

Ask your followers to participate using your unique hashtag. It’s not only for engagement, but you can actually measure how viral your event is. As you search to your hashtag, you’ll find out how many people participate and what kind of pictures they mostly take. It’s an effective tool to analyze customer behaviors!

Always check on your followers. What kind of person they are based on the pics they post. Are they real or just bots? This act is to anticipate the spam as user can buy Instagram followers.