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9 Inspirational Ideas for Your Next Instagram Photo Contest

Hosting a giveaway on your Instagram is one of the easiest ways to increase engagement. But to run a successful one is more challenging and requires some planning. We’ve created a guide on the basics of running an Instagram contest. For this article, we’ll focus specifically on Instagram photo contests that require user participation and entry creation.

Among the variety of ways to run an Instagram contest, those that involve user-generated content risk a lower engagement. If customers are tasked with creating a recipe or snapping a photo, they have to be invested in the contest.

The advantage of running a photo contest is more high-quality entries. You won’t have to worry as much about spam or fake accounts winning a prize.

In celebration of Mother’s Day, we're giving away (20) $50 World Market gift cards to fans who post a photo with their mother or mother figure. To enter, just post your photo via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and include #MyAmazingMom and #contest in the description and we'll randomly choose 20 winners. Contest valid Sunday, 5/14/17 only. Full rules at fb.com/worldmarket/notes. Winners will be announced Monday. Good luck!

A post shared by World Market (@worldmarket) on May 14, 2017 at 7:01am PDT

Basics of a Successful Instagram Photo Contest

To run a successful Instagram photo contest, you’re going to need user-generated content. On top of that, you will want to keep a few items in mind when running the contest through social:

High Reward

To entice people to enter, you need an attractive prize pack. Take a $25 gift card, for instance. If the contest was an easy “leave a comment on the post to enter” or “like to win,” the barrier is low and people will enter. A $25 gift card seems like an attractive enough prize if all you have to do to enter is double click on a photo. But if the contest involved spending hours to create and post a recipe, you’ll find that the entry numbers will significantly drop.

The higher the entry barrier, the more enticing your prize needs to be.

Clear & Easy Rules

No one likes complicated rules. If you have to take a photo with a certain product and a specific filter and post it on a Saturday, you’re going too far. Make sure that the rules can be easily summarized in a caption. For the fine print, you can always create a page on your website and link to it.

ANNOUNCING: The #fsboTECH Architecture Photo Contest! ⠀ Our friends at @fsbotech just launched their new site (fsbotech.com), and to celebrate, they're sponsoring a photo contest for the local community! The theme is "architecture" and your photos can be of any building, house, or structure in the Valley. Post your best and most creative architectural photos taken in the greater Phoenix area, and tag them with #igersphx & #fsbotech to enter. The team at @fsbotech will handle the judging, and First Place will win a print of their winning photo along with a $100 Visa Gift Card! ⠀ The contest starts now and ends June 25th at 8pm. Enter as often as you like. We're looking forward to seeing all of your amazing architecture photos!

A post shared by Phoenix Instagramers Community (@igersphx) on May 25, 2017 at 6:34pm PDT

Build-up, Promotion & Wrap-up

Like in any contest, you’ll want to promote before and during the event. You can do this a few different ways. When planning, you can take multiple photos to use for the promotion of the event. This would be examples of an ideal entry. Another route would be to work with influencers to promote the contest and create content with the caveat that they not able to win. Then you can use their created content to promote during the contest.

After the event is over, you should have plenty of contest entries to continue sharing on your page. The winner announcement can also be turned into a blog post, making the contest’s reach more cross platform.

9 Examples of Great Instagram Contests

There are many different ways to run an Instagram photo contest. Some of these ideas can be combined together for your business. For example, you could partner with a local business to create a recipe contest without being a food-based business yourself:

1. Recipes

A common contest in the food and beverage industry, the recipe contest involves the customers creating an original recipe and submitting it as an entry. Sometimes the company running the contest requires you to use their product. Other times the contest will allow the category of products to be used.

In celebration of National Dairy Month, Florida Dairy Farmers hosted a contest that asked for a recipe featuring anything dairy. The contest had four weekly winners, a grand prize winner and received over 600 entries.

Who wants to win big in our #MakeItWithMilk recipe contest?!? Check out @foodwinecon for all the details & start cooking! 🐮🥛#FWCon

A post shared by Florida Milk (@floridamilk) on May 2, 2017 at 11:58am PDT

2. Event Promotions

Most often used in partnership with other businesses to raffle off entrance tickets, the event promotion type is meant to spread more awareness about the event. If you’re hosting an event, you can even run your own contest.

To win tickets to the annual Brewers Fest, the Washington Beer Commission asked their fans to submit photos and to complete a sentence in their caption. The weekly winners then went head-to-head in an audience vote to score the tickets.

The Washington Beer Commission is excited to announce their third annual #DrinkWAbeer Instagram campaign! Discovering Washington Beer can bring you to many amazing locations and stops throughout our state and we want to know more about you and what your favorite #DrinkWAbeer moments are. Share your unique adventures with us by posting them on Instagram answering the question “I #DrinkWAbeer because…”⠀ ⠀ Every Monday, starting May 8th and running through June 5th, the Washington Beer Commission will select a winning photograph and award the owner of that photo with “The Washington Pint” made by @northdrinkware! The Washington Pint is a hand-blown, 16 oz pint glass with USGS data of Mt. Rainier – Washington's highest peak – molded into the base of the glass. The five winning photographs (one selected each week) will then go head-to-head and you all will decide the winner of the third annual Washington Beer Commission Instagram contest. The grand prize is, drumroll please, four tickets to the biggest beer festival of the year, The 12th Annual Washington Brewers Festival on June 16-18, 2017 at King County’s Marymoor Park. ⠀ ⠀ How to Play:⠀ 1) Follow the Washington Beer Commission on Instagram at @Washingtonbeer⠀ 2) Include a can, bottle, branded pint or growler of Washington beer in your photo⠀ 3) Use the hashtag #DrinkWAbeer⠀ Winners will be chosen based on creativity, clever caption, and the beautiful environment surrounding your favorite Washington beer. ⠀ ⠀ The Grand Prize winner will be selected by all of you. We will put all of the five finalists up against each other; like the photo and cast your vote by commenting your favorite. We will tally up the votes at the end and will announce the winner. ⠀ ⠀ Have fun, be responsible and DrinkWAbeer!⠀ ⠀ #drinkWAbeer #PNW #craftbeer #upperleftUSA⠀

A post shared by Washington Beer Commission (@washingtonbeer) on May 2, 2017 at 2:11pm PDT

Another type of event promotion contest is hosting it during the event itself. The goal here is usually brand awareness and attendee engagement with the host’s account.

The Chainlink in Chicago hosts bike rides and other events. During their rides, they encourage bicyclists to snap photos and post them with the event hashtags for a chance to win prizes.

Congratulations to our Omnium winner @jonathansmith68_ !! #abusbiketoworkomnium Thank you everyone for sharing their photos last week! We had some amazing entries!!! . . . #bicycle #cycling #bikelyfe #bikelife #bikelove #rideyourbike #cyclinglove #cyclinglife #thechainlink #bike #bikes #justbikeit #cyclinglyfe #velo #velolove #cyclingchic #cyclingstyle #instabike #instacycling #instacyclingpics #nationalbikechallenge #bikechicago #bikechi

A post shared by The Chainlink (@thechainlink) on Jun 26, 2017 at 2:22pm PDT

3. Fan Dedication

This type of photo contest targets the super fans of your product. The entry requirements usually ask for showing some sort of dedication to the company or product. Prizes can range from a year’s supply worth of product to a gift card.

In Domino’s Pizza’s case, their contest is integrated into their loyalty program. With every online order, you receive points that build up to a free pizza. Additionally, you receive an automatic entry into receiving 10 shares of their stock. The contest runs for a year and is enticing enough to encourage fans to keep ordering online.

On top of the standard contest, Domino’s also ran an Instagram contest that asked fans to prove how much of a super fan they were. All they asked for was a photo and a hashtag.

Your chance at winning $10,000 is just a 🍕and a 📸 away. Follow @Dominos, post a pic proving you’re a superfan, and use #PieceofthePieContest for a chance to win.

A post shared by Domino's Pizza (@dominos) on Mar 26, 2017 at 5:36pm PDT

4. Show Products Being Used

For companies that sell products, this type of contest is an excellent fit. It targets current customers and helps the company give back to their customers. It’s usually structured in a way that asks fans to show how they use their product at home for a chance to win more products or another great prize.

Maybelline wanted to promote their eyebrow tools and ran a contest asking for fans to document their brow transformation. Their customers already enjoy talking about makeup and tools. For a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles, documenting the process and sharing it to their followers is a no-brainer.

Watch @ravenelyse take her brows from blah to bomb using the brow precise pencil, brow drama pro palette, and brow fiber volumizer. Show us how YOU transform your brows for a chance to WIN a flight to Los Angeles and attend an exclusive brow event hosted by @iluvsarahii! Post a video or photo with #mnybrowdowncontest + #mnybrows with a caption talking about how your brows make your look! Contest ends 3/17, must be in the US to enter – all rules: bit.ly/2natY51⠀⠀ #mnyitlook

A post shared by Maybelline New York (@maybelline) on Mar 13, 2017 at 7:55am PDT

5. Holiday Promotion

You don’t need a reason to host a contest but if you had to, why not tie it to a holiday? Between non-traditional holidays like National Donut Day and the standard ones like Mother’s Day, you have a wide pick of celebrations.

Petco created a contest (PDF) that capitalized on the cuteness of pets in costume. For a $10,000 prize, pet owners submitted over 1,500 entries featuring their pets in Halloween costumes.

Hello, October! 🎃👻 Our “Make a Scene” contest has begun! Enter for your chance to win a $10,000 grand prize! This year, we want to see how you celebrate #Halloween together. Take a photo of you AND your pet in matching costumes with a “scene” that ties it all together! Post it on Instagram with #HalloweenTogetherContest. Contest ends 10/26. For full contest details & rules, go to bit.ly/HalloweenTogetherContest. #PetcoHalloween

A post shared by Petco (@petco) on Oct 1, 2016 at 7:56am PDT

6. Partner With a Business

Choose a business with a similar customer base as yours and partner up for a contest. With this type of contest, you have double the promotional power and you’re able to introduce your brand to an audience that might not have known about it.

In a twist on celebrating Mother’s Day, Sniff & Barkens and 1–800 Flowers asked fans to submit photos of dogs and their human moms.

Everyone knows that dogs love their mommas! Enter our #TopDogMom Sweepstakes to win some amazing Mother’s Day prizes from @1800flowers! Post photos and videos of dogs who LOVE their human moms, dog moms, rescue moms, and grandmas! Be creative!⠀ Tag a friend who should enter! ⠀ RULES:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ → Follow @1800Flowers and @SniffandBarkens on Instagram (We will be checking)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ → Post your photo or video entry on instagram and in the caption write “This is my entry in the #TopDogMom Sweepstakes hosted by @1800Flowers and @SniffandBarkens.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ → Place up to five entries! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ → Only US entries are eligible to win prizes. International entries can still earn a shout out!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ → Winners will be announced on May 17th⠀ ⠀ PRIZES from @1800Flowers:⠀⠀⠀ →1st place wins Playful Pup™ flowers, Amazing Mom Bouquet and a 1800Flowers Gift Card for $100.⠀⠀ →2nd Place wins Playful Pup™ flowers, Delightful Day Bouquet and a 1800Flowers Gift Card for $50⠀⠀⠀ →3rd place wins Playful Pup™ flowers and a 1800Flowers Gift Card for $25⠀⠀⠀⠀ See full rules: https://sniffandbarkens.com/topdogmom-mothers-day-2017-instagram-sweepstakes-official-rules/⠀ ⠀ **All entries may be used for reposts by @sniffandbarkens and @1800flowers**⠀ #SniffandBarkens #mom #mothersday #mothers #dogmother

A post shared by Sniff & Barkens (@sniffandbarkens) on Apr 28, 2017 at 2:36pm PDT

The premise was easy and many dog owners enjoy sharing photos of their furry friends already. The prize packs included products from both companies, making sure that the winners were able to experience a variety of products.

7. Weekly Contest

For businesses like restaurants or stores that have a loyal customer base, building in a weekly or monthly contest is a great customer retention strategy. The barrier is usually low, asking users to use standard brand hashtags to automatically enter to win. And every week or month, you select a winner for a standard prize.

In a cafe setting, the prize could be a cup of coffee and a pastry. Having a regularly occurring contest makes it easy for you to operate and continually generates new content for you to engage with.

OpenTable hosts a weekly contest where you’re asked to hashtag your photo with #dishpics, tag @OpenTable and geotag the restaurant. The prize is always a $25 gift card. The contest benefits everyone involved: OpenTable is promoted, the restaurants sees photos posted and it’s feedback that the service is working.

Next time you take a photo 📸 of your food/drink, tag it with #DishPics for a chance to win a $25 gift card, just like @urbancell_gastronomy did when they snapped and tagged this amazing🤤🤤🤤 bucatini from @jsixrestaurant! Users must be following @OpenTable to be eligible. Keep snapping and keep eating!

A post shared by OpenTable (@opentable) on Jul 17, 2017 at 9:17am PDT

8. Take a Selfie

Users on Instagram love the camera and selfies are no exception. This type of contest can be combined into almost any of the previously mentioned types. It’s simple: take a selfie with a product, at a location or doing an activity. Add a hashtag and that’s your entry.

Pike Place Market ran a holiday giveaway with a prize pack of the market’s products. All they asked fans to do was to snap a selfie of them in the market.

😛 Want to win this sweet spread of goodies? Just snap a selfie in the Market and tag #PikePlaceHolidays. Tap the link in our bio for contest details.

A post shared by Pike Place Market (@pikeplacepublicmarket) on Dec 5, 2016 at 6:21pm PST

9. Show How Much You Need a Product

This type of contest doesn’t usually involve a required product or location. Instead, it targets potential customers by asking them to share how much they need your product or service. These types of contest are more successful with higher price point products. You may have lurking fans but the idea is that you can convert them to loyal customers.

FreshBooks ran a contest targeting new customers to promote their new app. To win cash, users had to take photos of how they work on the go. The contest didn’t necessarily require fans to use their products but it did help the company better connect to potential customers.

It's here: FreshBooks' #WorkAnywhere Instagram contest. Share where you hustle for a chance to win up to $500 towards your business expenses. 1. Snap a photo while working on-the-go 2. Upload to Instagram and include @freshbooks and #WorkAnywhere in the caption 3. Most unique entry wins $500 (cha-ching!) Tap the link in our bio for more contest details.

A post shared by FreshBooks (@freshbooks) on Mar 1, 2016 at 8:07am PST

Use Tools to Keep Track of Contest Hashtags

In an Instagram photo contest, you want to track and quickly respond to new entries. Our Instagram management tools can help you make sure that no entry goes missed and the analytics reports provide final statistics on how well the contest performed.

For brands creating contests, you have to ensure your efforts paid off. With our in-depth and powerful tools, you can track comments, hashtags and other forms of engagement to see what gets people submitting. Learn from your data so you can plan an even better Instagram photo contest next time!

This post 9 Inspirational Ideas for Your Next Instagram Photo Contest originally appeared on Sprout Social.

from SM Tips By Minnie https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-photo-contest/

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