Do you know how to announce the winners of an Instagram Sweepstakes and how to get in touch with the winners? Once you have run the sweepstakes and have the list of the winners and the alternates winners, the next step is to contact with the lucky ones to organize the delivery of the prize. Below we give you 6 ideas to how to contact the winners of your sweepstakes in a fast and easy way:

Idea 1. Include the link to the Winners page in the Instagram BIO

When the sweepstakes has ended and you have the list of the winners, the first step is to share the result of the sweepstakes with your users. Apart from contacting directly with the winners, it’s good practice to also inform the rest of the participants publicly so that everyone knows who have won.

Even though Instagram doesn’t allow links in posts nor in comments, it is possible to place a link in the BIO of the Instagram profile. So you can take advantage of this space to post the link to the Winners page with a line that draws the attention such as: “We now have the winners of the sweepstakes! Find out if you’re one of them here → + link”.

Note: The Easypromos platform provides you with a template to announce the winners and the alternate winners (the Winners page), completely customizable and ready to publish. More info.

Idea 2. Edit the sweepstakes post to announce the end of the sweepstakes

The users that have participated in your sweepstakes will be eager to hear the result and find out who the winners are. That’s why in the days following the end date of the contest, many will for sure pay attention to your profile and above all, the sweepstakes post to find out whether they’ve won or not. This is why it’s a good idea to take advantage of the visibility of the post to communicate to your users that the sweepstakes has finished. To do that, edit the text of the same sweepstakes post (Instagram allows modification of the text of a post) and add a line in the beginning that highlights: “SWEEPSTAKES FINISHED! Check out the last comment to know who the winners are!”.

Idea 3. Communicate and mention the winners in a comment on the post

Instagram encourage the personalized and unique interactions between the brands and the personal profiles so a very good practice is to communicate personally to the winners that they’ve won. How? On Instagram, the easiest way to contact directly with a user is to use the mentions, so the most practical is to write a comment on the sweepstakes post where you include the names of the winners as a mention. This way, the winners will receive a notification on their profile that they were mentioned in a comment and they will receive the message in a very direct and personalized way.

Note: If you have less than 5 winners, you can write the comment with the mentions included directly from the sweepstakes tool. More information.

Idea 4. Publish a new Post or a Story with the winners

Create a new post exclusively to announce the result of the sweepstakes. Upload the same creativity that you used in the sweepstakes post with a superimposed text that says: “We have found the winners!”. If you use the same image it will be much easier to attract the attention of the users that have participated in the sweepstakes because they will recognize the image and associate it with the contest.

In the comment of the post you can mention the winners so that they will receive a direct notification. And if you have the Winners page published, you can use a URL shortener to customize the link to make it easier to remember, and like this you can add it to the comment on the post.

If for some reason you’re not interested in posting a post just to announce the winners, perhaps because your brand is very careful about the appearance of the posts on it’s profile, an alternative could be to post an Instagram Story so that it doesn’t stay on the profile permanently. This way you can use the Story to tell the users to check out the link in the BIO to see the result of the sweepstakes.

Tip! If your Instagram profile is verified, you have the possibility to link the Story to a URL which allows you to link the Story to the Winners page of the Sweepstakes.

Idea 5. Send a private message to the winners from your Instagram profile.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram offers the tools to contact the users directly. This way, not only can you mentions the users in the comments but you can also send them private messages through Instagram using the feature Instagram Direct (Only available in the mobile app).

To do this, you have to go to the profile of the user you want to send a message to and tab the three dots in the top right corner of the screen. Next you choose the option “Send message” and this lets you send direct messages which makes the prize fulfillment process much easier:

Idea 6. Publish the Winners page on other social networks and other channels like your blog, newsletter or website.

Don’t forget to use your other social networks and communication channels to announce the result of the sweepstakes: Facebook, Twitter, sending a newsletter, or posting on your blog or even on your website. All channels are valid to announce the winners since you want to reach as many users as possible. Maybe not all have participated this time, but next time they may want to.

In all these channels, the link to the Winners page will be clickable so remember to link to the Winners page of the sweepstakes where the winners are published.

Are you ready to create your own comments-based Instagram Sweepstakes? Discover the complete features of the Instagram Sweepstakes, go to Easypromos and create your first Instagram Sweepstakes!

Randi Jensen

International Business Developer in Easypromos

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