However, not all Instagram contest formats work for the same objective. Some mechanics are better for increasing followers and engagement, while others are designed to collect UGC, generate participant data, or create recurring interaction with your audience.
With Easypromos, brands can create and manage different types of Instagram contests and giveaways from a single platform, including comment giveaways, Instagram Stories giveaways, hashtag contests, voting contests, and microsite-based campaigns.
In this guide, we explain the best ways to run an Instagram contest, which format is best for each marketing objective, and the tools and best practices that help increase participation and visibility.
How to Run an Instagram Contest
An Instagram contest is a promotional campaign where users participate for a chance to win a prize by completing actions such as commenting, posting content, replying to Stories, or submitting entries through a microsite. And in return for the opportunity, the brand will require participants to follow some instructions. This sort of contest on Instagram aims to increase brand engagement, awareness, and reach and can also be used to collect user-generated content as well as lead generation. However, not all types of Instagram contests serve the same purpose or have the same participation format. With this in mind, it is essential to choose the kind of contest and mechanic to achieve a given marketing goal.
So, which type of Instagram contest is the most appropriate for your brand? Below, we explain the main Instagram contest formats and when to use each one.
Which Instagram Contest Format Should You Choose?
Different Instagram contest formats help brands achieve different marketing objectives. Choosing the right mechanic depends on the type of interaction, visibility, and participation you want to generate.
With Easypromos, brands can combine several of these mechanics in the same campaign strategy to maximize participation and engagement.
What Can You Achieve With an Instagram Contest?
There are five different formats to run a contest on Instagram using the Easypromos platform. And as we mentioned before, each one serves a distinct purpose. Below, we explain the main Instagram contest formats and the marketing objectives each one supports.
Contest on Instagram based on comments
It could be said that an Instagram giveaway is an entry-level promotional campaign for a brand that wishes to engage with its audience, grow its follower base, and promote its products. If you are new to contests on Instagram, this is the perfect strategy to start building your brand’s presence on the social network and to achieve a critical amount of followers and reach before moving on to more complex campaigns.
Comment-based Instagram giveaways are simple and highly effective participation campaigns. Start by making a post on your brand profile announcing your giveaway. Make sure that the image is attractive and that it clearly shows that you are running a giveaway and what the prize is. Next, ask users to comment on the post to participate, either by asking them to answer a question like “What would you do if you won this prize?” or “Tell us why you love our brand.” Also, give your giveaway a better chance to go viral by asking participants to tag a friend in their answer. Something like “Tag a friend (or friends) with whom you would like to share this prize.”
You can also combine Instagram giveaways with Instagram Messaging Automations to automatically send participants a direct message after they comment on your post. This allows brands to share additional campaign information, distribute links or coupon codes, answer common questions, and guide users toward other actions without manual management.
Combining giveaways with automated Instagram messaging helps turn simple participation into a more structured engagement experience while maintaining interaction directly within Instagram.
Once the participation period finishes, use the Easypromos Pick-a-Winner to select the Instagram contest winner and the alternates.
Best when you want to:
- run simple Instagram giveaways
- increase Instagram engagement
- grow your follower base
- generate quick participation
Instagram Story Giveaway – Reply to a Story
Instagram Stories have become one of the most widely used engagement formats on the platform, so it makes sense to include them in your marketing strategy. Easypromos allows brands to run reliable and fully automated Instagram Stories giveaways. The participation mechanic is quite similar to the comment-based giveaway. Simply, post a Giveaway story on your account and ask users to reply to it to participate. What’s more, you can ask participants to include a specific #hashtag in their replies to better filter participating.
Best when you want to:
- increase visibility through Stories
- increase Instagram Story interaction
- encourage direct communication with participants
- create fast participation mechanics
Photo Contest on Instagram Stories: Post a Story + Mention
In this Instagram Story giveaway campaign, instead of users replying to a story posted by your brand, participants have to post a story of their own and include a mention of your brand in it. This is a good strategy to turn customers into brand ambassadors as you can stipulate what the participants’ stories have to feature, for instance, a photo of them showing your product, which is exactly what Bebang HaloHalo did. The campaign was highly successful and helped increase sales by more than 25%.
Learn more about it in the case study below.
Best when you want to:
- encourage customers to share branded content
- turn customers into brand ambassadors
- generate user-generated content (UGC)
- increase organic brand visibility
Mention & Hashtag Contest on Instagram
Take your contests to the next level with the Mention & Hashtag Contest app. You will be able to import photos and videos posted by participants on their profiles in real-time and display them in the public gallery. This type of Instagram contest helps brands both collect user-generated content (UGC) and increase campaign visibility through hashtags and mentions. Participants can join via hashtag and mention if they have a public profile. Photos and videos from participants’ feeds and reels can be imported. However, Stories content cannot.
How does the Instagram Contest with Hashtag work?
To participate, users must post a photo or video on their Instagram account with a public profile. In the post caption, they must mention your brand and use your campaign hashtag to enter the contest. This way, the Easypromos tool automatically collects their participation. Participants with private profiles cannot participate.
The key to success is actively promoting your Instagram contest across multiple channels. Simply put, you need to make sure users know about your campaign and can’t miss it. Share organic posts, invest in ads and make use of Stories; and don’t forget to cross-promote your contest on other platforms and communication channels.
Take a look at the contest organized by Roots Rants Roars, a fall food festival. During the event, the organizers gave some of the attendees branded backpacks. Later on, and in order to re-engage with their audience, Roots Rants Roars asked their audience to share pictures showcasing where they had taken their Roots Rants Roars backpacks. Users entered the contest by uploading a photo to their Instagram account, mentioning @rootsrantsroars and using #MyFoodHike and #HikeNL hashtags. All entries were then displayed in a public photo gallery.
Optionally, create a public gallery with the content uploaded by participants. You can enable voting to make the contest more dynamic and increase visibility. At the end of the campaign, it is up to you to decide if the winners will be selected randomly with an Instagram contest picker, by popular vote, by jury, or a combination of both.
Take a look at the following post shared by the festival organizers. Can you spot the same picture in the Instagram photo contest gallery that we shared above? Yes! Roots Rants Roars reshared the content submitted by the contest participants. Apart from making use of the UGC, they showed their products in action!
Would you like to give more visibility to your brand and collect sales leads? Invite your audience to vote for their favorite entries. Each voter must leave their contact information in order to submit their vote. Adding public voting can also increase campaign visibility, as participants are more likely to share their entries with friends and family to gain votes.
Best when you want to:
- collect user-generated content (UGC)
- increase campaign visibility through hashtags
- create shareable Instagram campaigns
- build a public gallery with participant content
Microsite Contest Promoted on Instagram
Unlike native Instagram giveaways, this type of contest is hosted on an external microsite that is promoted through Instagram and other social media channels. The Voting Contest app allows you to create a photo, video, or text contest that you can then promote across your social media accounts. The contest is hosted on a microsite with its own URL that you can later share on your social media accounts to promote participation. Simply put, Instagram will provide you with a channel to share your promotion and attract participants.
As an organizer, you can then display entries in public galleries and enable public voting, either to choose the Instagram contest winners or those who move on to a final jury round.
Take a look at the example above. The Eastwood Company is an automotive restoration solution provider that organizes a yearly Before & After car restoration contest. The organizers promote the contest through all their social media accounts. With this action, the brand increases brand awareness and product visibility while engaging its audience both in the entry and voting stages of their contest.
Best when you want to:
- combine Instagram promotion with a branded microsite
- collect participant data and leads
- organize photo, video, or voting contests
- maintain full control over the campaign
Best Practices for Running an Instagram Contest
Choose the Right Instagram Contest Format
This might seem obvious, but the first step is deciding what kind of contest on Instagram to launch. This will depend entirely on the goal you wish to achieve, for example, promoting your products, increasing brand awareness, collecting UGC, etc. The comparison table below can help you choose the format that best matches your campaign goals.
Decide on the participation requirements of your contest on Instagram
Keep in mind that to participate, users will need the right motivation. Participation motivation usually depends on two key factors:
- Clear and easy participation mechanic and requirements: Keep it simple and clear. For instance, in an Instagram Giveaway, ask participants to comment on your post by answering a simple and specific question and mentioning a friend. For a photo contest aimed at collecting UGC, set clear instructions, i.e.: “Post a picture showing us how you use (your product).”
- Offer an attractive prize. The prize should feel valuable enough to justify the participation effort and any information participants are asked to provide.
Make sure your Instagram contest includes clear participation rules, eligibility requirements, and prize conditions. Well-defined terms help create a more transparent campaign experience and protect your brand reputation.
Match the Contest Format to Your Marketing Objective
Different Instagram contest mechanics generate different types of participation. For example, comment giveaways work well for increasing engagement and followers, while hashtag contests are more effective for collecting user-generated content and increasing campaign visibility.
Choosing the right format before launching your campaign helps improve participation quality and overall campaign performance.
Promote your contest
Promotion is essential to maximize the visibility and participation of your Instagram contest. Independently of the kind of contest you decide to run on Instagram, its success will depend on its reach, and therefore, participation levels. Make sure you make posts promoting your contest across all the social networks where your brand has a presence, and also on your website, email campaigns, or other communication channels.
Facebook, Threads, and X, all allow you to include a link to your promotion in your post. Make sure to include an attractive image of the prize and invite your audience to enter the contest by following the link. And don’t stop at one post, depending on how long your contest is going to run, make periodic reminders to drive participants to your contest.
If you want to use Instagram to promote a contest hosted on an external microsite, you can include the participation link in your Instagram bio, share it through Stories, or use Instagram Messaging Automations to automatically send participants direct messages with access to the campaign after they interact with your post. This helps reduce friction and makes it easier for users to access the promotion directly from Instagram.
To maximize visibility, keep promoting the contest through Stories, organic posts, and other social media channels. Investing in Meta Ads can also help increase reach and attract more targeted participants than organic promotion alone.
Best Practices and Mistakes to Avoid in Instagram Contests
So, now that we’ve gone through all the important things to do to help you create a successful contest, let’s take a look at some of the pitfalls to avoid.
- Avoid encouraging spam participation
Do not offer extra entries for excessive commenting, tagging, or Story sharing. - Avoid using likes to determine winners
Instagram likes are not a reliable voting system and do not include fraud prevention mechanisms. - Always announce contest winners
Publicly communicating winners helps reinforce transparency and trust in your campaign.
Ready to Run Your Instagram Contest?
Instagram contests are one of the most effective ways to increase engagement, generate visibility, collect user-generated content, and grow your audience on social media.
With Easypromos, brands can create fully customizable Instagram giveaways, hashtag contests, voting contests, Instagram Stories campaigns, and microsite-based promotions from a single platform.
You can create a free account and start testing different Instagram contest formats in just a few minutes. If you need help choosing the right mechanic for your campaign, contact us via live chat and our team will be happy to help.
