These are two different participation mechanics, and each requires a different approach to communication and promotion. In this article, we’ll look at real Instagram Story Giveaway examples, explain how each mechanic works, and share practical ways to promote your giveaway and encourage participation.
With the Instagram Story Giveaway from Easypromos, you can import eligible interactions from Instagram and randomly select winners once participation has ended.
Types of Instagram Story Giveaways: Replies and Mentions
Before looking at the examples, it helps to distinguish between the two main participation mechanics.
Story Reply Giveaway
In this type of giveaway, users participate by replying to one or more Stories published by your brand. Once participation has ended, you can import replies received during a period of up to 30 days and choose which Stories to include in the giveaway.
This is a simple way to encourage direct interaction with your community. You can ask participants to answer a question, choose an option, share a preference, or simply reply to the Story.
Story Mention Giveaway
In this mechanic, users participate by publishing a Story from their own account and mentioning your brand’s Instagram profile. Easypromos can retrieve mentions received during a period of up to 30 days and include those users in the giveaway. The participant’s profile must be public for the mention to be detected.
This format is especially useful when you want participants to create and share content connected to your brand, product, experience, or event.
Instagram Story Reply Giveaway Examples
In the following examples, users enter by replying to a Story published by the brand. This mechanic creates direct interaction and can help increase visibility by encouraging users to engage with the brand’s Stories.
Casa del Libro: enter by replying to a Story
Casa del Libro, a major bookstore chain in Spain, used Stories to promote the launch of La noche que nos escuchamos by author Albert Espinosa. To enter, users simply had to reply to the Story published by the brand. Once the participation period ended, Casa del Libro ran the giveaway and selected five winners.
The key takeaway is that a Story reply can keep participation very simple while still tying the giveaway directly to the campaign or product being promoted.
Why this works: asking users to reply to a Story creates a clear, low-friction interaction and gives the brand an easy way to connect participation with a specific question, product, or campaign theme.
Covirán: use a question to start a conversation
Covirán, a Spanish supermarket cooperative and food distributor, used Halloween as the theme for a Story Reply Giveaway. In addition to entering the giveaway, participants had to reply with the name of their favorite horror movie. This connected the interaction directly to the seasonal campaign and encouraged users to share an opinion. After the giveaway, Covirán announced the winners in a Story and saved the main campaign information in a Story Highlight.
The key takeaway is that the reply does not have to be generic. A simple question can create conversation around a campaign, seasonal moment, or product while still keeping participation easy.
Instagram Story Mention Giveaway Examples
In the following examples, participation happens from the user’s own profile. To enter, participants publish a Story and mention the brand. This mechanic can extend campaign visibility because the participation is also shown to the user’s own audience.
Carné Joven Madrid: turn participation into a simple game
Carné Joven Madrid, a youth card program in the Madrid region, used Stories as part of an Advent Calendar campaign. Each day featured a different activity. In one of them, users had to take a screenshot of a color wheel, share the result in their own Story, and mention the brand. The different colors were linked to the available prizes.
The key takeaway is that you can add a small interactive mechanic before asking users to publish their Story. The result gives participants a clear reason to create and share content.
Hai Swimwear: connect participation with product discovery
Hai Swimwear, a Taiwanese swimwear brand, celebrated reaching 10,000 followers with a Story Mention Giveaway designed around its product catalog.
To participate, users chose a swimsuit from the brand’s feed, reposted it in their own Story while mentioning Hai Swimwear, and explained in a comment why they liked it. The brand selected one winner each week over several weeks and promoted the giveaway with a short Story video explaining the participation process step by step.
The key takeaway is that a Story Mention Giveaway can do more than generate visibility. By asking users to choose and share a specific product, the mechanic also encourages participants to browse the brand’s feed and express their preferences.
Bebang Halo Halo: turn participants into brand advocates
Bebang Halo Halo, a restaurant brand in the Philippines, asked users to post a Story featuring halo-halo, a traditional Filipino shaved ice dessert, and mention the brand to enter the giveaway.
The brand then reshared some of the participating Stories on its own profile and later announced the winners in a feed post. This extended the campaign beyond the original entries and gave participants additional visibility.
The key takeaway is that a Story Mention Giveaway can encourage users to create authentic brand-related content and expose the campaign to their own followers at the same time.
How to Promote an Instagram Story Giveaway
The best promotion strategy depends on how users enter. A Story Reply Giveaway needs to drive people to the Stories published by your brand, while a Story Mention Giveaway needs to clearly explain what participants should publish from their own accounts. Pasted text
How to promote a Story Reply Giveaway
Because participation happens in your own Stories, focus on making the mechanic easy to find and understand.
You can:
- Publish several Stories introducing the giveaway and explaining how to participate
- Remind users about the prize and participation deadline
- Use a feed post or Reel to direct followers to your Stories
- Promote the giveaway through email, your website, or other owned channels when relevant
- Save the main giveaway information in a Story Highlight
You do not need to fit everything into a single Story. Spread the prize, instructions, dates, and terms across several frames, but make it immediately clear which Stories users need to reply to.
How to promote a Story Mention Giveaway
When users have to create their own Story, the instructions need to be especially clear.
Explain:
- What their Story should include
- Which account they need to mention
- When they can participate
- What they can win
- That their profile must be public for the mention to be detected
Promote the giveaway through Stories, Reels, and feed posts, and publish reminders while the campaign is active. You can also reshare selected entries to recognize participants and show others what a valid entry looks like.
If the campaign is connected to a physical store, product, or event, you can also promote it with QR codes, signage, email, or your website.
Want to automate Story interactions? With Instagram Messaging Automations, a Story reply or brand mention can trigger an automatic DM with information, a link, or the next step in your campaign. This differs from Instagram Story Giveaway, which collects these interactions for a random drawing.
What Information Should You Include in an Instagram Story Giveaway?
Whatever participation mechanic you use, the giveaway should be easy to understand from the start. Make sure participants can quickly find the essential information:
- How to enter: explain exactly what users need to do and direct them to the correct participation point. For a Story Reply Giveaway, make it clear which Story or Stories users need to reply to. For a Story Mention Giveaway, explain that they must publish a Story from their own account and mention your brand.
- The prize: show what participants can win and, when relevant, how many prizes are available
- The dates: clearly state when participation opens and closes
- Participation requirements: for example, whether users need a public profile for a Story Mention Giveaway
- Terms and conditions: provide an accessible link to the full giveaway rules
- Winner announcement: explain when and where the result will be published
You can distribute this information across several Stories, feed posts, or Reels rather than forcing everything into one frame. However, every promotional touchpoint should clearly direct users back to the actual entry point so they know exactly where and how to participate.
Tips for Running an Instagram Story Giveaway
Keep participation simple
Stories are a fast-moving format, so avoid unnecessary steps. For a Story Reply Giveaway, one clear question is often enough. For a Story Mention Giveaway, specify exactly what users should publish and how they should mention your brand.
Remind users while the giveaway is active
A Story disappears from public view after 24 hours, but your giveaway may run for several days. Publish new Stories during the campaign to remind users about the prize, deadline, and participation mechanic. You can also save the key information in a Story Highlight.
Adapt promotion to the participation mechanic
If users enter by replying, direct them back to the relevant Stories. If they enter by mentioning your brand, make it easy for them to understand what they need to publish and which account they must mention. There is no single promotion strategy that works equally well for both mechanics.
Account for private profiles
For a Story Mention Giveaway, mentions from private profiles cannot be retrieved through Instagram’s API. Make this requirement clear from the beginning so users do not complete the participation mechanic only to discover that their entry cannot be imported.
Make Story entries easier to review
Stories stop being publicly visible after 24 hours. If you may need to verify visual requirements later, you can ask participants to save their entry to a Story Highlight. You can also contact a potential winner and ask them to send the original Story from their Instagram archive.
Publish clear terms and conditions
Your terms should cover the participation dates, eligibility requirements, prizes, winner-selection process, and other campaign conditions. They should also include the required release of Instagram and state that the promotion is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram. If participants create photos, videos, or other content, the terms should also explain how that content may be used.
Announce winners transparently
After running the giveaway with Easypromos, you can publish a Winners Page and Certificate of Validity documenting the result. You can also select winners and alternates to simplify prize management if an initial winner cannot accept the prize.
Need help setting it up? Follow our Instagram Story Giveaway tutorial for step-by-step instructions on importing entries, configuring the giveaway, and selecting winners.
Instagram Story Giveaway FAQs
First, decide how users will participate: by replying to your brand’s Stories or by publishing their own Story and mentioning your brand. Once participation ends, use Easypromos to import the eligible interactions and randomly select winners and alternates.
Yes. You can import replies received on your account’s Stories and choose which specific Stories to include in the giveaway.
Yes. You can run a random drawing among users who publish a Story mentioning your Instagram profile. Their account must be public for the mention to be retrieved.
Easypromos can retrieve Story replies and mentions from the previous 30 days, so your giveaway does not need to be limited to the 24 hours that an individual Story remains visible.
It depends on the participation mechanic. For a Story Reply Giveaway, direct users to the Stories where they need to reply. For a Story Mention Giveaway, clearly explain what they should publish and remind them to mention your brand. You can support both with feed posts, Reels, additional Stories, and other owned channels.
With Easypromos, you can import eligible interactions, review participants, apply exclusions, and define the number of winners and alternates. After the random drawing, you can publish a Winners Page and Certificate of Validity.
Yes. With Instagram Messaging Automations, a Story reply or brand mention can trigger an automatic DM with information, a link, or the next step in your campaign. Instagram Story Giveaway serves a different purpose: it collects those interactions so you can randomly select winners afterward.
Ready to Run an Instagram Story Giveaway?
Whether you use Story replies or brand mentions, the key is to keep participation simple, explain the entry point clearly, and make it easy for users to understand how and where to take part.
Have a Story Giveaway campaign in mind? Contact us via live chat or request a video call to discuss your objectives. We’ll be happy to review your use case and help you choose the most suitable participation mechanic.
