Easypromos has developed a new app that makes it possible to run a giveaway on Instagram Stories automatically and reliably. This tool addresses the need that brands have to boost their visibility on Instagram and engage their followers. This kind of giveaway will help brands reach a wider audience. And consequently, grow their follower base, increase popularity, and boost brand reputation.
Let’s begin by looking at the two kinds of giveaways that you can organize with the “Instagram Stories Giveaway” app. This will also help to better understand how the app works.
- “Reply to a Story” Giveaway. Carry out a giveaway among the users that have replied to a Story on your Instagram profile during 7 days. Whatsmore, you can filter participation by including a predefined hashtag.
- “Mention in a story” Giveaway. Carry out a giveaway among users that mention your brand in a Story on their Instagram profile within 7 days.
Now that we’ve gone over the two possible giveaway dynamics, let’s take a look at some real-life examples.
Reply to a Story giveaway by Casa del Libro
Casa del Libro is one of Spain’s biggest bookstore chains and an early adopter of this giveaway dynamic. When the latest book of Spanish author Albert Espinosa came out, the bookstore launched an Instagram Stories giveaway to promote it.
Participants had to reply to the bookstore’s story with the hashtag #albertespinosa for the chance to win a hard copy of the book. Setting a hashtag as a participation requirement allows the organizers to filter only the participants that use it in their replies. Hence, this is a best practice that makes participation more reliable and trustworthy among users.
Did you know? When a user interacts with your stories, the next stories you post will come up first in the user’s profile. That’s why it’s so important to get users’ interactions on Stories, it increases brand visibility.
Reply to an Instagram Story giveaway by Coviran
Coviran, one of Spain’s largest cooperative supermarkets and food distributors, organized an Instagram Stories giveaway. And they turned it up a notch… Besides including the preset hashtag to participate, users also had to mention which was their favorite horror movie. Hence, the brand celebrated Halloween with its community as well as featuring its followers’ likes and opinions.
One best practice by Coviran, worth mentioning, is to communicate the 5 winners through a Story post and create a highlighted story with all the information regarding the giveaway. Furthermore, the Easypromos app allows organizers to send winners a private message easily from the winners’ list itself.
Let’s move on to the second giveaway dynamic: the Mention in a Story giveaway.
Instagram Story Mention Giveaway by Adolfo Dominguez
Our next example takes us to the Mention in a Story giveaway that the Spanish fashion brand Adolfo Dominguez organized. It is worth mentioning that the brand promoted the giveaway and explained the participation dynamics in their feed and included a link in the BIO with the terms and conditions.
The idea behind the giveaway was to encourage people to wear the same outfit to work every Monday as a way to reduce decision anxiety. Participants had to post a story with a photo of their outfit, mentioning the brand. The brand repeated the giveaway on a weekly basis and rewarded the users who followed the trend.
Mention in a Story Giveaway by Hai Swimwear
Hai is a Taiwanese fashion brand that has recently reached the 10,000 followers milestone. To celebrate such a memorable feat, they organized a Mention in a Story giveaway. The participation dynamic is one to really take a look at.
To participate, users had to select a swimsuit model from the brand’s feed, repost it in a Story mentioning the brand, and comment why they liked it. One lucky winner was chosen every week for several weeks. The brand communicated the giveaway through a story and it actually included in it a video showing participants exactly what to do to participate. Talk about making it Easy for their followers!
There are several remarkable aspects to point out about this campaign. Firstly, asking participants to choose a post from the brand’s feed that shows one of their products is a great way to get them promoted to an even greater audience, as participants themselves promote the brand’s products. Secondly, asking followers to comment on what they like about the product they chose, provides the brand with valuable insight into what their customers like and want. Big thumbs to Hai Swimwear!
In a giveaway like this, participants mentioning the brand in their Story is a necessary requirement so that the brand can carry out an automated giveaway. Having said this, there are two options:
- Only import the mentions to the brand made after activation of the giveaway. Users that have mentioned your brand before the activation will not be included.
- Import past mentions. Once the participation period has finished, you can import all the mentions of your brand made up to seven days before.
Instagram does not allow external developers such as Easypromos to store images that mention your brand. However, you can monitor the mentions of your brand every day to make sure they comply with the participation requirements.
Instagram Story Mention Giveaway by Bebang Halo Halo
Our last example comes from Bebang HaloHalo restaurant in Phillippines. The giveaway’s dynamic is worth mentioning. Participants had to post a story with a picture of a Halo Halo (a Phillipine shaved ice dessert drink) on their Instagram profile. This turned every participant into a brand ambassador through their Instagram profiles. Finally, the brand shared participating stories on its profile and also announced the winners in a post on their feed.
Important! The “Mention in Stories” participation dynamic requires participants’ Instagram profiles to be set as public. Otherwise, it will be impossible for the organizer to import the participants’ stories. Make sure you make this very clear in the instructions and requirements to participate.
Useful insights from these examples of Instagram Stories Giveaways
- There are two ways of monitoring the giveaway to gather participants automatically: activating the live monitoring to gather participants in real-time or creating the giveaway on your Easypromos account and importing participations up to 7 days old.
- We strongly recommend including a hashtag as a participation requirement. This will automatically filter the users that are participating in the giveaway.
- If you organize a “Mention in Stories” giveaway, recommend users highlighting their participating stories. This will allow the giveaway organizer to see them.
- Make sure the terms and conditions of your giveaway include all the information about the giveaway. I.e., prizes, dates, requirements, and be clear about how the winning image will be used and make sure participants grant their permission to use it.
- Post more than one story during the 7 days that the giveaway will be active. This will give it more visibility and attract more participants.
- Instagram Stories are ephemeral. Hence, the recommended length of the giveaways is between 1 and 5 days. Additionally, engagement is higher on weekdays, celebrate your giveaway then.
- A best practice is to use a highlighted story to share the giveaway’s information. It should explain the participation dynamic, where to find the terms and conditions, and announce the winners at the end of the giveaway.
Now you are ready to create your first Instagram Stories Giveaway! If you have any doubt, or want to know more about how to do it, check out our tutorial on how to create an Instagram Stories giveaway.
