● Brands that host contests report 70% faster follower growth 

● Contests get 3.5x as many likes and 64x more comments

And while exact stats aren’t available for every niche and industry, most brands that run social media giveaways and contests also benefit from:

● Increased likes, comments, shares
● Reach into all-new audiences
● Increased followers (especially if “following” is a requirement of the contest)
● Increased email subscribers (if email entry is a requirement)
● Increased hype around a product or offer launch

Those are great reasons to host a giveaway or contest — plus they’re not overly saturated right now. Instead of hopping on Reels or TikTok trends, you can stand out with contests and giveaways; only 0.56% of all Instagram posts are contests.

But that doesn’t mean you should just start planning your giveaway or contest right now.

When a giveaway or contest is a no-go for your brand

One thing about social media contests and giveaways? They aren’t something you can just “slap up” and start running. They take a lot of planning, attention, and often partnerships or tech to support.

Now’s not the time to run a social media giveaway or contest if:

You don’t have the resources

Resources meaning time, money, and people-power needed to manage the contest, promote it, and deal with any issues that arise. It’s also important to note the cost of the actual giveaway — the average price of a contest prize is $369. Contests with prizes of $1000 or more receive an engagement rate of 5.8% per 100 followers.

Make sure you’re prepared to make the giveaway really enticing, which may mean planning and budgeting for a larger-scale campaign down the road.

The timing is off

Timing is everything when it comes to social media contests. If you’re running a massive promotion on a contest or giveaway when there’s a major news cycle happening, for example, you’re probably not going to see traction. It could even hurt your brand’s perception.

Plus, if you try to force a contest when your audience is focused on other things, some followers (and potential followers) may see your campaign as a cheap way to buy engagement or followers, rather than a way to provide value and have fun.

You don’t have a larger strategy (or the giveaway doesn’t align with your overall strategy)

If a brand doesn't have a clear goal for the contest or isn't sure how it aligns with their overall marketing strategy, don’t do it. A contest without a clear objective — or clear alignment to an existing, overarching strategy — will just be a waste of resources.

Another thing? Social media giveaways and contests aren’t just a “quick grab” for new followers and higher metrics. While a giveaway might spike engagement, the high might not last once the contest is over, especially if people only followed or interacted with your account to win the prize.

You don’t understand the legal requirements

There are actually a lot of rules on Meta platforms surrounding giveaways and contests. You have to follow platform-specific rules around these campaigns, as well as abide by privacy, data handling, and promotional regulations.

If you’re not interested in looking those rules up (or don’t want to follow them), take “run social media contest” off your to-do list.

You don’t even know what your audience would want

Do you know your audience's preferences as far as content goes? Are they video consumers? Static post people? Stories? You need to know how they consume content before you start promoting a contest. If they are more engaged by video, you don’t want to promote a contest through graphics alone.

The other thing: If you don’t have a prize that’ll have your audience foaming at the mouth, you don’t need to host a giveaway. If you haven’t monitored your offers or products for “best sellers” or you don’t have a new offer with a lot of hype around it, it might be best to hold off.

Partnering with other brands or influencers to make a giveaway “more enticing”? It could work — but only if the prize is relevant to your brand. You don’t want to give away skincare products if you’re a financial services firm.

You get the idea.

Ready to run a giveaway or contest? Here’s what to do

So you’ve decided that a social media giveaway or contest is the right next step for your brand. Now what?

First things first: Define your goals

“Increase engagement” isn’t a goal. At least, not the only goal.

Whether this giveaway or contest is a supplement to a launch strategy, a brand awareness campaign, etc. make sure your goal is clear and measurable.

Choose a contest format

Giveaways and contests don’t just have to be a “tag for entry” style event. You can run a photo contest, a hashtag contest, an email entry-based contest, etc.

Choose a format that aligns with your goals, is engaging for your audience, and is manageable for your existing social media team. Most giveaways last about a week, and the shorter time frame creates urgency.

However, it also depends on your audience — are they on social often? Do they need more time to warm up? A longer time frame can let more people enter, but it does reduce the excitement.

Choose your prize(s)

You’d think this would be step one, but it’s not. You can’t just pick a shiny object and start asking for entries, hence the first two steps. Now, though, it’s time to think about what people will get.

Think about what kind of prizes would most appeal to your audience — and even a broader group of people (because that’s the goal, to reach more people). You might give away your own product, a collection of products, or offer a “free” service, depending on your business model.

If you’re coming up on a launch for a product or service, a giveaway or contest is the perfect way to build hype and awareness. And by giving someone (or multiple people) a chance to engage with the new offer for free, you can even collect UGC and reviews.

If you’re not offering one of your own products — or you’re including products from other businesses — make sure you set a budget. As mentioned above, the average giveaway “price tag” is $369, but prizes valued at $1000 or more receive way higher engagement.

Don’t cheap out on this, but don’t break the bank either.

Review the rules

Again, we already mentioned this above, but it’s worth repeating: Follow. The. Rules.

Make sure you are familiar with Meta or TikTok rules prior to publishing your first contest or giveaway promotion. You can be penalized, and even have your account suspended if you break their rules.

Depending on the value of your giveaway and how you’re promoting it, you might also want to look into contractual CYA clauses. You may need to be hyper-specific about the prize, who can enter, how the winner is chosen, etc.

If you’re entering into a giveaway with other brands, you may also want to have a contract between all parties to ensure that everyone delivers their product/inclusions, and that there are clear guidelines for how submissions are handled, shared, and so on.

Promotion time

You’ve cleared all the hurdles and it’s time to launch your giveaway or contest. But you can’t just post about it once and expect it to go gangbusters.

Before launch, plan how you'll promote your contest—through your own social media channels, via email, paid ads, influencers, etc. Also make sure that the promotional strategy aligns with existing content and your content pillars. If you start posting in ways that are out of the norm, it might turn off your audience (or lead you to attract the wrong people into your sphere).

Measuring the results

While you decide which metrics matter for your giveaway or contest, you also need to decide how you’ll track its success (and report on your findings when it’s all said and done). This also depends on the contest format you’ve chosen — it’s a lot easier to track a hashtag, for example, than it is to track story shares.

While you’re promoting your contest, make sure that you’re keeping real-time tabs on followers, engagements, comments, DMs, tags, etc. This is valuable UGC that you can use later, and a great chance to engage with and build community.

After the contest, evaluate your chosen metrics. Did you exceed expectations? Did anything stand out? What would you change for next time? A contest or giveaway can be a monthly, quarterly, or launch-based event that can be used again and again, as long as you’re improving every time.

Before the contest, get your strategy right

Ready to host a social media contest or giveaway? Great.

Before you do that, you have your social media strategy in place, right? … right?

If not, it’s important that you start there before adding anything to your schedule. This isn’t because a social media contest or giveaway won’t work for you. It’s because it won’t help you reach your goals unless it’s intentional.

New followers are great and all, but if they’re not the right followers, your efforts are going to feel like a waste down the road. Instead, it’s important to cut down on the chaos and reactivity of your social media strategy — and posting what actually works.

We can help with that. Our workshop, F* The Algorithm! is designed to simplify the chaos of social media so you can make bigger strides towards your biz goals (without just coming up with new ideas and jumping on trends all the time).

Inside, F* the Algorithm, you’ll leave with a better understanding of how your social media plan can adapt to ever-changing algos and new ideas — without losing sight of the big picture.

Ready to learn the last content and social media framework your brand will ever need?