If you want the account to grow, posting another photo of the work will not do it. Asking people to follow will not do it. We’ve helped businesses run these contests, and the ones that moved the number had one thing in common: a prize people actually wanted, sitting on a post that asked them to bring a friend. That is how you get in front of people who were not following you yesterday.
Here is what that looks like with real numbers, then how to run one, what you can give away, and what happens when you pick a winner.
The growth
Croissance Technologies ran a Samsung 65 inch TV giveaway worth R12,850. Follow, like, tag three friends, share to your story. That post has 649 likes and 3.6 thousand comments. Instagram grew to about 800 followers. Three weeks later we ran a Dell laptop worth R11,600 the same way: 493 likes, 3 thousand comments. The second one was easier because people already knew how to enter.
You do not need a television to grow. Metro Motors CBD ran a spa day for two and pulled 42 likes and 34 comments. Smaller prize, smaller numbers, same idea: people who were not on the page had a reason to show up. Match the prize to the people you want, not to a vanity count.
How to run it
One post. One prize. One deadline people can see without opening a thread of comments. Write the rules in the caption so a tired person can finish them: follow the account, like the post, tag the friends, share it to a story if you want the extra reach. If you have a website list, offer an extra entry for signing up. That is the bit you still own when Instagram changes. Do not ask for a screenshot, a follow on five networks, and a WhatsApp forward. Instagram will bury you, and the people who wanted the prize will smell it.
Set the close date before you design the graphic. Seven to fourteen days is enough. Announce the winner on the same account, in public, on the day you said you would. If you go quiet after that, the new followers have nothing to stay for. Keep posting the work. I wrote about that in what businesses get wrong on social.
What you can give away
Give away something you would enter. A R50 voucher that expires on Friday does not travel. You do not need the biggest prize in Durban. You need one that fits the customer you actually want:
- A product you already sell, like the TV and laptop at Croissance, so the prize also shows the stock
- A service you already do: a cut and colour, a full valet, a night’s stay, a meal for two
- A partner prize, so you split the cost: a spa with a workshop, a restaurant with a salon
- Store credit big enough that tagging a friend is worth the effort
A workshop should not give away a 65 inch TV unless car people are who you want. A tech store should not give away a spa day. Put the value on the graphic in rand. People enter faster when they can see what it is worth.
What picking a winner looks like
On the close date, pick a comment in public. Use a random comment picker, or a live draw on stories, and say which one you used. Screenshot it. Message the winner the same day, from the business account, and give them 48 hours to reply with a name and a way to collect. If they do not reply, draw again and say so on the post. Do not DM a winner in private and never show the page. People need to see it was real.
They come in, or you drop it off. Take a photo of them with the prize, with permission, and post it. Name them. That post is the proof, and it is warmer than another product shot. Then go back to posting the work. The followers you just got will stay if the next thing they see is the business, not silence.
If you want us to run one, that sits in our social media work. Or send us the page and we will tell you whether the prize is strong enough, and how we would write the caption.
