BEST INSTAGRAM GROWTH TOOLS
Are you looking for Instagram loop giveaways ideas?
You’ve come to the right place.
Instagram allows for so many different types of connections to be made between users.
Instagram also allows users to have the chance to strengthen those bonds through giveaways— after all, who doesn’t like free stuff?!
Instagram accounts that host giveaways, also known as contests, are able to grow their following 70% faster in comparison with ones that don’t. That’s a very notable difference.
Let’s imagine a scenario: last year you launched your e-commerce shop, and unfortunately, you haven’t seen much in terms of sales.
Don’t you think it would be awesome if you could team up with other shops to help each other get more potential customers on your e-commerce site?
Maybe you could work with other stores to create a big bundle giveaway, giving all of you a better opportunity to get leads.
This is exactly the opportunity that Instagram loop giveaways give you— you can work with like-minded profiles to build your reach to a larger network of Instagram users in your target audiences.
Imagine this scenario: you’re a travel blogger with a solid Instagram presence that you’ve built over the past year or so. What you’re doing is working, but you think you could harness the platform even more and make some meaningful collaborations. You reach out to a few others in your niche and create a plan. How could you help generate interest around all of your accounts and get people following?
When you want more real followers, an Instagram loop giveaway is one of the fastest and most effective ways to get them. In this article, you’ll learn about two key Instagram loop giveaways ideas:
- What an Instagram loop giveaway contest is
- How to host a successful Instagram loop giveaway.
You’ll love what’s in store for your Instagram follower count and engagement after you check out this article. Onward and upward!
Instagram Loop Giveaways Ideas: Instagram Loop Giveaway Contest
Instagram loop giveaway contests are one of the most popular trends on the platform to date; both influencers and brands alike are starting to realize just how powerful this engagement strategy is.
Loop giveaways aren’t exactly free, but they are an effective and affordable way to get your profile noticed and get more dedicated Instagram followers in your niche.
It’s not unheard of for accounts to gain upwards of 10,000 followers on Instagram through loop giveaways, so it’s in your best interest to at least consider what they could do for your profile. You’re bound to get great results when you implement this strategy.
Here are some super stats for you to consider:
- Less than $200 in giveaway prizes could get you over 500 followers
- A single IG post could attract over anywhere from 2k-6k+ followers
- Over a period of months, you may see upwards of 10k followers
- High retention rates are likely with the followers that you attract
Isn’t that awesome? Don’t you want that for your brand?
We’re going to let you know exactly what to do to put on an Instagram loop giveaway that delivers sick results. We’ll teach you not only the basics, but also give you ideas on how to promote it, examples, prize selection tips, templates, and much more.
So, what exactly is an Instagram loop giveaway contest?
What is an Instagram Loop Giveaway Contest?
You can hold a giveaway on your own Instagram account, but chances are you won’t see much growth from them unless you require shares or tags for entry.
When you host a giveaway with 3+ participating accounts, this is known as an Instagram loop giveaway.
You and your partnering accounts will decide on a prize to give away in exchange for more Instagram followers and engagement. It’s that simple.
You’ll not only gain more followers and engagement on Instagram, but you’ll get more brand awareness and a better performance against the Instagram algorithm, both of which are invaluable.
The strategy of Instagram loop giveaways is particularly useful for new profiles, emerging brands, influencers, bloggers, and creators because they can pull their resources and reach more audience members.
Here are the two types of Instagram loop giveaways:
- Pay into the pool: these types of giveaways are typically done on the pages of top influencers that have hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of followers. The giveaways are sponsored by smaller Instagram accounts looking to boost their following, effectively paying into a pool of funds (typically a few hundred or a few thousand dollars). The prizes are usually very desirable, like a designer product or even cash prizes. Because of this, many users enter the contest, getting the sponsor accounts thousands of followers in a very short time.
- Independently organized: This is done directly through all of the participants; the giveaway organizer will create a graphic for the contest that all participating accounts will post (or, each account can individually create their promo post). The participating accounts will tag each other in their post and inform followers of the instructions to gain entry (follow all accounts, share, tag friends, etc.). The user will then go through the loop and complete the required follows and/or engagements to gain entry to the contest. This is valuable, albeit more time-consuming, because each account will be actively participating and gaining engagement; also, the followers gained are more likely to be high-retention and niche-specific.
The goal is an independently organized giveaway; however, it’s a best practice to participate in one beforehand.
It takes a lot of time and energy to host a successful giveaway, with a lot of coordination and review.
When you participate in one first, you can see how it runs so that you can do it successfully in the future.
Always research the accounts before signing up for a giveaway; if you choose to participate and invest in a giveaway with an account way outside of your niche, you may not be reaching the right followers, which will ultimately result in a loss.
You want the followers to continue to follow you and engage once the giveaway is over, so choose wisely.
Instagram Loop Giveaways Ideas & How to Host an Instagram Loop Giveaway
After you’ve observed giveaways on Instagram and even participated in a pooled giveaway, you are ready to give it a go and host your own. In the following 13 steps, we’ll impart all the wisdom you need to make it a home run.
Step 1: Choose a Theme for Your Contest
Themes can help you to organize your contest and find the most appropriate accounts to invite for participation. They will also ensure that the accounts fall into the same niche.
For instance, you can create a theme around a particular product type, such as items for beauty fans. It could also be hiking equipment for avid outdoors people, or gardening tools for those who enjoy the hobby.
Whatever you choose, make sure that it fits with your target audience and then invite relevant accounts. You could also theme your giveaway around a holiday, or a particular company type like black-owned business, small businesses, handmade products, etc.
The more aligned your theme is with your accounts in mind, the better— you don’t want to be offering prizes that don’t match with your audience. If you do, there will be no desire for anyone to enter.
Step 2: Find Accounts to Participate in the Loop
You can consider all different accounts that come to mind; take a look at different accounts that follow you, look to other types of companies in your niche or like-minded profiles that are similar to your own.
The goal is that the companies don’t compete against one another, but complement one another. You need the companies to work well together and be in line with your target audience’s wants and needs.
You shouldn’t look to include more than 10 accounts for your first hosted giveaway. It is a lot of work when you include a ton of accounts— you’ll be contacting them all, keeping them connected, monitoring the contest, and more.
Your users will also have to do more work, which may ultimately demotivate them. You’ll also have to sift through and confirm that they did meet all of the requirements, although we have a tip for that later on.
Step 3: Contact the Accounts
Once you’ve decided on the accounts you want to include, you’ll want to reach out to them directly to see if they are interested in participating in your loop giveaway.
Another alternative can be to post content that calls for accounts that are interested. Let them know how to contact you for more details. Always post with enthusiasm and positivity.
If you reach out to brands/businesses directly, it’s a good idea to come up with a simple template that will explain your vision for the contest. Try to personalize them, especially if you don’t know the people who run the accounts personally.
It can be a trying process to find accounts to participate in your giveaway if you don’t get your messaging right, so make sure you have a backup list if you find that you’ve been left on read or shot down. (don’t get discouraged— it’s not an easy process! You got this).
If you’re having trouble, do both! Post to your account and also contact accounts directly— the more exposure, the better. Your followers will then know to keep an eye out for a giveaway in the near future.
Step 4: Put Everyone in Contact with Each Other
After you find enough accounts to participate in your Instagram loop giveaway, you want them to all connect. You are partners in the giveaway and you need to agree on a variety of different action items for the giveaway.
The most logical connection would be to put everyone in an Instagram DM. All of the participating accounts should follow each other as well. If you find that the IG DM is too overwhelming and messages seem to get lost in a full inbox, consider other teamwork applications such as Slack.
You can have everyone introduce themselves and then get down to business. Remember, you’re the organizer, so maintain order and make sure that people know what to expect, what is being discussed, and that all voices are heard.
Step 5: Decide on the Prize for Your Contest
The first thing you need to do is decide on a prize for the contest. If there are only a few accounts, having one single prize can be acceptable. Each of the participating accounts will pitch in for the giveaway prize if you decide on cash or a gift certificate.
Alternatively, each account could contribute a product or service to the giveaway and the prize can be made up of all of the different items that the participants provide.
If you find the logistics of sending out one fun gift package overwhelming, you could maintain that each participating account will choose their own winner and send out their own individual prizes.
You’ll all promote the giveaway with your own prize, but keep the same set of instructions to gain entry. At the end, you’ll all select one individual winner and send them the prize accordingly.
Let’s imagine that you are all restaurants in your local area and the loop giveaway includes your 5 participating accounts.
You have to consider your target audience— what do they really want? If you offer users an item that is typically free or discounted anyway, they won’t be motivated to participate at all.
You also don’t want to give away incredibly popular items, since this is likely to either attract users that aren’t in your target audience or perhaps many of the users already have this item.
Pick something that is unique and desired by the users you want to participate. Perhaps this would be an exclusive dining experience or a special offer that they can’t get anywhere else.
You’ll decide on this with your loop giveaway participating accounts, so you can all come to an agreement on what will work best for your niche.
If you’re doing a collection of items, make sure that all of the different items complement each other. Let’s say that all 5 participants are all fashion-related accounts, and this is one potential prize package:
- Shirts from brand 1 and 2
- Sweatshirt from brand 3
- Socks from brand 4 and 5
Does this really make people want to participate? Where are the accessories? What about complimenting outfit pieces? Think in a cohesive way and make sure that all different elements in the gift package go together in a great way.
Perhaps you don’t have any physical items to give away— you could think about some digital prizes, such as a subscription service or an experience.
Think big and be creative. Your participants have to be motivated to enter, so you want to come up with a prize package that gets them excited.
Step 6: Create and Send Post Images and Descriptions for Your Contest
Now that you’ve established the contest guidelines and what will be given away, you can set up the promotional material. It’s a good idea to tease your giveaway before you announce it so you can build anticipation with your followers and catch their attention.
You have a few options when it comes to deciding how to promote your giveaway:
- Each participant will post the same image with the same captioning
- Each participant will post the same image with different captioning
- Each participant will post a unique image with different captioning
Depending on the prizes and how many accounts are involved in the giveaway, you can decide what is best for you. Typically, the more accounts involved, the easier it is to use a single image across all accounts.
When you create an image for promo, you can use an image that is simply graphic, or you can feature real photos of the prizes. You could also feature some of the prizes being modeled or used in real life, adding excitement to your promo.
The following information should be included in the caption, no matter what:
- Giveaway announcement and theme
- Participating accounts
- Contest end date and time
- Prize info + monetary value
- Participation requirements
- Bonus entry option
- Winner announcement date/time
- shipping/delivery info
- Restrictions (where applicable)
- Instagram compliance
- Relevant hashtags
Here’s a sample caption to help you out:
We are so excited to finally announce our #loopgiveaway with 5 incredible brands! Each company offers #handmadeproducts known for using #organicingredients in their creations. You have the chance to win a gift set with 5 amazing prizes! Enter before 11:59 PST on June 30th for a chance to win.
The winner will get [enter prize here] from each brand (see photo), a total value of $xxxx!
Here are the rules to gain entry to the giveaway:
- Follow @brand1, @brand 2, @brand 3, @brand4, etc.
- Like this post on each account
- For a bonus entry, tag a friend in the comments of the post
- For 2 bonus entries, share the post to your IG stories
- The winner will be announced on July 5th at 12pm EST.
The fine print: you will not be charged for shipping, as it is included. Offer only valid for U.S. residents. This giveaway is not sponsored by Instagram, nor have they endorsed it, sponsored it, and Instagram is not affiliated in any way.
#hashtag1 #hashtag2 #hashtag3 #hashtag4 #hashtag5 etc.
Once you have established what people will post, you can send them the materials or at least the requirements so they can create the post. Make sure they adhere to your guidelines if they are creating the content themselves.
If not, make sure you send out all of the materials yourself; if they have to screenshot it off of your profile, you look unorganized and the image quality will be poor. You want everyone to be synchronized and have access to what they need to share the information on their account.
Step 7: Send Participants the Giveaway Details
Send out all of the logistical information about the giveaway, including:
- When the giveaway will begin
- When the giveaway will end
- Relevant time zone info
- What to include in the caption
If you’re not using a template for the caption, you should consider it— at least part of the caption with the most important information.
Also, consider that you can list all of the brands in the caption on each post, or you can ask users to follow the loop:
- Brand 1 tags brand 2
- Brand 2 tags brand 3
- Brand 3 tags brand 4
- Etc.
This creates more work for your followers, but may also create more engagement across each account since they will get additional entries for each time they comment or share.
Step 8: Post and Promote the Contest Announcement
You’ll want to post:
- A loop giveaway teaser (make sure all brands do this)
- Main contest photo and caption when the giveaway begins (on all participating accounts)
- Promote in email and on other social media networks with links to Instagram
Make sure that each of the participating accounts has all of the necessary materials and guidelines before you post the teaser. It takes planning, but it’s invaluable once the giveaway has started. You don’t want people scrambling for the information and content when it’s going on.
Step 9: Encourage Your Instagram Followers to Participate in the Giveaway
You can also encourage your followers to enter the giveaway while it’s going on. You should remind them throughout the giveaway; you can share your original post to your IG stories so that you don’t have to keep reposting it in your feed.
Make sure that the participants enter on the MAIN contest photo; you have to use that post to select the winner, so be clear that they must enter via the main photo. This is another reason why using IG stories to promote is great; they can easily tap into the original contest photo.
You should also post when it’s close to ending so that users have one last shot to enter or gain additional bonus entries.
Step 10: Post a “Contest Closed” Photo
Once the giveaway has reached its closing time, all participating accounts should post that the contest has ended.
Thank everyone who entered and remind them of when the winner(s) will be announced so that they will keep an eye out for the announcement. Keep them coming back to your profile and engaging with content in the meantime.
Step 11: Choose and Announce a Winner for Your Contest
In order to choose a winner, you can use a random selection tool such as random.org that will choose a winner for you. You’ll enter a minimum, which will be 1, and the maximum number should be the amount of likes your post received.
Count the photo likes and find the person who was randomly selected by the tool. You can then contact the winner and let them know they’ve won, obtaining their shipping details. Encourage them to share the products once received and tag your participating accounts.
Post a few things once the giveaway has closed:
- A post that indicates the winner
- A post that lets people know where to find the products that the giveaway included
Step 12: Get Feedback From Loop Participants
After you’ve finished the contest and announced the winner, send out a wrap-up message to your participating accounts thanking them and giving them the opportunity to provide feedback.
Ask them how the process can be even better next time and what type of impact they had on their follower count and engagement. You can then gage how successful the giveaway was and whether or not they’d be valuable accounts to work with in the future.
It’s normal to lose a few followers after the giveaway has ended, but the majority should stick around and you’ll have gained a lot of new exposure, which is the main benefit.
Step 13: Offer New Followers a Discount
You can follow up on your contest with your followers by offering a limited-time discount or free shipping. Thank your followers for participating— even if they didn’t participate, you may be able to gain some more sales through these discounts and boost your loyal customer base.
It’s vital that you include the right hashtags when you’re running a loop giveaway. You should include a branded hashtag so that your users can see you have your own hashtag; they can then tag their content using it.
You also need to have niche-specific hashtags that will help your content reach new users that may not otherwise see your content. If you’re not sure where to begin with your hashtag strategy, check out a hashtag tool.
Wrap-Up: Analyze Your Instagram Loop Giveaway Contest Results
After you wrap everything up, take a moment to review your Instagram insights and do some data collection. Ask yourself the following:
- How many followers did you gain?
- How many followers did participating accounts gain?
- How much did you spend?
- What was your cost per follower?
- Did you see any increase in engagement over other posts?
Ultimately, the MAIN question you are aiming to answer here is this one: was an Instagram loop giveaway worth the investment of both time and money?
If you’re truly looking to get an infusion of followers, hosting an effective giveaway can be the best way to do it. Have you hosted a giveaway yet? How did it go?
Let us know in the comments! We hope our Instagram loop giveaways ideas were useful for you.
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Written by Eddie Thunder
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