21 Interesting Instagram Giveaway Ideas You Can Copy

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Using the right Instagram giveaway ideas can help you achieve marketing goals.

Goals like getting new followers, boosting brand awareness, and generating new leads.

Now, what are these Instagram giveaway ideas and how do you pick the right one?

These are the questions I’ll answer in this guide. You’ll also see examples of brands and individuals using these ideas.

Let’s jump in.

Ideas for Instagram giveaways

1. Selfie contest

People take selfies every day. Why not grant them the opportunity to take a selfie and win a gift?

For the selfie contest, you’ll ask participants to take a selfie and post it on their page. They can tag your account or use a hashtag.

If you sell products like jewelry, you can ask customers to wear them when taking a selfie. If it’s a big product, it can be in the background when they take the selfie.

This is a good way to collect user-generated content (UGC) from customers.

Here’s a selfie contest by Yves Roacher:

Participants have to visit a store and take a selfie with their favorite product.

2. Hashtag contests

In hashtag contests, participants will share content on their timeline or story and use a hashtag you’ve specified.

A hashtag contest can create more awareness for your promotion. As participants publish the content on their profile, more people hear about and enter the contest.

But beyond that, it’s a great way to collect various types of UGC for future marketing campaigns.

To run a hashtag contest, specify the type of content participants have to create and the hashtag to use.

Ensure the hashtag is branded and unique for a specific contest.

If browsing through hundreds of entries manually is more work than you want, some Instagram giveaway tools (like Shortstack) can automatically import content from Instagram.

All you have to do is enter the hashtag, and the tool will import content from every Instagram post that features the hashtag.

You can even create a gallery for the entries.

Here’s a hashtag contest by Plum Goodness:

This will increase brand awareness on Instagram and even provide UGC for the company to feature on its website.

3. Flash giveaway 

A flash giveaway is a giveaway that runs for a short time. This can range from 12 hours to 2 days.

This type of giveaway triggers the fear of missing out (FOMO) and attracts many participants who know they have little time to enter the giveaway.

Flash giveaways can also encourage people to visit your Instagram profile to avoid missing out on opportunities like this in the future.

Here’s a flash giveaway by Travelpro:

Despite being a flash giveaway, the post has almost 1,500 comments.

4. Choose your prize

Giving a product away can attract many people. But what if the winner can pick their own prize?

That’s even better.

This type of Instagram giveaway can follow 2 common formats. 

First, you can let winners pick one of a few products you want to give away.

Second, you can let winners pick any product in your store below a particular value (say $100).

Using this Instagram giveaway idea can improve satisfaction since winners are free to pick their preferred prize.

Here’s a giveaway by Energy 95.3 FM:

The winner of the contest has the opportunity to visit 2 of any major US cities.

5. Collaborate with other brands

Running an Instagram giveaway can increase your reach.

But you can push this further by collaborating with another brand to run a giveaway.

This means your giveaway will also reach their audience and increase participants.

Beyond that, some of their followers can end up following and engaging with your account after the giveaway.

To use this Instagram giveaway idea, reach out to a complementary brand. This may be a brand that creates complementary products or has similar values (like green manufacturing).

Then, you can discuss aspects of the giveaway. 

Using products from both brands also ensures that you attract more participants.

Here’s a collaboration between Le Meridian and The Beauty Lab, both in Houston:

In this case, both brands are in the hospitality industry and located in the same city.

Unsurprisingly, the prize includes services from both brands.

6. Collaborate with influencers

Influencers in your industry already have followers who are your ideal audience.

So, collaborating with influencers to run an Instagram giveaway can help you attract more participants.

Beyond participants, it can raise awareness for your brand and products.

That said, you need to collaborate with the right influencers. 

These influencers create content in your industry and have followers who can become your customers.

Here’s an Instagram giveaway from Lulu Loves, Ava Mayfair, and 2 influencers:

The giveaway post appears in all 4 accounts. This post has a reach that would probably be impossible with a single account.

7. Survey giveaway

In a survey giveaway, participants answer questions about your products and services for a chance to win a gift.

This giveaway idea lets you collect feedback on what customers think about your products and services.

So, you can run this giveaway if you’re struggling to get feedback about a specific aspect of your business. 

Remember to state that both participants with positive and negative feedback have the same chances of winning the giveaway. 

Doing this will increase the chances of getting honest feedback from participants.

Here’s a survey giveaway by Johnny Reb to mark its 40th anniversary:

On the giveaway page, followers can answer questions about the bike they use and other preferences.

Johnny Reb will get loads of useful feedback from this giveaway.

8. Caption this 

Some images and GIFs look out of place and can spark interesting reactions.

This is where a Caption This contest can work really well.

First, you have to find an abnormal or interesting image. Then, tell participants to post their most creative captions.

This type of giveaway can get the creative juices flowing. But more importantly, the creative captions can engage other people and raise the level of fun.

Here’s a caption contest by Westminster Kennel Club:

In this contest, other users determine the winner by liking their favorite caption.

9. Follow Instagram account

This is one of the most common Instagram giveaway ideas.

And the idea is simple.

Request that people who enter your giveaway already follow your account. With this, people who are non-followers will have a reason to follow your account.

This Instagram giveaway idea can help to increase your Instagram followers.

However, before asking people to follow your Instagram account, ensure you have enough engaging content on your profile.

This is what will keep new followers over time. Otherwise, many new followers may unfollow your account after the giveaway.

Here’s an example from Letina:

This can also be combined with other giveaway ideas.

10. Like, comment, and/or share

This is another common Instagram giveaway idea.

For this, you’ll request that participants like your giveaway post, drop a comment, and/or share the post to their Instagram story.

This idea helps to increase engagement on your Instagram giveaway post.

In turn, high engagement will encourage Instagram to recommend the post to more users. Before you know it, you’re running a viral giveaway.

Here’s an example from Anastasia Cecchetto:

This is the easiest way to increase engagement on your giveaway post.

11. Tag friends

For this idea, one of your giveaway requirements will be that participants tag their friends in the comments.

However, this can have other variations apart from just tagging friends. These can be:

• Nominate a winner by tagging them in the comments
• Nominate a health personnel (or other relevant jobs)
• Nominate a family member 

Tagging friends helps to promote your giveaway as it attracts more participants from friends of your followers.

12. Leaderboard

A leaderboard ranks contest participants based on the number of votes or entry points they have in the contest.

The leaderboard works in 2 common ways.

One, it works for contests that involve voting. So, each participant can know where they rank based on their number of votes.

Two, it also works for giveaways with many entry actions. So, people who do more actions get more entry points and rank high on the leaderboard.

Leaderboards let you exploit the competition between participants to promote your contests and increase participation.

To use leaderboards, you need a contest tool. The tool will host the contest landing page and display the rank of participants.

13. Instant win

In an instant win giveaway, participants know if they’ve won once they enter the giveaway.

Since participants have to wait for weeks in other giveaways, this can be a fun and unique way to engage them.

Beyond that, you can acquire leads with this type of giveaway as participants need to submit their details before entering the giveaway.

To even squeeze more out of Instant win giveaways, you can provide coupons to people who lose out on the prize. This can help increase sales on your website.

To create an Instant win giveaway, you need an Instagram giveaway tool.

14. Instant coupon giveaway 

An instant coupon giveaway is one where participants get a reward after having a minimum number of entry points. 

These participants get a coupon to shop on your website at a discount.

This is a good Instagram giveaway idea for ecommerce businesses and giveaways that have many entry actions.

The instant coupon ensures that people who perform a minimum number of actions get a reward even if they don’t win the ultimate prize.

Apart from that, the instant coupon can increase sales as it encourages more people to shop on your site.

You need a giveaway tool to execute this idea. This lets you set up the number of points that unlock the instant coupon.

That’s one of the options you get with a tool like SweepWidget.

15. Photo gallery

A photo gallery contest involves participants visiting your giveaway landing page and uploading a photo.

This will be a photo created according to the instructions in your giveaway post.

A photo gallery is an effective way to collect UGC about products and services.

But since photo galleries include voting, participants will promote the contest. As they tell their family and friends to vote for them, your contest goes viral and attracts more participants.

To set up a photo gallery, use a giveaway tool. You should display the number of votes below each photo.

You can even sort the gallery according to the number of votes so that the leaders know themselves.

16. Photo uploads

The main difference between photo uploads and photo gallery contests is that you don’t need to display entries for photo uploads contests.

For photo uploads, participants will upload their entries, and you can judge to pick the winner(s).

Photo uploads are a good way to collect UGC.

To use this idea, use a tool to collect the entries.

You can also ask participants to upload photos to Instagram and tag your account.

Here’s a photo upload contest by Wheaton Park District:

This contest will deliver UGC from people who visit the park.

17. Video uploads

Video uploads involve participants uploading a video showing an action you’ve specified in your entry criteria.

This type of contest can deliver UGC that are more compelling than photos.

However, you have to ensure your prize is worth the stress of shooting videos. Otherwise, you won’t get many entries.

To run this contest, use a tool to collect entries.

Video uploads can also be posted on reels or Instagram stories. In this case, participants will tag your account.

Here’s an example from Fastrack:

This contest will boost awareness of the new product.

18. Celebrate milestones and special occasions

Want to celebrate a business milestone or a holiday with your followers?

Give back to your followers through a giveaway.

This giveaway helps to increase engagement and build a better connection with your audience.

To run this giveaway, you can list milestones and holidays that are important to your business. These include:

• Business anniversary
• Number of customers
• Number of followers
• Christmas
• New Year 
• Thanksgiving

Then, set reminders to create giveaways before these dates.

Of course, the value of your giveaway prize can also align with the size of the milestone.

Here’s an anniversary giveaway by Haven Salon & Boutique:

To celebrate its 5th anniversary, the salon is giving away a gift relevant to its ideal customers.

19. Trivia 

How well does your audience know your business and products?

Find out through a trivia contest.

A trivia contest involves asking questions about your brand and products.

Then, you can pick a winner randomly from people who got the answer. Alternatively, you can pick the highest scorer as the winner.

Trivia helps to educate your audience about products and services. 

To create a trivia, you can ask questions about your brand or specific products.

Here’s a trivia contest by IndusInd Bank:

This educates your audience and increases engagement on your post.

20. Scavenger hunt

A scavenger hunt involves finding answers to questions in various places. For example, you can ask a question about a popular location in your city.

A scavenger hunt is a great Instagram giveaway idea for local businesses whose ideal audiences live in a community.

So, it’s a way to get people out of their houses to find answers to your questions. This can build a stronger bond between your brand and participants due to the amount of time and effort they’ve invested in the giveaway.

To run this type of giveaway, ask questions about popular locations that your followers should know. 

Participants may also need to visit various locations to find answers to questions.

That said, a scavenger hunt contest should come with a prize that’s worth all the effort.

Here’s a scavenger hunt contest by Downtown Arlington:

The contest requires that participants visit some locations and scan a QR code at each location.

This is also a good way to raise awareness for people who have never visited these locations.

21. Name our new product

This giveaway calls on your audience to suggest a name for your new product. 

Then, the best name wins the giveaway.

The name of a product is important and giving your audience this opportunity makes them feel important.

In most cases, the winner of the giveaway can win the product to become one of its first set of users.

Leandra’s Littles challenged its followers to come up with a name for its new bentwood chairs:

This contest led to many creative suggestions.

How to determine the best Instagram giveaway idea

Having all these giveaway ideas is like being a kid in a candy store.

However, you can only use a few for each giveaway.

How do you determine the best Instagram giveaway idea for your next campaign?

Here are 3 factors to keep in mind:

Your Instagram giveaway goal

What do you want to achieve with your Instagram giveaway?

Here are some goals people set for giveaways:

• Increase in followers
• Increase in engagement
• User-generated content (UGC) collection
• Increase in web traffic 
• Lead generation
• Increase in sales

Whatever your goal is, it will align better with some giveaway ideas than others.

For example, photo/video uploads can help you collect UGC. On the other hand, an Instant coupon giveaway can improve sales.

So, think about your giveaway goal and determine which ideas can help achieve the goal.

Value of giveaway prize 

The value of your prize will determine the amount of effort people are willing to put in to win it.

For example, don’t expect people to create a video just to win colored pencils.

However, the same people can create a video to win a $1,000 freezer.

So, the rule of thumb is to ensure that the amount of effort participants need to enter your giveaway correlates with the value of the prize on offer.

Your giveaway campaign budget

To execute some Instagram giveaway ideas, you need a giveaway tool in addition to your prize.

For example, you need a tool to pull off a picture gallery contest. Meanwhile, a like, comment, and share giveaway can be done on Instagram.

You also have to consider the cost of shipping if you’re giving away a physical product. Will you or the winner be responsible for shipping?

So, consider what you’ll need to pull off your Instagram giveaway idea and see if your budget is capable.

For more information on running a successful giveaway, see how to run an Instagram giveaway.

Conclusion

While planning your giveaway, determine the best Instagram giveaway idea that aligns with your goals.

In some cases, you can use more than one of these ideas for your giveaway.

Then, launch your giveaway and let the fun begin.