How To Run A Christmas Instagram Contest This Festive Season

Nothing gets consumers more riled up over the festive season than holiday-inspired social media contests. 

Christmas contests are a fantastic way to drum up excitement over your brand and broaden your audience leading up to the big day. What’s more, Instagram lends itself particularly well to the holiday contest format, given its capacity for posts, Reels, and stories. 

Running an Instagram holiday contest to boost your Christmas engagement is far more simple than one would think, so read on to find out the how and why of Instagram Christmas contests. 

HOW TO RUN A CHRISTMAS INSTAGRAM CONTEST

While creating and successfully running a Christmas contest on your Instagram isn’t rocket science, there is a certain way of doing things to make sure it goes off without a hitch. 

Select your formatting and goals 

The first step to running a Christmas Instagram contest is hashing out all the details. 

At this stage, take the time to consider all the ins and outs of your contest. Will it be strict and structured with a set of judges? Or, will it be more relaxed? Will you choose the winner yourself, or let your followers decide? On that note, how many winners will there be? The list goes on. 

Ultimately, ensure that you take a minute to really think through your contest. Try to be creative when coming up with your entry guidelines. Contests are a fantastic way to generate huge amounts of UGC, so don’t take this step lightly! Perhaps you could have your followers recreate a dance, or share a photo showing their favourite way to engage with your product. 

Select your prizes

Next up, choosing your prizes! 

There are a lot of different ways your brand can go about this step. Many companies stick to offering up their own products as the prize; this is best, as you are generating excitement and potential future customers. for your own product. 

However, you could consider collaborating with another brand to create a mega prize. If you decide to take this route, be sure to work with a brand that appeals to your audience. Otherwise, your efforts will be wasted. This is a great option if you are worried about how much engagement you will be able to generate with your own products alone. 

Once you have decided on your prize, be sure to hash out the logistics of how you will deliver it to the lucky winner. 

Establish your guidelines 

Now that you have all the details laid out on your end, it is time to start considering the consumer. 

When creating your entry guidelines, make an effort to ensure that they are comprehensive, easy to find, and understandable. Your customers do not want to feel duped, so take care to create detailed guidelines and be transparent about them with your audience. 

It is prudent in this step to do some external research and gain a proper understanding of industry standards. Making certain that you have your head around the legal side of things makes sure that neither your brand nor your consumers will be protected. 

Some main points to be aware of are; stating that consumers do not have to make a purchase to enter the contest, and that the contest is not endorsed nor sponsored by Instagram. 

Promote the contest 

Finally, in order to get the most out of your Christmas Instagram contest, it is integral that you promote the contest as much as possible. 

Taking to your other social media accounts as well as your Instagram to advertise the contest is the best to grow your number of entrants. Be sure to start promoting early and get your followers as excited as possible!

The advertising does not stop once the contest opens, either. By continuing to promote your contest all the way up until the day it closes, you are improving the likelihood of a large number of people getting involved. 

When advertising your contest, try tapping into the feeling of FOMO; consumers are strongly impacted by the fear that they are missing out on a great opportunity, so make your contest seem like the best opportunity out there! 

THE BENEFITS OF A CHRISTMAS INSTAGRAM CONTEST

The benefits of a Christmas Instagram contest truly cannot be understated. A successful contest can drive user participation, grow your follower base and enhance your brand visibility. 

Outside of users simply entering your contest, it has been shown that Instagram can drive user participation on your account as a whole. In fact, posts that contain content relating to contests earn up to 3.5 times more likes and 64 times more comments. 

On top of this, a Christmas Instagram contest has the ability to grow your brand’s follower base. Many contests require users to follow the account for entry, but beyond this, users are inclined to follow your account during a contest in order to stay up to date. 

Finally, a Christmas Instagram contest improves brand visibility due to its incredibly shareable nature. Followers are incentivised to share contests with their own audiences, inviting them to join in on the fun. This greatly increases the amount of eyes on your account as a whole. 

All in all, creating a Christmas Instagram contest for your brand is a sure fire way to boost engagement this holiday season. Take the time to plan all the tricky ins and outs of your contest, so that by the time it opens you are able to sit back and enjoy the benefits. 

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