Instagram remains one of the most influential and widely-used social media platforms in the world, with over 1.4 billion accounts currently active. It is still the best place for entrepreneurs to show off their products via glossy, high-production photos and video reels, with consistent user engagement a key driving force behind traffic and revenue.
With such an enormous potential user base to tap into, it’s not surprising that Instagram is also a place where business owners can generate huge success through product or service giveaways. When implemented correctly, these giveaways can yield a huge spike in engagement, make new users aware of the business, and build the foundations for a loyal, active customer base.
In this step-by-step guide, we’ll explore the necessary sequence that businesses need to undertake if they want to run a successful Instagram giveaway. We’ll cover how to settle on the correct strategy, how to craft your ideal giveaway post, and how to use promotion effectively. We’ll also touch upon some things that you should avoid when hosting an Instagram giveaway.
Let’s begin.
- Are Instagram Giveaways Still a Relevant Strategy?
- Define Your Giveaway Goals
- Understanding Instagram’s 2025 Giveaway Rules
- Choosing the Right Giveaway Type
- Plan Your Giveaway Strategy
- Craft the Perfect Giveaway Post
- How To Promote Your Giveaway Beyond Your Followers
- How to Pick and Announce Winners
- Post-Giveaway Optimization
- Advanced 2025 Instagram Giveaway Tactics
- Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Final Thoughts
Are Instagram Giveaways Still a Relevant Strategy?
We’re now in 2025, and Instagram has, remarkably, been a fixture in many people’s lives for nearly fifteen years! With longevity starting to become a factor, and with online saturation and fatigue starting to become a thing, you might be wondering whether a giveaway via Instagram is still worth pursuing.
The answer is yes - mostly. Instagram is by far the top social media platform for hosting giveaways, with over 53 million posts using the ‘giveaway’ hashtag. Contests receive 3.5 times as many likes as regular posts. And perhaps most astonishingly, 91% of posts with more than 1,000 comments were giveaways of some kind.
However, with Instagram giveaways there does come a caveat. Some businesses mistakenly believe that if they offer the latest hot product, regardless of what their business niche is, they’ll be able to capitalize and generate revenue. These are what is known as generic giveaways.
The trouble with these types of giveaways is that, yes, your business might receive a sudden spike in followers and engagement during the giveaway, which looks good on the surface. However, these ‘followers’ are only interested in the product, not your business. Once the giveaway is over, they will likely no longer engage with your posts, which will hurt your standing with the algorithm over time.
If you want to avoid getting into this kind of situation, then many of the strategies we outline further on will help with this.
Define Your Giveaway Goals
It’s vital that businesses have a clear reason and objective for running a giveaway. What is it that you want your business to have achieved by the end of the giveaway?
Audience Growth vs. Sales vs. Engagement
Some businesses will use giveaways to promote new products. Many will use the engagement that comes with it to build their audience, particularly if they are a smaller business looking to expand. Others will use it as an opportunity to gain market insights. And many will use them as an opportunity to reward existing fans to maintain a sense of brand loyalty and trust.
In some cases, it can be a combination of objectives.
Take this example from Boozed Clothing. They’ve set up a carousel with a selection of choices and will gain a good understanding of which is the most popular via the responses (market research on product development) while at the same time requesting likes and reposts for the engagement increase.
Giving away something with no end goal is unlikely to have much of a long-term impact on the business.
Short-Term Gains vs. Long-Term ROI
For this point, let’s return to the concept of a generic giveaway. If you’re giving away a product that is new and high in demand, you will inevitably receive a high level of engagement and short-term gains in terms of attention and momentum.
But this approach is unlikely to result in a long-term return on investment.
For this outcome, you’re going to want to run a specific giveaway. With this type of giveaway, your prize is something that is closely tied to your business, which will come with an increased chance of attracting people who will be interested in your business long-term. They’ll be more likely to engage with future non-giveaway posts, maintaining the momentum that the giveaway generated.
Choosing KPIs That Matter
Tracking the right metrics, or key performance indicators (KPIs), is vital for deciding whether a giveaway has been successful or not. It’s essential that a business commits to these analytics, as they offer a great insight as to what future giveaways may or may not look like.
As well as the more obvious KPIs, such as reach and overall impressions, businesses should also look to track their cost metrics, including cost per new followers and cost per engagement:
- Cost per new follower = Total spend / Followers gained
- Cost per engagement = Total spend / Engagement
Naturally, the lower these figures are, the more successful the giveaway was.
Understanding Instagram’s 2025 Giveaway Rules
Instagram is fairly flexible in terms of overall rules and compliance and will mostly leave it to the creator to enforce the rules and make sure that the contest or giveaway runs smoothly.
However, there are a couple of stipulations that users must abide by to enable them to offer giveaways on the platform. Perhaps the most important of these is ‘a complete release of Instagram by each entrant and participant.’
This, essentially, means that Instagram will take no responsibility in the event that a giveaway or promotion goes wrong in some way. They will also not assist in any legal or compliance matters related to the giveaway. It’s very much down to the user to take charge and make sure everything goes according to plan.
There are also wider Community Guidelines that Instagram (and by extension Meta) users have to follow. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in posts being taken down and the giveaway being cancelled. Giveaways that use illicit material as prizes, copyright claims on content and images, and giveaways being highlighted as spam are common breaches of the community guidelines.
Choosing the Right Giveaway Type
Now let’s get into the giveaway contest itself. There are many things to think about when running one of these contests, and we’ll go through each in detail. But perhaps the most fundamental consideration is the type of giveaway you’ll offer.
Some of the most common types of Instagram giveaways include:
- Like and comment: Without doubt the most simple and widely-used form of giveaway. It doesn’t require much from the entrant (which they will often appreciate); just a like of the giveaway post and a comment to boost engagement. The downside to these contests is that it doesn't encourage a deeper level of engagement or brand awareness.
- Photo contest: A giveaway type that is particularly synonymous with Instagram, this will instruct the entrants to submit a photo with a stated hashtag in order to enter. This will usually be an aesthetic photo using elements of the brand or existing products. It lends itself to more creative engagement and the added effort will often result in increased customer retention.
- Community-based giveaways: These are perhaps not as common as other types. But the goal here might be some kind of nomination for another to win within the community. It fosters a real sense of togetherness and is a great way of building a tightly-knit customer base.
- Caption contest: Similar to photo contests, this type of giveaway allows entrants to get creative and engage with something on a deeper level than a simple comment.
Plan Your Giveaway Strategy
Now that you’ve decided on the type of giveaway you wish to offer, it’s time to take a look at the key aspects that will make up your overall strategy and approach.
Define Your Ideal Participant Profile
Instagram is a big place, with users from all walks of life. And the unfortunate reality is that not all of them are going to be interested in what you have to offer, no matter how eye-catching the giveaway campaign is.
You can use something like Instagram Insights to help you identify who your existing audience is. It will tell you things such as user demographics and behaviors (when they’re active, the types of content they engage with etc.), which will help you determine how best to use your giveaway and prize.
Set an Irresistible Prize That Attracts Your Target Audience
Speaking of prizes, let’s talk about what they should look like.
It might be tempting to fall into the trap of thinking that the more expensive a prize, the more people will enter and the more engagement you’ll encounter. And while expensive items (jewelry, electronics etc.) might gain a lot of attention, they are not always the best giveaway for your business specifically.
What you’re really after is value in wider terms than just money. Think about your target audience and why they might take an interest in your business, as well as the potential pain points your prize could solve. A clothes company would likely attract far more value-driven customers if they give away a luxury coat in the winter months rather than the next games console, for example.
Time Your Giveaway For Maximum Visibility
There are two strands to this point. The first is one we’ve just touched on - seasonal giveaways are often very successful. In the below example from Outdated Collective, they are using video in the run up to Christmas to give away their products. It solves the pain point of giving their prize winners with gifts they can pass on, as well as maximum engagement due to the seasonality and long run-time for the contest.
Alternatively, you’ll need to think about the times during the day when your user base is most active. The recency of posts goes a long way to determining how many people will see it. So make sure you time your post during these peak engagement times.
Budget Planning: Prize, Promotion, and Ads
A giveaway costs money. The goal is to obviously make sure that the overall cost of the giveaway is justified by the ROI.
It’s more than just the prize value itself that you need to think about. Many businesses will use Instagram Ads to help promote the giveaway during its run time.
Most businesses will have multiple social media channels and outlets. While the giveaway has been specifically designed for Instagram, there’s nothing stopping you from promoting it across every avenue, creating an omnichannel environment to link all of your audience sources.
Craft the Perfect Giveaway Post
Your post is the next thing to think about. You have your method and you have your prize - now you need to work out the optimal way of delivering it to your audience and making them aware of its existence.
Even though they are getting something positive out of the giveaway, your audience will still want to feel as though they are getting value from the post. Finding the right balance between giving your audience what they need and over-posting is critical to the success of a giveaway.
What follows are some of the key milestones you need to pass through during your Instagram giveaway process.
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VIEW CAMPAIGNSAnnounce the Giveaway
You only get one shot at a first announcement, so make it count! Tap into each of Instagram’s avenues (grid posts, stories, Reels) to make sure your audience becomes aware of it straight away. Use a striking image with minimal text to grab their attention, though be sure to make it clear that this is a giveaway as this will drive them to the description.
Hashtags are still a vital part of Instagram marketing, so be sure to use them to full effect.
While the #giveaway hashtag remains an important one, it can sometimes cause a spike in spam entries, so many businesses will also create a completely original one that will become linked to their business. It’s usually a catchy phrase or pun that your audience will instantly associate with you whenever they see it.
Set Clear Rules & Entry Requirements
Your description is equally as important as the image. In it, you will detail exactly what the user needs to do to enter, as well as any rules or eligibility criteria (age, location etc). that might be in place. You’ll also need to provide information on things such as deadlines and if it is one entry per account, and whether there is a claims expiration period for the winner.
Additionally, you should state the legal compliance associated with posting giveaways on Instagram. This includes the message related to responsibility we mentioned earlier, as well as making it clear that the giveaway is not affiliated or sponsored by Instagram in any way.
Monitor Engagement During the Campaign
At certain times throughout your giveaway campaign, it’s often a good idea to explore how well it’s doing in terms of metrics so you can judge whether it’s going to result in a positive return on investment.
Social media analytics are a great way of doing this. They can help you understand whether your engagement rates are increasing and they can quantify total entry numbers. You can then use data from your existing campaign to inform what you should or should not do for future giveaways.
Handle Spam, Bots, and Fake Entries
An unfortunate side effect of any post that generates a lot of attention is the spam posts and bots hoping to skim off the top for their own purposes. It also attracts giveaway hunters who will look to pick up anything for free, regardless of whether they care about what the business offers. Luckily, there are certain steps that you can take to try and minimize the impact of these types of entries.
As part of your giveaway rules, you can make sure that they are very simple and your hashtags are niche and specifically catering to your audience. You might also choose to accept entries from verified accounts only, though this can be a risk for smaller businesses looking to build their audience.
Many entrants often leave certain clues if they’re a bot or spam account. A lack of profile picture, irrelevant comments on the contest page, or suspicious follower numbers might all point to these types of accounts. You can manually disqualify accounts from contests if you are confident they are bots, though this can be a time-consuming process.
How To Promote Your Giveaway Beyond Your Followers
Many businesses will have an existing loyal customer base that will be ready to enter contests and tag friends to generate a modest level of traffic. However, businesses looking for real scale and expansion will want to use a giveaway as a springboard to much larger numbers and growth potential. This will involve tapping into bases that they might have difficulty reaching.
Fortunately, there are several tried-and-tested methods to help facilitate this organic growth.
Collaborate With Influencers and Brands
Love them or loathe them, influencers and celebrities wield real pulling power when it comes to attention and traffic. They’ve built huge fanbases who are very receptive to anything they promote or sell. And this can be something that your business can take advantage of.
At Influize, we specialize in celebrity giveaways, with some of the biggest names in the world of entertainment coming on board to help small businesses reach huge new audiences. If your giveaway resonates with a particular celebrity brand, we will match your business with the celebrity and work with you to manage the campaign from start to finish.
Below you will see the result of on of our most successful celebrity giveaways with Georgina Rodriguez.
Cross-Promotion on TikTok, Facebook, & Email Lists
We touched upon this a little earlier, but utilizing the full breadth of your social media channels will benefit your Instagram giveaway. Always keep in mind that different platforms cater for different types of audience members, though they all might share a common interest in your business. With TikTok, you’ll gain a lot of attention with a snappy, short-form video advertising your giveaway and directing viewers to the post.
With Facebook, you’ll likely have an audience with higher tolerance for more in-depth, informative posts. As Instagram is owned by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, the two platforms integrate very well with each other.
You can also use your existing email lists to mention the giveaway. These are often your most loyal customers, so there’ll be a very high chance that they will action the giveaway and help instigate that initial traffic.
Using Hashtags Without Getting Shadow banned
Shadow banning is a process that social media platforms use if they suspect an account is a bot or spam. They will essentially throttle the account’s content so that, while they are still allowed to post, they will have very little reach. If not approached correctly, some legitimate giveaways get caught up in this process.
Some of the common causes for shadow banning include:
- Repetitive hashtags
- Repetitive posts
- Irrelevant hashtags
- Too many hashtags
- Failure to follow broader Community Guidelines
As you can see, hashtags are quite sensitive to triggering shadow bans, so they need to be used properly. Make sure that you are only using highly-relevant hashtags to your campaign and that you vary which ones you use for follow-up giveaway posts. This will help Instagram to realize that your campaign is legitimate.
How to Pick and Announce Winners
You’ve spent the entire campaign riding high with enthusiasm and energy, and you’ve helped to create a real buzz within your fanbase. Now it’s time to announce the winner.
The last thing you should do is send a half-hearted direct message into an inbox. It should be a very public announcement, as many members of the community will want to celebrate along with the winner.
So make sure you stick to the deadline that you set out at the start of the campaign. Create a dedicated winner’s post and really celebrate their success, though make sure that they’re comfortable in being revealed publicly first. You could also create consolation prizes for all entrants, such as a small discount or coupon code.
In terms of deciding on the winner, you’re either going to require a randomizer tool (in the event of a simple ‘like & comment’ giveaway), or for something more creative like a caption contest, you’ll need to manually select the winner by going through the entries yourself.
Post-Giveaway Optimization
And that’s it. The giveaway is over and the prizes have been awarded. Now what?
Well, the hard work continues! The few days post-giveaway are vital for cementing your new followers and engagement. You should follow back those accounts who clearly meet your ideal buyer and you should create a content bridge to maintain momentum. Fresh content will help you to solidify your new potential leads and turn them from giveaway entrants into loyal fans.
You should also pay close attention to your metrics. Check things such as engagement rate and impressions, and monitor your follower count over the following weeks to see if there’s a big drop-off.
Advanced 2025 Instagram Giveaway Tactics
We now live in a highly digitized world, with technology constantly evolving. New methods of approaching giveaways are being developed all of the time. And with younger audiences being particularly in tune with modern tech and platforms, businesses will have to adapt to these new ways of working if they wish to continue to flourish.
Some of the most interesting recent methods of boosting and implementing Instagram giveaways include:
- Collaborative giveaways: This is where a business will team up with another within their industry to offer a prize bundle (a sportswear brand and energy drinks company, for example). With this approach, each business gets double the exposure and engagement.
- Story highlights: Most Stories will disappear after 24 hours. However, Instagram allows you to pin existing Stories to a section below the bio. Many businesses will use one of these pins to save previous giveaway Stories. This acts as reassurance to any future users that your giveaways are legitimate.
- AR giveaways: Augmented reality (AR) is the process of overlaying digital assets onto real world, real-time media. Filters are essentially a form of AR. Some businesses, such as clothing brands, can adopt AR to allow users to post photos of them trying on a prize item. This level of interactivity is highly effective with younger, tech-savvy users.
- Gamification of giveaways: As the name suggests, this turns the entry criteria into a game, with interactivity once again being the driving force behind success. Companies could post simple puzzles to solve, or hide clues throughout previous posts that can only be found through augmented reality.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
We’ve covered everything that we believe you should do to run a successful Instagram giveaway. Now, let’s briefly go over some of the things you should avoid if you want your giveaway to yield positive results.
Choosing the Wrong Prize
If you go for something flashy or expensive, you’ll likely see a burst of engagement and follows from freebie hunters. However, without meaningful value to the prize, this engagement will drop-off as soon as the contest ends.
Overcomplicating the Entry Rules
Users, particularly if they’re unfamiliar with your business, will only enter the giveaway if the entry criteria is simple and straightforward. They won’t want to jump through lots of hoops just to enter.
Ignoring Instagram’s Guidelines
Instagram are well within their rights to ban giveaways or delete posts if they feel they could cause damage to their business. Follow both their entry guidelines and broader Community Guidelines to keep them onside.
Running Too Many Giveaways
If you run too many giveaways, it takes away from the magic somewhat within your core community. They’ll come to see them as simply something to generate shallow, short-term attention rather than something that offers value, which might turn them away.
Not Tracking Metrics
If you don’t record baseline metrics prior to the giveaway, and you don’t track them during and after, you won’t know if the giveaway has made any meaningful difference to your business.
Final Thoughts
Instagram giveaways remain a very powerful method of generating hype and attention around your business. They act as an important bridge between your business and your community, and are great at making new users aware of who you are and what you offer.
However, this can only be achieved if they are implemented correctly. By choosing the right type of giveaway for your audience, selecting a meaningful, value-driven prize, drawing mass attention via an eye-catching giveaway post, and conducting your due diligence post-giveaway, you’ll stand a great chance of generating an excellent return on investment.
At Influize, we have been offering full-scale digital marketing services for over 20 years, with close connections to many high-profile influencers and notable figures and hundreds of successful giveaway campaigns under our belt. We know what it takes to run successful giveaway campaigns. So if you’re ready to start developing your own campaign strategy, or if you have any questions or queries related to anything else we offer, then contact us today!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Should an Instagram Giveaway Run?
There’s no hard or fast rule to this, as it largely depends on the type of giveaway and your own audience profile. However, a giveaway period of between 1-2 weeks is usually enough time to gain sufficient attention without the risk of participants losing interest.
How Do I Stop Followers From Leaving After a Giveaway?
This is where your content marketing comes into play. You need to give them a reason for sticking around, particularly if they didn’t win. Offer a consolation prize to soften the blow, and continue to produce value-driven content that these new followers will take an interest in.
How Many Hashtags Work Best?
Recent research has shown that many of the most successful Instagram giveaway campaigns used no more than seven hashtags on their giveaway posts.
What is the Best Time to Launch a Giveaway?
The best time to launch a giveaway is during periods when most people will have access to their devices. People are more likely to respond to a post in the few minutes after it appears. So target evenings and weekends, and be aware of different time zones if you have an international customer base.
Should I Partner With Influencers?
While not a guaranteed thing, influencers can greatly boost giveaway entries thanks to their existing fanbases. You just need to make sure that the influencer aligns with your business model and, preferably, has some connection to your market sector.