Running a social media giveaway can be a great way to engage your audience, increase brand awareness, and amplify engagement. After all, who doesn’t like winning a prize or getting their entry selected from thousands of participants?
But how do you come up with a contest idea that goes viral? What are the best practices for running successful contests?
In this guide, we’ll share our favorite social media contest examples and how you can create one without driving yourself crazy.
A social media contest is a marketing campaign where participants follow specific rules for a chance to win a prize. It is a promotional event designed to increase followers, likes, shares, leads, and brand awareness.
With these contests, you can let the audience showcase their creative side and increase interaction with the brand. For example, if you have a beauty brand, you can ask your followers to share a makeup look using your products. Here’s how NYX, a cosmetics brand, runs a similar contest.
These 12 social media contest ideas will get you inspired and set the stage for designing your own campaign.
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1. Photo Contest
Running a photo contest you can ask your audience to share photos of how they use your products or services. You can reward the most creative or unique entry with a prize. This is a great way to collect user-generated content and showcase the best creations on your profile.
Canva, an online design tool, often runs design challenges with the hashtag #CanvaDesignChallenge for their users.
These challenges are great for increasing awareness and motivating more people to use the tool.
To date, their design challenge hashtag has over 200,000 posts, many of which Canva repurposes and uses on its profile.
2. Video Contest
With the popularity of short-form videos like reels and YouTube shorts, video contests can be your go-to contest idea.
To run a video contest, you can announce a theme and ask followers to create unique, fun, or inspiring videos. As videos take more time than photos, ensure the prize is worth their efforts.
GoPro, a manufacturer of action cameras, shared a video challenge named “GoPro Line of the Winter,” where they asked users to upload raw footage of their skiing or snowboarding clips.
These types of contests not only promote engagement and give brilliant ways to capture UGC but also enhance brand loyalty and strengthen the community.
3. Like/share/comment to win
This is one of the easiest types of contests to set up and you can get more participation than the earlier two ideas.
If you’re a new business or want to start with something small, this contest idea is your best bet.
AndLight, a home decor brand, hosted a Black Friday giveaway with simple rules that required the participants to follow, like, and comment.
What we liked best about this contest? One of the rules mentioned that the comment required users to share what they love about the product. AndLight can then use these comments to feature as testimonials or customer views on the product page.
4. Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes are contests where to enter, participants need to fill out a form or share details like their name, email, etc. Once shared, the winner is chosen at random.
If you’re trying to build your email list or nurture people who might be interested in your brand, sweepstakes are your ideal contest choice.
Risk of Rain, a video game series, hosted a sweepstake where they invited participants to their landing page.
On the landing page, there were six ways to enter, and the participant needed to enter their full name and email address for each of them.
5. Tag a Friend Contest
This is an easy way to increase your brand’s reach and get more followers for your social profiles. You ask the participants to tag one (or more) of their friends to enter the contest. Many brands even offer bonus entries for extra tags.
Miniso, a variety store chain, hosts a tag-a-friend contest that asks the users to tag three of their friends to win a cute Lotso blind box. This post got close to 700 comments, which means about 2100 new potential followers.
6. Holiday-Themed Contest
Holidays are the perfect time for people to engage in creative contests to get them into the festive mode. You could run a campaign on different holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.
Here’s how Acer asks users to share photos of their Christmas-decorated home on Twitter or Facebook.
As people are enthusiastic to show how beautifully they have decorated their homes, there’s no extra struggle to participate in such campaigns. Thus, you can get a lot of entries and people to visit your social pages.
7. Trivia or Guessing Contest
Whether it’s testing people’s knowledge related to your product or guessing what the newly launched feature would be, trivia or guessing contests are fun to participate in.
Here’s how Instax, an instant camera series, asks its audience to guess the number of mini films in this short reel to win some Instax goodies.
These contests are not only for entertainment but also offer a chance to educate people about your product’s special features.
For example, let them guess the battery power your phone offers or the USP of your cooking sauces.
8. Supporting a Cause Contest
According to research, 60% of consumers believe real change will come when brands begin addressing social issues. By using the contest medium to support a cause that aligns with your vision and values, you can attract people who share the same passion.
IKEA holds a soft toy drawing competition every year for kids where the most unique creations are turned into soft toys and sold worldwide in IKEA stores. All the proceeds go towards supporting initiatives and charities that promote “children’s right to play.”
This contest is the perfect example of imbibing creativity and supporting a social cause that’s close to many of IKEA’s customers.
9. Sign-Up Contest
If you’re looking to generate leads with your contests, sign-up contests can be your go-to idea. This is a great idea for small business owners who are looking to push more leads into their sales funnel.
By the end of the contest, you’ll likely see an uprise in your subscriber base. All you need to do then is keep giving them the information and content they need to stick with your product or service.
604 Now, a lifestyle and entertainment business, asks the participants to sign up for their free Coast Rewards membership in order to win a round-trip from Vancouver to Tokyo.
Once they sign up, 604 Now can use those email addresses to start sending relevant deals and discounts to the users.
10. Hashtag Contests
Hashtag contests have become quite popular in recent times due to the popularity of TikTok campaigns like Colgate’s #MakeMomSmile campaign and Chipotle’s #LidFlipChallenge.
To make the most out of this idea, create a trendy hashtag and make the contest super fun to miss out on.
Disney put a beautiful hashtag campaign named #ShareYourEars in celebration of Mickey Mouse’s 90th anniversary. For each person who posted their photo with the hashtag, Disney donated $5 to the Make-A-Wish foundation.
The result? 1.77 million posts, 420 million social media impressions, and $2 million in donation.
11. Collaborative Contests
Do you want to increase your brand’s reach? With collaborative contests, you can partner with an influencer or brand and reach new customers by benefiting from their audience. To ensure you reach a relevant audience, the influencer or brand you select should cater to the same people.
See how Tiny Minds Toolbox, a scented coloring brand for kids, collaborated with Mckay, a first-grade teacher with over 80k followers, to host a giveaway.
The post got hundreds of comments, and many potential customers who now know about scented markers offered by the company.
12. Re-Occurring Contests
Are you tired of contests where you get an influx of new followers, but they soon end up unfollowing you as the contest ends? One way out is by holding re-occurring contests.
You can create recurring contests that keep your followers engaged and motivated to participate in the next one. For example, you can hold a weekly or monthly draw and keep giving prizes at regular intervals.
Milton, a kitchenware product brand, often holds recurring contests on their Instagram page to keep followers engaged and reduce the number of unfollows they get after each contest.
Create winning social media contests
Social media contests are a powerful tool for brands looking to enhance engagement, expand their reach, and foster a stronger connection with their audience. The variety of contest ideas—from photo and video submissions to sweepstakes and collaborative campaigns—offers something for every type of business and marketing objective. By tapping into the creativity and enthusiasm of your followers, you not only promote user-generated content but also build a community around your brand.
The examples provided demonstrate how both large and small brands can effectively utilize contests to achieve impressive results. Whether it’s generating millions of impressions like Disney’s #ShareYourEars campaign or increasing email subscriptions through sign-up contests, the potential impact on brand awareness and customer loyalty is significant. Importantly, aligning your contests with your brand values and audience interests can amplify these benefits even further.
As you consider incorporating social media contests into your marketing strategy, remember to choose ideas that resonate with your target audience and align with your brand’s goals. Ensure that the rules are clear, the prizes are enticing, and the participation process is straightforward. By doing so, you’ll create a rewarding experience for both your brand and your followers.
So why wait? Use these contest ideas as inspiration to design your own engaging campaigns. With careful planning and execution, your social media contests can become a cornerstone of your marketing efforts, driving growth, and fostering a vibrant, engaged community around your brand.
Instead of designing everything from scratch, save your team’s time and sign up for a 14-day free trial to check out Woorise’s templates for social contests and giveaways.
