Since its inception, Instagram has evolved a lot. With each passing year, there are new features and endless possibilities for the users. One key feature that has been the talk of the town for quite a few years is the concept of Giveaway. While brands and influencers adopt the concept of giveaways to give a boost to their engagement, users too cherish giveaways as they are lured by the prizes to be won and their names featured in the posts of famous brands and influencers.
However, there are some important legal requirements one needs to follow when running Instagram giveaways to avoid issues. In this blog post, we’ll cover the do’s and don’ts for Instagram giveaways in 2024.
How Helpful is an Instagram Giveaway?
Running an Instagram giveaway is all about creating tension and excitement in the audience. It is equally helpful for brands and influencers alike. They can truly leverage the power of Instagram giveaways to better suit their end goals. The importance of engaging on Instagram is evident from the fact that Instagram generated a massive revenue of $43.2 billion in ads only. The excitement around winning free products or experiences encourages people to like, comment, share, and follow in hopes of winning. This viral effect helps spread the word about the brand or influencer. Giveaways also incentivize tagging friends, which further expands reach. When structured properly, they can significantly boost impressions and brand awareness. Brands should focus on showcasing products, connecting with their audience, and developing relationships through captivating images, videos, and captions.
The Dos: What You Must Include
Official Rules
This is arguably the most important part of your Instagram giveaway terms and conditions. The official rules spell out how the giveaway works, who is eligible, and how winners will be selected. Make sure to state the promoter (your brand/company) and clearly lay out the entry process, eligibility restrictions, start/end dates, winner selection process, prizes, and other key details.
Eligibility Requirements
You need to clearly define who is allowed to enter your giveaway. Common limitations include age, location, and being a follower of your Instagram account. Keep any eligibility requirements as simple as possible. Requiring too much will decrease entries.
How to Enter
Provide step-by-step instructions on how followers can enter the giveaway. Common entry methods are liking a post, tagging friends, sharing on their Instagram story, subscribing to a newsletter, etc. Most of the Instagram giveaways for creators and influencers that we see actually have a very smooth how-to-enter process.
Number and Description of Prizes
List the number of prizes you will award and provide a clear description of each one. If the prizes have an approximate retail value, include that too. The no. of prizes will let the audience know exact state of affair about the prize. More the no. of prizes, more the audience will cherish the competition.
Winner Selection and Notification
Explain how and when winners will be selected. Random drawings are the most common. Also share how you will notify the winners – by Instagram post, stories, direct message, email, etc. Give a timeframe for the winners to respond and claim their prize. The best strategy is to use the Instagram giveaway picker tool for selecting the winners as it makes the whole process more transparent and legitimate.
Taxes and Shipping
State who is responsible for taxes and shipping fees. For physical prizes, many sponsors cover shipping costs but require winners to pay any applicable taxes. The hidden complexities regarding the prize will let the audience move away from the competition. So it is better to keep all the necessary details upfront so that audience can make an informed decision.
Content and Publicity Rights
Include that by entering, participants agree that you can use their name, likeness, photos, and content in your promotion of the giveaway and its winners. Publicity rights are an important factor when running an Instagram giveaway as it will set the tone right for further reach even after the competition has ended. Moreover, the audience will also be aware of the exact terms and conditions of the prize even before entering the prize to save the last minute issues regarding publicity rights.
Limitation of Liability
This covers you in case of any errors, technical issues, or other problems with the giveaway. State that you are not responsible for any injuries, losses, or damages that result. It has often been seen that after the declaration of results, issues may arise in case of any inadvertent errors. This has the potential to breed in toxicity with your audience and this is the last thing you would want. So, you need to make your point crystal clear beforehand.
Right to Cancel
Reserve your right to modify, extend, or cancel the giveaway if necessary due to technical issues, lack of entries, cheating, or other unforeseen circumstances. Unavoidable circumstances may arise during the stint of the Instagram giveaway. However it will be disappointing for the participants if the contest is wrapped up or canceled before its fruitful end, but it will save you unnecessary hassle and wrath of participants.
The Don’ts: What to Avoid in Your Terms
Making the Rules Too Complex
Keep the terms and entry process as simple as possible. Complicated giveaways get less engagement and fewer entries. Audiences will shy away from participating if they don’t understand the rules well. Complex rules will breed the air of confusion in the audience. Moreover your reach and virality too will suffer if there are less participants. Make the rules simple and easy to understand for all.
Requiring Too Much to Enter
Don’t make people jump through hoops to enter. Following and tagging friends should be enough – don’t require sharing posts or excessive social media participation. Requiring too much from the participants will make their interest loose in the competition. The audience has a lot of options to choose from and they are too lethargic to comply with all your extended demands. Make the competition as simple as possible. This will increase your participation rate and virality.
Limiting Exposure with Tags
Be careful about requiring participants to only tag friends in their entries. This can limit the exposure of the giveaway. You will want an enhanced exposure and wider reach for your giveaway. Make the giveaway innovative that catch attention and lures the users to have a shot in the participation. Tag only option will end up having too many tagged people to your giveaway post without the actual and serious participants. Make the giveaway more engaging by supplementing the tag option with other things as well.
Forgetting a ‘No Purchase Necessary’ Statement
In most places, you legally need to allow free entry without a purchase. Putting the condition of purchasing the item in order to enter will severely hamper your reach and virality. Plus it will divert many participants away from your contest. Sometimes people assume that purchasing a goody is the prerequisite for entering therefore it is your duty to make it crystal clear upfront that there are no conditions attached and it is free to enter for all.
Not Following Applicable Laws
Make sure your giveaway terms follow any local laws for contests and sweepstakes. Do your research to avoid non-compliance. Noncompliance not only will be bad for runaway but it will put you in legal trouble as well. It is advisable to be aware of local laws before running an Instagram giveaway. You do not want your booming Instagram runaway to run into legal hurdles at the last moment.
Not Using the Right Giveaway Picker Tools
Picker tools are there and that is for a reason. The right kind of picker tool makes a lot of difference. It makes the contest more participant-worthy. Consider choosing the best giveaway picker for optimal results. Please be aware that you are going to have lot of entries and it will be impossible for you to sort out entries manually. Picker tool will ease your pain point of sorting through vast pile of entries. It will also choose a most deserving and worthy winner.
Trying to Limit Liability Too Much
While some limitation of liability is fine, don’t try to disclaim all possible damages or legal options for participants. Participants usually participate in many events and they have fair idea of where to participate or not. Disowning too many things at once may not be gulped down well by the participants. Take responsibility for at least some of the possible damages so that participants can relate to you.
Being Too Vague
Ensure your terms are clear and detailed. If aspects like eligibility, entry requirements, or prizes are too vague, it can invalidate the terms. Vagueness kills the participating rate. People are generally attracted to simpler, exciting, and easy to comprehend details. The terms should be understandable even by layman at first perusal so that excitement about the prize remains maintained. The task to keep in mind is designing terms and conditions that takes the middle ground, not very lucid nor very complex.
Not Enforcing the Terms and Conditions
Hold your giveaway participants to the terms. If someone outside your eligibility wins and you award the prize, it can invalidate the rules. It is your duty to uphold the criteria which has been set by you. This will make the contest fair and transparent. The audience too will repose the faith in the contest if they see you upholding the rules and procedures. It will also be beneficial for your upcoming giveaways.
Changing Terms Mid-Giveaway
Don’t alter terms or end dates once the giveaway starts. Only modify if absolutely necessary. If you experiment a lot with your giveaway and makes changes to the terms and conditions at a whim then audience will take it negatively and may loose interest in the contest. Making amends should be the last resort that too only if you ran into trouble or the situation becomes absolutely unavoidable.
Making Inaccurate Claims on Social
Avoid any false or misleading statements when promoting the giveaway on social channels. Stick to facts. False claims by you reduce the legitimacy of your contest and will not be healthy for your brand’s image in the long run. The audience is very clever and they remember what was legitimate or not. One wrong post on your end and all the good image that you have earned through the years will be lost in a flash. So refrain from doing any such things.
Conclusion
With the right terms and conditions in place, Instagram giveaways can be a fun, legal, and effective marketing tactic for your brand in 2024. Just make sure to follow the do’s and don’ts outlined above as you create official rules that protect your interests while keeping followers happy. Doing so will lead to smooth, successful giveaways that provide great engagement and promotion.
