the definitive guide to instagram photo contests€¦ · how to select the best theme, prize,...

19
THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO INSTAGRAM PHOTO CONTESTS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO CREATE AND EXECUTE A SUCCESSFUL INSTAGRAM PHOTO CONTEST

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Page 1: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram

PhoTo ConTesTsEvErything you nEEd to know to crEatE and ExEcutE

a succEssful instagram photo contEst

piqoracomshare this ebook 2

1

2

insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs

formula for suCCess

The new fronTier of visual

uGc promoTions has arrived

and opporTuniTies for

markeTers abound

clear objecTives Good

creaTive simple rules a

landinG paGe and hashTaG

TrackinG sofTware are

key To success

inDeX

3

4

6

5DesiGninG Your ConTesT

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTe

measurinG suCCess

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenT

how To selecT The besT Theme

prize conTesT hashTaG and

judGeselecT a winner

how To selecT The besT

Theme prize conTesT

hashTaG and judGe

selecT a winner

success meTrics for

phoTo conTesTs and

common causes of poor

performance

creaTinG a virTual home

and disTribuTinG The besT

uGc onGoinG is key To

maximizinG parTicipaTion

4

6 13

16

17

10

piqoracomshare this ebook 3

abouT The auThor

sharaD vermafounDer amp CeoPiqora

remY TennanTmarkeTinG manaGerPiqora

a social media visionary and

internet marketing futurist

sharad is frequently quoted by the

media on topics related to the impact

of social media on e-commerce and has been

a speaker and panelist at several leading tech

conferences such as ad Tech and smx

sharad spent the first ten years as a product

manager at leading silicon valley tech companies

most recently at yahoo where he launched sem

and advertising products that generated over

$100m in incremental revenue having made his

mark he left yahoo for the startup world in 2010

founding piqora in early 2012

a long-time social media junkie

remy wrote his mba thesis on social

media and high technology conducting

a first-of-its-kind consumer behavior study

and publishing and presenting his findings in

the us and europe

hersquos been deeply involved with social media

since 2008 at a wide variety of organizations

and is constantly monitoring the ever-changing

digital media landscape ndash always on the lookout

for new ways to help businesses increase their

social roi he believes the visual web is the

next big thing thatrsquos already here for marketers

follow him on heysharad

follow him on remyTennanT

piqoracomshare this ebook 4

instagram with its 150m+

users is emerging as the best

mobile-based social network

for marketers to tell a visual

story about their brand 71

of the worldrsquos major brands

are now on instagram and

marketers are rushing to grow

their communities hashtag

optimization and photo contests

especially when used together

have potent community building

power and should be considered

an integral part of any instagram

marketing strategy hashtags are

the key to brand discoverability

while photo contests are a great

way to increase visibility yet

given that few marketers even

attempted photo contests before

2012 and that software solutions

have only been around since

around the same time marketers

have limited experience ndash

probably about as much as they

did with facebook contests

back in 2009 so instagram

photo contests are relatively

new but there have been more

than enough successful ones to

make it clear that they can be a

driving force behind community

building

instagram is a mobile and image-

centric social network teeming

with original highly creative

uGc content photo contests are

insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTsThe new fronTier of visual uGc promoTions has arrived and opporTuniTies for markeTers abound

With most brands just getting started With instagram photo contests there

are huge opportunities to be had ndash and a lot to learn

instagram photo contests can produce valuable uGc such as this beautiful photo that won stylesitersquos spring street styles contest

1

a phenomenal way for brands

to source uGc photos They

enable consumers to express

their personal style and passion

for brands and the result is a

rich marketing experience that

piqoracomshare this ebook 5

includes powerful visual social

proof Through instagram photo

contests marketers can show

visually how their brand is

being incorporated into their

audiencersquos lives

with most brands just getting

started with instagram photo

contests there are huge

opportunities to be had ndash

and a lot to learn experience

running contests on other social

networks helps but itrsquos important

to remember that instagram is

distinct from other sites in terms

of both the way the network is

designed and how consumers

use it That the entire network is

mobile and outbound urls are

not supported fundamentally

changes the way contests must

be designed both in terms of

the contest itself and the web

infrastructure that supports it for their illume photo contest red bull took entries on instagram The winning photo is pictured above

piqoracomshare this ebook 6

There are 4 things you need

to run a basic instagram

contest

clear contest goals

and objectives

like with any marketing or

advertising campaign itrsquos a

good idea to start by defining

objectives because results

will vary widely depending on

how you design your contest

instagram contests are a great

way to

Grow your community

Generate brand awareness

source lifestyle content and

publish uGc photo streams

identify

users who

might like

your brand

so what do

you want

to do of course you may have

answered ldquoall of the aboverdquo you

may be able to have all or most

of the above but you will still

realize your goals to varying

degrees depending on how your

contest is set up for example

if you opt to have the winner be

selected by judges (as opposed

to being drawn at random) you

will get fewer participants ndash but

formula for suCCessclear objecTives Good creaTive simple rules a landinG paGe and hashTaG TrackinG sofTware are key To success

you will likely end up with higher

quality uGc

sweepstakes are a great way

to get a lot of photos likes and

followers judged contests yield

fewer but higher quality uGc

photos that could be integrated

into your other social or online

destinations judged contests have

a higher barrier to entry but attract

more brand advocates who you

may want to follow and gain as

followers

simple rules and creative

that clearly Explains them

contest creative is one of the

most important parts of your

instagram promotion it needs

to be visually appealing and

relevant to your audience The

hobo bags came up with clear and simple rules for their carry This wear That contest

2

1

2

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 2: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 2

1

2

insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs

formula for suCCess

The new fronTier of visual

uGc promoTions has arrived

and opporTuniTies for

markeTers abound

clear objecTives Good

creaTive simple rules a

landinG paGe and hashTaG

TrackinG sofTware are

key To success

inDeX

3

4

6

5DesiGninG Your ConTesT

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTe

measurinG suCCess

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenT

how To selecT The besT Theme

prize conTesT hashTaG and

judGeselecT a winner

how To selecT The besT

Theme prize conTesT

hashTaG and judGe

selecT a winner

success meTrics for

phoTo conTesTs and

common causes of poor

performance

creaTinG a virTual home

and disTribuTinG The besT

uGc onGoinG is key To

maximizinG parTicipaTion

4

6 13

16

17

10

piqoracomshare this ebook 3

abouT The auThor

sharaD vermafounDer amp CeoPiqora

remY TennanTmarkeTinG manaGerPiqora

a social media visionary and

internet marketing futurist

sharad is frequently quoted by the

media on topics related to the impact

of social media on e-commerce and has been

a speaker and panelist at several leading tech

conferences such as ad Tech and smx

sharad spent the first ten years as a product

manager at leading silicon valley tech companies

most recently at yahoo where he launched sem

and advertising products that generated over

$100m in incremental revenue having made his

mark he left yahoo for the startup world in 2010

founding piqora in early 2012

a long-time social media junkie

remy wrote his mba thesis on social

media and high technology conducting

a first-of-its-kind consumer behavior study

and publishing and presenting his findings in

the us and europe

hersquos been deeply involved with social media

since 2008 at a wide variety of organizations

and is constantly monitoring the ever-changing

digital media landscape ndash always on the lookout

for new ways to help businesses increase their

social roi he believes the visual web is the

next big thing thatrsquos already here for marketers

follow him on heysharad

follow him on remyTennanT

piqoracomshare this ebook 4

instagram with its 150m+

users is emerging as the best

mobile-based social network

for marketers to tell a visual

story about their brand 71

of the worldrsquos major brands

are now on instagram and

marketers are rushing to grow

their communities hashtag

optimization and photo contests

especially when used together

have potent community building

power and should be considered

an integral part of any instagram

marketing strategy hashtags are

the key to brand discoverability

while photo contests are a great

way to increase visibility yet

given that few marketers even

attempted photo contests before

2012 and that software solutions

have only been around since

around the same time marketers

have limited experience ndash

probably about as much as they

did with facebook contests

back in 2009 so instagram

photo contests are relatively

new but there have been more

than enough successful ones to

make it clear that they can be a

driving force behind community

building

instagram is a mobile and image-

centric social network teeming

with original highly creative

uGc content photo contests are

insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTsThe new fronTier of visual uGc promoTions has arrived and opporTuniTies for markeTers abound

With most brands just getting started With instagram photo contests there

are huge opportunities to be had ndash and a lot to learn

instagram photo contests can produce valuable uGc such as this beautiful photo that won stylesitersquos spring street styles contest

1

a phenomenal way for brands

to source uGc photos They

enable consumers to express

their personal style and passion

for brands and the result is a

rich marketing experience that

piqoracomshare this ebook 5

includes powerful visual social

proof Through instagram photo

contests marketers can show

visually how their brand is

being incorporated into their

audiencersquos lives

with most brands just getting

started with instagram photo

contests there are huge

opportunities to be had ndash

and a lot to learn experience

running contests on other social

networks helps but itrsquos important

to remember that instagram is

distinct from other sites in terms

of both the way the network is

designed and how consumers

use it That the entire network is

mobile and outbound urls are

not supported fundamentally

changes the way contests must

be designed both in terms of

the contest itself and the web

infrastructure that supports it for their illume photo contest red bull took entries on instagram The winning photo is pictured above

piqoracomshare this ebook 6

There are 4 things you need

to run a basic instagram

contest

clear contest goals

and objectives

like with any marketing or

advertising campaign itrsquos a

good idea to start by defining

objectives because results

will vary widely depending on

how you design your contest

instagram contests are a great

way to

Grow your community

Generate brand awareness

source lifestyle content and

publish uGc photo streams

identify

users who

might like

your brand

so what do

you want

to do of course you may have

answered ldquoall of the aboverdquo you

may be able to have all or most

of the above but you will still

realize your goals to varying

degrees depending on how your

contest is set up for example

if you opt to have the winner be

selected by judges (as opposed

to being drawn at random) you

will get fewer participants ndash but

formula for suCCessclear objecTives Good creaTive simple rules a landinG paGe and hashTaG TrackinG sofTware are key To success

you will likely end up with higher

quality uGc

sweepstakes are a great way

to get a lot of photos likes and

followers judged contests yield

fewer but higher quality uGc

photos that could be integrated

into your other social or online

destinations judged contests have

a higher barrier to entry but attract

more brand advocates who you

may want to follow and gain as

followers

simple rules and creative

that clearly Explains them

contest creative is one of the

most important parts of your

instagram promotion it needs

to be visually appealing and

relevant to your audience The

hobo bags came up with clear and simple rules for their carry This wear That contest

2

1

2

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 3: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 3

abouT The auThor

sharaD vermafounDer amp CeoPiqora

remY TennanTmarkeTinG manaGerPiqora

a social media visionary and

internet marketing futurist

sharad is frequently quoted by the

media on topics related to the impact

of social media on e-commerce and has been

a speaker and panelist at several leading tech

conferences such as ad Tech and smx

sharad spent the first ten years as a product

manager at leading silicon valley tech companies

most recently at yahoo where he launched sem

and advertising products that generated over

$100m in incremental revenue having made his

mark he left yahoo for the startup world in 2010

founding piqora in early 2012

a long-time social media junkie

remy wrote his mba thesis on social

media and high technology conducting

a first-of-its-kind consumer behavior study

and publishing and presenting his findings in

the us and europe

hersquos been deeply involved with social media

since 2008 at a wide variety of organizations

and is constantly monitoring the ever-changing

digital media landscape ndash always on the lookout

for new ways to help businesses increase their

social roi he believes the visual web is the

next big thing thatrsquos already here for marketers

follow him on heysharad

follow him on remyTennanT

piqoracomshare this ebook 4

instagram with its 150m+

users is emerging as the best

mobile-based social network

for marketers to tell a visual

story about their brand 71

of the worldrsquos major brands

are now on instagram and

marketers are rushing to grow

their communities hashtag

optimization and photo contests

especially when used together

have potent community building

power and should be considered

an integral part of any instagram

marketing strategy hashtags are

the key to brand discoverability

while photo contests are a great

way to increase visibility yet

given that few marketers even

attempted photo contests before

2012 and that software solutions

have only been around since

around the same time marketers

have limited experience ndash

probably about as much as they

did with facebook contests

back in 2009 so instagram

photo contests are relatively

new but there have been more

than enough successful ones to

make it clear that they can be a

driving force behind community

building

instagram is a mobile and image-

centric social network teeming

with original highly creative

uGc content photo contests are

insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTsThe new fronTier of visual uGc promoTions has arrived and opporTuniTies for markeTers abound

With most brands just getting started With instagram photo contests there

are huge opportunities to be had ndash and a lot to learn

instagram photo contests can produce valuable uGc such as this beautiful photo that won stylesitersquos spring street styles contest

1

a phenomenal way for brands

to source uGc photos They

enable consumers to express

their personal style and passion

for brands and the result is a

rich marketing experience that

piqoracomshare this ebook 5

includes powerful visual social

proof Through instagram photo

contests marketers can show

visually how their brand is

being incorporated into their

audiencersquos lives

with most brands just getting

started with instagram photo

contests there are huge

opportunities to be had ndash

and a lot to learn experience

running contests on other social

networks helps but itrsquos important

to remember that instagram is

distinct from other sites in terms

of both the way the network is

designed and how consumers

use it That the entire network is

mobile and outbound urls are

not supported fundamentally

changes the way contests must

be designed both in terms of

the contest itself and the web

infrastructure that supports it for their illume photo contest red bull took entries on instagram The winning photo is pictured above

piqoracomshare this ebook 6

There are 4 things you need

to run a basic instagram

contest

clear contest goals

and objectives

like with any marketing or

advertising campaign itrsquos a

good idea to start by defining

objectives because results

will vary widely depending on

how you design your contest

instagram contests are a great

way to

Grow your community

Generate brand awareness

source lifestyle content and

publish uGc photo streams

identify

users who

might like

your brand

so what do

you want

to do of course you may have

answered ldquoall of the aboverdquo you

may be able to have all or most

of the above but you will still

realize your goals to varying

degrees depending on how your

contest is set up for example

if you opt to have the winner be

selected by judges (as opposed

to being drawn at random) you

will get fewer participants ndash but

formula for suCCessclear objecTives Good creaTive simple rules a landinG paGe and hashTaG TrackinG sofTware are key To success

you will likely end up with higher

quality uGc

sweepstakes are a great way

to get a lot of photos likes and

followers judged contests yield

fewer but higher quality uGc

photos that could be integrated

into your other social or online

destinations judged contests have

a higher barrier to entry but attract

more brand advocates who you

may want to follow and gain as

followers

simple rules and creative

that clearly Explains them

contest creative is one of the

most important parts of your

instagram promotion it needs

to be visually appealing and

relevant to your audience The

hobo bags came up with clear and simple rules for their carry This wear That contest

2

1

2

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 4: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 4

instagram with its 150m+

users is emerging as the best

mobile-based social network

for marketers to tell a visual

story about their brand 71

of the worldrsquos major brands

are now on instagram and

marketers are rushing to grow

their communities hashtag

optimization and photo contests

especially when used together

have potent community building

power and should be considered

an integral part of any instagram

marketing strategy hashtags are

the key to brand discoverability

while photo contests are a great

way to increase visibility yet

given that few marketers even

attempted photo contests before

2012 and that software solutions

have only been around since

around the same time marketers

have limited experience ndash

probably about as much as they

did with facebook contests

back in 2009 so instagram

photo contests are relatively

new but there have been more

than enough successful ones to

make it clear that they can be a

driving force behind community

building

instagram is a mobile and image-

centric social network teeming

with original highly creative

uGc content photo contests are

insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTsThe new fronTier of visual uGc promoTions has arrived and opporTuniTies for markeTers abound

With most brands just getting started With instagram photo contests there

are huge opportunities to be had ndash and a lot to learn

instagram photo contests can produce valuable uGc such as this beautiful photo that won stylesitersquos spring street styles contest

1

a phenomenal way for brands

to source uGc photos They

enable consumers to express

their personal style and passion

for brands and the result is a

rich marketing experience that

piqoracomshare this ebook 5

includes powerful visual social

proof Through instagram photo

contests marketers can show

visually how their brand is

being incorporated into their

audiencersquos lives

with most brands just getting

started with instagram photo

contests there are huge

opportunities to be had ndash

and a lot to learn experience

running contests on other social

networks helps but itrsquos important

to remember that instagram is

distinct from other sites in terms

of both the way the network is

designed and how consumers

use it That the entire network is

mobile and outbound urls are

not supported fundamentally

changes the way contests must

be designed both in terms of

the contest itself and the web

infrastructure that supports it for their illume photo contest red bull took entries on instagram The winning photo is pictured above

piqoracomshare this ebook 6

There are 4 things you need

to run a basic instagram

contest

clear contest goals

and objectives

like with any marketing or

advertising campaign itrsquos a

good idea to start by defining

objectives because results

will vary widely depending on

how you design your contest

instagram contests are a great

way to

Grow your community

Generate brand awareness

source lifestyle content and

publish uGc photo streams

identify

users who

might like

your brand

so what do

you want

to do of course you may have

answered ldquoall of the aboverdquo you

may be able to have all or most

of the above but you will still

realize your goals to varying

degrees depending on how your

contest is set up for example

if you opt to have the winner be

selected by judges (as opposed

to being drawn at random) you

will get fewer participants ndash but

formula for suCCessclear objecTives Good creaTive simple rules a landinG paGe and hashTaG TrackinG sofTware are key To success

you will likely end up with higher

quality uGc

sweepstakes are a great way

to get a lot of photos likes and

followers judged contests yield

fewer but higher quality uGc

photos that could be integrated

into your other social or online

destinations judged contests have

a higher barrier to entry but attract

more brand advocates who you

may want to follow and gain as

followers

simple rules and creative

that clearly Explains them

contest creative is one of the

most important parts of your

instagram promotion it needs

to be visually appealing and

relevant to your audience The

hobo bags came up with clear and simple rules for their carry This wear That contest

2

1

2

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 5: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 5

includes powerful visual social

proof Through instagram photo

contests marketers can show

visually how their brand is

being incorporated into their

audiencersquos lives

with most brands just getting

started with instagram photo

contests there are huge

opportunities to be had ndash

and a lot to learn experience

running contests on other social

networks helps but itrsquos important

to remember that instagram is

distinct from other sites in terms

of both the way the network is

designed and how consumers

use it That the entire network is

mobile and outbound urls are

not supported fundamentally

changes the way contests must

be designed both in terms of

the contest itself and the web

infrastructure that supports it for their illume photo contest red bull took entries on instagram The winning photo is pictured above

piqoracomshare this ebook 6

There are 4 things you need

to run a basic instagram

contest

clear contest goals

and objectives

like with any marketing or

advertising campaign itrsquos a

good idea to start by defining

objectives because results

will vary widely depending on

how you design your contest

instagram contests are a great

way to

Grow your community

Generate brand awareness

source lifestyle content and

publish uGc photo streams

identify

users who

might like

your brand

so what do

you want

to do of course you may have

answered ldquoall of the aboverdquo you

may be able to have all or most

of the above but you will still

realize your goals to varying

degrees depending on how your

contest is set up for example

if you opt to have the winner be

selected by judges (as opposed

to being drawn at random) you

will get fewer participants ndash but

formula for suCCessclear objecTives Good creaTive simple rules a landinG paGe and hashTaG TrackinG sofTware are key To success

you will likely end up with higher

quality uGc

sweepstakes are a great way

to get a lot of photos likes and

followers judged contests yield

fewer but higher quality uGc

photos that could be integrated

into your other social or online

destinations judged contests have

a higher barrier to entry but attract

more brand advocates who you

may want to follow and gain as

followers

simple rules and creative

that clearly Explains them

contest creative is one of the

most important parts of your

instagram promotion it needs

to be visually appealing and

relevant to your audience The

hobo bags came up with clear and simple rules for their carry This wear That contest

2

1

2

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 6: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 6

There are 4 things you need

to run a basic instagram

contest

clear contest goals

and objectives

like with any marketing or

advertising campaign itrsquos a

good idea to start by defining

objectives because results

will vary widely depending on

how you design your contest

instagram contests are a great

way to

Grow your community

Generate brand awareness

source lifestyle content and

publish uGc photo streams

identify

users who

might like

your brand

so what do

you want

to do of course you may have

answered ldquoall of the aboverdquo you

may be able to have all or most

of the above but you will still

realize your goals to varying

degrees depending on how your

contest is set up for example

if you opt to have the winner be

selected by judges (as opposed

to being drawn at random) you

will get fewer participants ndash but

formula for suCCessclear objecTives Good creaTive simple rules a landinG paGe and hashTaG TrackinG sofTware are key To success

you will likely end up with higher

quality uGc

sweepstakes are a great way

to get a lot of photos likes and

followers judged contests yield

fewer but higher quality uGc

photos that could be integrated

into your other social or online

destinations judged contests have

a higher barrier to entry but attract

more brand advocates who you

may want to follow and gain as

followers

simple rules and creative

that clearly Explains them

contest creative is one of the

most important parts of your

instagram promotion it needs

to be visually appealing and

relevant to your audience The

hobo bags came up with clear and simple rules for their carry This wear That contest

2

1

2

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 7: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 7

vast majority of the users on

instagram are millennials so if

you are targeting them make sure

to keep your creative edgy and

interesting

beyond that creative should

explain the rules clearly and

simply The background color

of a landing page or other

image shouldnrsquot interfere with

the readability of the rules if

users canrsquot read and understand

the rules it could hurt your

participation rate as well as the

number of participants who end

up being qualified design your

creative in such a way that it

can be used both on a full web

page (landing page) or as a post

on instagram and Twitter if the

creative is simple and to the

point your instagram and Twitter

followers can see the creative in

their feed and quickly know what

they have to do to participate

keep the contest rules simple

most contests ask participants to

upload a photo and add a relevant

and unique branded hashtag

ldquoselfiesrdquo are the easiest to take

and have the lowest barrier to

entry photos that are time-of-day

dependent (eg sunset) or involve

other people (eg take a photo

with a best friend) are naturally

more difficult creating a brand-

relevant hashtag is key before you

host your instagram contest make

up a hashtag thatrsquos relevant to

your brand and the theme of

your contest make it unique

enough so that when someone

searches for your hashtag on

instagram you wonrsquot confuse fans

who find hashtags unrelated to

your contest

Great uGc highly influential instagrammer alyson haley submitted this stellar photo for hobo bagsrsquos carry This wear That contest shersquos even promoting the contest to her 12k followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 8: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 8

myhabit did a great job coming up with a creative theme for their contest making it fun on-brand and reasonably easy to enter They selected an appropriate hashtag gave away a valuable and desirable prize added inspiring photos to the contest creative and showcased entries on the landing page (not pictured)

decide if you want to run a judged

contest or a sweepstakes where

the winner is selected randomly

let your participants know if their

entries will be judged or if the

winner will be selected at random

sweepstakes attract more

participants as everyonersquos winning

chances are equal however if your

goal is to get very high quality

uGc photos judged contests

are a great way to tap into the

creative genius of your audience

a contest landing page that

maximizes participation

a landing page provides a home

for the photo contest and allows

you to put more marketing

muscle behind it helping you to

go beyond just promoting it on

other social channels paid media

becomes an option for driving

traffic and it also allows you to

reach desktop users who can

visit the contest landing page to

learn about the promotion and

participate later through their

mobile devices

landing pages can also become

a living and breathing destination

that showcases the rich media

from the photo contest re-

publishing the best contest

entries is a great way to engage

new participants and visitors

instagram contests are creative

in nature and most participants

need a little help sparking their

ideas ndash seeing entries from other

participants is often an effective

trigger landing pages that

showcase participant entries

also create strong social proof

for potential new entrants

demonstrating the success of the

contest This in turns can lead to

more contest participation more

visits and more engagement from

the participants

landing pages can also contain

legal terms and conditions for

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 9: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 9

since instagram is a mobile-based network itrsquos extremely important that your landing page be mobile friendly including making it easy for participants to click through and follow your brand on instagram

piqorarsquos hashtag tracking software captures data on unique users potential impressions photos likes and comments

the contest and ensure that your

contest participants are entering

the contest legally

use hashtag tracking

software to identify your

participants and pick winners

in order to see the participants

for your contest hashtags and

pick a winner you need a hashtag

tracking tool (such as piqora) a

good hashtag tracking tool will

provide a list of participants their

photo entries allow you to see

participants on a certain day of the

promotion (for dailyweekly prize

promotions) and help you to easily

moderate and publish the photo

entries on a contest landing page

photo contest tracking tools also

provide landing page capabilities

via iframes fully hosted options

and facebook Tabs choose a

provider who offers fast loading

mobile-friendly landing pages

and can provide ongoing support

throughout the contest especially

if you are new to instagram

contests

bonus tip Provide some

examples At the outset take a

few photos that reflect the spirit

of the contest and highlight

them on the contest landing

page Entry photo examples are

a great way to nudge your

audience in the right direction

Once you have some good ones

be sure to update your landing

page possibly replacing your own

photos A contest management

tool (such as Piqora) can make

this easy

4

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 10: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 10

choose an appropriate

theme challenge

a good rule to remember is

that the more challenging

photo requirements are the less

participation you are going to get

some photo challenges can be

logistically difficult for example

snapping pictures of the moon at

midnight or taking a picture of the

clouds from your window seat

however if the submission criteria

are too broad you may end up with

photo entries that are not relevant

to your brand and inhibit your ability

to retell the contestrsquos story we

have seen contests that ask users

to post any photo while that is

incredibly easy to enter it does not

give you relevant and branded uGc

assets to use in future marketing

additionally if the photos are

completely undifferentiated they are

much less likely to be viral contest

photos when seen together as a

stream should tell a story and the

theme behind the contest should

be evident from the photo entries

for example pictures of a pre-game

tailgate party with friends is a great

story and a very coherent theme

select a relevant and

valuable prize

To maximize participation consider

DesiGninG Your ConTesThow To selecT The besT Theme prize conTesT hashTaG and judGeselecT a winner

having a grand-prize combined

with several prizes for runners up

participants like winning and being

rewarded and the more shots

they have to win the more likely

they are to participate and make it

through every step of the contest

offering a great prize is a way

to break away from the pack itrsquos

always a good idea to choose a

prize that you think will resonate

well with the interests and likes of

your fans so if yoursquore an online

clothing company offer a $500

gift card to your store mdash you

already know your fans like your

brand right or if yoursquore a resort

give away a one-night stay resort

package for two you get the idea

how valuable should the prize be

in order to maximize participation

The more valuable the better in

piqorarsquos research on pinterest

contests we found that prizes

valued at between $1000-$5000

generated 3x more participation

than prizes valued at $500-$1000

3

my habitrsquos substantial prize consisted of a $1500 gift card and a trip to new york for a photo shoot

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 11: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 11

and 5x more than prizes worth less

than $500

choose the right hashtag

your fans need a way to submit

photos and picking the right

instagram hashtag to promote

as part of your contest is

critical when selecting your

contest hashtag two important

considerations to keep in

mind are

is your chosen hashtag

brandableownable

while you canrsquot really ldquoownrdquo a

hashtag on instagram or any

social network for that matter

take some time to choose a

hashtag that is not likely to

be used by anyone else if the

hashtag is not unique you

may end up picking a winner

who just happened to use that

hashtag for some other purpose

and was not really a contest

participant

bull incorporate your brandrsquos

slogan

bull abbreviate your brand name

(if appropriate ndash ie

lululemon

becomes lulu)

bull incorporate the name of

your contest (what are

your habits becomes

thisismyhabit)

bull use dates and places for

campaigns at live events (ie

canucksGame6)

choosing the right hashtag doesnrsquot

have to be overly complicated just

remember that yoursquore asking fans

to type it into their mobile devices

each time they snap a photo to

participate making your hashtags

catchy and easy for them to

remember will help you maximize

the number of photos you receive

Best practices on winner selection

There are three ways to pick a

winner

Based on creativity originality

and relevance of the entry to

the contest rules

These judged contests are a

great way to source a special

selection of uGc photos that

are relevant to your brand

or campaign theme The

participation rate might be lower

but the quality of photos might

be much higher This is a great

winner selection strategy as it

yields limited but high quality

original and creative photos

enabling you to republish those

photos and tell a visual story

about your brand

tip Increase the reach and

impact of your contest by

using celebrity judges Not only

will they be endorsing your

contest and brand they will also

promote your contest to their

own audiences significantly

increasing the reach of your

promotion

broadway nailsrsquos impressrevolution fingernail painting contest was judged by two celebrities fashionista alli simpson and nail expert katie cazorla

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 12: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 12

at random

random selection of winners

is a great way to drive a huge

amount of participation and get

lots of photos random selection

signals equal chances of winning

and paired with multiple prizes

is a great way to get a lot of

participants more participants

does mean you may have to

do more work moderating and

selecting the best photos before

publishing them however if your

brand is new on instagram and you

are looking to build a community

and grow your followers this easy-

to-enter contest type is your

best bet

Based on the of likes ndash the

photo with the most likes is

chosen as the winner

while appealing on the surface

this might be the least effective

way of getting participants

This is because likes can be

unpredictable They are a function

of a userrsquos influence and as such

are not in your participantrsquos

control fewer users will

participate if they donrsquot believe

they have the same chance of

winning as the other person when

both entries are similar in quality

weeklydaily prizes

weekly or daily prizes are a great

way to keep the contest buzz

going strong for a long time

if you are consistently sharing

the best contest entries and

announcing winners on all your

marketing channels the buzz will

build on itself and keep growing

daily prizes also mean more

participation and even more

entries from participants as they

take multiple shots at winning

something long-running contests

should have a place in your overall

contest and community strategy

but should not be overdone lots

of long-running contests may lead

to fatigue

allowing Entries on twitter

we have come across several

contests that allow their

participants to enter either via

instagram or Twitter instagram

and Twitter are fundamentally

different while instagram is a

place users are sharing their life

moments in a very visual and

creative way Twitter is more of

a place for real-time news and

conversation because of this

an instagram photo contest is

best served when itrsquos limited to

instagram Twitter feeds move

very fast and only 14 of tweets

are retweeted so itrsquos hard to

grow your twitter followers via a

photo contest that is based on

instagram our recommendation

is to keep the community and

content strategy separate for

each networkfor their crazy about pets photo contest petco gave away two $500 gift cards weekly oce to the winner and another to their animal charity organization of choice

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 13: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 13

promote your contest heavily

and across channels

The participation rate of your

contest is directly proportional

to how well you spread the word

leveraging all existing channels to

let your audience know about the

contest is a very important step

and posting on facebook Twitter

and instagram is the bare minimum

consider reminding your audience

a few times during the contest

to boost participation sharing

the best photo entry of the day

or week is a great way to reward

participants and keep the contest

buzz going strong

email is another great channel

for promoting your contest over

50 of email opens happen

on mobile and can to lead to

speedy participation so be sure

your contestrsquos landing page is

mobile friendly depending on

your contest goals you can also

consider paid media options such

as promoted posts on facebook

(or any other facebook ads) or

promoted Tweets on Twitter

prep your audience before the

contest by generating buzz

before your contest officially

starts let followers know that

your business is going to be

PromoTe PromoTe PromoTecross-channel promoTion and acTive enGaGemenT durinG The conTesT is key To success

hosting a contest soon do this by

posting a photo of the creative on

instagram

use up to six additional

hashtags when you promote

your contest on instagram

in piqorarsquos research into instagram

hashtags we found that there

are substantial incremental

increases in likes as more

hashtags are added up to as

many as seven hashtags so

aim to add six hashtags on top

of the contestrsquos official hashtag

when you promote your contest

on instagram note that it is not

advisable to ask users to add

more than one hashtag although

it could increase reach the higher

barrier to entry would be likely

to reduce participation and

negate any potential benefits

for additional research findings

on hashtags and tips on how

to select and use hashtags for

4

over 50 of email opens happen on mobile and can to lead to speedy participation so be sure your contestrsquos landing page is mobile friendly

when it comes to promoting your instagram photo contests posting about it on your other social channels is the bare minimum

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 14: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 14

your campaigns download the

instagram hashtag report

maximize reach and impact by

leveraging influencers

increase the reach and impact

of your promotion by getting

influencers to promote your photo

contests you can have them serve

as a guest poster on your account

ndash they would be effectively

endorsing your contest and this

will likely increase participation

you can also have them promote

your contest via their own

instagram account and their other

social channels

There are dozens of extremely

influential instagram users in

fashion and beauty but they

exist in most other verticals

as well influencers have been

leveraged successfully by brands

large and small when Giorgio

armani launched the perfume si

they called on fashion bloggers

including highly influential

instagammer chiara ferragni who

has 12m followers

many of them have such a large

audience that they can command

a high price and some are even

represented by agents but

this form of paid media can

supercharge a contest especially

for smaller brands who have

limited organic reach of their

own so it can be money very well

spent how to find influencers

start by looking at the most

influential users who are using

hashtags that are relevant to your

brand and business vertical

of course not all brands can

afford to pay top dollar for

fashionistas like chiara ferragni

ndash but that does not mean they

canrsquot leverage influencers alyson

haley an influential instagrammer based on a study of 150000 instagram posts from 200 brands piqora found that adding 7-8 hashtags can increase likes by 200 or more

when Giorgio armani launched the perfume si they called on the highly influential instagammer chiara ferragni who has 12m followers

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 15: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 15

submitted three photos to hobo

bagsrsquos carry This wear That

photo contest garnering a total

of 1314 likes and reaching tens of

thousands of instagram users in

the process she also promoted

the contest to her network by

reposting the contest rules

including a url to the landing

page and as a bonus her pics

make for some great uGc so

whether or not you intend to

pay them identify and build

relationships with influencers in

advance of your contest because

if your contest is good enough

you may be able to substantially

increase the reach of your contest

without spending a dime

tip On the first day of your

Instagram contest post an image

with your contestrsquos official rules

Alternatively post a high quality

photo of your contest prize and

use the photo caption to explain

the rules and list other contest

details like the start and end dates

and how yoursquoll be selecting the

winner Either way this photo will

be a great resource for entrants

to refer back to if they have

questions about your contest

tip update your instagram bio

Temporarily update your

Instagram bio during the

timeframe of your Instagram

photo contest Use the space

to include a call to action your

contest hashtag and any web links

that are relevant to your contest

Doing this notifies all users who

visit your Instagram profile of

your contest and can help drive

more entries

hobo bags gave away a designer handbag for their contest itrsquos a good idea to post a picture of the prize at the outset

alyson haley an influential instagram user seen here in piqorarsquos dashboard posted three photos for hobo bagsrsquos contest netting a total of 1314 likes

post an image With your contestrsquos official rules alternatively post a high quality photo of your contest prize and use the photo caption to explain the rules and list other contest details

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 16: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 16

give your contest a home

if you want to truly give your fans

a memorable brand experience

give your contest a place to live

online where fans can view other

fan submissions as well as their

own in many cases brands have

been hesitant to aggregate and

display contest submissions from

instagram because of the potential

for undesirable content to appear

in the gallery which could have

a negative impact for the brand

with tools like piqora that offer

photo moderation for aggregating

hashtagged photos this risk is

diminished Giving your contest

campaign a place to live online

(web mobile and facebook)

enables you to increase the reach of

and awareness about your campaign

share your Best fan photos

wersquove seen many campaigns

miss the opportunity to share

fan photos through a brandrsquos

own social networks (Twitter

and facebook) when your

audience goes out of their way

to snap a photo for your brand

sharing their submissions with

your wider audience serves two

purposes first it makes your fans

feel rewarded for participating

and second it helps promote

your campaign and increase

participation

Engage your audience

if you are running a photo contest

on instagram make sure yoursquore

engaging with fans directly

through instagram in addition to

DrivinG ConTesT enGaGemenTcreaTinG a virTual home and disTribuTinG The besT uGc onGoinG is key To maximizinG parTicipaTion

5

for their booties and besties contest piperlime used piqorarsquos promotions platform to build a responsive landing page that showcases contest entries

sharing fan photos through your

brandrsquos social networks donrsquot

forget to like and comment on fan

submissions through instagram

and even follow users back

The great thing about using a

visual platform like instagram is

that it allows you to personalize

and tailor your comments on

fan submissions you can skip

the boilerplate ldquoThanks for

participatingrdquo message and

demonstrate a more genuine

approach by customizing your

comments for each photo

your fans will appreciate these

more than the copy and paste

standardized message

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 17: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 17

kpis for instagram contests

like with promotions on other

social networks the most

successful brands on instagram

run photo contests on a regular

basis you may not do everything

perfectly your first go-round but

if you learn from your successes

and failures you will ascend the

learning curve more quickly so

how do you know if your contest

was as success where you fell

short and how you could have

done better of course you will

want to compare your results

to the objectives you defined at

the outset but if you are using

instagram analytics software

you can look at established social

kpis like reach impressions

follower Growth comments

and likes

possible Explanations for

underperforming contests

as wersquove seen in the previous

examples many marketers are

doing a great job with instagram

photo contests and are getting

results still since most marketers

are new to instagram contests

not every one is going to be a

grand slam if yoursquore not satisfied

with the results you got here

are our top seven causes of

underperforming instagram

contests (in no particular order)

The contest was not designed

in a way that maximized the

likelihood of getting the results

you were hoping for for

example you wanted lots of

new followers but the winner

was selected not at random

but by a panel of judges The

latter can create the perception

measurinG suCCesssuccess meTrics for phoTo conTesTs and common causes of poor performance

piqorarsquos instagram promotions platform includes granular tracking and analytics for contests including participants media comments and likes

6

1

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 18: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 18

that the contest will be difficult

to win and participation may

be decreased as a result

on the other hand maybe you

got a lot of new followers but

didnrsquot get as much great uGc

as you were hoping for next

time you may want to raise the

content bar by having a panel

of judges select the winner

your contestrsquos theme was not

creativecompelling enough to

motivate people to participate

next time try something

different

The barrier to entry was too

high This can easily happen if

you ask participants to submit

a photo that has too many

complex requirements

The prize was too small This

is a common cause of an

underperforming contest if

your prize was worth less than

$500 try a prize that is valued

at $1000 or more and yoursquoll

most likely see better results

you didnrsquot promote your

contest enough This is a

common cause especially with

smaller brands next time be

sure to leverage every possible

channel you have access

to email all social channels

including your blog website

influencers and advertising

if necessary

The contestrsquos rules were not

clearly explained on instagram

and elsewhere

4

The adult swim channelrsquos comic-con costume photo contest required participants to put on a costume a high barrier to entry that may have reduced participation The image promoting the contest on instagram didnrsquot explain the contest at all ndash only a link was provided to a landing page There it was not clearly explained that entrants should use the contest hashtag adultswimcontest as a result the hashtag was used only 50 times making it difficult for photo entries to be accessed by instagram users for a brand that has 42m facebook fans and 38k instagram followers thatrsquos disappointing

6

5

7

2

3

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

markeTinG suiTe

for The visual web call

866-857-8433 or email

hellopiqoracom

Page 19: The DefiniTive GuiDe To insTaGram PhoTo ConTesTs€¦ · how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT hashTaG, and judGe/selecT a winner how To selecT The besT Theme, prize, conTesT

piqoracomshare this ebook 19

piqora helps brands build communites on pinterest

instagram and Tumblr the top three interest-based visual

networks we are the only social analytics company that

provides support for all of the big three visual networks

But we arenrsquot stopping there we are on our way to

mapping the entire visual web

we work with hundreds of major brands and retailers

including crate amp barrel Gilt zGallerie hautelook steve

madden piperlime etsy and many more

abouT PiqoraThe ComPleTe markeTinG suiTe for

PinTeresT insTaGram anD Tumblr

To learn more abouT The

indusTryrsquos only compleTe

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