Running a giveaway on Instagram is an easy way to engage and build followers, but if you aren’t creating Instagram giveaway rules, you might get into hot water.
Here are some best practices:
- Have actual legal, official rules. Your rules will help protect you in case of a legal dispute.
- Include all entry criteria in your rules. Without entry criteria, your entrants get to make them up – and you may be unhappy with the entries they submit.
- Detail your prizes. Don’t be vague about prizes or your winners will be disappointed. And disappointed winners are never good!
- Make sure your giveaway is really a giveaway, also known as a random sweepstakes or prize draw, and not a contest or lottery. You can’t require anyone to pay to play (without a way for them to enter without purchase) or it would be considered a lottery. And if you are asking people to submit entries that require a certain skill level, then that would be a contest.
- Follow local, state (or province or territory), federal, and international promotion laws. If you aren’t sure what those laws are, find out! You will be held responsible for breaking the law even if you didn’t know you were breaking it.
- Follow FTC guidance when it comes to hashtags and disclosures. And be sure to create and use unique hashtags to track entries!
- Follow Instagram promotion guidelines – or be willing to take the consequences if you don’t. These guidelines can change without notice, so always check back to Instagram often for updates.
- Post the link to your rules in your bio, and create and include a tiny url or bitly to the rules when you share about your giveaway in your posts or Instagram Story. The general rules of thumb is entrants should be able to get to your rules in one or two clicks to be legal – don’t make them hard to find.
- If you run the giveaway over a period of days, create a “How To Enter” Instagram Story – and save it to your Highlights so people can refer to it as they create their entry.
- Make sure your drawing is completely random, and that it is conducted in a timely manner. A date should be posted in the rules for when the drawing will be done. Stick to that date!
- Make sure to get winners their prizes promptly, and let your followers know who won.
Having a legal set of Instagram Giveaway rules will ensure your promotion is above board and runs smoothly. If you need help writing rules, contact us and we can help!
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