Home > Articles > How to boost website traffic with an Instagram giveaway

An ultimate guide to boost website traffic with an Instagram giveaway

Last updated: March 01, 2024
This article has been written and researched by our expert Avada through a precise methodology. Learn more about our methodology

Sam

Author

Daniel

Researcher

Increasing website traffic is a never-ending hustle. With every new day, there’s a new way to get people to visit your website.

Today, we will go into a fascinating and fun way to increase traffic to your website.

That way is with an Instagram giveaway.

Instagram giveaways are fun, engaging, and interactive campaigns that help brands to effectively grow their audience on Instagram.

Brands are also using Instagram giveaways to direct targeted, high-quality traffic to their websites.

So how is this possible?

Read on to find out how to drive traffic with an Instagram giveaway and how to host one yourself.

What Are Instagram Giveaways?

People enter giveaways so that they can stand a chance of winning a prize.

In most cases, people are requested to exchange some form of information (like an email address or phone number) to enter.

Giveaways are excellent marketing campaigns that receive plenty of hype and can be hosted on different platforms.

Social media is a popular marketing channel, with Instagram being a great platform to host a giveaway.

Brands use giveaways as a tool to grow their audience on Instagram. Having a decent following on Instagram can allow you to effectively promote your brand on that platform.

If you are looking to grow your followers on Instagram, you can request that users ‘follow you’ to gain entry into the giveaway.

How Websites Get Traffic from an Instagram Giveaway

Apart from building a following on Instagram, you can use your Instagram giveaway to achieve other objectives that you may have.

Instagram giveaways are great for:

  • Increasing Instagram followers
  • Building email lists
  • Boosting engagement on social media posts
  • Increasing website traffic

When an Instagram user enters your giveaway, you can give them the option to visit your website.

Most people might not worry about checking out your website once they have gone through the process of entering.

However, you can award them for visiting your website with an additional entry into the giveaway. This will increase their chances of winning.

How Websites Get Traffic from an Instagram Giveaway

Hawaiian alkaline water company Waiakea successfully generated over 250k pageviews from a single Instagram giveaway.

They also managed to achieve multiple goals, like new Instagram followers and email leads. All from a single Instagram giveaway.

If your website is set up to convert traffic into sales, then you will be able to boost sales during your Instagram giveaway.

How to Host an Instagram Giveaway

So, how do you run a successful Instagram giveaway?

The concept of a giveaway is simple, right?

You sponsor a prize, get people to enter, then you pick a winner at random.

Hosting a giveaway might seem like a simple task, but not every giveaway is massively successful.

It is possible to host an Instagram giveaway that brings in poor results.

When hosting an Instagram giveaway, you must consider the following:

  • Instagram giveaway goals
  • Choosing a prize
  • Promoting the giveaway

Choose a Goal for the Giveaway

As mentioned earlier, an Instagram giveaway can help you to achieve multiple goals.

If your goal is merely to boost website traffic, then you can design your giveaway to do just that.

If you plan correctly, your giveaway will be able to direct Instagram users to your website.

But it doesn’t have to end there. You can use your Instagram giveaway to build an email list and grow your followers.

So, how do you boost website traffic, email lists, and Instagram followers with your giveaway?

You can request users to submit their email address to gain entry into your giveaway. Then allow them to create bonus entries into the giveaway to increase their chances of winning.

A bonus entry can be earned simply by visiting your website and/or following you on Instagram.

You can also award bonus entries to users that refer other people to your giveaway. This can quickly boost the number of participants for your giveaway.

Select a Prize

The prize is the most crucial aspect of the giveaway. Instagram users are instantly drawn to the prize and not necessarily the giveaway itself.

Desirable prizes like smartphones, TVs, and laptops tend to draw large amounts of entrants.

This sounds great because more people entering your giveaway means more traffic and followers, right?

Well, the problem with choosing a prize that attracts a broad audience is that the majority of that audience might only be interested in the prize, and not your brand.

This can lead to poor quality leads.

Your prize should only attract an audience that is interested in your brand and its products.

Choosing your own product (or a product within your niche or industry) as the prize is a great way to attract the right people to your giveaway.

Choosing your own product (or a product within your niche or industry) as the prize is a great way to attract the right people to your giveaway.

Gym owners can offer “six months free access to our gym” as the grand prize. This prize will attract people that are interested in going to the gym to keep fit.

You can also offer workout supplements, gym equipment, and workout clothes as prizes to attract a similar fitness-focused crowd.

Launch and Promote

Once your goals and prize are in order, you can then launch and promote your Instagram giveaway.

The obvious first step would be to create a post on Instagram. Seeing that Instagram is a visual platform, use an image that features the prize.

The obvious first step would be to create a post on Instagram. Seeing that Instagram is a visual platform, use an image that features the prize.

Source</p>

Instagram users should want to instantly enter your giveaway. So choose the image and graphics wisely.

Request users to like, comment, and tag other users in your post. The more engagements your post gets, the better it will perform on Instagram. This will make the post more discoverable on the platform.

You can also use your existing marketing channels, such as email, Facebook, and blogging, to promote your Instagram giveaway.

Email is a great way to notify people about your giveaway, while also directing them to your website.

Final thoughts

An Instagram giveaway is an excellent way for brands to increase their audience and promote themselves. Apart from gaining new followers Instagram giveaways is also an excellent opportunity for brands to achieve multiple goals like growing an email list or boosting website traffic.

The concept of an Instagram giveaway might be straightforward, but planning is essential if you want your giveaway to be successful.

So tell us, have you hosted or took part in an Instagram giveaway before? Let us know how it went in the comments below.

This article was contributed by Jack Paxton is the co-founder of VYPER, a marketing tool that helps brands build email lists, social followings and revenue using viral giveaways, referral and reward programs.


Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.