Are you on Instagram? Why not? And if you are, have you run a contest yet?

Instagram contests (as long as you have enough followers) (by the way you should totally follow us on Instagram! @gladworks! GO!) are a lot of fun for both you and your clients. GLAD WORKS has spent the summer running one for a very special client. Here's what we did and how you can do it too!

A great client came to us for help running their social media campaigns this summer season. We decided that a fantastic way to engage fans and build up their following on Instagram was to start running a contest called Photo Friday. Each week, we choose a theme and ask for photo submissions that fit that theme. Participants use a custom hash tag to enter their photo, and the winning photo gets a fantastic prize. This campaign has been very successful and it's a lot of fun to see all the great photo submissions roll in every Friday.

To make it as easy as possible for participants, we made sure to set up a page on the client's website explaining the rules in detail as well as instructions on how to enter. We also included a list of upcoming themes so that people could plan their photos ahead of time and get them all spiffed up for the contest. We send out reminders every Monday and Wednesday night and another on Friday morning.

In just a few weeks, we've increased their Instagram following by 8.6%, which is great! They had a healthy following to begin with, but now the party is in full swing and Instagram is humming with positive sentiment about them. The campaign works because it's fun, engaging and involves a fantastic giveaway.

If you feel a little intimidated by a campaign of this nature, you could start more simply and do a "like" contest by asking your followers to like your photo to be entered to win a random drawing to win a prize. It's a very easy way to increase your engagement, just make sure the prize is something people really want.

Another option is to have a comments contest. People can tag their friends to enter too and before you know it, your post has a ton of comments, tags and engagement. To make it even more fun, you could ask your followers to caption your photo and choose your favorite caption.

Instagram contests are a great way to engage your followers and have a lot of fun at the same time. They can be very simple or a bit more complex like the one we described in detail here. Whatever you choose, make sure you have enough followers first. Go around and comment and like other people's photos. Let your followers on Facebook and Twitter know you're also on Instagram and ask them to follow you. Soon, you'll have plenty of participants and you'll be ready to rock!