The beasts of Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner and it’s important to avoid social media mistakes and flops in your Instagram giveaways. According to Adobe, “Last year, revenue from Black Friday increased 23.6% over the previous year, topping out at $6.2 billion” and “Cyber Monday sales topped $7.9 billion making it the single largest shopping day in U.S. history.” Competition will be at its highest, so it’s time for marketers to pull out all the stops in their Instagram holiday campaigns. Let’s take a look at how you can avoid three common mistakes and the solutions to get the best results in the upcoming weeks.
Mistake 1: Not Setting a Goal
According to CoSchedule, “marketers who set goals are 376% more likely to report success.” Rushing to get your Instagram comment giveaway started can fail and result in attracting the incorrect audience and receiving low entry and engagement levels.
Solution: Set Your Objectives
Narrow down your objective and what you hope to gain in your promotion. Are you hoping to gain foot traffic to your store on Black Friday or hoping to direct website traffic on Cyber Monday? Planning ahead to consider how you would like to accomplish your goal will help with successful results and how you will measure them. Ways to track your measurement may include email sign-ups, number of follows or tracking the click-through rate to your website.
Mistake 2: Lack of Experience
During the rush of the season, it’s important to make sure you do your research. Adding incorrect hashtags, being over promotional, adding too many emojis, or having the incorrect format can really turn people away from your brand.
Solution: Do Your Research
To avoid hurting your brand’s reputation, it’s important to review your comment giveaway before sharing it with your audience. Research relevant hashtags and be sure to include your branded hashtag. Take some time creating your social media caption to make sure it is clear and creative. If you are choosing to include emojis, break up the text for a clean looking caption.
Mistake 3: Rules That Aren’t Clear
Giveaways that contain a long list of rules can turn away followers. Catching their eye with simple and clear rules to follow will help them to stop scrolling down their newsfeed. People don’t want to stop and read too much text that can be crowded or confusing.
Solution: Make Things Simple
Gain the trust of your audience by keeping your rules and directions clear and simple. Tell your audience exactly what to do. Break up your steps by listing them on separate lines including basic rules to follow. Whether you include some directions in a graphic or leave it all in your caption, keeping things simple will be easier for Instagram users to enter.
Whether you are organizing a comment giveaway by having your audience share what they are thankful for this year or tagging someone to let them know about a Black Friday sale; it’s important to set your goal and double-check before posting. Mistakes can happen often when you aren’t planning ahead, when you don’t do your research on your audience, and when you aren’t aware of the rules. Keep your brand implanted in customer’s minds this holiday season by following the above solutions. To learn more about the rules of running a contest on social media take a look at our blog on Running a Social Media Contest From Start to Finish.
If you need help starting early to avoid any mistakes, give our team a call at (888) 632-4499 or fill out our free consultation form. We would love to discuss how we can help your business!
