Instagram Contest Rules – Promotion Guidelines to run a giveaway on Instagram
What are the Instagram Contest Rules for running a giveaway or promotion on Instagram? Which Instagram giveaway rules are (not) allowed and which are required? In this blog we will discuss the official promotion guidelines from Instagram to run a legal contest on IG.
Are giveaways allowed on Instagram?
Are giveaways, promotions, contests and sweepstakes allowed on Instagram? Yes, you can run a giveaway or contest on Instagram.
To run a giveaway on Instagram there are official promotion guidelines which you should follow to run a legal contest. You can find the promotion guidelines on their official website:
Instagram Promotion Guidelines
The first statement you can read in the Instagram Contest Rules is the following:
If you use Instagram to communicate or administer a promotion (example: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including:
- The official rules;
- Offer terms and eligibility requirements (example: age and residency restrictions); and
- Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (example: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals)
What does this mean? Make sure that the contest runs according all legal rules of the country/countries where the promotion is running. This could mean that in some cases not all prized are allowed or that the contest should be restricted by age. Example how to add this in your Instagram contest rules: “Winner must be 18 years old and must be UK based“. This could also mean that it is in some countries not even allowed to run a contest for your company. Please do research on which rules are allowed in the region where you want to do the contest.
They also mention that it always your own responsibility to run a promotion and they will never help or advise:
We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion and cannot advise you on whether consent is required for use of user content or on how to obtain any necessary consent.
What must be included in your Instagram Contest Rules?
There are 2 items that you should always add to any Instagram contest or giveaway. In the promotion guidelines you can find the following statement:
Promotions on Instagram must include the following:
- A complete release of Instagram by each entrant or participant.
- Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.
How could you add this to your giveaway to play by the rules:
This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram. By entering the promotion you agree that we, the prize provider(s), and Instagram, will have no liability, and will be held harmless from and against any liability or loss, including reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, for all matters related to your acceptance, possession, experience with, use or misuse of the prize or participation in the promotion.
Which Instagram Contest Rules are allowed?
We will answer this question by answering some other questions of common use cases that we see on Instagram. Do you have any other question? Please leave a comment below this post, so we can answer and add it to this blog.
Can I ask people to tag friends in comments or photos for an entry in the contest?
You can find the following statement in the promotion guidelines:
You must not inaccurately tag content or encourage users to inaccurately tag content (example: don’t encourage people to tag themselves in photos if they aren’t in the photo).
Instagram explicitly mentions that it is not allowed to ask participants to tag themselves in a photo if they are not in the photo for an entry. They don’t mention anything about tagging friends in comments (since tagging friends can always be accurate in comments): So yes, it is allowed to ask users to tag friends in comments.
Can I ask people to follow my IG account for an entry in the promotion?
Yes, it is allowed to ask people to follow your Instagram account for an entry to the promotion. The Instagram promotion guidelines don’t mention anything about any rules of following accounts.
Yes, it is allowed to ask people to share your post in their story for an entry to the giveaway.
How to run a legal Instagram Giveaway?
To summarise all Instagram Contest Rules for a promotion, sweepstake or giveaway on Instagram:
- Announce the prize(s) that participants can win and how they can claim them
- Announce the dates and timezone that the contest in running
- Announce when and how the winner will be chosen
- Add the Instagram Contest Rules which should be followed to get an entry to the giveaway (how to enter). Examples: follow our IG account and tag 2 friends in the comments
- Add legal statement with restrictions of age, country etc where the contest is running
- Add a statement that the contest is not associated with Instagram and that users agree and understand that IG will never be responsible for anything related to the contest.
How to pick a winner for your Instagram raffle?
You can easy pick a winner for your Instagram raffle with our FREE IG Comment Picker tool:
In the tool you can login with Facebook, choose your Instagram account and giveaway post and select all options of your contest and choose a winner at random. There are other tools available online, but most of them are payed or requiring sign up. Our tool is FREE without sign up 🙂
Conclusion
Running a contest on Instagram can be very successful to grow your Instagram account and business. Creating an Instagram Giveaway by the rules doesn’t have to be hard when you know which rules there are. Just add the rules, terms and statement in your giveaway and you will be save. Hopefully all contest rules are clear after reading this article.
If you have any questions about running a Instagram contest, Instagram Contest Rules or if you think something is wrong in our article, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or sending us a message via Facebook or Instagram.
