One of the most important things that should be in the toolbox of every social media marketer is how to organize effective Instagram challenges.  If done properly, these can engage thousands of people.

Instagram challenges are basically when someone on Instagram sets a theme and asks people to share photos on that theme using a particular hashtag. and invites others to participate.  These can take anywhere from a couple of days, to a couple of months.  However, an Instagram challenge is not useful if it does not yield results, and in order to do this, the organizers (you) need to know what they’re doing!

Let’s take a closer look at why you should organize an Instagram challenge.

First of all, let’s consider the fact that Instagram is the best platform to do something like this, as it has an incredibly large number of active users.  This means that it is vital to building a presence if you want to be successful.  This is where starting a challenge comes in.  Organizing one of these will not only help build your profile, but also motivate your audience to interact more with your brand, with each other and lead to a stronger, more loyal following.

You can also use this strategy in order to gain followers.  Some users have gained more than 500 followers over a two-week challenge.  While this number might not seem big, this essentially depends on how well the event is put together.  In other words, an Instagram challenge is a great tool to increase the number of followers you have and then increase sales.

Something like this also builds trust with your brand and makes it so that people will associate a positive experience with your brand due to the contest.  This will make your followers friendlier and more familiar when it comes to your brand.

Another great thing about these challenges is the fact that they are extremely fun.  While some may think that committing to an extra daily task may be a bit difficult, organizers are only required to post a photo every day, nothing more.  You may actually find that posting a themed photo each day can be a fun and will stimulate your creative side.

Furthermore, this kind of event can give organizers a lot of insight into their followers’ lives and having another (visual) communication channel to interact with people can be refreshing.

If you spend time looking at the photos posted by others during the challenge, you will find new ways to approach your target audience, to engage them and effectively offering you new information to use in future marketing campaigns.

The Secret To Creating Your Own Super-Effective Instagram Challenge

The first thing that you should consider when trying to create an Instagram challenge is to find Instagrammers that you could partner up with.  While you can organize the event on your own, finding one or two more people to work with will ensure that you can reach a larger number of people, which may also result in some of those following your partners also becoming your fans.

Another important thing that you should think about is finding the best possible hashtag for your challenge.  This is truly a vital element due to the fact that it provides people a way to find your challenge, and it will be used in order to tag the photos that everyone submits.

Try choosing something truly unique, as not to be confused with another event.  Try various alternatives of a hashtag you already like.  The best way to approach this is to think of a hashtag that contains your brand name, or something to remind people of it.

Next, you will have to think about good prompts.  Try using simple, straightforward prompts (a color, or an object), as these will be easier in terms of what your followers will think of photographing.  If you’re too descriptive, you may find that users will abandon the challenge if ideas don’t come to them fast.  Challenges should be easy as well as fun for everyone, and people tend to back out of them if they become too difficult.

When it comes to finding a good length of time to run the event, it is usually a good idea to limit yourself to a couple of weeks.  This will ensure that it will be long enough for your audience to remember it, but not bore them, or make them lose their interest.

Before starting the event, invite as many people as possible directly.  Consider sending a personalized email to influencers in your niche, inform them about the challenge, and invite them to participate.  This will lead to a larger overall impact.  Avoid simply posting a blog article about the upcoming event, or starting it without letting people know.  The key to a good Instagram challenge is creating some hype prior to starting it, in order to give your audience time to spread the word.

The next step is to take care of how you interact with those participating in the event.  Go through the content linked to your challenge’s hashtag, and like and comment on the photos shared by other users.  This is the part where you will be able to truly connect with your audience, or, if you collaborated with another Instagrammer, with other users that may become your followers.

Instagram may label you a spammer and prevent you to post further comments if you comment too much; however, you will be OK if you don’t go overboard with the commenting.  Try to encourage participants to keep posting, and let them know that they’ve done an awesome job.

After every week that passes, you should do a recap on your blog.  It should contain each of the photos that you have shared so far, and also include your favorite pics from other participants.  This will not only make them feel appreciated, but also remind others that they can participate even though the event has already started.

Instagram challenges are fun, interesting, and extremely useful when it comes to building a genuine relationship with your audience!