People love to win. They also love to support businesses that actively engage with them. That’s why Facebook and Instagram contests are a great way to boost engagement and build good-will with your followers, while expanding your reach to new followers.
Plus, they’re fun!
This list will provide you with 25 specific contest ideas for Facebook and Instagram to help you get started, as well as point out a few best practices to make sure your contests are set up for success.
What Makes a Successful Facebook Contest?
It’s important that your contest is well thought out to avoid any confusion, a lack of entries, or disputes over the prize. You’ll want to make sure your contest post includes the following:
- A call-to-action (CTA)
- Incentive
- End date/time
- Rules/regulations
A CTA is a phrase that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do (i.e. “Click here to enter” or “Comment below”). Don’t leave your followers guessing.
Your followers need a reason to enter your contest, so offer something that will be appealing to most people.
Set a specific end date and time for your contest so that your followers know how much time they have to enter and when a winner will be selected.
To avoid any complications, make the rules and regulations clear from the start. For example, “Entrants must follow us on Facebook and comment on the post to be eligible. Winner must contact us within 24 hours of the announcement to claim the prize or another winner will be selected.” State what they need to do to be eligible to win and how and when to claim their prize. Also, refer to Facebook’s guidelines for running contests here.
The Best Chiropractic Facebook & Instagram Contests
- HOLIDAYS
- SHORT TIME-FRAME
- FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY
- EXTRA ENTRIES FOR TAGGING FRIENDS
- POST A PHOTO IN THE COMMENTS
- DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE
- PHOTO WITH BRANDED HASHTAG
- MULTI-BUSINESS GIVEAWAY
- REWARD ACTIVE PATIENTS
- PROMOTE NEW SERVICE/PRODUCTS
- BUILD EXCITEMENT FOR AN UPCOMING EVENT
- REGULAR GIVEAWAYS FOR CONSISTENT ENGAGEMENT
- CELEBRATE A MILESTONE
- BIGGEST FAN CONTEST
- BIG TICKET GIVEAWAY
- CAPTION CONTEST
- EASY, LAST-MINUTE CONTEST
Is there a holiday coming up? Holiday-themed contests are always a good idea. Think: Halloween costume contest, ugly Christmas sweater contests, or “Guess how many Hershey’s kisses are in the jar” Valentine’s Day contests.
Create a sense of urgency by running a contest with a short time-frame (i.e. “Contest ends in 48 hours!”). You might be surprised how many entries you get when the window of opportunity is short. Take a look at the engagement this doTERRA Essential Oils giveaway got that offered only two days to enter:
Looking to grow your followers on Facebook or Instagram? Set a followers goal and give away an awesome prize when you reach it.
For instance, tell your followers that you will be giving away [INSERT SIZABLE PRIZE HERE] when you reach 2,000 followers on Instagram. To enter, they must share your contest post in their Instagram story and in their feed and tag you. Their friends will see the contest post and start following you so they can enter to win as well. Your following will grow and odds are, a good percentage of your new followers will be local friends of your current patients. Those are quality new patient leads right there!
Ask your followers to tag their friends in the comments of your contest post as a way to earn extra entries. More people seeing your contest post, means more opportunities for new followers.
Get your followers really involved by asking them to post a photo of something specific to be entered in the contest. For instance, a picture of their crazy hair for a chance to win a gift certificate to a local salon. Or a photo showing why they’re stressed for a chance to win a free massage.
Create a landing page on your website with the contest details and an entry form. The traffic boost to your site sends good signals to Google. And if you really want to take it to the next level, you could use that traffic to build an audience for Facebook retargeting ads. Take a look at this chiropractor who did just that:
Ask your followers to post a photo to their Instagram feed with a particular hashtag. You can see who enters by clicking on the hashtag. For example, ask your followers to take a photo with the doc the next time they come in for an adjustment, post it with the contest hashtag, and tag the practice Instagram account. Your practice gets free advertising and your patients have a chance to win something. It’s a win-win! (*Note: make sure your hashtag has not been used before by searching for it ahead of time)
Partner up with other local businesses to do a multi-business, multi-prize giveaway. These are very popular on Instagram. Several businesses will offer up a prize, each one posts about the contest, and to enter, a person must like your post, then go to the profile of the next business, follow them, like their contest post, then go to the next business, and so on until they’re back where they started. These contests are fantastic for getting your brand in front of more local eyes and cross-promoting with other local businesses. Here’s an example of a family-owned strawberry farm that partnered with a couple of other small businesses to do an Instagram giveaway:
“Every time you come in for an adjustment in the month of July, you will get one raffle ticket to enter in our [INSERT PRIZE] giveaway! Winner will be drawn August 1st, announced on social media, and contacted via email.” Post a photo of the prize and boost the post to your followers to make sure it’s seen by more people.
(*Note: Add a disclaimer to your raffle tickets or on a sign near the raffle box that states winner’s first name and last initial will be announced on social media and entering a ticket in the drawing counts as permission to share their name in the event that they win, just to be mindful of any patient privacy concerns.)
Build excitement around a new service you’re offering by doing a giveaway. Just added a massage therapist to the practice? Give away a 60-minute massage. The post could be as simple as, “We’re excited to announce that we now offer massage therapy! Help us welcome [INSERT THERAPIST’S NAME] to the practice by saying hello in the comments below and be entered to win a 60-minute massage. Winner will be randomly selected on [INSERT DATE/TIME].”
You could do something similar with any new products you start selling, such as pain relieving creams or hot/cold packs.
If you host webinars, in-person events, or sponsor any community events, let your followers know by doing a giveaway based on the event. If it’s a paid event, offer up free admission to the winner. Want more people to attend the event? Let your social media followers know that all attendees will be entered to win a special prize and provide the details on how they can sign up to attend.
Keep your followers engaged by doing consistent giveaways. By holding a contest every month, for instance, your followers will know to look forward to it and the amount of engagement you get will gradually increase over time.
The doctor’s birthday, the anniversary of the practice, or an employee’s work anniversary – all reasons to celebrate and all great excuses to hold a contest!
Let’s say your CA is celebrating 5 years with the practice. Play a game with your followers by asking them a question about the CA (“Where was [INSERT CA’s NAME] born?” or “What college did [INSERT CA’s NAME] graduate from?”). First person to guess correctly wins a gift card to your CA’s favorite local restaurant.
To enter, followers must post a picture of themselves wearing practice swag or holding a sign that says “I ❤️ my chiropractor” and tag your practice in their post.
To really get people’s attention, give away a big ticket item. For example, Trailhead Family Chiropractic set a goal to reach 10,000 followers on Instagram. To reach this goal, they announced they’d be giving away a $2300 Peloton bike! Here’s the original contest post with details:
If you’re afraid you wouldn’t see a return on that investment, consider this: the industry average for the lifetime value of a new patient is about $2,500. So you’d need just one of the new followers you get from the contest to become a new patient to break even, two or more to come out ahead financially.
Post a silly photo and ask your followers to caption it. Your office staff can vote to choose the best caption.
“Comment below with your favorite (easy weeknight recipe/way to destress at the end of the day/at-home workout/etc.). One winner will be randomly selected to receive a ____ at 5pm tonight.”
Facebook Contest Prize Ideas
Now that we’ve shared some specific types of contests and giveaways and how to run them, here’s a short list of popular prize ideas to help you get started:
- Massage gift certificate
- Branded office swag (t-shirts, hats, etc.)
- Local small business goods/gift cards
- Healthy lifestyle gifts (exercise equipment, supplements, juicer, etc.)
- Themed gift baskets
- Restaurant gift cards
- Spa/salon gift cards
- Experiences (escape room, paint n’ sip, etc.)
Shake Up Your Marketing Routine with Facebook Contests
Add a fun new element to your marketing strategy by implementing social media contests. Your existing patients are sure to love them (you may even see an uptick in reactivations) and you’ll attract new patients at the same time.
Looking for an easier way to share content on Facebook? Learn how our social media content platform Get Social can help. It’s an all-in-one dashboard full of chiropractic content for you to share and schedule.