How to run an Instagram giveaway: rules, prize ideas and picking a winner
What Instagram requires, the rules where you live, prizes that attract real customers, how to pick a winner nobody doubts and how to avoid scams.
You post the giveaway on a Tuesday night and wake up to 200 comments. Mixed in, the same questions over and over: “Am I entered?”, “When is it?”, “Do you ship?”. And when you announce the result, someone says it was rigged and an account with your photo starts sending “congrats” messages to your followers.
A giveaway can really move your account: according to Tailwind, a marketing tools company that doesn't publish how it ran its study, across more than 60,000 Instagram posts, contests got 3.5 times more likes and 64 times more comments on average than regular posts (Tailwind). But a sloppy one brings prize hunters, distrust and even legal trouble. In this guide, you'll see what Instagram requires, the rules where you live, which prizes are worth giving away, how to confirm every entry without spending the night replying and how to pick a winner nobody doubts.
What Instagram requires for a giveaway
Instagram allows giveaways, but it puts all the responsibility on whoever runs them. Its Promotion Guidelines say you're responsible for the official rules, for who can enter (for example, age and where they live) and for following the laws and getting any permits that apply. On top of that, every promotion has to include two things:
- A complete release of Instagram by each entrant.
- An acknowledgement that the giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.
The Promotion Guidelines don't ban asking people to follow you, like the post or tag a friend in the comments. What they ban is tagging content inaccurately or encouraging people to do it, for example, asking them to tag themselves in photos they're not in. And the Community Guidelines say not to offer money or giveaways of money in exchange for likes, followers, comments or other engagement, and Meta's spam policy, which also applies to Instagram, bans giveaways of cash or cash equivalents in exchange for engagement.
Do you need to register it? The rules where you live
This part changes a lot from place to place. Depending on where you are, a giveaway decided by chance may need a registration or even a permit, even if it's free. These are the general rules where most of our readers are; it isn't legal advice, and if the prize is big or you're unsure, talk to a lawyer where you operate.
- No purchase necessary: in general, a US giveaway decided by chance can't require a payment or a purchase to enter: prize plus chance plus “consideration” (usually a payment) makes it an illegal lottery, as the Wisconsin Division of Gaming explains, noting that consideration can be something other than money; each state defines it its own way.
- New York and Florida: if the prizes add up to more than $5,000, you have to register the giveaway in advance and back the prize value with a trust account or a bond (New York, Florida).
- Rhode Island: retail businesses have to register it when the prizes add up to more than $500 (Rhode Island).
- Canada: a purchase can't be the only way to enter (Competition Bureau), and you have to disclose the number and approximate value of the prizes, the regions and anything that affects the chances of winning (Competition Act, section 74.06). Canadian contests also usually include a skill-testing question, which the Competition Bureau lists among the details that go in the rules.
- Mexico and Colombia: if your audience is there, even a free giveaway that only promotes your business needs a government permit: from the Interior Ministry in Mexico (Federal Gaming and Raffles Law) and from Coljuegos or the local authority in Colombia (Coljuegos, 2021).
Prizes that attract customers (not just giveaway hunters)
The prize decides who enters. Give away a phone and anyone will comment, even if they'll never buy from you. And cash, or anything that works like cash, is a no: as you saw, Instagram's and Meta's rules say not to raffle it in exchange for engagement. What works is something only your customer wants:
- Your best-seller or one of your services: a basket of your coffee, a cut with your top stylist, a photo session. It attracts people who already want what you sell.
- An experience at your place: a tasting, a class or dinner for two. Plus, the winner comes in and gets to know you.
- A voucher for something specific at your business: “a cut and style” or “a coffee basket,” not a dollar amount. It's easy to hand over and brings the person in.
- A giveaway with a neighboring business: a florist and a bakery, a barbershop and a clothing store. Each one brings its audience and you split the cost.
Step by step to run your giveaway
Set the prize, the dates and who can enter
Decide how long it runs (a week is enough for people to see it without forgetting it), the exact closing time, when you'll announce the result and where people have to live to win. If the prize is picked up at your place, limit it to your city. If you need to register it, now's the time.
Write the official rules
These are the giveaway's rules, in writing and before you start. Below, you'll find a generator to put them together in a minute. Post them somewhere with its own link (a page on your website or a shared document), with a button in your link in bio, and in a story highlight called “Rules”.
Post the giveaway with one clear action
A photo of the prize and, in the caption, what to comment, until when and where the rules are. The fewer requirements, the less confusion: “comment GIVEAWAY” works better than a list of five steps.
Confirm every entry by message
Make sure each person gets the rules by message and knows they're entered. That way, you don't answer the same question 200 times; below, we show you how to do it automatically.
Close, clean up and pick at random
When the deadline passes, remove what doesn't count under your rules and pick at random from the rest, recording your screen.
Announce the result and hand over the prize
Post it in your stories and on the giveaway post (in a pinned comment or the caption), message the winner from your account and give them a deadline to reply. A photo of the handoff, if the winner agrees, is the best proof the giveaway was real.
Write your giveaway rules
Your rules
This is a starting template, not legal advice. Before you post it, check whether your state or country has extra rules: we cover them above.
Send every entrant the rules without replying one by one
In a giveaway, almost everyone asks the same thing. With the Giveaway template in SocialMaker's auto-replies, everyone who comments GIVEAWAY gets, within the same minute, a reply to their comment and a private message with a button; when they tap it, they get the rules:
- A reply to their comment that rotates between several versions so it doesn't repeat the same text every time (repeating it is a spam signal, as we explain in how to avoid getting blocked for repeating the same comment).
- A private message with a button to get the rules (under your rules, the comment already counts as an entry).
- An invitation to follow you, with no pressure: people who don't follow you still get the rules.
- Your rules and the draw date, with the note that Instagram doesn't sponsor it.
If someone comments five times, they get a single message. On the Pro and Max plans, you can also ask for their WhatsApp number so you can let them know if they win: it's optional, there's a button to skip it and they're entered either way, and it goes into your Contacts list. If you'd rather reply to any comment, without a keyword, turn on Reply to any comment, and make sure your replies also work for people who are just asking a question.
How to pick a winner nobody doubts
Picking the winner is when people trust you the least, and registered giveaways in New York and Florida even have to file the list of winners afterward. The simplest fix is to let anyone see how it came out:
Animation: the 9 comments on a giveaway when it closes. The repeat comment from the same person, the one from a team account and the one that came in after the deadline don't count. That leaves 6 valid entries, numbered 1 to 6; number 4 comes up, priya.k.
- List the valid entries under your rules: one per person, within the deadline and without your team or family.
- Number them in order and generate a random number between 1 and the total, with a number generator like the one at RANDOM.ORG.
- Record your screen while you do it and post it to your stories.
- Have a runner-up in case the winner doesn't reply within the deadline in your rules.
Watch out for fake accounts that “congratulate” your entrants
Scammers look for giveaways to copy: they create an account that looks almost like yours and message everyone who commented, saying they won, to ask for a payment or their card details. It happened to a food blogger in North Carolina: they messaged everyone entered in her giveaway with a “you won, click this link” (ABC11, 2021). The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre warns about the same trick: cloned business accounts that tell followers they won a giveaway and ask for a credit card number to collect the prize (Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre).
In the US, people filed 97,350 reports of prize, sweepstakes and lottery scams in 2024 (through any channel, not just social media) and reported $351 million lost (FTC, 2025). The Federal Trade Commission's advice is simple: if you have to pay to get your prize, it's a scam (FTC).
Animation: two messages someone gets after entering a giveaway. One from a fake account, @hilltopcoffee.giveaway, asks them to pay $49 for shipping within an hour, through a link that isn't the business's. The one from the real account, @hilltopcoffee, says the result is already public and that they'll never ask for payments, passwords or card details.
- Put it in your rules: “We'll never ask you for payments, passwords or card details.”
- Announce the result publicly, in your stories, before you message the winner.
- Pin a comment on the giveaway saying which account you'll message from.
- Report accounts pretending to be yours through Instagram Help and warn people in your stories.
- Think twice before using #giveaway: the North Carolina blogger stopped using the giveaway hashtag so scammers wouldn't find her so easily.
Mistakes that ruin a giveaway
- Requiring a purchase to enter. In the US, it turns the giveaway into an illegal lottery, Florida bans it explicitly and in Canada a purchase can't be the only way in.
- Giving away cash or anything that works like cash (money transfers, gift cards with a balance). Instagram's and Meta's rules say not to raffle it in exchange for engagement.
- Asking people to tag themselves in photos they're not in, or, on Facebook, asking them to share or tag to enter.
- Starting without rules or changing them halfway through.
- Hand-picking the winner, or letting someone from your team or family win.
- Asking people to post a photo with your hashtag without saying it's a giveaway: the FTC says the hashtag itself should say so, like #YourBrand_Sweepstakes; #sweepstakes alone isn't enough (FTC).
- Replying to every comment by hand with the same text, at midnight, for a whole week.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to run a giveaway on Instagram?
Instagram allows it if you follow its guidelines and the law where you operate. In the US, a free giveaway doesn't need a permit (aside from the New York, Florida and Rhode Island registrations depending on the prize value), and in Canada you need the disclosures above; in Mexico and Colombia, you do need a permit.
Can I ask people to follow me or tag a friend?
On Instagram, its Promotion Guidelines don't ban it, as long as you don't ask people to tag themselves in a photo they're not in; keep it simple and don't promise anything in exchange for likes. On Facebook, you can ask people to follow your Page, but you can't require or reward sharing, reposting or tagging others. If you ask people to follow you, check that the winner does before you announce it, because the automation invites people to follow you but doesn't require it.
How long should a giveaway run?
A week is enough for your audience to see it without forgetting it. What matters is that the closing date and time are in your rules and that you stick to them.
How do I pick a winner for free?
Number the valid entries and generate a random number between 1 and the total, for example with RANDOM.ORG, while recording your screen. SocialMaker doesn't pick the winner: it sends the rules to every entrant.
Does the winner have to report the prize?
In the US, the winner has to report the prize as income at its fair market value (IRS). And starting in 2026, the business that awards it reports it on Form 1099-MISC if it gave that person $2,000 or more in prizes during the year (IRS).
Can I run the giveaway for customers only?
You can limit it by age or location, but you can't require a purchase to enter: in the US, that turns it into an illegal lottery, and in Canada a purchase can't be the only way to enter.
A good giveaway doesn't end on results day: it ends when someone who won, or who just entered, comes back to buy from you. If you want to keep that conversation going, see how to turn followers into customers.
Written byAndros BlandonSocialMaker