![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/5fb5ae3202976b181a8a539e_Using%20Contests%20and%20UGC%20to%20Increase%20Instagram%20Followers%20%E2%80%94%20Salomon%20%E2%80%94%20Activewear%20%E2%80%94%20Q2%202020.png)
Using Contests and UGC to Increase Instagram Followers
Key Findings
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60c7bc0338e68af93665a498_Key%20Takeaways%20%E2%80%93%C2%A0Divider%20%E2%80%93%C2%A0Gradient.png)
Salomon using contests & giveaways on Instagram to generate awareness and build their audience: Salomon saw significant spikes in weekly follower growth, far above-average post engagements, and increased socially-driven website traffic when running simple contests requiring entrants to tag friends, follow their account, and post adventure-focused content on their own pages using a contest-specific hashtag.
What Brands Should Be Thinking About
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60c7bc0338e68af93665a498_Key%20Takeaways%20%E2%80%93%C2%A0Divider%20%E2%80%93%C2%A0Gradient.png)
Consider running giveaways and engagement-based contests on Instagram to build your following and educate about key products: Cross-promote the giveaway on other social channels to increase reach, and consider implementing a similar contest format - simple, low-cost to run, and easy for new audiences to enter and get involved.
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/6095caa2cfa57d5d39bf75a6_Slide%20Divider.png)
In May and July, Salomon saw significant +100% and +109% spikes above their account average of weekly new followers on Instagram.
![Instagram Followers Gained](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60afcdc0a0d25b3c8be37f44_IG%20Followers.png)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/6095caa2cfa57d5d39bf75a6_Slide%20Divider.png)
The driver of the May increase was the SalomonWMN giveaway - a women-focused contest which generated 71K visits to the contest landing page and 4000+ entrants, who posted UGC while tagging @salomon and using the #SalomonWMN hashtag.
![The SalomonWMN](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60afce23cf6c34017c77914f_Giveaway.png)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/6095caa2cfa57d5d39bf75a6_Slide%20Divider.png)
The top performing posts during this week were...
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60afd014e468d5bdb9e3304c_Top%20Posts.png)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/6095caa2cfa57d5d39bf75a6_Slide%20Divider.png)
The +109% spike in new weekly followers in July came as a result of another giveaway contest - the Ultimate Salomon Wishlist. Top posts launching the contest were...
![Top Posts](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60afd28c5a2a041454cddd15_Top%20Posts.png)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/6095caa2cfa57d5d39bf75a6_Slide%20Divider.png)
Much like the SalomonWMN contest, the Ultimate Salomon Wishlist made use of a contest-specific landing page to provide additional details for interested readers - which ultimately led to 4.3K contest entries using the contest hashtag.
![Wishlist](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60afd2df3f8054843aa01701_Wishlist.png)
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/6095caa2cfa57d5d39bf75a6_Slide%20Divider.png)
Through continual pushes of the Ultimate Salomon Wishlist contest on Instagram, Salomon was able to drive a +105% WoW increase above the average of social media-driven traffic to their website.
![Social Web Traffic](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5e459e61116466aa9af84140/60afd30a15c0c6236cc7f798_Social%20Web%20Traffic.png)
Make your digital strategy bulletproof.
Get insights like these, customized for your audience and competitors.
Learn about Research-AS-A-SERVICE →