Advent competitions are less than a week away and if this year is like previous years then the majority of giveaways will be running on Instagram. However brands running daily giveaways, 12 Days of Christmas promotions and advent calendar competitions on the social media platform may unknowingly be creating problems for their followers. This is because Instagram has become very sensitive to people entering prize draws and thanks to it’s sensitive AI anti-spam checks. These checks are dishing out suspensions and even bans left, right and centre faster than a “We Want a General Election” petition simply because IG users are using the platform and following the entry routes set up by brands. This is all very frustrating but can anything be done? Do compers need to change their approach? Can brands running prize draws help make things better? Or is the problem simply down to Instagram? This blog post isn’t aimed at offering a fix or work around guide for compers. Our aim is to look at what’s going on and look at who’s to blame and where issues could be fixed.
Background For Non-Compers
We’re putting this caveat in because there will be some – possibly brandowners or marketeers – thinking that stopping people who like entering lots of competitions from entering lots of competitions is a good thing. However this issue doesn’t just effect dedicated compers. Granted that they will be at the sharp end because of how they use Instagram but there’s no law about liking and entering prize draws. Anyway we all know that Instagram was originally designed as a photo sharing platform but as things have evolved it’s reels, stories, videos and a whole bunch of advertising in one form or another. The algorithm and feed set-up makes it hard for brands to be noticed and a great way to boost engagement is via a prize draw. At the base level the entry requirements usually require a user to like and share a post, but many ask followers to tag friends. Sometimes it’s one friend, maybe even two or three.. on occasions it can be as many as you like. For one prize draw that might be cool, but doing that across a few brands can see Instagram’s spam checker interjecting and deciding the user is spamming. You don’t need to be a dedicated comper for this to occur. Therefore brands running comps, whilst secretly hoping compers can’t get involved, may also be causing bans for their followers. The difference is that they’re currently not talking about the problem. This issue also isn’t just UK based either. Brands across other geolocations run sweeps, giveaways, competitions etc and their users experience the same problems too.
What Can Compers Do Differently?
The extreme solution for compers who don’t want to risk getting a ban is simply to not use Instagram. However that means excluding yourself from multiple giveaways. Now there are blogs by Contest Queen and SuperLuckyDi that cover how to avoid a ban on Instagram although from what we’re seeing there doesn’t seem to be any logic in regards to who gets bans and who doesn’t. But any advice is useful so their tips include limiting your time interacting on the platform, be careful what you write in comments, limit emoji use, make sure your own IG page is active, don’t try and enter every giveaway and basically use IG as a social media platform first and a comping opportunity second. Other ideas are to use IG via your mobile rather than desktop and keep tabs on your interactions as there are limits. There’s no point us adding to these points because we don’t use Instagram to enter comps and from what you guys are reporting we can’t see any patterns (yet). However we do suggest that you make a back-up of your IG account Go to Settings >> Archiving and Downloading and then follow the instructions to download your IG content. You might also want a back-up account or alternative. Now we’re not suggesting comping from both at the same time, but it might be useful to have something a bit more disposable if your main IG account is important to you. Other suggestions for compers obviously include using other platforms, being selective with IG comps, avoid brands who ask for loads of tags etc. Another suggestion is that you could also spend a few moments letting brands know that their prize draw requirements are getting their followers IG suspensions and bans.
What Can Loquax Do Differently?
It was suggested on our forums that Loquax should stop listing Instagram prize draws and that perhaps other listing sites could also take action. It’d be nice if there was a united comping front to this issue but you’d need every site and every comper involved, and that’s just not ever going to happen. We could drop Instagram links but all that would do is see visitors to Loquax go to other sites or private groups. The only loser there would be Loquax and we’d probably end up closing due to loss of income, users etc. Additionally brands would probably have no idea they’re not getting free promotion from us or if they did know most likely not care because they’d still be seeing engagement from engaged followers. In other words it’d make no difference. All we really can do is blog and speak out about the issue. There are 100s of brands running prize draws on Instagram – we think for every one we list there’s at least 1 or maybe 2 that get missed – and very little way of reaching out to all of them or enough of them to make a noise so that Instagram then takes note. Putting content out on social media doesn’t result in getting enough reach these days and we’re not starting OnlyFans just to get more attention. We’ll link this blog out but don’t expect that it will get much notice from compers or brands running competitions. However we are optimistic, if nothing else, and are trying to find ways to get hold of a real person at Instagram who can perhaps help with a few questions.
What Can Brands Do Differently On Instagram?
It’d be great if brands stopped using Instagram as a platform for giveaways. We’d love to see many go back to using their own websites rather than fuelling activity on social media platforms. Using a website for running a prize draw does bring other issues like automated entries but there are ways to combat that. Brands could also look to use other platforms like Facebook and X, either uniquely for a draw or as an alternative entry route. If it’s too hard to move away from IG for prize draws then brands could take simple steps to stop their followers picking up bans. Firstly stop asking for tags to enter, especially multiple tags or hundreds of tags. Secondly ask a question that needs an answer rather than ask all followers to post the same comment or leave an emoji. Thirdly how about actually requiring the entrant to do something like share to a story or create content on their own feed. Brands also need to stop thinking that they’re the only thing on Instagram and that followers only follow/interact with them. Instagram allows users to follow and interact with multiple brands and if they’re all doing the same thing like tag all your friends then that’s having a knock on effect to the users of the platform. In short brands need to be doing better when it comes to Instagram giveaways and stop relying on the basic tag, tag and tag entry mechanic.
What Can Instagram Do Differently?
In the grand scheme of things, treating people who enter prize draws as spammers and acting accordingly with suspensions and bans isn’t probably high up on things to fix at Instagram HQ. However compers are simply using the platform as it’s provided and being penalised. In our view they’re not the problem. Either Instagram’s spam sensitivity is the problem or how brands are using the platform is the problem. The former is something that perhaps needs to be tweaked although we do think IG also needs a better customer support set-up and review system. They’re probably not going to do that so eyes need to focus on the brands. If brands are encouraging activity that Instagram deems is not in keeping with the platform then start issuing them with suspensions and bans. A brand potentially losing it’s many followers and social media presence will soon stop asking for multiple tags or running spammy style giveaways. There is actually a question mark over whether IG actually allow this kind of promotion. Facebook terms state “Your promotion must not require or incentivise participants to share, repost, tag others or in any other way publicise your promotion” but there’s nothing similar in Instagram’s Promotion Terms. They could of course update these terms but you only need to pop on to Facebook and see that there are promotions that encourage share, reposts and tags. Meta/Facebook/IG would probably suggest it’s a too hard a policy to monitor, but if they can use their spam detectors to stop users then surely they could use the same for brands.
Will Things Change?
It’d be nice to say “yes” and give you hope that using Instagram for entering prize draws and competitions will improve, that bans/suspensions won’t be a problem, and that everything in the garden will be rosy. Realistically until Instagram looks at the issue as one of what they allow brands to do on the platform rather than what users are doing then nothing is going to change. That means as a comper you’re probably going to have to adapt your comping strategies to avoid problems with IG. This means not only being very selective with the prizes you’re targeting but reviewing what a brand requires what you want to do before entering. Use the “save” function to return to comps later, perhaps via your mobile, and just slow down a little when it comes to comping on the platform. You most likely will have to enter less comps this way but look to see if the brand is also running it’s giveaway on other platforms. Finally check in on the forums, or other groups, to find out what other compers are experiencing with Instagram and their suggestions for avoiding the dreaded bans.