How to create an Instagram Sweepstakes among posts from different profiles

1. Introduction

2. Step by step

2.1. Publish the sweepstakes post

2.2. Create the sweepstakes in Cool Tabs

2.3. Add the rest of the posts

2.4. Choose winners and filter by conditions

2.5. Winners page and certificate of validity

2.6. Winners video

2.7. Contact the winners

3. Other specifications

4. Related content

1. Introduction

The Instagram Sweepstakes app from Cool Tabs lets you run giveaways across posts from different Instagram profiles at the same time. This is a common option for collaborations between brands, between a brand and one or several influencers, or directly between influencers.

Before you start, keep in mind these limitations of the Instagram API:

• It's not possible to automatically verify whether a user liked or followed a profile. You can require it as a condition, but you'll need to check it manually once you know the winner.

• Giveaways can only run on public business profiles. If your profile is personal, here's how to convert it.

• Business profiles must be linked to a Facebook fan page, and you'll need to check the permissions of that profile in Facebook Business. See how to add an Instagram account to Facebook Business for your giveaway/monitoring.

2. Step by step

2.1. Publish the sweepstakes post

The first step is to publish the giveaway post on Instagram. Once done, go to Cool Tabs.

2.2. Create the sweepstakes in Cool Tabs

1. Log in to your Cool Tabs account. If you're not registered yet, check the tutorial How to create an account on Cool Tabs.

2. Create a new campaign with the New campaign button or the Create campaign option in the sidebar. If it's your first time on Cool Tabs, you'll see the app catalog directly.

3. Select the Instagram Sweepstakes app.

4. Choose the type of giveaway:

• Organic: select this if the post has no advertising, or if you promoted it after publishing.

• Sponsored: select this if you managed the advertising through Facebook Business Manager. In that case, check this tutorial.

5. Click "Connect" to link your Facebook account.

Why do you need to link a Facebook profile to run a giveaway on Instagram? Instagram account data is accessed through Facebook, so linking your Facebook account and accepting permissions is required. Once done, Facebook will let us collect entries from your Instagram giveaway post.

6. Select the main Instagram profile for the giveaway.

If the profile doesn't appear, click "I can't find my Instagram account," or check our tutorial How to link an Instagram or Facebook profile.

7. Fill in the giveaway details:

• Campaign name: an internal identifier (not public) — this is what appears in your campaigns list.

• Time zone of the giveaway.

• Start and end dates during which entries will be collected.

• Post(s) you want to run the giveaway on. By default, your last 200 posts are shown.

8. Click "Save". The giveaway will be registered and entries will start being collected.

You can review the participants list in the "Leads" section (users icon).

Keep in mind that sometimes not all comments appear when creating a giveaway on Instagram. This happens for two reasons: there's a promoted post linked to that post, or there's a nested reply within the comments. See more detail in Why does my Instagram sweepstake not show all the comments?

2.3. Add the rest of the posts

This step varies depending on your situation. Identify which case applies to you:

Case A. You manage all profiles participating

If you're a brand or agency with admin access to all Instagram accounts in the giveaway, you can add the rest of the posts directly from Cool Tabs.

Go to the giveaway edit view from the campaigns list and add the posts from the other profiles.

They'll appear organized in tabs by account. Once you've added them all, save your changes.

Case B. Each profile posted its own post independently

This is the most common case in collaborations between a brand and influencers, or between influencers, when each posts on their own profile. Here you'll use Cool Tabs' collaborators system, which lets you invite other users to add their post to the giveaway. Collaborators only need to register on Cool Tabs; they don't need to purchase any plan.

What the giveaway administrator does:

1. In the campaigns list, open the giveaway's dropdown menu and click "Collaborators".

2. Enter the collaborator's name and assign them read, moderation, and write permissions, so they can edit the campaign to add their post.

3. Copy the generated link and send it to them.

What the collaborator does:

1. Opens the link and accepts the invitation.

2. Registers on Cool Tabs (no plan required).

3. Opens the campaign edit view, links their Facebook account, and adds their post.

Important: for the collaborator's posts to appear, they must have accepted the Facebook permissions, be logged into Instagram, and have a business profile linked to Facebook Business Manager.

Case C. The giveaway is published as a shared post (collab post)

It's increasingly common for brands and influencers to publish the giveaway as a shared Instagram post (collab post), which appears on both profiles at once. There's an important detail here: in Cool Tabs, a shared post is only visible to whoever originally published it. If the influencer published it, the brand won't see it in their post list when creating the giveaway. 

Here's the process:

What the giveaway administrator (the brand or user who published it) does:

1. When creating the giveaway, select any old post from their profile as a placeholder. No real entries are collected from it — it just lets you complete the creation process.

2. Once created, invite the influencer as a collaborator following the same steps as Case B.

What the collaborator (the influencer) does:

1. Accepts the invitation and registers on Cool Tabs (no plan required).

2. Opens the campaign edit view and adds the shared post from their profile (as in Case B).

Since comments on a collab post are shared across a single post, Cool Tabs will collect all comments correctly as soon as the collaborator adds the post.

2.4. Select winners

To select winners, you need an active plan — paid or a 7-day free trial. Read more about the Free Trial.

Start selecting winners in the "Winners" section (trophy icon). Before running the giveaway, you can apply the following filters:

2.4.1. How to filter by conditions

You can select winner(s) among participants who meet your giveaway's conditions. A set of filters lets you exclude users who don't meet those requirements from the draw.

Important: only actions allowed under Instagram's usage and promotion policies can be filtered automatically. Conditions that can't be automated (following an account, liking) must be checked manually once you have the winner's name.

Some filters may not apply to your giveaway. Leave unused ones blank.

* Currently, it's not possible to filter comments by mentioned people or avoid repeated mentions. For example, in a giveaway where participants must mention 3 friends and each comment counts as an extra entry: if someone leaves 10 comments always mentioning the same 3 friends, and you select "One chance per comment," that user will get 10 entries.

If you notice participants repeating mentions across different comments, you can control this by selecting "One chance per user".

Another option, to avoid penalizing participants who are meeting the conditions, is to review and manually remove entries from the participants list, deleting those with repeated mentions. Participants are sorted by username, which makes this easier.

Click "Step 1: Filter" and, after reviewing the valid participants, enter the number of winners and alternates.

Finally, click "Step 2: Run the giveaway".

2.5. Winners page and certificate of validity

You'll get a link to a public page showing the winners and the certificate of validity, confirming the process was random and transparent.

Remember to set it to public mode so participants can see it once published.

2.6. Winners video

You can also generate a video with the results, including the giveaway title, prizes, and winners.

It can be shared via URL or downloaded to post on your feed or Stories. Learn more here.

2.7. Contact the winners

Next to the winner's name you'll find the Instagram icon. Clicking it takes you directly to their profile so you can send a private message. We also recommend mentioning the winner in the original giveaway post.

3. Other specifications

This app is included in all our plans. You can also use it during the free trial days, which let you try any plan for free for 7 days.

If you have any questions, write to us at help@cool-tabs.com.

4. Related content

How to create a Multiplatform Sweepstake

How to add an Instagram account on Facebook Business to run your sweepstakes