2.1. Publish the sweepstakes on Instagram
2.2. Create the sweepstakes in Cool Tabs
1. Introduction
The Instagram Sweepstakes app lets you select winners among users who comment on a post, mention other people, and/or use a specific hashtag. For example: "leave a comment and mention a friend." You can require one of these actions or several combined.
Before you start, keep this in mind:
Due to changes in Instagram's API, it's no longer possible to automatically check if a user has liked or followed your profile. You can still ask for it as a condition, but you'll need to verify it manually on the winner's profile.
Instagram doesn't allow sweepstakes on personal profiles — make sure yours is a business account.
Business profiles must be linked to a Facebook fan page, and you'll need to check the profile's permissions in Facebook Business. See how to add an Instagram account in Facebook Business.
Don't confuse this type of sweepstake, based on interacting with a post, with an Instagram Contest, which uses a landing page and a registration form to collect data.
2. Step by step
2.1. Publish the sweepstakes on Instagram
Before using the Instagram Sweepstakes app, you must have the post already published on your Instagram account. Then, create the sweepstake in Cool Tabs so the tool knows which account and post(s) to collect entries from.
If you want to run a sweepstake across several accounts, see how to create a multi-account Instagram sweepstake.
2.2. Create the sweepstakes in Cool Tabs
1. Log in to your Cool Tabs account. If you're not registered yet, see how to create a Cool Tabs account.
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. Click Start on the Instagram Sweepstakes app.
4. Choose the type of sweepstake: organic or promoted.
Organic: if you haven't promoted the post, or promoted it after publishing.
Promoted: if you ran ads managed directly from Facebook Business Manager.
5. Associate a Facebook account. Access to Instagram data is done through Facebook, so we need these permissions to collect entries from your post. Click Connect.
6. Select the Instagram user you want to run the sweepstake on. If it doesn't appear, click I can't find my Instagram account to link it, or check our tutorial on linking an Instagram or Facebook profile.
7. Complete the sweepstake details:
Campaign name: identifies your sweepstake internally; not public.
Time zone for the sweepstake.
Start and end date when entries will be collected.
Post(s) to run the sweepstake on. By default, your last 200 posts are shown.
8. Click Save. Your sweepstake will be registered, and entries will start being collected until the participation period ends.
To view the list of participants, click the Leads icon.
Occasionally, the number of comments shown in Cool Tabs may not match what's visible on Instagram. See why my Instagram sweepstake doesn't show all the comments for more details.
2.2.1. How to add more posts to your sweepstakes
You can edit your sweepstake to include new related posts — very useful for reminder posts. Comments on the newly added posts will be collected too.
Edit the campaign using the edit icon, choose the posts you want to add from your list, and save the changes.
2.3. Select winners
To select winners, you need an active plan, either paid or trial. The trial period lets you try any plan (and the Instagram Sweepstakes app) free for 7 days, with no usage limit.
Learn more about the Free Trial
To start the winner selection, click the trophy icon from your campaign list.
2.3.1. How to apply filters
You can apply filters so that only participants meeting your conditions enter the draw, automatically excluding the rest.
You can only filter actions allowed by Instagram's promotions policies. Non-automatable conditions (following an account, liking a post) must be checked manually once you know the winner.
Leave any filters you don't need empty:
1. Unique users: each user gets one entry into the draw, regardless of how many comments they made.
2. One opportunity per comment: each comment adds one extra entry for that user.
3. Mentioned users: set the minimum number of mentions required per comment (maximum 10 per comment).
Currently, it's not possible to filter by specific mentioned people or avoid repeated mentions. For example, if someone always mentions the same 3 friends across 10 comments and you have "One opportunity per comment" enabled, that user will get 10 entries.
To avoid this, enable "Unique users."
You can also manually review and delete entries with repeated mentions from the participant list, which is sorted by username to make reviewing easier.
4. Comment includes: if participants had to use a specific word, phrase, or hashtag, enter it here. You can add several separated by commas; comments containing any of them will be included.
5. Start and end dates: the date range in which comments should be counted.
6. Assign entries based on actions: give extra entries to participants who commented or used a specific word. Available from the Gold plan.
7. Post: if your sweepstake covers several posts, choose whether to count entries from all of them or just one.
8. Exclude winners from previous campaigns: prevents users who've already won from winning again.
9. Exclude blacklisted users: use our blacklist feature to prevent specific participants from becoming winners.
Once you've set the filters you need, click Step 1: Filter to apply the selection among participants who meet all the requirements.
Finally, indicate the number of winners and, if needed, alternates, then click Step 2: Launch Sweepstake.
2.4. Winners page
Once the draw is complete, you'll get a link to the public winners' page, ready to share with your followers.
It includes the certificate of validity, confirming the process was random and transparent.
Make sure to set the page to public mode so participants can view it.
2.5. Winners video
You can also generate a video with the results of your sweepstake, showing the title, prizes, and winners/alternates.
It can be published via URL or downloaded in different formats, to share on the feed or in Stories.
See Winners video: how to show the result of your sweepstakes.
2.6. Contact the winners
Next to the winner's username, you'll find the Instagram icon. Clicking it takes you directly to their profile, so you can send them a private message with congratulations and instructions to claim the prize.
We also recommend editing the sweepstake post and mentioning the winner to announce the result publicly.
3. Other specifications
Due to Instagram API limitations:
It's not possible to automatically check if users have liked or followed your profile. You can ask for it as a condition, but it must be verified manually.
Sweepstakes can only run among users who comment on a post, and always on public profiles. You can apply the filters described above.
You can also run a sweepstake on a promoted post or across posts from different profiles — useful for influencer launch campaigns.
The Instagram Sweepstakes app is included in all Cool Tabs plans, and available with no limitations during the 7-day free trial.
If you have any questions, contact us at help@cool-tabs.com.
4. Related content
Start your Instagram sweepstake
Why my Instagram sweepstake doesn't show all the comments
How to create a sweepstake among users who comment on a promoted post on Instagram
How to create a hashtag sweepstake on Twitter and Instagram
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