Why Take Part In An Instagram Challenge?

As most of you will know we regularly host Instagram Challenges. The last one was our Summer Challenge at the beginning of July. The challenge super successful. We had over 1000 sign ups and over 1500 posts throughout the week using the #mibasigc .

In case you’re unclear, an Instagram challenge is when you create a photo prompt for each day over a certain amount of time and invite others to participate with you. For us at MIBA, our prompts were mainly focused on being a working mum and our challenge usually last a week. We have been holding challenges since we first created our Instagram account back in 2017 and have held over 8 amazing challenges since so we thought that it was maybe time to let you all into a few trade secrets to hosting (and taking part in) a successful Instagram Challenge

Why you should start an Instagram challenge.

Instagram is many people’s favorite social media platform. Over 32% of all internet users have an Instagram account! If you know where your followers are hangin’ out, then it’s smart to build a presence there, too. Starting an Instagram challenge not only builds your presence, but gives people an incentive to interact more with your brand and create a stronger community.

You will gain more organic  followers. During out challenges we have seen growth of over 1k followers. Now, I do want to make clear that we’re not trying to increase our followers just for the sake of having more followers. We’re trying to increase our numbers because we know that Instagram followers are likely to turn into dedicated blog readers or 1:1 clients!

It builds trust with your brand. People are more likely to trust you after having a positive, shared experience together. It creates more of a camaraderie rather than the separation that many brands have with their followers.

It’s fun. I also had a lot of people tell me that it was growing their Instagram followings with new, dedicated followers that discovered them through our unique hashtag. Not only that, but it gave me a much more personal look into my readers’ lives. I got to see pictures of their homes, people they love, the weather where they live, and more!

HOW TO CREATE A KICK-ASS INSTAGRAM CHALLENGE OF YOUR OWN

Select a good hashtag for your challenge. The hashtag is one of the most important parts, because it’s what people will use to tag their photos and be included in the challenge. Choose something that is easy to remember and not being used (check Instagram first to be sure). Use your username or business name in your hashtag, so that it is easier for followers to connect it to your brand and remember who is hosting it.

Keep your prompts simple. It’s better to use simple prompts (for example, one of ours was simply, “me me me”), than to use something too descriptive. You don’t want it to be so difficult that it’s hard for people to think of what they could share. Plus, open-ended prompts allow for the most creative thinking.

Select a manageable length of time to run it. Ours was 1 week and I felt like that was perfect!

Directly invite people to join before it starts. Share onto other social media platforms to encourage fans to get involved!

Interact with participants. This was one of my favorite parts. I enjoyed going through the hashtag, liking participant photos and leaving them comments. It made me feel more connected to the people who were participating, and feeling connected is really important to me.

Instagram thought I was a spammer a couple times and wouldn’t let me leave more comments because I was commenting TOO much, so much for social media!! Encouragement goes a long way in motivating people, so I think it’s important for the host to take time to like and comment on participant photos.

So now you know what goes into creating a challenge and how to take part…what are you waiting for?!

Sign up for the October Challenge now!

A 31 day challenge that will cover ideas for content, hashtags, community building, competitions, engagement and more! Insert link for sign up

See you all there!

MIBA Insta Queen x