Do you want to learn how to use giveaway hashtags in your online contests?
Chances are you want to reach as many people as you can and you’ve heard that hashtags are a great way to make your giveaway go viral. But hashtags change all the time so which ones are the best to get maximum reach and the most entries for your prize draw?
Luckily we’ve put together a guide on the best giveaway hashtags to use, so you’ll never be stuck for ideas.
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
- Why use giveaway hashtags
- How to use giveaway hashtags
- Should you use hashtags on Facebook?
- Top trending hashtags
Shall we get started?
Why Use Hashtags for Your Giveaway?
First of all, it’s worth knowing why it’s a smart choice to use hashtags in your giveaway and there are 3 key benefits to doing so.
- Recognition – adding a popular hashtag to your giveaway makes it easier for people to recognize your post. It provides context and helps people understand what you’re trying to say.
- Exposure – hashtags can increase the chances of more people seeing your giveaway because they’re easy to search for and categorize your content. They could even open you up to a whole new audience that didn’t know you existed.
- Engagement – using the right hashtags can skyrocket engagement on your posts. They create a talking point that’s highly shareable and which encourages people to take part.
Plus, giveaway hashtags are a pretty effective way for you to keep tabs on what’s happening during the course of the contest.
How to Use Hashtags for Your Giveaway
So how do you use giveaway hashtags?
Truth is it can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. The easiest way to use hashtags in your giveaway is to simply add the hashtag symbol # followed by the word you’d most associate with your contest.
For example, if we were running a giveaway for an iPad, the most simple hashtag we would use would be #iPad.
But there are plenty of other ways you can use hashtags to make things more interesting. Let’s look at some options.
Create a Branded Hashtag Campaign
A branded hashtag campaign is a marketing tool to help you get more attention and engagement on social media. Branded hashtags can drive traffic to your website and even raise awareness about a product or cause.
Your branded giveaway hashtag could use your company name to link your brand to the giveaway or product like the following examples:
- #yourbrandgiveaway
- #yourbrandcontest
- #productgiveawayyourbrand
- #yourbrandproductsweepstakes
This way it’s clear to see who the message belongs to, what the product is, and that it’s a giveaway.
Charmin’s #tweetfromtheseat branded hashtag campaign is still going strong today, showing how a creative marketing strategy can go a long way to engaging people.
Design a Hashtag Challenge
If you’re feeling particularly creative you could come up with a hashtag challenge to drive potential viral traffic.
But what is a hashtag challenge?
A hashtag challenge is a way to get more people to engage with your content. Normally they dare people to do something fun, silly, or even scary.
The thing with hashtag challenges is that if they take off they can go viral quickly, exposing your message to millions of people who all want to take part.
Think about the Ice Bucket Challenge that swept social media.
This challenge started as a way to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neurone disease, and it involved dumping a bucket of ice water over someone’s head. The challenge went viral during July-August of 2014 and even some big celebrities got involved.
Now, we’re not saying you’ll have the same level of success as that but there’s heaps of potential for you to create your own hashtag challenge that might just take off.
Use Hashtags on Your Blog
Another way to use giveaway hashtags is to include it on your blog or website. WordPress users can use hashtags and display them as blog tags making it easier for readers to find.
And by using RafflePress the best viral giveaway plugin you can add your giveaway hashtag automatically into giveaway entry actions.
For example, in the Tweet a Message action, entrants have to post a tweet to enter. In RafflePress you can define what the message of that Tweet should be and include your own hashtags to raise awareness of your giveaway.
Now, when someone enters using that method they’ll send your message to all of their Twitter followers instantly sharing your giveaway hashtag. Simple as that!
Is it Worth Using Hashtags on Facebook?
Before we move on to looking at the best hashtags to use in your giveaways let’s look at Facebook hashtags.
Hashtags on Facebook don’t seem to be as popular as they are on other social networks so you might be wondering if it’s worth using them at all.
In our opinion, there’s not much point using hashtags on Facebook if you’re using your personal profile because most of them are private. And private profile hashtags won’t show up in Facebook’s search results which defeats the goal of using hashtags to raise awareness and engagement.
But if you’re using a business page there’s little harm in adding one or 2 hashtags to your posts on the off-chance that people will search for them.
What Hashtags are Trending Right Now?
With the explanations out of the way let’s dive in and look at the top trending giveaway hashtags to use right now.
Best Giveaway Hashtags
To effectively promote your giveaway on social media it’s a good choice to add a few relevant hashtags to your posts.
Here are some of the most popular giveaway hashtags to help increase entries and boost your reach:
- #contest
- #giveaway
- #competition
- #sweepstakes
- #win
- #prize
- #giveawaycontest
- #giveawayalert
- #giveaways
- #giveawaytime
- #free
- #instagiveaway
- #contestalert
- #freegiveaway
- #newgiveaway
- #epicgiveaway
- #raffles
- #givingaway
Most Popular Twitter Hashtags
Twitter is where hashtags were born and it’s still the best platform to use them to increase your engagement.
Here are some of the most popular Twitter hashtags to use right now:
- #competition
- #influencer
- #influencermarketing
- #fridayfeeling
- #MondayMotivation
- #tbt
- #traveltuesday
- #vegan
- #fitness
- #love
- #COVID19
- #tbt
- #pharmtech
- #art
Top Instagram Hashtags
Instagram is a highly visual platform so hashtags here are used to categorize posts and make them much easier to discover. You often see posts crammed with hashtags.
But how many hashtags can you use on Instagram?
30 hashtags are the most you can include in an Instagram post. Yet, it’s important to use hashtags that are relevant to your content and giveaway prize otherwise you risk losing engagement rather than getting more of it because you’ll be reaching the wrong kind of audience.
So what are the top Instagram hashtags? Let’s take a look:
- #love
- #fashion
- #art
- #photography
- #photooftheday
- #happy
- #cute
- #tbt
- #travel
- #instalike
- #repost
- #instadaily
- #me
- #food
- #fun
- #smile
- #photo
- #life
- #makeup
- #follow4follow
- #dog
That’s it!
Now you have a good idea of what the best giveaway hashtags are for you to use in your upcoming contests. All that’s left is for you to use them in your campaign to reach more people and get heaps of contest entries.
While you’re here, want to know how to do a giveaway on Instagram? We’ve got just the thing with our guide to running a successful Instagram giveaway. Go check it out!
And if you liked this article, why not follow us on YouTube for more helpful giveaway tips. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. See you there!
