Want to boost your social media engagement, reach and brand love without blowing your budget? Social media contests offer a proven, scalable way to captivate your audience, spark authentic participation and fuel community growth.

Whether you’re building awareness or driving action, running contests cuts through the noise and delivers measurable results. Explore how top UK brands use contests to engage their audiences—and how you can do the same with confidence.

What are social media contests and giveaways?

Social media contests and giveaways are interactive marketing campaigns that reward participation and boost visibility. They invite your audience to engage through likes, comments, shares or user-generated content (UGC) in exchange for a chance to win.

While they share common goals, contests and giveaways differ in structure, effort and outcome. The first prioritises skill and creativity, and the second favors simplicity and speed.

To better understand their unique roles in your strategy, let’s break them down:

What is a social media contest?

A social media contest is a structured campaign where entrants compete based on their skill, creativity or performance. Unlike giveaways, which often reward randomly, contests require more involvement and intention from users.

Here’s what defines a social media contest:

  • Participants win based on merit or votes.
  • Entries involve UGC, which includes photos, videos or written submissions.
  • Judging panels or audience voting determine the outcome.

Compared to giveaways, contests typically demand more effort, but they offer stronger engagement and richer data. They’re also ideal for building deeper engagement and creative brand alignment.

What is a social media giveaway?

A giveaway is a low-lift campaign where entrants take simple actions, like following your account, tagging a friend or commenting on a post. Because you choose winners at random, your target audience can easily and quickly enter.

Here’s what defines a giveaway:

  • Entry requires minimal effort (such as follow and tag).
  • Users win after a random draw.

While contests encourage depth, giveaways deliver reach. Together, they form a powerful mix for any engagement strategy. And because they drive fast reach and visibility, they’re ideal for audience growth or celebrating a cultural moment.

Why your brand should create social media contests and giveaways

Social media contests and giveaways are brand-builders, not just buzz-builders. For UK-based marketers who are looking to deepen community connections and prove social’s strategic value, these campaigns are a smart investment since they drive immediate engagement while laying the foundation for long-term loyalty, brand awareness and measurable impact.

Here are a few reasons why you should use these to build your brand awareness:

  • UK consumers expect brands to show up meaningfully on social. According to the Sprout Social Index™ 2025, 93% of UK consumers expect brands to keep up with pop culture.
  • Contests and giveaways are a reason for your audience to engage. More than half of UK consumers don’t plan to change how often they use social in 2025, according to the Sprout Social Index™ 2025 UK Edition, while 30% have expressed a desire to engage with it more. And as Sprout highlighted in its latest insights on UK social media statistics, engagement and authenticity are the currency of connection.
  • They also fuel UGC and brand advocacy. Contests unlock original, high-quality content that reflects real product use and community pride. That content powers trust, social proof and future campaigns.

Sprout helps you plan and run campaigns end-to-end, from scheduling and promotion to community engagement and performance tracking. For instance, you can use Publishing to launch multi-network contests, Smart Inbox to manage incoming participation and Listening to gauge campaign momentum.

How to create and run a social media contest?

Running a social media contest isn’t just about picking a prize and hoping it goes viral. It’s a strategic process, from defining your goals to following up with new advocates. A well-executed contest can fuel engagement, generate valuable UGC and deliver measurable business results.

Here’s how to do it right:

1. Set your goals and decide your contest or giveaway type

Every successful campaign starts with a clear goal. For example, are you aiming to increase engagement? Grow your audience? Drive traffic or sales? Your objectives should shape your contest or giveaway’s structure—and define what success looks like.

Common KPIs include:

  • Follower growth
  • Post shares, comments or likes
  • UGC volume
  • Click-throughs or landing page visits
  • Email sign-ups or product trials

Then, choose the format that best maps to your goal. Here are some examples:

  • Photo contests for UGC collection
  • Comment-to-win giveaways for engagement
  • Tag-a-friend promos to drive reach
  • Quiz or trivia contests for deeper interaction

Pro tip: Using Sprout’s Campaign Planner, you can map KPIs to publishing schedules and assign team responsibilities to align everything from concept to launch.

2. Pick the right network for your audience

Not every platform suits every campaign. Your audience’s demographics, behaviours and preferences should guide where and how you launch. According to the UK version of The Index™, Facebook and Instagram are top networks for discovering trends, while Gen Z skews toward TikTok and YouTube.

Beyond audience fit, platform rules matter. Here are some common promotional guidelines to follow:

Pro tip: Sprout’s Profile Performance Reports help you identify where your audience is most engaged so you can choose the right network for your goals and tailor content formats accordingly.

3. Choose standout incentives

Your prize is your hook, but relevance beats value. Giveaways that align with your brand story resonate more and attract the right kind of followers. So instead of generic tech or gift cards, try offering these prizes:

  • Early access to new products
  • Branded merchandise or VIP experiences
  • Partnered giveaways with aligned UK brands

Cost-effective doesn’t mean low-impact. A limited-edition item or behind-the-scenes experience often sparks more buzz than high-ticket prizes.

Pro tip: Use Listening Topics in Sprout to track conversations about past giveaways—what’s worked, what’s overdone and what your audience truly values.

4. Finalise rules and disclaimers

Clarity protects both your brand and your audience. Because of this, make sure to set clear eligibility criteria, contest entry deadlines and prize details and clearly convey how you’ll select winners. Depending on your location and network, you may need to provide certain disclosures or legal documentation.

For UK campaigns, you’ll need to follow Advertising Standards Authority guidance for promotions and competitions. That includes transparency about partnerships and fair competition practices. Document everything and consult your legal team if necessary.

Pro tip: Storing campaign assets and templates, including contest rules, in Sprout’s Asset Library ensures compliance and speeds up approvals—especially when collaborating with legal or brand stakeholders.

5. Schedule your contest and promote effectively

Timing can make or break engagement. To maximise participation, schedule your contest around the best times to post on social to match your audience’s peak activity hours across different networks. Additionally, avoid clashing with major events unless you’re intentionally tying in with them, like with a Pancake Day-themed giveaway or an FA Cup Final promotion.

To promote your contest, use the following social media channels:

  • Organic social posts
  • Influencer or partner collaborations
  • Stories and Reels
  • Email newsletters or your website

Pro tip: Use Sprout’s publishing calendar to schedule multi-network content and track approvals in one place. Sprout’s Smart Inbox also makes monitoring entries, answering questions and engaging with participants seamless by surfacing relevant mentions, tags and messages in one central view. That way, you never miss a chance to connect.

6. Analyse performance and connect it to your goals

Running the contest is only half the equation—analysing its impact is where the ROI comes in.

Revisit your original goals and track metrics that matter, like the following:

  • Participation rates
  • Content reach and impressions
  • Follower growth during the campaign
  • Brand and contest hashtag sentiment
  • Referral traffic or conversions from UTM-tagged links

Pro tip: With Sprout’s Premium Analytics, you can segment and benchmark results, compare network performance, and uncover deeper insights around engagement quality and audience response.

7. Turn participants into loyal advocates

The campaign will eventually end, but the relationship shouldn’t.

To keep the momentum going, spotlight winners in your Stories, share top entries, and follow up with participants to thank them and invite them into future programs or loyalty communities.

Pro tip: Use Sprout’s Listening tools to surface UGC and conversations beyond your @mentions. That way, you can track how the campaign continues to influence sentiment and brand visibility long after the final post.

8 social media contest ideas for UK brands

Looking for contest ideas that resonate with your UK audience and align with your goals? These eight examples show how brands can build cultural relevance, drive engagement and generate valuable UGC:

1. Photo submission contest

Invite your audience to share a photo that brings your brand to life. For instance, they could spotlight how they use your product day-to-day, a moment that reflects your brand’s values or a lifestyle scene that captures your aesthetic. This is one of the most effective ways to turn engagement into a bank of authentic, rights-cleared UGC.

This format works across industries too. A coffee brand could run a #MyMorningMug contest and ask followers to post their go-to brew setup. Or a fitness brand might prompt users to share their “post-run proud” selfie. The key? Keep the brief simple and emotionally resonant and encourage captions that add context or story.

British retailer Marks & Spencer ran a #MyMNSPicnic photo contest, tapping into nostalgia and outdoor culture.

Source: Tiktok

2. ‘Caption this’ challenge

Post a quirky, heartwarming or offbeat image and invite your audience to write the best caption. This is a low-barrier, high-entertainment format that fuels comments, encourages creativity and gives your brand personality a chance to shine.

Caption contests work especially well for brands with a playful or conversational tone. For example, a pet food brand could post a photo of a guilty-looking dog and ask, ‘What’s he done this time?’, or a stationery company might share a Monday mood photo and let followers bring the wit.

No matter what, choose a visual that’s scroll-stopping but open to interpretation. Humour, nostalgia and relatability tend to win here.

Pop TV UK challenged its audience to caption an image.

Source: Facebook

3. Local spotlight contest

Shine a light on your audience’s communities by asking them to share their favourite local gems—whether it’s a cozy café, a scenic dog-walking route or a lesser-known street mural. These contests not only encourage personal storytelling and visual content but also help your brand tap into regional culture in an authentic, human way.

Apex Hotels executed this brilliantly with a campaign that challenged its audience to identify various locations around Dundee, blending city pride with playful trivia.

Apex Hotels challenged its audience to identify different locations in Dundee.

Source: Instagram

You can take a similar approach by asking followers to submit photos or short narratives, tag your brand, and use a campaign hashtag. This is especially impactful for hospitality, food and retail brands that are looking to build relationships in specific regions.

4. DIY or recipe contest

Invite your audience to roll up their sleeves and get creative—whether it’s whipping up a unique recipe using your product or tackling a DIY challenge that reflects your brand’s purpose. This is a powerful way to showcase use cases, inspire participation and fuel high-quality UGC that you can repurpose long after the contest ends.

UK food and lifestyle brands are especially well-placed to own this space. A plant-based brand could launch a #MyMidweekMeal challenge, or a homeware retailer might ask followers to create an autumn centrepiece with its latest tableware. Keep your prompt open-ended enough for creative flair, but specific enough to stay on-brand.

Unisnacks UK partnered with Kara to sponsor a contest where participants had to share a vegan recipe that used a Kara product.

Source: Instagram 

5. Scavenger hunt

Turn everyday spaces into brand playgrounds with a digital-meets-physical scavenger hunt. To pull this off, you might hide product clues across your website, social channels or store locations—or collaborate with stockists to make it a retail moment.

Well-done scavenger hunts create urgency, brand visibility and a brilliant excuse for your audience to actively seek you out, either in-person or online.

6. Vote-to-win campaigns

Put decision-making in your audience’s hands with a vote-to-win giveaway. Whether they involve choosing the next flavour, packaging design or their favourite fan-submitted entry, voting campaigns create a sense of ownership and drive repeat engagement throughout the campaign window.

Brands like Walkers Crisps have mastered this format in the UK market, inviting fans to vote on bold new crisp flavours and rewarding participants with prize draws.

Walkers Crisps ran a successful flavour vote campaign called Do Us a Flavour.

Source: X

These campaigns are especially effective in conjunction with time-limited voting windows, cross-network promotion and a big reveal moment.

7. Audition challenge

Audition-style challenges turn your audience into the star of the show and give followers a platform to showcase their personality, humour or talent. They also give brands a fresh stream of authentic, often viral content.

You don’t need massive scale to make it work. A fitness brand might ask users to record their best motivational voiceover, while a skincare label could crowdsource voice clips for a campaign tagline. No matter what you do, keep entry mechanics simple (a video tag or Story mention) and highlight your favourite entries in Stories or Reels.

It’s UGC with a twist—and it turns your community into collaborators, not just participants.

ASOS sponsored a campaign, #AsSeenOnMe, that features its customers as models.

Source: Instagram

8. ‘For a good cause’ challenge

Run a giveaway that channels participation into purpose by asking your audience to complete a values-aligned challenge, like donating a coat, volunteering locally or supporting a small charity, and share proof via a comment, photo or Story to enter. You could even let them nominate a cause to receive a donation on the winner’s behalf.

Purpose-driven campaigns like this do more than drive engagement—they also elevate brand trust and loyalty. This matches up with McKinsey’s and NielsenIQ’s research, which found that consumers favored products and brands with social and environmental claims.

This kind of giveaway not only generates visibility but also creates a moment of shared meaning that your community will remember.

HP Sauce teamed up with Movember UK to host a contest to get your moustached mug shot on limited edition bottles of brown sauce.

Source: Facebook

8 social media giveaway ideas for UK brands

Giveaways are ideal for building quick momentum. The best ones are simple, strategic and spark immediate action.

These eight UK-specific ideas will help you deliver measurable engagement without high production costs:

1. Tag-a-friend giveaway

This type of contest is a classic for good reason. All you have to do is ask followers to tag a friend in the comments for a chance to win. This is low-lift for users, high-reach for your brand and an especially effective way to run Instagram contests, where comment activity and post saves boost algorithmic visibility.

To stand out, layer in relevance. Instead of including a generic ‘Tag a mate,’ prompt your audience with something contextual like, ‘Tag the friend you’d bring to a spa day’ or ‘Tag someone who needs a snack drawer upgrade’. This isn’t just about reach—it’s about building connections that feel personal and culturally tuned-in.

Viviscal’s audience could enter to win a summer prize bundle just by tagging a friend.

Source: Instagram

2. ‘Follow and share’ challenge

Encourage users to follow your account and share your post or Story to enter. This is a proven mechanic for boosting reach, especially when you offer a compelling, time-sensitive incentive. For example, a fashion brand might launch a “Friday fit drop” giveaway before a bank holiday weekend, giving followers a chance to win new arrivals by resharing the giveaway announcement.

This format thrives on visibility and simplicity. Just be sure to make the ask clear, the deadline short and the prize relevant to your brand. When you execute it strategically, this tactic builds awareness with the right audience at the right moment, not just numbers.

Le Creuset and Wayfair partnered to give away a Le Creuset starter set and urged its audience to follow and share to enter. Source: Tiktok

3. Product bundle drop

Offer a curated bundle of your top-rated or newly launched products to spotlight your hero SKUs and create a premium giveaway experience. This approach tells a story and introduces new followers to your brand’s standout items while seeding future UGC and customer reviews.

You could theme the bundle around a seasonal moment (like a ‘cosy autumn kit’), a new product launch or even a customer milestone. You can also add a branded touch, like limited-edition packaging or an insert card that thanks winners and invites them to share their experience.

Mole Valley Farmers hosted a giveaway of its Dublin bundle of equestrian goods.

Source: Facebook

4. Partnered giveaways

Team up with a like-minded UK influencer or brand to co-host a giveaway that extends your reach and adds cultural relevance. Whether you collaborate with an indie food label, a sustainable fashion brand or a local influencer, the goal is the same: Tap into overlapping audiences and build brand equity by association.

Be sure to choose a partner that shares your values and audience ethos, not just follower count. For example, a fitness brand could partner with a mental health app to give away a self-care bundle for World Wellness Day. With the right match, you’re gaining visibility, trust and a new community to engage, not just giving something away.

5. ‘Choose your prize’ format

Give your audience agency by letting winners select their prize from a curated shortlist. This approach boosts perceived value, personalises the experience and gives your team insight into what actually resonates.

Keeping your prize menu brand-aligned but varied will appeal to different audience segments. For example, a skincare brand might offer a glow-up gift set, a spa day voucher or a one-on-one consultation.

Hydronair let its giveaway winner choose their favorite bottle and cup design.

Source: Instagram

6. Holiday-themed promo

Run a giveaway that taps into the energy of seasonal or cultural moments, from Easter to the Notting Hill Carnival. To do this, align your prize and creative with the theme to feel timely, relevant and rooted in your audience’s world.

Whether you’re giving away a limited-edition product or curating an experience for the occasion, holiday giveaways let your brand join the conversation with purpose—and convert that momentum into long-term connection.

Warburton’s co-sponsored BLT giveaway celebrates National Brunch Month.

Source: Instagram

7. UGC opt-in giveaway

Invite your audience to share a photo, video or short story that reflects how they use your product, why they love your brand or how they live your values. The entry process should be simple (think a branded hashtag or comment submission) and should include an opt-in for you to use it on your socials or website.

This format builds a content engine rather than just boosting engagement. With consent baked in, you can reshare entries across campaigns, ads and Stories to spotlight real customers and deepen brand credibility.

The result? A community-first campaign that fuels brand trust and gives your audience a moment in the spotlight.

Clearspring gained UGC by challenging its audience to take and share selfies in front of its advertisements.

Source: Instagram

8. ‘Flash’ giveaway

Run a 24-hour giveaway tied to a trending cultural moment or brand milestone. Whether it’s a surprise win at Eurovision, a viral Love Island moment or your own product drop or anniversary, flash giveaways ride the momentum of real-time buzz to ignite immediate engagement.

These campaigns work best when they tap into audience emotion and urgency, which makes them ideal for algorithm-friendly spikes in visibility. Successful flash giveaways turn shared excitement into rapid reach—and spark loyalty while you’re at it.

McVitie’s celebrated the 100th birthday of its Chocolate Digestives by giving away £100 every 100 minutes.

Source: Instagram

How to turn contest engagement into measurable ROI

Social media contests can generate an impressive volume of engagement, but to demonstrate business value, you need more than likes and shares.

These steps will help you turn participation into long-term brand impact:

Connect contest actions to your content funnel

Every comment, share or post entry represents a point in your content funnel—from first touch to long-term advocacy. Mapping these interactions to funnel stages allows you to tailor your next move.

Here are some examples:

  • Awareness: Tag-a-friend or follow-to-win entries
  • Consideration: UGC-based submissions or product quiz entries
  • Advocacy: Story reshares, reviews or post-campaign UGC

Pro tip: Sprout’s Listening tool helps you monitor brand mentions beyond direct tags and identify when contest participants begin creating organic content or recommending you to others. That’s where advocacy and long-term ROI begin.

Benchmark campaign success against past efforts

Don’t just measure campaign metrics in isolation—compare them to prior contests or evergreen social posts. This shows progress and efficiency and highlights what tactics are gaining traction.

Pro tip: With Sprout’s Premium Analytics, you can benchmark post-contest metrics like reach, engagement rate and UGC volume and segment by platform, format or promotion method. This comparative lens helps you iterate smarter and justify social investments with confidence.

Use UTM links to track real attribution

To quantify what your contest drove beyond the feed, use UTM-tagged links across all promotional assets—stories, bio links, paid boosts and influencer shout-outs.

Pro tip: Through Sprout’s Reporting tools, you can attribute referral traffic and conversion spikes to specific contest links. This helps you compare performance across social media platforms and identify which messages, networks or partners delivered the most ROI.

Monitor post-contest sentiment and engagement

Once the contest ends, the conversation continues. Participants often share their experiences, reactions or prize wins, which can deepen community connections if you properly track and engage with users.

Pro tip: Use Sprout’s Smart Inbox to surface relevant messages across all networks and quickly respond to post-contest engagement. This feature also makes it easier to spot follow-up opportunities, like featuring winners or collecting testimonials. With Listening, this enables you to gauge how sentiment evolves and where new advocates are emerging.

Identify and activate high-value participants

Not all contest participants are equal—some will fade, but others will become vocal fans or repeat content contributors. The key is spotting them early and inviting them into deeper brand programs. This bridges the gap between short-term reach and long-term loyalty, unlocking a community flywheel that pays dividends far beyond the prize.

Pro tip: Sprout’s Listening tool and Influencer Marketing platform allow you to identify users with high positive sentiment and repeat engagement. You can then track their past interactions and UGC volume, then build a list of top contributors for future brand ambassador initiatives.

Make contests a strategic growth lever

Social media contests and giveaways are more than just fun and games. They’re also a strategic way to activate your audience, inspire loyalty and unlock measurable growth. The key is intentional planning, platform-appropriate execution and performance tracking that ties every action to business value.

When you manage campaigns with Sprout, you’re launching not just a contest but also a system that supports content planning, real-time engagement, cross-platform promotion and post-campaign analytics. From first post to final report, you’ll have the tools to execute with confidence and prove impact at every stage.

Start your free trial today to simplify your social campaign planning, track ROI with clarity and turn every contest into a conversion engine.