The short version: you need four types of tool for a smooth contest: an entry collection tool (Gleam, Wishpond, or a simple Google Form), a verified random picker (like Comment Picker or Woobox), a design tool for the announcement graphics (Canva), and a scheduling tool to space out reminders (Later or Hootsuite). Everything else is optional. Most contests fail because of unclear rules and messy entry tracking, not because someone picked the wrong app.
The four tools you need, in order
I have run contests on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn since 2011, back when "tag three friends" was still legal on Facebook (it isn't anymore, more on that below). Every one that ran smoothly used the same four categories of tool. Every one that turned into a nightmare was missing at least one of them.
- Entry collection: Gleam.io or Wishpond if you want a landing page with multiple entry actions (follow, comment, share, sign up for email). A plain Google Form if you're keeping it simple, one entry per person, no gamification.
- Winner selection: Woobox or Comment Picker for Instagram and Facebook comment contests. These record a video of the random draw, which matters more than people think, I'll get to why.
- Creative: Canva for the announcement tile, the rules graphic, and the winner reveal post. You need at least three separate graphics, not one.
- Scheduling and reminders: Later, Hootsuite, or Buffer to space out three or four reminder posts across the entry period, because one post at the start gets forgotten within 48 hours.
That's it. I've seen small businesses spend £400 a month on all-in-one contest platforms when a Google Form, Canva, and a free comment picker did the exact same job for a 500-entry giveaway. The platform only earns its cost once you're running contests with thousands of entries and need fraud detection, because at scale people absolutely do create fake accounts to win.
A contest that went smoothly, and one that didn't
In 2022 I ran a small giveaway on LinkedIn for a place on one of my workshops. Entry mechanic: comment with the one social media mistake you're most guilty of. Simple. I used a Google Form for nothing, just tracked comments manually because there were only 340 of them over five days. I picked the winner using Comment Picker, screen recorded the draw, and posted the recording alongside the winner announcement. Total time spent: maybe two hours across the whole week. It worked because the entry mechanic was tiny and the prize was specific to my actual audience, not a general giveaway.
Compare that to a client's Instagram contest I advised on the year before. They ran a "follow, like, tag five friends, share to story" contest for an iPad. It got 4,200 entries in four days. It also got reported to Instagram for violating their promotion guidelines (tagging to enter is against Meta's own rules), the winner picker tool they used crashed twice under the entry volume, and out of those 4,200 entries, they gained roughly 380 real follows that stuck around past 30 days. The rest unfollowed within a week of the winner being announced. The tool wasn't the problem there, the entry mechanic was.
Here is the bit most contest advice skips: a contest built around "follow to win" mostly attracts prize hunters, not customers, and no tool fixes that. If you want people who'll buy from you, the entry mechanic needs to filter for interest in your product, not interest in a free iPad. Ask a question about your niche, ask people to submit their own photo using your product, ask for an email and a genuine answer, anything that a pure prize hunter can't be bothered to do.
The step-by-step, with the tools slotted in
- Write the rules first, in a Google Doc. Start date, end date, exact time zone, who's eligible, how the winner is picked, how they're notified, and what happens if they don't respond within 48 hours. Skipping this step is the single biggest cause of contests turning messy.
- Build the entry mechanic in Gleam or Wishpond if you want multiple ways to enter, or just decide on one comment/like/share action if you're keeping it on-platform.
- Design three graphics in Canva: the launch announcement, a "48 hours left" reminder, and the winner reveal template (leave the winner's name blank until draw day).
- Schedule your reminder posts in Later or Hootsuite at launch, midpoint, and 24 hours before close. Three touchpoints roughly doubles entries compared to a single post, in my experience across a dozen small giveaways.
- Pick the winner on camera using Woobox or Comment Picker and save the recording. This is your proof if anyone disputes the result, and someone eventually will.
- Post the winner announcement within 24 hours of the draw. Waiting longer than that reads as suspicious even when it isn't.
If contests are one piece of a bigger content plan, this is where a proper social media calendar earns its keep, because a contest that isn't planned around your normal posting rhythm just looks like a random ad in the middle of your feed. I map contests into my social media calendar at least three weeks out so the launch and reminder posts don't clash with anything else going out that week.
Where most people get the legal side wrong
Meta's own Platform Terms have said for years that promotions cannot require people to tag friends in a post or comment as a condition of entry, and they cannot suggest Facebook or Instagram sponsors or endorses the giveaway. Plenty of "official-looking" contest tools still let you build a tag-to-enter mechanic because the tool itself doesn't enforce Meta's rules, only Meta does, at their discretion, when someone reports you. I've seen a contest post removed 36 hours before the draw because of exactly this. Read Meta's promotion guidelines directly before you build anything; don't rely on a tool's template to have checked that for you.
In the UK, if there's any element of chance involved (which almost all social contests have, since you're picking a random winner) you're technically running a "free prize draw" and need to make sure entry is free, meaning you can't require a purchase to enter. This is the bit that trips up small ecommerce brands most, because they want people to buy something to enter, and that pushes the contest into different legal territory (a lottery) that needs proper licensing. Keep entry free, and put a purchase as an optional bonus entry at most.
Tools that look useful but usually aren't worth it
I'll say the unpopular thing: most dedicated "contest app" subscriptions are overkill for a business running one or two giveaways a year. Rafflecopter, ShortStack, and similar platforms are built for agencies running contests weekly across dozens of clients. If that's not you, you're paying £29 to £99 a month for a fraud detection system you don't need. Save it for when a single giveaway is bringing in more than a thousand entries and you cannot track duplicates by eye.
The other tool people overspend on is a custom-built landing page for a small giveaway. Unless the contest ties into an event or sponsorship activation with a real budget behind it, a native platform post plus a Google Form does the same job for free.
How contests fit into the bigger picture
A contest is not a growth strategy on its own, it's a spike. If you want the follows and entries to convert into anything, they need to land inside a wider approach to social media as a genuine marketing engine, not a one-off stunt. I go deeper into the mechanics, the prize psychology, and the numbers to expect in my piece on how to use giveaways and contests to grow your business, which is worth reading before you launch anything bigger than a small internal giveaway.
And if most of your contest activity happens on Facebook, it's worth knowing there's a wider ecosystem of apps built specifically for that platform, from ad tools to page management to analytics, most of which have nothing to do with contests directly but make the surrounding work faster. I keep an updated list in my roundup of the best Facebook tools.
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Related reading: best day to change profile picture on facebook.
Frequently asked questions
What's the cheapest way to run a small social media contest?
A Google Form for entries, Canva for the graphics, and Comment Picker for the winner draw costs nothing and works fine for anything under a few hundred entries. Paid tools like Gleam or Wishpond only start earning their cost once you need multiple entry actions or expect thousands of entries.
Do I need a paid tool to pick a random winner fairly?
No, but you do need to record the draw. Free tools like Comment Picker generate a video of the random selection process, which matters if a participant disputes the result. The recording, not the tool's price tag, is what protects you.
Is tagging friends to enter a contest allowed on Instagram?
No. Meta's Platform Terms specifically prohibit requiring people to tag friends as a condition of entry, and prohibit suggesting Instagram or Facebook sponsors the giveaway. Plenty of contest tools still let you build this mechanic, but the tool not stopping you doesn't mean it's allowed.
Why did my contest get lots of entries but no real customers?
Most likely the entry mechanic was too easy and too generic, follow and tag friends, which attracts prize hunters rather than people interested in what you sell. Contests that ask for a product-related answer, photo, or opinion filter for people who care, at the cost of fewer total entries.
Primary sources
Related reading: 10 best tools to create social media contests and The 4 best social media management tools of 2015 #Infographic.
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