Are you looking to launch a viral giveaway?

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If they hit the right chord with your audience, social media contests have a way of catching fire.

Before you know it, you’ve attracted thousands of new leads, followers, and brand advocates.

But what is it about social media giveaways that make them so addictive? Why are these campaigns more likely to go viral than other forms of digital marketing?

Well, as it turns out, this phenomenon has been around for a lot longer than social media.

The concept of a chain letter dates back to the 18th century, where “Letters from heaven” would entice participants to copy and share the notes with fear of misfortune if they didn’t.

Of course, chain letters are considered to be manipulative and phone number lead deceptive. For the most part, they’re scams.

That’s what a modern-day comment to win contest is. All someone has to do is leave a comment on a social media post, usually by tagging a friend, to enter a contest.

I discussed the benefits of comment to win contests in this article, but here’s a short overview:

They’re easy to set up. Simply share a link, photo, video, or even just a status update on social media.
They’re easy to enter. Participants just need to comment on your post for the chance to win.
They’re focused on engagement. By design, they encourage users to interact with your social media post by commenting.
They’re algorithm-friendly. The algorithms on Facebook and Instagram reward posts that have high engagement levels.
They’re designed for insights. If you ask people to enter by commenting with opinions or preferences, you gather valuable data you can use for future campaigns.
Not sure where to start with this attractive style of a giveaway? Here are 17 examples of Instagram comment to win contests to point you in the right direction.