Glossary/Giveaway
What is an influencer contest?
Short answer
An influencer contest is a campaign where the brand puts up a prize, the creator announces a task, and followers take part on the terms written into the rules. The winner has to be judged on the work they submit — if chance decides, it is a lottery, and separate regulations apply to it.
What exactly is a contest?
A public promise: the organiser commits to handing the prize to whoever performs the task best. That is why the task has to be something you can judge — an answer to a question, a photo, a slogan. Drawing a winner from all the comments is not a contest, even though social media calls it one all the time.
What has to be in the contest rules?
The minimum, without which the campaign is a dispute waiting for its first entrant:
Who the organiser is and who hands over the prize — the brand or the creator.
The contest task, how long it runs and how to enter.
The judging criteria and who sits on the panel.
The value of the prize and who settles the tax due on it.
The complaints procedure and how entrants’ data is processed.
Why do brands run contests?
Because they are the cheapest way to get traffic: reach grows within hours and the cost is the value of the prize. The problem is that they also attract people hunting for prizes only — so it pays to set a task that requires contact with the product, not just tagging friends.
Where to order it or find tasks
Related terms
Words that come up in the same conversations. Each has its own definition in the glossary.
- Reach
- The number of people who saw the material. It does not say how many of them reacted or bought — which is why it is read together with engagement, not instead of it. Read more
- Engagement
- The audience's reactions to the material: likes, comments, saves, shares. It shows whether the content moved people or only scrolled past their eyes. Read more
- Paid collaboration
- The creator is paid in money for producing and publishing the material. The terms — scope, deadline and amount — are settled before the start, not after delivery. Read more
- Barter
- Settlement in a product or a service instead of money: a dinner, a treatment, an order from the shop. For smaller companies it is often the first way into a collaboration. Read more
Frequently asked questions
How is a contest different from a lottery?
In a contest the best entry wins; in a lottery chance decides. A lottery needs a permit and carries separate duties — drawing a winner from the comments is not an ordinary contest.
Who pays the tax on the prize?
Usually the organiser, as the payer of the flat-rate tax on prizes. The rules have to say who the organiser is, so the duty does not land on the creator by accident.
Does a contest have to be labelled as advertising?
If it was made in collaboration with a brand, yes. A prize funded by a company is a benefit, so the material is a commercial message.
