Social Media Contest Checklist

Pick one primary KPI — follower growth, UGC volume, email opt-ins, or hashtag reach — and a measurable target. Contests with three or four co-equal goals dilute creative direction and make post-contest reporting muddy.

Match the contest mechanic to the platform — Reels and TikTok favor short video, Instagram favors photo + caption, X favors retweet-to-enter. Cross-platform contests need separate rules per platform because each platform's promotion guidelines differ.

Common mechanics: tag-a-friend, branded hashtag UGC submission, comment-to-enter, follow + repost, or form-based entry via a landing page. Whether the contest collects user data drives downstream legal review — sweepstakes with email collection trigger CAN-SPAM and CCPA obligations.

Lock entry-open date, entry-close date, judging window, winner-announcement date, and prize-fulfillment deadline. Most consumer contests run 2–4 weeks; shorter than a week leaves no room for organic spread, longer than a month sees engagement decay.

Break out: prize cost (including taxes — US prizes valued at $600+ require a 1099-MISC to the winner), paid-promotion budget across Meta Ads Manager / TikTok Ads, creative production, and any influencer or affiliate fees. Build in 10–15% contingency for prize substitution if a winner is ineligible.

Required sections: sponsor identity, eligibility, entry period (with timezone), how to enter, judging criteria, prize description and ARV (approximate retail value), odds, winner notification method, publicity release, and governing law. Host the full rules on an owned URL — social captions are too short to satisfy disclosure rules.

Each platform has its own promotion policy. Meta requires a release acknowledging Facebook/Instagram is not a sponsor and prohibits using personal timelines or friend connections as entry mechanisms (e.g., "share on your timeline"). TikTok and X have similar acknowledgements. Pull the current policy text — these change without notice.

Sweepstakes vs. contest vs. lottery distinction matters: a lottery (consideration + chance + prize) is illegal for non-government sponsors. Remove any one of those three to stay legal — typically by making entry free (no consideration) or skill-based (no chance). Some states (FL, NY, RI) require sweepstakes registration and bonding above a prize-value threshold.

For random-draw contests, document the random-selection method (e.g., RandomPicker, Woobox) and seed timestamp. For judged contests, document criteria with weighted rubric and at least two independent judges. Tie-breaker process must be specified before entries open — adding it later is a common dispute trigger.

If entries collect email or other PII, the entry form needs a granular consent checkbox separating contest-entry processing from marketing opt-in — bundling them violates GDPR and several state privacy laws. Add the contest landing page to the OneTrust / Cookiebot scan and confirm the privacy policy lists "contest entries" as a processing purpose.

Deliverables list: announcement post (1:1 and 4:5), Reel/TikTok teaser (9:16), Stories templates with countdown sticker, link-in-bio landing tile, email banner, and last-call reminder asset. Brand-guideline pass before scheduling — wrong logo lockup or off-palette hex is the most common pre-launch rework.

Landing page hosts the full rules, the entry form, and the privacy notice. Tag every link source-medium-campaign per the team UTM convention (e.g., utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summer-contest-2024). Verify GA4 event for form-submit fires on actual submit, not on field-blur.

Schedule launch post, mid-contest reminder, last-24-hours reminder, and winner-announcement post. Caption must include link to full rules and the platform-required acknowledgement (e.g., "This promotion is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Instagram").

Build campaign in Meta Ads Manager / TikTok Ads / LinkedIn Campaign Manager with a hard end date matching contest close. Exclude existing customers from acquisition-goal contests; include lookalike-1% from past-engagers for retention-goal contests. Set frequency cap to 3/week to avoid burnout.

Per FTC Endorsement Guides, partners must disclose the material connection at the top of the post — "#ad" or "Paid partnership with [brand]" via the platform's branded-content tool. Hashtag buried in 30 tags doesn't satisfy. Send a one-page disclosure cheat sheet and require a draft preview before they post.

After launch, click each link from the live post and confirm UTMs land cleanly in GA4 real-time. Check the entry form submits successfully end-to-end. Catching a broken UTM or a 404 in the first hour saves attribution; catching it on day 5 means a chunk of traffic is uncategorized.

Disqualify entries that violate the rules (bot accounts, duplicate submissions from one user, profanity, third-party trademarks in UGC). Document each disqualification with screenshot and reason — disputes from disqualified entrants are common and the audit trail is the defense.

Use a saved-replies bank in Sprout or the platform's native inbox for the most common questions (eligibility, entry confirmation, when winners are announced). Escalate any complaint about the rules or a disqualification to the campaign owner — never improvise an answer that contradicts the published rules.

At ~50% of the entry window, pull entries-to-date, reach, and CPE (cost per entry) against forecast. If pacing is below 60% of target, decide on a corrective action — additional boost budget, an influencer push, or a reminder Story with the countdown sticker.

Common moves: increase paid-boost daily budget by 25–50%, swap creative to the better-performing variant, push an additional Story with countdown sticker, or activate a reserved influencer post. Document the action and timestamp so the post-contest report can attribute the lift.

Random-draw: use the tool named in the rules (RandomPicker, Woobox) and screenshot the result with timestamp. Judged: collect rubric scores from each judge, average per criterion, and confirm tie-breaker if needed. Identify a runner-up in case the primary winner is ineligible or unresponsive.

DM the winner privately, confirm age and residency per the rules, and collect a signed publicity / liability release. For US prizes valued at $600 or more, collect a W-9 — the brand is required to issue a 1099-MISC. If the winner doesn't respond within the rules-stated window (commonly 72 hours), move to the runner-up.

Post the winner announcement on the same channels as the launch. Tag the winner only after confirming they consent to the public tag — some winners decline. Keep the announcement post pinned for at least a week so future entrants see the contest concluded legitimately.

Ship via tracked carrier and store the tracking number with the entry record. Follow up after delivery confirmation to verify the prize arrived intact — a damaged or lost prize that goes unaddressed becomes a public complaint thread fast.

Report against the primary KPI from the planning phase: total entries, follower delta, reach, impressions, CPE, email opt-ins, and UGC volume. Include cost-per-result and a recommendation on whether to repeat the mechanic. File raw GA4, platform-native, and ad-platform exports alongside the deck for next planner.