Halloween isn’t just for spooky decorations and candy, it’s your golden chance to spark engagement with fun social media contests and giveaways that people actually want to join.
When you think of Halloween marketing ideas, contests and giveaways stand out because they get people talking, clicking, and sharing. The holiday gives you an instant hook: scary-good visuals, playful themes, and a seasonal spirit that feels fun rather than forced.
Plus, you can tie a contest to broader goals like growing your follower base, increasing engagement, driving traffic to your site, or boosting brand awareness. If you’re also exploring how to Create Halloween Ads (your AI production house that creates scripts, storyboards, visuals, and edits autonomously – yes, that line), you’ve already got momentum. Tools like Invideo make it easier to create standout visuals and videos for your promotions.
So let’s go through the best ideas, how to set them up, what to watch out for, and how to make sure they align with your larger halloween marketing ideas.
What makes a good contest?
Before selecting a specific idea, you’ll want these ingredients:
- Clear rules: People should know exactly how to enter, what they’ll win, and when/how winners are chosen.
- Easy participation: The easier the entry, the more likely people join.
- Alignment with your brand: The prize, the theme, the visuals should reflect you.
- Shareable moment: Make it something people want to share with friends or their followers.
- Follow-through: Make sure you deliver on the prize and showcase winners—it builds trust.
With those in mind, here are some of the best contests and giveaway ideas tailored for the Halloween season.
1. Costume Photo Contest
Have your followers post a photo of themselves in their Halloween costume, tag your brand, and use a hashtag you created (for example: #BrandHaunt or #SpookyWithBrand).
Why it works: Costumes are visual, fun, and people love showing their creativity. It generates lots of UGC (user-generated content) and brand visibility when tagged.
Tip: Offer a meaningful prize (gift card, exclusive product, free service) and announce the winner on a live or via video to add excitement.
2. “Caption This” or “Scary Caption” Challenge
Post a spooky or funny Halloween-themed image (you might even use a short video created via Invideo) and ask followers to write the best caption in comments.
Why it works: It’s a low-entry barrier (just a comment) and encourages engagement and creativity.
Tip: Keep the tone friendly, respond to the funniest entries, and highlight lots of participants even if only one wins. It makes people feel included.
3. Trick or Treat Swift Giveaway
Run a quick “flash” giveaway during Halloween week: say “We’re giving away X in the next hour to the first 20 people who share this post and tag a friend”.
Why it works: Urgency increases participation and tagging friends amplifies reach.
Tip: Use Instagram Stories, or a Facebook live, or a countdown post to build hype. Ensure the prize is relevant and attractive.
4. Halloween Video Challenge
Invite followers to submit short videos (15-30 seconds) of their Halloween setup, decoration, or “scariest home tour”. You can create a theme around “best haunted house” or “creepiest prop”.
Why it works: Video content is highly engaging. If you are already planning to Create Halloween Ads for your business, using videos helps you leverage those assets further.
Tip: Use Invideo to create a promo video that explains the challenge, showcases examples, and frames the contest. Then share submitted videos, pick a winner, and feature them.
5. “Guess the Mystery Item” Giveaway
Post a zoomed-in or shadowy image of a Halloween item or prop (pumpkin carving, costume piece, vintage candy) and ask followers to guess what it is. Those who guess correctly (or get closest) win a prize.
Why it works: It triggers curiosity and comments.
Tip: Make sure the reveal is fun and share the answer after a set time. Use the reveal as an extra piece of content.
6. Vote for Your Favorite Design/Costume
If your brand has multiple Halloween themed products or items, present them in a carousel and ask followers to vote for their favorite. The winning design becomes available for purchase (or a limited edition).
Why it works: Gives followers a sense of ownership and involvement in the brand.
Tip: Use interactive polls on Instagram Stories or Facebook posts. Announce that one lucky voter gets the first unit of the winning design (or a related prize).
7. Share Your Spooky Story
Ask followers to share a short personal Halloween story: maybe their funniest scare, weirdest costume mishap, or best trick-or-treat memory. They submit stories via comments or direct messages. Then you select a winner or pick 3 finalists and let your audience vote.
Why it works: Emotional or humorous stories build deeper engagement and can be reused as content.
Tip: With stories you collect, turn them into a post or video (again, tools like Invideo make this easier) and tag the winner while giving them their prize.
8. Bundle Giveaways with Partner Brands
Team up with complementary brands and run a joint Halloween giveaway bundle. Each brand promotes it to their audience, you pool a prize bundle, and all brands gain reach.
Why it works: Shared audience, more prize value, cross-promotion.
Tip: Make sure all partners are relevant to the theme and agree on communication, timing, rules, and selection process.
How to tie in Create Halloween Ads into your contest strategy
Since you’re focusing on the tagline Create Halloween Ads – Your AI production house that creates scripts, storyboards, visuals, and edits autonomously – to create halloween ads that hook your audience, here’s how to weave that into your contest plan.
- Use a promo video (made with Invideo) to launch the contest: explain what participants need to do, show prize visuals, and set the tone.
- During the contest, share short clips and teasers on your social pages to keep momentum.
- After winner selection, create a “winner highlight” video: show the entry, show the prize presentation, thank participants.
- Use the same assets to build additional Halloween content: maybe a post-contest wrap-up video, or announce the next event.
By linking your contest to a well-designed Halloween ad campaign, you lift both parts: the contest gets higher quality visuals and the ad campaign leverages real user interaction and social proof.
Best practices & checklist for your Halloween contest
- Start early: Announce 1-2 weeks before Halloween so people have time to enter and share.
- Clear timeline: Set start date, end date, when winner is announced.
- Platform rules: Make sure you comply with Instagram, Facebook, TikTok rules around giveaways and contests.
- Hashtag: Create a unique branded contest hashtag so entries are easy to track and brand mentions grow.
- Entry method: Choose a method that’s simple and suits your audience (photo upload, comment, tag, share).
- Prize relevance: Make sure the prize is something your audience cares about. It doesn’t have to be huge, but must feel valuable.
- Promotion: Use stories, posts, paid ads (if budget allows) to spread the word.
- Partner or influencer support: Consider inviting influencers to participate or co-host a giveaway to widen reach.
- Follow up: Announce and showcase your winner publicly. Thank you participants. Share entries (with permission) to extend content life.
- Measure: Monitor likes, shares, comments, new followers, traffic to your site. See what worked and what didn’t.
- Repurpose content: Use contest entries, videos, winner reveal posts as content for future use (in newsletter, social, blog).
- Legal disclaimers & terms: Make sure to include any necessary disclaimers, eligibility requirements, and privacy info.
Avoid these common mistakes
- Choosing a prize that’s unrelated to your brand: you’ll attract people who just want a freebie, not potential customers.
- Making entry too complicated: long forms, multiple steps kill participation.
- Running a contest without follow-up: announcing a winner but not showing proof reduces trust.
- Ignoring mobile users: most social engagement is mobile—ensure visuals and video formats are mobile-friendly.
- Overlooking legal/regulatory issues: contests must comply with platform and local rules.
- Forgetting to track metrics: you’ll miss the chance to learn what worked for your next campaign.
Why Halloween is a perfect moment for social media contests
The holiday has built-in excitement, strong visuals (pumpkins, costumes, spooky decor), and people are already in ‘share’ mode—showing off their costumes, decorating their homes, participating in seasonal fun. By tying your brand to that spirit through a contest, you tap into a ready-made emotional trigger.
And when you pair that with strong visuals, a good prize, easy participation and a good promotion plan, you create a social media event, not just a post.
Example flow for running your contest
- Pre-launch teaser (one week before): Share “Something spooky is coming” visuals, mention the hashtag, set the date.
- Launch post: Clear image or video (maybe created via Invideo), with contest rules, prize, how to enter, deadline.
- Mid-contest reminder: Share a story of a great entry, remind people to join, boost post if possible.
- Closing reminder: Last day/hours message: “Don’t miss out!”
- Winner announcement: Post the winner’s entry, tag them, show prize being awarded.
- Wrap-up content: Thank everyone, share highlights of top entries, invite to follow your brand for future events.
How to amplify and extend your results
- Turn the winner’s story into a short video case study or testimonial.
- Use submitted entries to create collage posts or reels: “Top 5 entries” or “Best costumes of 2025”.
- Save the email list or follower list built during the contest for future outreach.
- Use insights (which entry types got most comments/shares) to plan your next campaign.
- Consider running a “post-Halloween” mini-contest: “Best Halloween memory” to keep the momentum going.
Relevance of Invideo and video ads for this plan
Since part of your strategy is to Create Halloween Ads, tools like Invideo help you craft high-quality, branded visuals and videos fast. According to their website, Invideo offers templates, AI workflows, and editing tools that simplify video creation for marketing.
By using Invideo for your promo video, you ensure that your contest launch looks polished and catches attention. And by re-using those visuals for stories, reminders, and winner announcements, you maintain consistency and brand identity, all key elements of strong Halloween marketing ideas.
Final thoughts
Social media contests and giveaways during Halloween give you a fun, timely way to boost engagement, increase your followers, and showcase your brand personality. With the right idea, clear rules, good prize, and strong visuals via tools like Invideo, you’ll stand out.
Remember: Keep it simple. Make it fun. Tie it to your brand. And track what works so you can build better halloween marketing ideas next year too.
Now go ahead, pick your favorite contest idea above, map out the timeline, grab your visuals, and let the Halloween fun begin.
