How to Run a Halloween Costume Contest That Markets Your Shop

Every Halloween, there are at least a few fans out there trying to recreate their favorite creator’s look or character that they found costume-worthy.

They’ll throw together a couple of merch pieces that they bought from your store, or create it entirely from scratch. 

The interesting part? Most of their photos end up scattered across dozens of social media feeds, and most never reach you. 

That’s why, around this time of year, if you’re not running a fan costume contest for your fans, then you’re missing out on the biggest marketing opportunity of the season. 

Fan costume contests give all your followers’ creative photos and videos a place to shine, while turning them into something even more valuable for your brand. 

The best part? You can set one up in under a week. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through running your own fan costume contest, from picking categories to reusing entries after Halloween. If you start this week, you’ll have plenty of time to engage your fans.

Why a Costume Contest Works as a Marketing Strategy

Sure, picking the winner(s) is obviously an important part of any costume contest, but for creators, the bigger marketing opportunity comes from everything happening around it. 

A good costume contest not only gets your fans talking about your brand during spooky season, but it can also create content for your socials and get people checking out your shop. 

Here are some of the benefits you can get out of it:

• Reach you don't have to pay for: Every time someone posts their costume, they're putting your name, hashtag, or brand in front of their own followers. That means friends, classmates, family members, and other people in their community can discover your content without you spending anything on advertising.
• A month's worth of content: Every submission gives you something new to share. You can react to costumes on livestreams, turn your favorites into Shorts or Reels, post weekly roundups, and finish the contest with a winners' video. Instead of coming up with new Halloween content all October, your community helps create it with you.
• A natural way to promote your shop: If fans use your merch as part of their costumes, their photos and videos also become real-world examples of your products in action. You can take that even further by offering prizes like shop gift cards, discount codes, or exclusive merch, giving participants another reason to visit your store and see what you sell.

Step 1: Select a Theme and Categories For Your Costume Contest

Before you get started, take some time to think about how you want to approach your contest. 

Do you want it to be a theme? Is it brand-related? And do you want to split it up into categories? 

If you have a specific theme in mind, make it easy for your fans to recognize so you can get as many of them to participate. Some theme ideas can be as simple as:

• You the Creator — Have fans dress up as you by recreating your signature look or a specific outfit that went viral. This can work especially well if your content is primarily GRWM videos or outfit checks. If you’re a streamer, they can even copy the setup you use in your videos or livestreams.
• A Popular Character — For comedians and livestreamers, encourage your fans to dress up as one of your recurring characters that constantly pop up in your videos. If you’re an animator or artist, having people dress up as one of your lovable characters is a great way for your followers to show their admiration for your creations. 
• Animated or Virtual Avatars — For gamers or virtual metaverse streamers, have your fans dress as their favorite VTuber or animated character.
• Something Original but On-Brand — Give your fans the freedom to create something completely original, as long as it relates to your brand or community.

Once you've locked in your theme, consider breaking your costume contest into three to five categories. 

If you only offer one "best costume" prize, some fans may assume they don't have a chance of winning and decide not to enter. 

Having several categories gives people more ways to participate and gives you more winners to celebrate. For example:

1. Best overall
2. Funniest
3. Best low-budget costume
4. Best pet costume
5. Best group costume

Finally, consider adding a category that connects the contest directly to your shop, i.e., best use of merch.

Fans who already own your merch, whether it's one of your hoodies, hats, t-shirts, or other products, now have a reason to work that merch into their costume and share it online. 

At the same time, their entries naturally put your products in front of other people who see their posts.

Need ideas for products you can add to your shop before the contest? Check out Halloween apparel items your fans will want to wear.

Step 2: Write Simple, Clear Rules For Contestants

Nobody wants to read a long post or web page full of complicated contest rules. 

To avoid your inboxes getting flooded with the same questions, try to keep your rules short and easy to understand so that fans know exactly how to enter the contest.  

Your rules should cover the basics like:

• How to enter: Explain where entries should be submitted, what they need to include, and which hashtag or account they should tag.
• Deadline: Clearly list the exact date and time entries are due, along with the time zone.
• Eligibility: Explain who can enter, including any age requirements or countries and regions where the contest isn't available.
• Limits: Let people know how many times they can enter, whether it's one entry per person or one entry per category.
• Judging: Explain how you'll choose the winners and what you'll be looking for, such as creativity, originality, or effort.
• Winners: Tell people when and how winners will be contacted and how much time they have to claim their prize.
• Permission: Let participants know if you plan to repost or share their submissions and that you'll give them credit when you do.

Before you publish your rules, it's important to keep two things in mind:

First, make sure there is always a free way to enter without requiring a purchase. Fans can use your merch in their costumes, but they shouldn't have to buy something to participate. 

Second, check the contest and promotion rules for whichever social platform you're using because each platform may have different requirements.

Contest and giveaway laws can also vary depending on where you and your fans live, so make sure you check the rules that apply to your contest. This isn't legal advice.

And you don't have to build your rules from scratch. We've included a simple contest rules template at the end of this post that you can copy, customize, and use for your own contest.

Step 3: Choose a Hashtag and Where Entries Go

Hashtags make it easy to find and keep track of every entry, so don't make it an afterthought. 

When it comes to choosing the right hashtag for your costume contest, pick something fans can easily remember and type in correctly. A good hashtag should be:

• Short: Keep it simple with something like #[YourName]Costume or #[BitName]ween so fans can easily add it to their posts.
• Unique: Search the hashtag on each platform before announcing your contest. If people are already using it for something else, you could end up sorting through a bunch of unrelated posts to find your entries.
• Easy to spell: Avoid complicated words or phrases that are easy to mistype. If fans have to keep checking how to spell your hashtag, there's a likely chance some entries may get missed.

Next, choose one main platform for fans to submit their entries. The best options for costume contests are usually Instagram, X, Threads, or TikTok, because they’re typically the best for tagging or reposting content. 

More importantly, make sure everyone who enters tags your account and includes the contest hashtag in their posts. This gives you an easy way to find entries throughout the contest and, with the entrant's permission, share or repost your favorites with the rest of your community.

Step 4: Promote Your Costume Contest Throughout October

A contest only works if people know about it and keep hearing about it. 

Because Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, this timeline closes entries early in the week and names winners before the weekend, when fans are busy wearing their costumes.

Here’s the timeline your costume contest should follow: 

A few tips for keeping momentum:

• Reveal the prizes at launch. A great prize is the hook that gets people to start planning.
• Show early entries fast. The first few posts prove the contest is real and give others ideas.
• Mention it everywhere you already show up: streams, video end screens, podcast episodes, your Discord, and your shop banner.
• Count down the last few days. Last-call posts pull in the procrastinators, who are often most of your entries.

Step 5: Get Your Community Involved With The Judging Process

When picking a winner, the selection process doesn’t have to be a one-and-done decision you make behind the scenes. 

Instead, turn the process into another piece of content that involves your fans and builds excitement in your community. 

Here are two ways you can go about it:

Host a Livestream Featuring the Contest Finalists

Consider hosting a livestream where you react to some of your favorite entries and narrow down the finalists by giving them a shoutout during the stream.

Make it an event by dressing up, talking about the entries and what you like about them, or bringing on a guest creator to help with the judging process. 

You can even get your viewers hyped by asking them what they think about each entry during the livestream and replying to their comments. 

Let Your Fans Do the Voting For You

Allowing your fans to choose the winner can help your contest reach more people because entrants will share the vote and encourage friends to support them. 

The downside is that the person with the biggest following could have an advantage, which might make the contest seem unfair to the rest of your followers/contestants. 

A good middle ground is to choose the finalists yourself and then let your community vote for the winner in each category.

Whichever method you choose, explain exactly how judging will work in your contest rules before people enter. Then stick to those rules when it's time to pick your winners.

Step 6: Choose Prizes that Bring People Back to Your Shop

A good prize should do more than entice people to enter your contest. It should also give them a reason to check out your shop and what else you have to offer. 

If your contest offers categories for multiple winners, this can be a great opportunity to get creative with your prizes while marketing products your fans might not be aware of. 

Try mixing and matching ideas like these:

• Create a one-of-a-kind prize: Make your grand prize a custom product made specifically for the winner. This can be a custom shirt, print, plushie, or other one-of-a-kind product. Since nobody else can buy it, the prize feels more special and can also make for a fun reveal video after the contest.
• Give gift cards to your shop: Gift cards let winners choose exactly what they want from your shop while encouraging them to browse your other products. They’re also great for tiered winners, with 1st prize as a $50 gift card, followed by $25 and $10 gift cards for 2nd- and 3rd-place winners. 
• Offer a free membership: Give the winner a free month or even a full year of your highest-tier membership. It's an easy way to introduce them to your exclusive content and other member perks.
• Give them a shout-out, feature, or cameo: Not every prize needs to be something you ship. For some fans, getting featured in your content or receiving a personal shout-out can be more exciting than a physical product. Create a shout-out post on your story or Reel, or have them featured as a guest on your next livestream. 
• Put together a merch bundle or offer early access: Create a prize pack with 3-5 of some of your most popular products, or give winners early access to upcoming merch drops with an exclusive discount code just for them.

And don't forget everyone who entered but didn't win. Consider giving every participant a limited-time discount code as a thank-you. 

The discount only costs you something if they make a purchase, and it gives every entrant another reason to visit your shop.

Looking for more prize inspiration? Check out Fourthwall's guide to creepy gifts and collectibles your customers will love.

Step 7: Turn the Entries Into Content You Can Reuse

Your Halloween costume contest may end on October 30, but that doesn't mean you have to stop sharing content from it. 

Once you've announced the winners, there are plenty of ways to keep fans engaged and bring more attention to your shop.

Here are a few ideas:

• Share your favorite entries. Repost photos of your favorite costumes on social media, but always ask fans for permission first. If any participants are under 18, get permission from a parent or guardian before sharing their photos. You can also leave out names and faces to protect their privacy.
• Create a costume gallery on your shop. Build a dedicated page featuring some of the best entries from your contest. A "Hall of Costumes" gives participants a place to show off their creations and encourages them to share the page with friends and family.
• Put together a recap video. Create a video highlighting your favorite costumes, announcing the winners, and thanking everyone who participated. It's an easy way to get more content out of your contest while celebrating your community.
• Turn a winning costume into merch. Take inspiration from a winning costume and work with the fan to turn it into a future T-shirt, poster, or other product. Make sure you have their permission and give them credit for their original idea.
• Start building excitement for next year. Give fans a sneak peek at what you might have planned for next Halloween. This can encourage anyone who missed this year's contest to participate next time.

Use Your Contest to Kick Off Your Holiday Promotions

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up November 27–30, your Halloween contest recap is also a great opportunity to start promoting your holiday sales.

Consider including a sneak peek at your upcoming holiday merch, sharing an exclusive discount code, or encouraging fans to sign up for updates so they don't miss your next big sale.

Give Your Fans' Costumes Somewhere to Land

Your fans are going to dress up as you this Halloween either way. The only question is whether those photos get lost across a dozen feeds or build something for your channel and your shop.

A costume contest puts them to work. 

Every entry spreads your name to new people, every roundup fills your October content calendar, and every prize and discount code brings fans back to your shop right before the holiday rush. 

When it's over, you'll have a gallery, a recap video, and a head start on Black Friday.

The clock is the only hard part. Announce the week of Oct 5, and you'll have three full weeks of entries before winners go up on Oct 30. 

So grab the free rules template, fill in the blanks, and set up your gift cards and discount codes on Fourthwall today. Your fans already have the costumes. Give them the contest.