How to randomly select an Instagram (or facebook, twitter, etc) contest winnner in excel.
Hello viewer. I am guessing that you are weird too, so I wanted to share this.
I just ran my first Instagram giveaway for my new book, To Catch the Sun. There are apps that will quickly pick a random winner, but they all required me to connect my Facebook account in a way I am not cool with (i.e., too much access), so I made this quick little spreadsheet to do it.
Here are the functions I used:
This one looks up the # and finds the name/account associated with it:
=VLOOKUP(C1,A1:B13,2)
This one creates and random integer between 0 and the total count.
=ROUND(RAND()*COUNT(A1:A11),0)
That said, it would be better to use:
=CEILING(RAND()*COUNT(A1:A11),1)
So that you you create a random integer between 1 and the total count.
Note that when you use this method, the RAND function will run each time you make a change, so as soon as you enter it, make sure to record the winner because any further changes will rerun the RAND function and potentially change your winner.
If you have over a few hundred entries then this method might be too slow for you.
#excel #spreadsheets #socialmedia #giveaway #contest #solar #tocatchthesum