For the time being, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms. According to statistics, Instagram has more than 500 million daily active users and 2 billion monthly active users. As an artist who is trying to grow an online following, doing giveaways on Instagram can seem like an appealing idea. Instagram giveaways can be a great way to keep your followers engaged, attract new fans, and promote your artwork. But are Instagram giveaways really worth it? Like most tactics, there are both positives and negatives to consider. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of Instagram giveaways.
Pros of Instagram Giveaways
Here are some benefits of Instagram giveaways for artists
Gain More Followers Quickly
One of the main advantages of an Instagram giveaway for artists is the potential to quickly grow your number of followers. During or before the giveaway, you can ask people to follow your account to participate, you can expose your art to a much wider audience. If your prize is appealing enough to your audience, you may be able to add hundreds (maybe thousands) of new followers in a short period of time.
Increase Engagement and Visibility
Apart from just following your account, giveaways ask people to like your posts and tag their friends too. Doing this can help boosts engagement levels on the content you post on your account. When you get more likes, comments, and shares through Instagram giveaway, more users on the app will be able to see your art. This is an easy way to get your work in front of many new eyeballs.
Find True Fans
Another benefit of Instagram giveaways is that it helps you identify your true fans. While some people only participate in giveaways to get the freebie, there are still others who would like to know more and appreciate your artistic talents. This means that you will attract a mix of curious fans from your Instagram giveaways. You could gain true fans who will stay around as your long-term supporters.
Partner Opportunities
Do you know that you can create partnership opportunities with Instagram giveaways? When doing Instagram giveaways, you can team up with other brands (like FiberArt) or artists to co-host the event. This allows you to cross-promote to a wider and relevant audience. Through a strategic partnership, you can get more potential fans with your Instagram giveaways. If you are ever interested in partnering with us, feel free to reach out to info@fiberart.com any time!
Build Buzz and Hype
Have you been looking for a way to hype up your artwork? Giveaways can generate excitement and buzz around your art or brand. Fans tend to get excited at the thrill of trying to win giveaways and freebies. That hype and anticipation help raise awareness of your creative work and offerings.
Simple to Execute
Hosting a giveaway on Instagram is quite easy and simple. You just need an enticing prize, some basic rules, and a process to choose a winner. Most of the work, posting, reposting, and sharing will be done by the participants. They will do most of the promotion for you. They will even tag their friends and sharing your post to improve their chances of winning your giveaway.
Cons of Instagram Giveaways
Here are some drawbacks of Instagram giveaways:
Temporary Engagement Spike
Yes, giveaways drive a flurry of likes, comments, follows, and shares. But the sad part is that most of the engagement is only temporary. Once the contest ends, activity tends to drop back down. Some of these may not even engage your posts for months. To retain the interests of new followers, you must have a solid strategy.
Attracting Fakes and Scammers
Unfortunately, big giveaway prizes attract fake accounts that are run by bots, scammers, and spammers. These fakes are only looking to win free stuff. These accounts mix with your real target audience. The sad part is that they will even unfollow your Instagram account right after the giveaway. Some participants may even use shady tactics to boost their chances of winning. So just stay safe and aware!
Short-Term Follower Gains
You may get thousands of new followers through a giveaway. But as we mentioned, most will be short-lived. These followers either lose interest, or were only in it for the prize. The unfollow rates will increase, and you will be left with modest real fan growth. For every thousand followers added, you may only keep a hundred or so.
Time and Cost Investment
Finally, giveaways do require some investment of time and money from you. You need to source an appealing prize and promote the contest. You also need to track entries and pick a winner. At the end of the giveaway, you will need to distribute the goods and more. Therefore, if you want to run frequent, high-value giveaways, the costs can add up quickly, and you may not be able to sustain it.
Final Thoughts
There you have it! Above are some benefits and drawbacks of Instagram giveaways for artists. As you can see, Instagram giveaways offer both great promotional opportunities and some downsides to consider. Whether they are worthwhile likely depends on your specific goals as an artist. If you can use the Instagram giveaway diligently, they can help boost your followers and promote your artwork to a wider audience. But don’t treat them as the ultimate solution to your problems.