2 builders who never spoke to each other · contested
Give the giveaway a reason beyond follower count
Prize hunters go quiet the moment the draw closes, so raw follower gain is the weakest thing to buy with a prize pool. Hanging it on a milestone gives it a story, and pointing it at moving existing followers onto another account you own gives it a result that survives. One operator rejects the whole tactic, arguing the entry mechanics are gameable enough that the same people keep winning.
Where this splits
Most treat prize giveaways as reach worth buying, one argues the mechanics are gameable enough to make them worthless.
3 claims against 1
Harry Dry
Run the giveaway, hung on a milestone or migration
- 01Time a giveaway to coincide with a milestone so it has a reason to exist and reads as a celebration rather than a naked bid for followers.
- 02Point the giveaway at moving your existing followers onto your other accounts rather than acquiring new ones, because prize-hunters unfollow or go quiet afterwards.
Skip giveaways, the entry mechanics are easily gamed
Do not lean on social giveaways for growth, because the entry mechanics can be gamed so that the same people win every time.
- 03Run giveaways to grow follower count and general awareness.
What it returned
- £8k
The £8k of prizes produced 270k extra YouTube subscribers, plus 210k on Instagram and 550k following her own product label - roughly 820k people moved across.
Molly-Mae ran hers as she hit 1M YouTube subscribers, which the author identifies as the single most important decision.
Author cites Nando's, Tesco, Gumroad and Boohoo.
Sources
- @levelsio's blogPieter Levels · levels.io · Twitter giveaways can be hacked to win every time · 2020-01-11 · dissenting
- £8k Instagram Giveaway → 1M followersHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · £8k Instagram Giveaway → 1M followers · undated
- My Twitter Inspiration HandbookHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · 13/ Giveaways · undated
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
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