Giveaways Aren't as Effective as You Think They Are
Giveaways Can Attract Attention—But Are They Helping You Build a Loyal, Engaged Community?
One of my clients is within spitting distance of 10,000 followers on Instagram. Like… if we play our cards right, we could hit it by the end of the year, but realistically, unless we go viral or a miracle happens, it’ll take around six months or 60 posts, whichever comes first. And, while I’m not usually one to stress over hitting arbitrary numbers, I’m also not going to pretend that it wouldn’t be fucking amazing to hit that arbitrary number by year-end.
However, the only quick fix I can think of is doing a giveaway, which is NOT an option.
Here’s why we’re not doing a giveaway to reach 10k followers (and why I don’t recommend them for any of my clients):
1. High Attrition Rate
Giveaways can bring a temporary rush of followers, but the people who stick around are rare. Most participants are in it for the prize, not necessarily for what the brand has to offer long-term. And once the giveaway ends, many new followers will bounce, leading to a drop in numbers and engagement. This “follower churn” is common and ends up skewing both your metrics and your community’s cohesion. We want to build an active and thriving community, not just get numbers.
2. Low-Quality Engagement
Giveaway followers rarely engage meaningfully with your content. Many of them aren’t genuinely interested in your brand and won’t engage at all. The best case scenario is that they eventually unfollow your brand; the worst case scenario is they continue following without engaging, causing a superficial spike in follower count without boosting the quality of interactions that help build brand loyalty and trust.
3. The Algorithm Aftermath: Giveaways Fuck With Engagement Metrics
An influx of temporary followers who don’t stick around or engage can mess with your engagement metrics. When engagement dips, Instagram may assume your content isn’t valuable, reducing its reach over time. It can take months to recover from the drop in engagement and reach following a giveaway. I dealt with this with a client back in June, and they only just started recovering from the giveaway they participated in.
4. Giveaway Participants Aren’t Usually Buyers
Giveaways often attract people who aren’t potential customers—they’re there for the chance to win something for free. This brings in followers who may not fit your brand’s target demographic and who aren’t likely to convert into buyers, making the giveaway more of a short-term numbers boost than a strategy that drives revenue or even builds a meaningful community. Though brand awareness is usually the first reason brands use social media, revenue is the second, and a giveaway isn’t a satisfactory or sustainable way to accomplish either.
5. Can Diminish or Cheapen Brand Perception
For a premium brand, giveaways can unintentionally cheapen the perception of the product. When positioning ourselves as a quality, aspirational brand, it’s essential to avoid tactics that make us appear as though we’re vying for attention. Giveaways, while enticing in the short term, can feel gimmicky and detract from the exclusivity and sophistication we're trying to cultivate. The message we want to convey is that our product is valuable for its own sake—it doesn’t need the lure of free incentives to draw people in.
Instead, any “free” element should be approached as an elevated, unexpected touch point that adds to the customer experience—a “surprise and delight” moment, as Will Guidara describes in Unreasonable Hospitality. Hand-written thank-you notes, a small gift that enhances the experience, or surprise experiences, these gestures resonate much more deeply with your customers and will pay dividends later.
Building trust with a high-end audience means showing the value of our product through thoughtfully crafted content, authentic storytelling, and a strong sense of community.
The Path to 10k—Without a Giveaway
Yes, 10k is a nice round number. It’s a milestone many brands strive for. However, a follower goal is meaningless without a strategic plan to back it up. Rather than scrambling for a short-term win, we’re playing the long game. Here’s how:
Optimize Our Content: We’ll analyze which posts have driven the most engagement and follower growth over the past year, doubling down on those formats and topics.
Tap Into New Networks: Collaborate with brands or influencers whose audiences align with ours, bringing new people to our page who are actually interested in our brand.
Keep Engaging, Keep Growing: Continue engaging with followers as individuals, showing that we value each person who joins our community. In doing so, we’ll create a loyal audience, and growth will follow organically.
10k is within reach, and we’ll get there—just not by cutting corners. It might take a bit longer, but when we do hit that milestone, it’ll be because we built a community that values what we bring to the table. And that, to me, is far more satisfying than follower count.