Free NFT Giveaways

That got your attention, didn’t it?

Most people love the idea of free NFT giveaways, or free drops as they are sometimes known, borrowing the term from sneaker culture, both the people receiving free stuff and the people who benefit from the publicity of giving away free stuff.

It is a small wonder, therefore, that so many NFT collections have giveaways as an essential part of their marketing efforts, helping to quickly forge and solidify a community that pays dividends in the long run.

If you want to set up a giveaway, this page is for you, as we will explore why it works, what you need to do to prepare for it, as well as some top tips for setting up the perfect giveaway and how to capitalise and convert that increased publicity.

Why Do NFT Giveaways Work?

To explain why giveaways are so effective, we need to explain both why people are naturally attracted to the word free, as well as the power of drop culture.

Drop is a term that comes from sneaker culture, and refers to the practice of launching limited edition exclusive items that draw considerable attention and become an event in themselves.

Whilst the practice dates back to the 1980s, it is far more commonly associated with brands such as Supreme, who took full advantage of the rise of social media to more effectively publicise drops and make their most valued customers into vibrant walking billboards.

Ever since NFTs took off into the mainstream in 2021, they have worked on the same marketing principle of drumming up hype and allowing their most ardent supporters to become their biggest marketing drives.

Free drops are even more effective in this regard because people tend to be drawn to the allure of free stuff. Professor Dan Ariely famously did an experiment which starkly highlighted the draw of the free gift.

In summary, he gave people the choice between paying more for an expensive but high-quality chocolate truffle or a single penny for a Hershey’s Kiss, with a roughly even split of people going for each choice.

However, when he lowered the cost by just one cent, the Hershey’s Kiss became free and 90 per cent of people went for that option despite the price difference being identical.

People are drawn to those four simple letters, and the gas fees and other costs of minting a few cheap NFTs are more than offset by the value of that free publicity.

How Do You Set Up The Perfect Giveaway?

An NFT giveaway is a great way to build up an audience, so the first step is to ensure that all of your social media platforms, your Discord, your wallet, your website and your marketplace are all ready to go, with content already being used to drive hype.

As well as this, know what you want to get out of the giveaway process, as this will determine the rules of the giveaway, how many NFTs you will give to people and how much time the giveaway will last.

If your goal is engagement, then it can be as simple as asking people to like, share and comment on a post, but can also include tagging friends, producing content that hypes the collection or contributing to the community in other ways, depending on your ultimate goal.

You also want to choose a duration for the giveaway that is not so long that you lose momentum and people wait, but not so immediate that people miss it and get frustrated. Typically, a week before your project goes live is ideal.

Do NOT forget to tag your NFT marketplace in all of your marketing material for the giveaway, as one of the biggest reasons you are doing this is to draw attention to your marketplace and drive up hype for your eventual sale.

By making registration for your marketplace a condition for winning, you are guaranteed to bring in new users, and once those people are in the door, they are likely to browse the rest of your NFT collection as well.

No matter what you choose to do, make sure you follow through with your giveaway, follow your own rules and use as fair a system as possible to decide the winners. Establishing trust as early as possible in your project will itself work to bring in additional followers.

Communicate with the winners, get their wallet codes and send their NFTs as close to the agreed time as possible.

How To Capitalise On That Momentum

If a giveaway is successful and draws people to your social media, your Discord and your marketplace, the next important step is to capitalise on that momentum.

There are quite a few ways to do this. One of the biggest is to set up influencer marketing campaigns alongside your giveaway that link to it.

Influencers are a huge part of the NFT space and they can help to draw more eyes to your project than would be seen otherwise. The most extreme example of this was seen when a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT was centre frame of the highly popular late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

A more personal approach that can be done before, during or after your giveaway is an AMA or ask-me-anything. This does not necessarily have to be a thread on Reddit (although it often does not hurt) but can take the form of a livestream or call to people following your discord.

Make sure to take questions in advance, build up a shortlist of questions with interesting answers and allocate some time to open up the floor and allow followers to ask any questions they may have.

Interacting with this could even be part of your giveaway, with people being rewarded for taking part.

Ultimately, a successful giveaway is about showcasing an authentic side of yourself and creating a community of enthusiastic, like-minded people who will help take you to that next level.

If you do right by your fans, they will do right by you, and showing common courtesy and making time for your followers will be the best way to succeed.