The dangers of loop giveaways

"Don't do it girl, it's not worth it." "I'm not gonna do it, I was just thinking about it. I'm not gonna do it." ⁣
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(𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥.)⁣
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Don't get looped into the dangers of loop giveaways! ⁣
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What is a loop giveaway? It's a contest, made famous by the Kardashians, that is offers a big prize or prize(s) but require you to follow multiple accounts (generally 15+ Instagram creators/influencers/businesses) in order to enter. ⁣
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The purpose: To reach new audiences and grow a larger following. ⁣
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BUT - this type of giveaway does NOT actually work as long-term growth strategy.

In fact, just the opposite. It can hurt your account like woah if you're one of the participating accounts. ⁣
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As I've said before, social media is about connection not collection. ⁣
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Despite your immediate spike of engagement, these type of "new" followers are temporary. They generally follow because of their temptation to win, not because of the fabulous value you have to offer on your account. Once the giveaway is finished, most of them high tail it off of your page or a large chunk will become inactive followers.⁣
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Why does this make a difference? When a large group of people follow then soon after unfollow, Instagram sees this as suspicious behavior and will penalize your account by not showing your content a large number of your audience. When you have a large number of inactive followers, the algorithm doesn't see your content as valuable (also not good). ⁣
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Instead of a loop giveaway, consider very tailored giveaways with creators of the same niche as yours or offer up your own services/products as the grand prize. ⁣
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& always keep this question top of mind: Does my giveaway help me attract my ideal customer/client/community - people that are truly interested in what I have to offer?⁣