My Experience with a Loop Giveaway on Instagram

To be honest, my first experience entering a loop giveaway, was not pleasant. I mean, really? I have to follow stores I'm really not interested in, and then wait a few days to a week to find out if I won? The directions were even a little screwy. Do you tag other stores on all the IG feeds you're supposed to be following? I didn't have a clue. Then I decided to join a loop giveaway to see what the fuss was about.

The Hive Handmade was the organizer. There were 8 other stores involved. At first I was a little overwhelmed with the details and preparations needed to be done for the contest. I've never really dealt with reposting yet, and have never tagged an image with an IG handle. So I learned as I went along. The organizer was very helpful, and the stores involved, were welcoming. It really felt like a camp almost, where we were all in this together.

When the contest launched, it was fun to experience so many follows and likes. At the end of the day, I'd say it was a positive experiment. I started off with 225 followers and ended up with 305 followers or so when the contest ended. Since then, I've lost a few, and gained some others reacting to my newer posts. Seems like I've been getting quite a few bots probably, following me. IGers, who don't exactly look like shops that would be following me. No doubt, looking for a reciprocal follow. Sometimes I follow, and sometimes I don't. I'm still trying to follow only those that interest me.

So, I think I'll do another one, for sure, but I'm not sure I gained followers that will necessarily be buyers from my shop.