How to promote your HiTide auction

Follow these 4 easy steps

to set yourself up for a successful Auction Drop

including FREE ready to use Story & Post Templates

1. Choose your start date and time

The auction should start at a specific time and can last up to 24 hours. You're free to edit your date and times anytime (assuming you haven't promoted them yet).

In the past we've seen most success when creators choose a 24 hour period such as Thur into Fri, Fri into Sat, or Sun into Monday - but will leave this up to you since you know your audience best!

2. Make sure you've picked a great keyword

Whatever keyword you use is up to you, but keep in mind that you want to pick something that people are unlikely to use in a comment or DM unless they actually want to bid.

Ideally it's easy to spell, and as short as possible.

Example of a good keyword: johnnydrop
Example of a bad keyword: art

3. Publish any promo content at least 2 days in advance

You should do at least 2 IG stories that contain a Countdown Sticker, so that your audience is notified when the auction starts.

Want to learn how to set up a Countdown Sticker? Click Here

Posts and content leading up to the auction should:
  • Encourage your audience to "look for my (post/story) at [12pm] on [Friday] for the keyword and how to participate in the auction"
  • Include any other relevant details like whether shipping is included or not

4. Launch by sharing your keyword

At the predetermined time you should do another Story sharing the keyword. Don't forget to edit your existing post or create a new post that also contains the keyword.

Remember, it's important that you do not share the keyword until the auction starts!

Example auction promotion

The below are examples from a successful Story promotion by Caravan Quilts (@caravanquilts)

Ready to use

Post caption template:

Copy, paste and personalize the text with your own details.

___NAME___ Auction!

This will be an auction style drop available to bid for ___ hours via Instagram dm (from ___DATE___ - till ___DATE___).

HOW TO BID:

On ___DATE___ I will post the Keyword to my story which you will dm to me anytime during the ___ hour auction. This word will trigger an automated response where you can begin bidding.

Ready to use

Story sticker packs

Here are some images you can use for explaining and promoting your auction.

We've provided a variety of styles to choose from.

Download to your phone camera roll, then copy and paste to use them as Instagram Story Stickers on your own Story content.

Want to learn how to use pre-made Story Stickers?
Here's a quick video tutorial.