Questioning the importance of bounty campaigns & airdrops

[BitHFT]

Hello all,

Based on the current landscape, how important are bounty campaigns and airdrops, from both an investor's perspective, as well as from the project's perspective?

Folks that are heavily involved in bounty programs and airdrops are essentially performing various tasks in exchange for tokens from upcoming projects.  This exchange in itself has no direct value on the project since it provides no resources for project owners to use on development.  The objective is to increase awareness by spreading the word.  Now the key question is, how effective are the listed tasks?  Do they actually generate funds for the project to strengthen their development? Or do they just generate "hype" within a small group of "bounty-hunters" that is looking for free tokens?

I really want to hear some honest opinions from the community.  Let's try to be fully unbiased in this thread and simply speak from experience.  If you are an investor, have you ever invested in an ICO because they had a big bounty program? i.e., you saw someone on bitcointalk with a signature and decided to give the project a try, or maybe a friend referred you to a telegram channel and things started there, etc.  If you are not an investor, maybe share your general thoughts.

Again, I am simply looking for community opinions.  I am not against these programs, but am curious about their general effectiveness.

For full disclosure, I am the social media director for BitHFT, a copy-trading investment platform that streamlines strategy sharing.  So I am asking the question from the project owner side, but since I am also personally interested in various ICOs, I can also relate to responses from an investor's perspective.

Have a good day,
James

[o_e_l_e_o]

Signature campaigns work if the project is legitimate. There are a couple of sites I now use regularly - mixer sites, gambling sites, even a coinmarketcap alternative - that I discovered through signature campaigns.

The issue is that people who are solely here to be "bounty hunters" have terrible post quality, and so are only accepted to the worst campaigns ran by shady ICOs with no product just trying to make a quick buck before exiting and never being heard from again.

[BitHFT]

Yup... this is what the team is almost afraid of.

Bounty hunters that are involved in countless campaigns simultaneously trying to grab as many free tokens as possible while giving zero care about the project itself... generating quick posts/low quality work that can potentially drive a bad name for the actual project.  It isn't the most productive thing to do for a project to spend resources on something that can be counter productive.

Thanks for the reply mate,

James

[o_e_l_e_o]

I would suggest having a look at pugman's list of Anti-Spam Campaign Managers. Picking a good manager and setting appropriate conditions on your campaign (such as senior members and above only, minimum earned merit requirements, etc) will result in a much better post quality and therefore a more successful campaign, but you can obviously expect to pay more for this than for your standard newbies-spamming-one-liners campaign.

[beleyeleazar]

Yup... this is what the team is almost afraid of.

Bounty hunters that are involved in countless campaigns simultaneously trying to grab as many free tokens as possible while giving zero care about the project itself... generating quick posts/low quality work that can potentially drive a bad name for the actual project.  It isn't the most productive thing to do for a project to spend resources on something that can be counter productive.

Thanks for the reply mate,

James

I think that is where you are mistaken. What you said is essentially incorrect. For one, having a lot of bounties that you are joining at does not equate to having low quality posts. On the same note, we have bounty managers who monitor the quality of the posts being made. If the posts you are making is really low quality, then you will either be notified or it will not be counted, worse you will be kicked out of the campaign.

Also I want to correct you. Bounty hunters are not getting "free" tokens. Those tokens are the result of working for that project as a compensation for either doing a translation, advertising the ICO, or something else. There are a lot out of bounty hunters out there who are making real efforts in order to earn those tokens. So don't ever say those are "free" because it's something you've worked for at least 4-5 months. You spend time and effort in posting.

[Bencus]

Its similar to billboards.
You dont buy a phone, because you can see it on billboards.
But it will be familiar, and people tend to choose familiar sounding projects for an investment, if there is two equal, and the only difference is how familiar it is.
So Signature campaigns does worth it.

[lunaelucemauram]

Well bounty hunting in the crypto industry has already become what we know as affiliate marketing of the cryptocurrency, and as almost the same as affiliate marketing people who just want a quick cash spam their affiliate link all over the place without a care to the people who is in need of the product and the same goes into ICO's while some bounty hunters are just in for a quick cash they do not care for the project at all and in the end it causes disinterest from the potential investors.

[KobbyC]

Sincerely speaking, signature campaigns are the best way to promote ICO and even platforms. I have joined a lot of ICOs through signatures. I joined xyo, 4new, and w12 through someone's signature. All these projects have got good ideas. I really believe that bounty campaigns are essential.

[musta5a]

Hello all,

Based on the current landscape, how important are bounty campaigns and airdrops, from both an investor's perspective, as well as from the project's perspective?

Folks that are heavily involved in bounty programs and airdrops are essentially performing various tasks in exchange for tokens from upcoming projects.  This exchange in itself has no direct value on the project since it provides no resources for project owners to use on development.  The objective is to increase awareness by spreading the word.  Now the key question is, how effective are the listed tasks?  Do they actually generate funds for the project to strengthen their development? Or do they just generate "hype" within a small group of "bounty-hunters" that is looking for free tokens?

I really want to hear some honest opinions from the community.  Let's try to be fully unbiased in this thread and simply speak from experience.  If you are an investor, have you ever invested in an ICO because they had a big bounty program? i.e., you saw someone on bitcointalk with a signature and decided to give the project a try, or maybe a friend referred you to a telegram channel and things started there, etc.  If you are not an investor, maybe share your general thoughts.

Again, I am simply looking for community opinions.  I am not against these programs, but am curious about their general effectiveness.

For full disclosure, I am the social media director for BitHFT, a copy-trading investment platform that streamlines strategy sharing.  So I am asking the question from the project owner side, but since I am also personally interested in various ICOs, I can also relate to responses from an investor's perspective.

Have a good day,
James

I would completely give up airdrops, they're attracting only the group of people that wants free money, usually they can barely use computer. When it comes to bounty, people really work for it, but again, I would be doing proper screening for bounty hunters, because many of them are just clueless.

[bitcoinpeople2]

I think that to a large extent, airdrops and bounty programs are relevant. Both to ICOs, and Bounty hunters. It has been a good way for a lot of persons to earn by the side, and it has also been a good to promote these ICOs, and I think that a good number of us will agree to this. These programs are really essential, and I don't exactly see why  they should be questioned.

[mrcastelo]

Bounty Campaigns is both essential for both the investor and the hunters because its the most affordable way of advertising an ICO . with a limited budget the investor would be able to advertise its ICO on a wider reach (social media campaigns, content creation etc). While the hunters would be able to earn through campaigning the ICO.

[jarojak]

It's only a kind of "cheap" advertising, because they pay with their token.  Beside the hype which is important thing, of course they also generate funds for their project.  Not every body in community are total bounty hunters that just looking for free tokens.  Some bounty hunter is investor and trader too.

[eternalgloom]

I have to admit that I'm kinda picky when it comes to advertising, certainly with signatures that I see here on the forum.
I think in all my years being a member here, I've only clicked on someone's signature link maybe 5 times or so.

If I see something that might look interesting, I usually check out their announcement thread and then decide whether I want to spend some time looking in to the project.

That's just me though, I see how many people sign up through my own signature link and I get a few referrals each week.
So it must be pretty effective in the end, keeping in mind that my own campaign has been running for a couple of years.

[aldrin6697]

It is important to advertise the project, and also to have publicity in social medias.

[Bayonetto]

Yup... this is what the team is almost afraid of.

Bounty hunters that are involved in countless campaigns simultaneously trying to grab as many free tokens as possible while giving zero care about the project itself... generating quick posts/low quality work that can potentially drive a bad name for the actual project.  It isn't the most productive thing to do for a project to spend resources on something that can be counter productive.

Thanks for the reply mate,

James

I think that is where you are mistaken. What you said is essentially incorrect. For one, having a lot of bounties that you are joining at does not equate to having low quality posts. On the same note, we have bounty managers who monitor the quality of the posts being made. If the posts you are making is really low quality, then you will either be notified or it will not be counted, worse you will be kicked out of the campaign.

Also I want to correct you. Bounty hunters are not getting "free" tokens. Those tokens are the result of working for that project as a compensation for either doing a translation, advertising the ICO, or something else. There are a lot out of bounty hunters out there who are making real efforts in order to earn those tokens. So don't ever say those are "free" because it's something you've worked for at least 4-5 months. You spend time and effort in posting.

I agree, some people even have bounty campaigns as a side job, meaning that they give a lot of importance to it, cause it represents a big part of their incomes.