The Ultimate Guide to NFT Airdrops: Everything You Need to Know

If you're new to the world of NFTs, you might be wondering what an NFT airdrop is and how it works. In this article, we'll provide you with a complete guide to NFT airdrops, including how to use them, the different types available, and some popular examples. Whether you're a creator looking to generate buzz around your NFTs or a community member looking to claim some free tokens, this article has everything you need to know.

What is AirDrop and how does it work?

An NFT Airdrop is a method of distributing newly minted NFTs to multiple wallets simultaneously. Creators can give away their NFTs for free to a select group of people, such as their community who have purchased an NFT from them. An NFT airdrop is often used as a marketing strategy by NFT creators to generate buzz and promote their NFTs, or as rewards for being part of a community.

How do you use AirDrop?

NFT airdrops are used by creators to build an audience and community around their NFTs. By giving away NFTs for free, creators can attract attention to their work and generate interest in their future NFT drops. NFT airdrops can also be used as a reward system for existing community members, incentivizing them to continue to support the creator and their work. Airdrops can also be used to generate revenue by including resale royalties, which give the creator a percentage of the sale price each time the NFT is resold.

How to Claim an NFT Airdrop

To claim an NFT airdrop, provide your public wallet address to the project or connect your wallet to the claim site. If you're already a part of an NFT project, you might not need to do anything because they have your wallet information. It's best to use an empty wallet when claiming an airdrop to avoid losing money in a scam. This is crucial because you can't know if an airdrop is genuine until you claim it.

If the airdrop is part of an existing project you're in, the token will be sent to your original asset's wallet. However, make sure to double-check the creator's identity to verify the legitimacy of the airdropped token. It should be the same as your original NFT.

Different Types of NFT Airdrops

Standard Airdrop

A standard airdrop is the simplest type that requires the least amount of effort. You can get an airdrop by merely showing your interest and providing your wallet's public address. However, standard airdrops are often limited in number and may have a deadline. Therefore, you must act quickly and provide your wallet details within a specified time to get your NFT airdrop.

Holder Airdrop

A holder airdrop is a reward given to current token holders that comes in the form of an extra NFT. To qualify for this airdrop, you need to own a specific type of NFT in a particular collection and have a certain number of tokens. For example, if you own 3 NFTs from a collection, you'll get 3 airdrops. However, only some NFTs in a collection are eligible for an airdrop (such as owning the rarer pieces). Since everything is on the blockchain, project creators can easily check who holds their NFT at present, ensuring that the airdrop goes to the current holder, not a previous one.

Exclusive Airdrop

An exclusive airdrop is a reward given to specific people who participate in a particular event, task, or contribute to a project in some way. To become eligible for an exclusive airdrop, you can do things like buying a physical product, attending an in-person event, spending time with the community, or helping to build a project. A popular example of this is with Gary Vee, who frequently airdrops VeeFriends NFTs to active members of his Discord community. He has also dropped NFTs to those who've purchased his physical products as a token of appreciation.

Raffle Airdrop

When there are more people interested in an airdrop than tokens available, project owners can use a raffle to pick wallets at random to receive the airdrop. To qualify for a raffle spot, you can hold an NFT, earn points by completing tasks, or show interest in the project. The project's NFT creators will usually specify the number of raffle spots and how to enter. This creates FOMO, generating more hype.

Bounty Airdrop

A bounty airdrop is where users are asked to complete a certain task to obtain the airdrop. The main aim of these tasks is to promote awareness of the NFT project. Tasks can include things like sharing a social media post, inviting new members to the project's Discord group, or creating something special for the brand. After you complete the tasks, you'll either earn points that decide if you're eligible or be entered into a raffle where you could receive the airdrop as a reward.

Popular NFT Airdrops

Some popular NFT airdrops that have been previously released involve:

• The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) airdrop, which gave away 20,000 free MAYC NFTs to early supporters.
• The Cool Cats NFT airdrop, which distributed a limited supply of ‘The Cool Cats Originals’ to their holders.
• The Pudgy Penguins community which airdropped “penguPin” SBTs (Soulbound tokens) to 16 Pudgy Penguin holders last August.
• PancakeSwap gave away limited edition NFTs to the first 8888 people who signed up to their platform.

How to Create an NFT Airdrop

Let's take a look at two of the most commonly used methods for conducting NFT airdrops:

Method 1

The easiest way to carry out an NFT airdrop is by simply sending an NFT to someone's public crypto wallet address. To collect the addresses of potential participants, you can create a registration form that allows people to enter their wallet addresses. Once you have gathered the addresses, you can send or airdrop the NFT to everyone who filled out the form. While this method is straightforward, it does come with some limitations. For instance, it may not be the best choice if you're looking to scale your operation or implement some unique blockchain logic into your airdrop or NFTs.

Method 2

If you want to conduct a more advanced NFT airdrop, you can set up a hardhat project, which is the industry-standard development environment for Ethereum smart contracts. Next, you can write a smart contract specifically for your NFT with built-in airdrop functionality. Once you have created the contract, you can deploy it to mint and airdrop the NFT to the public addresses of members you have captured through your registration form. This method allows for more customization and flexibility, making it a great option for those looking to implement more complex blockchain logic into their NFT airdrop. If you want to include airdrops in your project and are seeking a more simple and affordable solution you can utilize online NFT tools that have this feature built into them.

Create an Airdrop using an NFT generator - NFT-Inator

NFT-Inator is a complete NFT generator and launch kit for artists, where you can generate your artwork, export metadata and deploy an ERC-721A contract with no code. Airdrops are a feature that are included automatically and the controls are accessed through the dashboard.

It's straightforward and easy to use:

1. Head to the platform and load up your project. If you haven't created on yet, click here
2. Click on the airdrops section, then enter the wallet address and quantity to airdrop
3. Click Airdrop and sign the transaction in your wallet (You will need Ether for gas)
4. Tokens are airdropped to the address entered

Our toolkit provides an effortless solution to the methods mentioned above, along with simplifying many other aspects of creating an NFT collection and deploying smart contracts. To learn more about NFT-Inator, visit the here

How safe are Airdrops?

It is wise to be cautious with NFT airdrops. Randomly received airdrops are usually spam, so avoid them. If you need to connect your wallet to claim an airdrop, do it carefully. When an NFT project announces an airdrop, it's generally safe to assume it's okay. Watch out for red flags like claim site fees, private information requests, wallet access requests, unexpected project offers, DM links, or too-good-to-be-true offers. Airdrops can be great for both consumers and the brand, but be careful with the risks as the NFT space is developing and taking precautions is advised.

Conclusion

By understanding how NFT airdrops work and how to create them, NFT creators can take advantage of this strategy to promote their NFTs, grow their audience and build a stronger connection with their own community. Remember that if your resources are limited, there are tools at your disposal which offer a more simplified approach to creating airdrops. Good luck on creating your airdrop, and if you want ideas for how to promote within the NFT space then check out this next post.