How Felicia Murray sold a one-of-a-kind piece in a live social auction on Instagram
“...it was exciting to watch my fans bid on my art without even leaving IG! I was so ecstatic with the results and can't wait to run my next auction”
The challenge
How to bring the excitement of a local, in-person auction to a global social audience
Felicia Murray is a Portland, Oregon based fiber artist who stretches the limits of materials, beyond yarn to the unexpected: scraps of shoes, balls, and laces in the case of her supersize commission on display at Nike world headquarters in Oregon. Her work can be described as vibrant, colorful bright and surrealy natural.
Instagram helps Felicia connect with fans of her work around the world. But as most creators know, the reach of stories and posts can be unreliable - many fans simply miss important moments like sales, events and more that they would otherwise like to be aware of. IG reminders can help, but those too have trouble breaking through the noise.
Felicia had a unique challenge - she planned to host an in-person studio tour during a market event where she expected to meet many new and existing fans of her work.
She had recently collaborated with @adfupholstery on an incredible piece she wanted to showcase during the event - a one of a kind “Mycelia seat” inspired by the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest. The perfect piece to sell via auction.
But how best to reminder her fans about the auction, keep participants updated on the status of their bids, all while hosting a busy crowd?! This is where HiTide came in.
The solution
A frictionless auction, hosted on Instagram and supported by Text Message reminders
Felicia started by letting her Instagram audience know about the upcoming Mycelia auction. She promoted the piece as part of her in-person event marketing - and used a giveaway to build her Text list
In less than a few minutes, she also set up an Auction Drop powered by HiTide (you can read more about Auction Drops here).
She then set up her studio space with a QR code that allowed her in-person guests to join the bidding fun - with current bid prices displayed via HiTide “Leaderboard” in real time on a mounted iPad next to the piece.
“HiTide was so easy to work with to start my own text list for my giveaway. I was able to set it up in minutes and now I can reach my audience directly when I need to in a fun and engaging way that brings more traffic to my website drops and sales. I also used my text list to run my first auction on HiTide”
- Felicia Murray