With the consistent growth and innovations in the crypto industry, we are seeing a large number of projects emerging especially NFTs which have seen a growth of over 450% in number of buyers, and contributed to more than 41$+ billion to the overall market cap. This has many benefits to the industry and brings awareness about the different and unique use cases of blockchain enabling a new way of sharing value through the internet. NFTs are unique products that were a byproduct of the innovation in the crypto industry, bringing with them a new way of rewarding people and creating inclusive ecosystems allowing companies to enter the Web3 space.
With all of these projects emerging and companies entering the crypto industry, it is hard to cut through the noise especially if the products offered already exist. This is why it is important to use the right marketing channels to deliver the message and build a healthy community with an aligned vision. If you are a newcomer to the brand activation with NFT we recommend reading this guide first.
Exploring the most important marketing channels for Web3, Crypto, & NFT projects
Arguably the most important social media network in the Web3, Crypto, and NFT space. Twitter allows new projects and existing companies to easily reach anyone that is interested in emerging technologies. By using proper hashtags and generating useful content, it is possible to start a community of people that share the same interests. It is important to understand that Twitter offers a way to communicate with the community as a whole, offering them updates, educational content, awareness about certain topics, and insight into all the upcoming developments. Twitter also offers multiple ways of collaborating with influencers in the space allowing you to put forward your project to many that might be interested. The main advantage on Twitter is the ability to directly message projects, influencers, and thought leaders without the need for them to follow you (assuming they have the option enabled). The ability to reach out to people directly is effective and opens up opportunities for collaborations. Twitter is also a great tool to network and build relationships with likeminded people. Curating a community and enabling people to network and share ideas is a great asset that Twitter provides for projects and it has proven its effectiveness among upcoming Web3, NFT, and Crypto projects.
Useful Tip – Use Twitter hashtags to their full potential by targeting 3-4 hashtags and spreading useful content in them. Explore ways of using Twitter Spaces, which acts as a podcast for listeners to join and learn about important topics in discussion. Twitter Spaces can also be a useful tool to connect with different people with aligned interests and invite them as speakers to let them share their insights and experiences.
Example – DeSci Collective started with no followers in a niche market. By using proper hashtags such as #DeSci and #Web3 we managed to reach out to people that are aligned with our vision. This in combination with reaching out to community members and engaging them in a bi-monthly Twitter Spaces allowed us to curate a community of over 600+ people over the duration of 4 month to date.
Discord
Communication is key in marketing Web3, Crypto, and NFT projects. Although Twitter is an excellent social media network for communication, it has it’s limitations when it comes to two-way communication between the project’s team and the community. Discord solves this problem by allowing projects to have their own server that acts as a hub for everyone in the closer community to join and discuss different topics related to the project. By using Discord, projects can be creative and push the community to work together to achieve the vision of the project. Discord is completely customizable allowing projects to create specific channels for the community to use, for example, some project implement a hybrid model, where they keep some channels open to the public allowing everyone to discuss topics related to the project. While keeping other channels private and add specific people to discuss topics that are more sensitive. Projects can also create custom roles allowing the different people in the community to achieve higher roles and rewarding them for their involvement and activity level.
Useful Tip – When creating a Discord server for the project, make sure to switch the server to a “Community Server” which will allow you to customize it in multiple ways. Organizing, customizing, and adjusting the parameters of the server will allow you to create a space for everyone in the community to feel welcomed and impactful in one way or another.
Example – Nouns DAO is a very successful NFT project that managed to focus on quality over quantity, unlike Discord servers with thousands of people and no activity, Nouns DAO managed to curate a community of 900+ members that are active, collaborative, and share a common vision. This allowed Nouns DAO to grow as a community project and enabled their DAO governance to flourish, you can refer back to our article about DAOs to understand more about the important of quality community to drive the project forward.
Podcasts & Twitter Spaces
A key marketing channel and one that is growing rapidly with every project aiming to be placed on different podcasts that range in the size of audience and formats. Podcasts hosted on external websites like Apple Podcast, Spotify, etc. or even YouTube are quite prominent and usually curate to a specific community in the market. These podcasts allow projects to talk about their work, vision, mission, and what they are trying to solve. Some podcasts tend to highlight the people behind the project, while others focus on the project itself and what the benefits in getting involved. New type of podcast that is growing rapidly are Twitter Spaces for their ease to set up and the way that projects can create their own space to discuss different topics related to their industry. This has been very successful for new projects helping them grow their community if they share original content that is interesting and appealing.
Useful Tip – For new projects it is mandatory to set up a Twitter account and explore possibilities of using Twitter Spaces, you can also download the Twitter Spaces audio and host them on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and etc. because Twitter Spaces expire every 30 days. You can read our article on the benefits of using hosting and setting up Twitter Spaces a long with a deep dive on how to utilize this tool to it’s best uses.
Example – Podcasts & Twitter Spaces are a great tool for projects to grow, especially in a niche market. DeSci Collective is a successful example where bi-monthly Twitter Spaces acted as a catalyst to increase the number of followers and curate a quality community. This is due to the importance of the topics discussed along with the guests that were invited to different episodes. We have seen this model work with other projects as well, and it shows that people are always on the lookout for original content that is useful for them and the growth of the space.
Conclusion
Regardless of the medium of communication and marketing channels that you use, a project needs to have a strong fundamental offering and stand out amongst all the noise in the market. It is mandatory to create original content and market to specific audiences that understand and align with your vision, goals, and objectives. Community is key and it’s the only way a project can succeed. In this article we touched upon the fundamental marketing channels, however, we will also be exploring different tools and options in the future like TikTok, Instagram, Email Newsletter, and other channels!