The Death of the Crypto Influencer?

As the market turned down, the gap became wider and wider. Project's exposure budgets got haircuts (short back & sides), content creator engagement numbers plummeted.

As did reputations, half of the followers left are only there to troll at this point.

However start-ups still needed to build traction, and influencers still needed to eat, although in many cases, during the bull run especially, neither party necessarily deserved to.

Surely balance would be restored to the force in time?

Well, maybe not. We frequently have conversations with projects that have used influencers in the past, and the satisfaction rate is incredibly low, sub 20%.

Why is this?

1) Projects consistently fail on due diligence of exposure channels.

Many just see the follower or subscriber count and correlate to price.

Some check the engagement of the latest content to assess potential outcomes.

Fewer recognize that sponsored content usually underperforms because you can't trend hop or rely on search volume.

Very few use sites like Socialblade to check where the follower numbers and views are coming from and look for large drop-offs in the counts after a steep increase (a major red flag).

Influencers know this and that's why the prices are often still so high. There is an ass for every seat and even if some projects are sharp enough to recognize the cost-benefit is not there, many others are not.

2) Think KOL (Key Opinion Leader) not Influencer: Focus on a larger number of smaller content creators as opposed to a small number of large ones.

Focus on engagement, quality of content and relevant niche. When a creator has these, not only will the community they are building grow, but they will highly value your interest and appreciation. This makes the onboarding process and continued engagement much easier.

Large channels and accounts will do far less for you. On average they actually have far lower engagement around specific topics as they have had to expand beyond the initial niche to get there.

Move away from thinking about influencers in the traditional sense. Key Opinion Leaders (KOL's) should be genuine advocates of web3 and a particular niche, and enjoy having conversations about it. Elevate them and grow together.

3) "Telling people once, is like not telling them at all."

The focus is so often on a single Tweet (Don't even get me started on paying for retweets), or post in a Telegram or Discord. This can be useful to kick start social joins if combined with a carrot for the viewer.

Conversion from seeing sponsored content to becoming a real advocate of your project is generally extremely low. However, many projects gravitate towards this type of engagement because it is the easiest thing to do. Select from the menu, receive shill, and the job is done.

Until you see the results and have to explain why thousands of dollars was spent on 8,000 Tweet impressions, 23 likes, 4 retweets and 2 new followers.

Focus on long-term engagements, think ambassadors, find real key opinion leaders in your niche, with strong content, engagement & understanding. Then take the time to discuss, educate and come to an arrangement.

4) Active management and engagement are key.

Once a long-term engagement has been established that works for both parties, there needs to be management put in place. You cant expect KOL's to be talking about you daily or engaging on every post. But when key messaging comes out and people are not pulling their weight they need a nudge.

Using things like vesting schedules for tokens that can be cancelled are excellent for ensuring continuing participation. Service Level Agreements are a must. Recurring revenue is gold dust to content creators.

In this environment where do we find our Superfans?

Conversation is King

Nothing will onboard real advocates of your project like joining communities to have authentic conversations. In this case, size is not the key; niche and engagement are the focus.

Consider hosting Ask Me Anything (AMA) session

AMAs in small dedicated communities, Twitter spaces with accounts focused on your ecosystem or niche. Joining your partners & investors for knowledge sharing and leveraging off each other's following and social proof.

These types of activities can help you find more dedicated advocates in just one hour and with little or no cost, compared to spending tens of thousands of dollars on a month-long campaign.

From there you can build out from your base activating these valued supporters with things like engagement campaigns and incentive mechanisms.

Then the real growth starts, in the right way. True advocates, found, activated and incentivized.

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Any insights or opinions drop us a comment!

And to talk to us about our web3 marketing services including:

• Growth
• Social media
• Community management
• Business development
• PR

Get in touch with me Ian Byrne or book a chat here:

https://calendly.com/ian-altcoin-edge/15min

Catch you in the next one,

Cheers!