Stars | 2024.7.19
Original guest: Evie (Twitter: @0xEvieYang)
Hello everyone, my name is Xingchen. Because I have been working on Web3 market-related work, I am sensitive to the continuous specialization and segmentation of content in the industry. I will pay attention to good content, especially some experience summaries .
Let’s talk about KOL marketing today.
The blockchain industry is in its early stages and is growing wildly. The quality of KOLs varies greatly, and even the term KOL has a bad reputation in the industry and is slightly derogatory .
Because some KOLs are in collusion with the project parties who are holding high the sickle to cut leeks together; or shill obviously and lead orders in the opposite direction; or they pretend to be profound; or they lose control of their emotions and curse loudly, just to gain traffic.
In the early stages of the industry, this type of KOL still had a market.
However, with the continuous reshuffle of industry development, the KOL ecosystem is also changing. More and more high-quality KOLs will settle in the industry to provide educational guidance and popular science services to new users.
There is no doubt that KOL has become an indispensable part of the Web3 ecosystem and an accelerator for the promotion of various projects. This cycle even gave birth to the "KOL round" model.
This episode’s guest Evie is the founder of JE Lab , a Web3 marketing studio in Singapore. Today, let’s see how she talks from the perspective of the project side - what factors will be considered in KOL placement, and how to control the rhythm of KOL event promotion?
The following is Evie’s original text/pictures.
1. What factors do we consider when placing KOLs?
In Web3, as the number of KOL accounts increases and competition between projects becomes increasingly fierce, the requirements for KOL investment in projects are becoming higher and higher , and the overall process is becoming more and more refined .
The first hurdle a project faces when doing KOL marketing is often how to select KOLs .
Is it better to have more fans? Is it better to have a higher cost-performance ratio? Is it better to have a stronger order fulfillment capability?
Evaluation from a single dimension can easily lead to ineffective delivery , so key factors need to be taken into consideration before matching KOLs.
So based on past experience, what dimensions do we consider when conducting KOL advertising?
First of all, we need to classify the purposes of KOL traffic investment, which are mainly divided into brand building, traffic accumulation and user conversion.
The purpose is different, and the importance of each consideration indicator is also different.
In addition, the target user group also needs to be analyzed before launch.
Specifically, the dimensions considered include:
1) KOL tonality and audience matching
KOLs of systematically operated accounts often have more prominent **labels**, such as DeFi, NFT, Airdrop, Alpha hunter, etc.
KOLs with different tones correspond to followers with different portraits.
We will prioritize KOLs in specific vertical categories based on the type of project and marketing objectives.
2) Content Quality
For "brand-type" advertising, the importance of content is far greater than the number of fans or traffic of the KOL itself.
In Web3, high-quality content is very penetrating . For example, some Twitter accounts currently have only 10,000 or 20,000 followers, but several of their content have traffic of tens of thousands.
Therefore, we are also happy to cooperate with creators who may not have that many fans but have high-quality content.
3) Commercial capabilities
It mainly includes the projects the KOL has cooperated on, their conversion capabilities, and their degree of cooperation .
In the KOL List we give to our clients, we often attach past posts by KOLs that are closer to the client’s needs as reference.
Based on this, we can roughly judge the traffic effect of this KOL post.
We will also look at the projects that the KOL has collaborated on, so as to understand the criteria used by them to judge the projects.
4) Basic data
Including the real number of fans, fan activity, content output stability , etc.
This dimension is easy to understand, so I won’t explain it in detail.
For "brand" advertising, the quality of fans is very important, because it is definitely more efficient to expand from a relatively core circle.
How to judge the quality of KOL’s fans?
We have accounts that follow many high-quality accounts. We can find out by going to the KOL page and looking at the common followers .
In addition, we will also refer to the data from Twitter account analysis platforms such as **@TweetScout_io, @Protokols_io and https://xfinder.fun**.
5) Cost-effectiveness
This is also very important. Sometimes the KOL’s offer is high, not because it is originally so high, or because they want to cut the leeks of the project party, but because they do not have such a strong intention to cooperate.
In order to make good use of the budget, we will use different types of content for KOLs. For example, some threads will have the best effect, while others will only require Tweets or RTs.
2. How to control the rhythm of KOL event promotion?
KOL marketing is an indispensable part of projects when organizing more important events.
However, how to control the overall promotion rhythm? What is the proportion of various KOLs at different stages?
After cooperating with more than 100 projects to hold MKT events and helping high-quality projects with KOL placement, let me share some of my conclusions.
Since different types of KOLs are involved in the entire delivery process, we need to first classify KOLs and understand their effectiveness:
1) Top KOL : Analyze the project, highlight the project highlights, and enhance the project brand image
2) Central KOLs and communities : Events create momentum and projects break through the circle, triggering users' desire to participate
3) KOC : Improve user trust through participation and feedback
For marketing activities that last relatively long, KOL promotion will be divided into the following stages:
🚀Activity warm-up period
1) Launch target: Establish brand image and initially increase exposure of projects and activities
2) Marketing strategy: Use influential top KOLs to write threads that mainly introduce projects and supplement them with activity introductions to enhance brand image and attention.
At the same time, we use central KOLs and communities to quote RT activity tweets to create momentum and increase volume at a relatively low cost.
3) Proportion of various types of KOLs:
Top KOLs account for 10%, while mid-level KOLs and communities account for 90%.
30% of the budget is used for threads of top KOLs, and 70% is used for Quote RT of mid-level KOLs and communities.
🚀Activity outbreak period
1) Target: Focus on the activity itself and increase participation in the activity
2) Marketing strategy: Use mid-level KOLs to write detailed event participation guides to deepen users’ impression of the event and increase event participation; use KOCs to write about their participation experience to increase trust.
3) Proportion of various KOLs: Central KOLs account for 60%; KOCs account for 40%
🚀Event Ending Period
1) Launch goal: deepen users’ impression of the project and increase participation
2) Marketing strategy: Invite top KOLs, including KOLs who have written threads before, to quote RT the event, thereby reactivating followers for conversion at a relatively low cost.
For high-quality thread content, secondary distribution will be carried out; in addition, participation will be boosted again through the community.
3) Proportion of various KOLs: Top KOLs account for 20%, mid-level KOLs and communities account for 80%
Different projects and activities have different marketing strategies. For example, some projects have sufficient budgets and tend to go all out and pitch all the high-quality resources they can.
Others prefer to push forward in stages, collecting user feedback through relatively natural growth, and then pushing hard in the middle and late stages.
Although the playing methods and strategies are different, the basic logic is the same.
Some discussion:
@JunzTsang:
This is a good article, but I have different opinions on top KOLs, first-tier mid-level KOLs and communities.
The ultimate goal of MKT should be to seek the effect of brand and effect integration, rather than simple brand promotion.
Because brand promotion cannot bring any effect to the project, and I think this part of the cost should be used to increase "voice".
So from my personal point of view, there should be no problem for mid-level KOLs and communities to gain popularity, which is in line with what Evie said about "creating momentum and breaking the circle", but I think the goal of top KOLs should be changed and should be focused on "conversion rate".
Maybe my point is to let the top KOLs do content marketing and guide conversions, rather than analyzing the projects, because this will miss the best conversion time window.
The time sequence should be to first find mid-level KOLs and communities in batches for large-scale exposure, so that users have the feeling that they have seen the brand/product in advance, and then launch the top KOLs to achieve the conversion goal.
Btw, there are too many "delivery traps" in KOL delivery nowadays. If you have a good delivery list, please recommend it.
Evie replied:
The head must focus on conversion.
Before the mid-level KOLs are deployed, users need to have an understanding of the project first. Therefore, the top KOLs are asked to write a thread to set the tone for the project . Once users think the project is good, they will be more willing to participate when they see project activities later.
In the third stage, let the top KOL quote RT again to activate users for conversion again.
Replenish:
I had a brief discussion with industry operator George in March this year. George has his experience and tips on promotional placement, which I would like to share with you:
1) KOL can bring some social media data , and the growth is OK. But if you want to buy and project awareness, Youtube, target communities, and media placements will be more effective and require a higher budget .
2) The top or high-quality domestic KOLs or communities will first look at the project. If the project is good and the KOL/community is willing to promote it, they will not necessarily ask for a high price and may only need some white orders or the like.
3) In order to prevent KOLs from creating fake accounts, the general method is that KOLs and the communities they create promote them simultaneously . Domestic KOLs will build their own communities, but overseas KOLs generally do not. Overseas KOLs do not have many fake followers, but they are more common in China.
4) Ask experienced people about the quality of KOLs . It is best to communicate and cooperate with them based on a list that has been tested and screened , which will be more efficient.
above.
Thanks Evie and George.
If you are interested in Web3 MTK, please leave a message to communicate.
References:
1) "What factors do we consider when placing KOLs?"
https://x.com/0xEvieYang/status/1813207142821994906
2) "How to control the rhythm of KOL activity promotion? "
https://x.com/0xEvieYang/status/1813551808692080857
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