In Web3, influencer marketing and community building aren’t separate projects—they’re one system. The durable approach described in this live session starts by building the community “from somewhere” (often Discord), using that community to generate engagement and feedback, and then using the right KOLs to accelerate reach.
If your team treats creators as a replacement for community work, you’ll struggle to scale. If you treat community as the starting point, KOLs become multipliers.
Why community comes first in Web3 (and why it fuels marketing)
The speakers emphasize that in Web3, marketing and community are “one and the same” because community is where evangelists form.
Here’s the core logic:
- Build a community hub first. If you don’t already have a place where people gather, you’re limited to targeting beyond personal networks. The session frames community as something you must “have from somewhere.”
- Engagement creates a feedback loop. Community members don’t just consume your message—they also test your product and surface repeated feedback. That recurring input becomes a signal for what to change.
- Early evangelists become your most influential voices. As the project scales, the community tends to produce members who speak with authority and credibility.
The session uses a “fire” analogy: influencers/partners bring “lumber” that helps ignite and expand your community bonfire, rather than replacing community work.
Define your KOL strategy: categorize creators by how they drive impact
The session’s KOL framing is practical: KOLs aren’t just “influencers.” They’re “anybody with a large community,” and you should select them based on how they help your goals.
A clear categorization is used:
1) Engagement KOLs
These creators drive meaningful conversation. The session highlights recency and genuine engagement, where you’ll see respected replies and interaction from the creator and participants—not just broadcasting.
Selection tip: prioritize creators whose activity and interaction are current and relevant, not accounts that only “shill every project.”
2) Volume-based KOLs
These creators may have lower engagement quality, but they generate frequent posting and chart pressure. They can still influence visibility across channels like Twitter, Telegram, and Discord.
3) Profile KOLs
These are high-visibility accounts tied to major institutions or leadership—such as exchange CEOs/exchange leadership or founders of major projects. The session notes they can improve outreach success because they give a sense of omnipresence.
The key selection principle: recency over raw follower counts
Across all categories, the session stresses that recency of engagement matters more than subscriber counts. Older “numbers” can be misleading if the creator isn’t interacting actively right now.
How to budget crypto influencer marketing (with the right timing and team)
The discussion warns against starting creator programs without a real marketing budget.
A practical budgeting guideline mentioned:
- Allocate about 20%–30% of total raised funds to marketing.
- In more marketing-led scenarios, it could go higher (the session mentions up to roughly 50%).
But budgeting isn’t just a number—it’s built around four essentials:
- Right product
- Right timing
- Right funding
- Right team
If any of these are missing, the session suggests the team often won’t get what they need from creator efforts.
Channel strategy: Twitter, Telegram, Discord (and YouTube for trust)
The speakers focus on:
- Twitter for fast distribution
- Telegram as a channel for community and announcements
- Discord as the community hub
- YouTube as helpful for trust and evergreen visibility (especially because new audiences don’t always know the project)
The session also notes that when markets are bearish, YouTube may have more limited impact, while it can return as retail interest comes back.
A key decision factor mentioned is using market signals to decide when to push spend (e.g., changes in search interest and app rankings).
Team requirements: don’t outsource the relationships too early
The session suggests early-stage teams need:
- A partnerships/outreach person to identify creators, handle conferences, and pursue promotional opportunities
- Analytics support for targeting and measurement
Instead of routing everything through agencies, the speakers prefer working directly with creators to avoid “walls” that slow communication and hurt authenticity.
Creator outreach workflow: data-driven targeting and fast follow-up
A consistent outreach process is presented as a key differentiator.
Start with targeting lists (and keep them clean)
The workflow described includes:
- Build your audience using creator/profile data
- Add cues based on identified metrics
- Run list cleaning on a weekly basis
Assign roles clearly
The session describes internal ownership like this:
- A KOL/key-account manager manages creator relationships
- An analytics/data person builds targeting lists and supports measurement
Use KPIs to manage campaigns
The approach is “data-driven” rather than blanket promotion:
- Define campaign KPIs
- Measure outcomes
- Use results to iterate on targeting and creator selection
Follow up fast
The session emphasizes that outreach doesn’t end after the initial message. If creators miss messages, you need to follow up.
Campaign QA: onboarding creators and maintaining “creator health checks”
To keep campaigns effective, the speakers outline a QA loop that runs during execution.
Review before onboarding
They mention a review process that triple-checks:
- Creator/list quality
- Any creator comments relevant to your product or messaging
Health checks during the campaign
Ongoing health checks ensure creators still meet criteria. If they don’t, the session suggests switching them out.
While there may be some leniency for performance dips, the overall stance is consistent verification and list cleaning as you go to market.
Retention after marketing: grow Discord activity that breeds activity
Running an influencer campaign is not enough if community activity collapses afterward.
The session explains a retention principle:
- Activity breeds activity. If people enter a community that feels busy and engaged, they’re more likely to stay.
They also share a benchmark-style framing for gaming communities (as discussed in the session):
- Typical members send about 3 messages/day, while gaming communities may be closer to 50, and highly collaborative features can reach even higher messaging per user.
The takeaway isn’t the exact numbers—it’s that sustained community engagement requires an active environment, not just a follower bump.
Keep Discord active with events and channel streamlining
Use community mechanisms
Community servers stay active when they offer enough participation:
- events
- games
- live voice sessions
The session notes that a live team responding to questions tends to work better than relying entirely on AI (even if curiosity can drive short-term engagement). It also warns AI can post unintended content, so moderation or disabling may be needed.
Consolidate channels to avoid dilution
One practical retention method is channel streamlining:
- Don’t spread discussion across many channels.
- The session suggests “one to three channels” as probably the best idea to maintain a busy level of activity.
If engagement requires too many channels, the session advises reassessing whether the community model is too complex.
Outreach follow-up tactics: VIP ambassadors and short messages
The speakers also discuss post-setup engagement tactics:
Build an ambassador program
They describe launching an ambassador program with a VIP group where ambassadors:
- network with each other
- boost each other’s posts
- grow their audience together
The session also mentions using Discord tools/bots and engagement mechanics (like retweets) to create a “flywheel” effect.
Keep outreach short and clear
Creators receive many messages, so outreach should be brief and specific. The session also advises including budget/price in outreach.
Timing and scaling: start outreach early and test multiple creator types
The session provides guidance for planning timelines:
- If you want to launch in roughly two months, start outreach immediately.
- Trust-building with creators takes time, so creator marketing should be treated as continuous discovery—not a last-minute push.
Scaling and testing guidance includes:
- Don’t rely on only one or two creators.
- Run tests across multiple creator categories to see what resonates.
- The session suggests starting with 5 to 10 creators.
They also caution against “no silver bullet” thinking: success typically requires multiple coordinated marketing actions aligned to goals.
Conclusion: build the community system, then scale with the right creators
To master crypto influencer marketing in Web3, follow the sequence from the session:
- Start with community (often Discord) and build evangelists.
- Categorize KOLs by engagement quality, volume, and profile—and prioritize recency.
- Fund and staff influencer work with a real marketing budget and clear team roles.
- Run a disciplined outreach workflow with weekly list cleaning and fast follow-up.
- Do campaign QA using creator onboarding checks and ongoing health checks.
- Protect retention by keeping Discord busy with events and streamlining channels.
When community creates engagement and feedback loops, influencer efforts become a multiplier—not a substitute.
