How To Build and Grow an NFT Community
Overview
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have taken the world by storm in the last year, with billions of dollars being spent on several NFT marketplaces. And for creators, building and growing a community will become increasingly vital to sustaining their NFT projects.
NFTs have enabled artists to sell digital artwork without the use of middlemen, while also receiving royalties on secondary sales of their work. However, this is only the beginning of the capabilities that NFTs bring to the developing Web3.0 world.
NFTs have provided users with new ways to access various forms of crypto art, and the fact that they are recorded on the blockchain means that anybody may access them.
The growth explosion in the NFT space has led to the spring up of amazing projects usually originating from a small group of NFT enthusiasts who now have to wonder how they can build and grow their community before the mint takes place. Community building is no small task, and to those unfamiliar with the concept, knowing where to start can set you and your supporters up for success. In this article, we’ll share some tips on building and growing an NFT community.
An NFT community generally refers to those who are engaging in a project by buying, selling, minting, and holding the assets of an NFT project. Community is a concept that is frequently used in the industry and is an important factor to consider when purchasing an NFT.
The importance of NFTs stems from the fact that their original owner may be verified in the blockchain. If the work is sold to a new owner, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain, and the creator or artist is paid a portion for each transaction of the piece. This portion of the transaction paid is called a royalty, which is a percentage of the sale price a creator receives each time an NFT is sold on a marketplace. Digital assets with a wide range of commercial opportunities might be represented in this fashion.
As a project progresses, the community can become increasingly exclusive. Once minting is completed, those who were interested and engaged on social media will no longer be considered members of the community simply because they are not a holder,
What is an NFT community?
Some NFT projects come with members-only benefits, are quick, and are tied to a brand or celebrity, which an investor can flip for a quick profit. Any NFT project, on the other hand, must have a community that will stick with it and grow together if it is to succeed in the long run.
Numerous projects hire influencers to promote their drop, leading more casual fans to join the community. However, a high number of users in the community does not equate to a strong community.
How to Build an NFT Community
Most communities are initially built from their audience on Twitter. A community could also influence the goals of the project. Let’s break this down:
1. Set a vision and goals
It’s important to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your NFT project. Your vision acts as the foundation, the reason why people would want to join your NFT community beyond the digital assets they’ll receive. The project scope and specialization influence the size, the kind of team members you want to work with, and where to concentrate your marketing efforts. Creating a vision will help you attract fans and not members just looking to flip for profit.
Developing a vision that appeals to your target audience can make it easier for you to communicate with your fans. It’s not just about the art when it comes to building successful NFT initiatives, one must also appeal to a specific audience and elicit a specific mood.
2. Choose your platform
It is also no news that Discord and Twitter are very essential when building and growing an NFT community. Short announcements are usually best made on Twitter and this is also where new members become aware of the project. The next course of action is to look for a platform to host a larger community of people where they get their questions answered, interact with one another, and learn about the project before investing.
Discord is an excellent medium for interaction and community building. Whether you enjoy playing video games, communicating with your teammates, or engaging in unusual hobbies, there’s something for everyone on Discord.
3. Involve experts
Running a community should never be a one-person job, from engaging the community to conducting giveaways, to making vital decisions and keeping the community socials active. There is a need for the founders of a project to involve experts like Community Managers who then hire moderators (mods) from the project’s active community members who are genuinely interested in the vision of the project.
This is perhaps one of the most important key points as their performance will give measurable insight as to how the project will fare in the long run. The moderators should take ownership of initiatives such as webinars, meetings, to maintain and promote a vibrant community culture. The moderators should not be people overly concerned with the floor price of the project or people who criticize the founders of the project neither should they be speaking about flipping the NFTs all the time.
Having an experienced social media manager to explain and point new members to the right channel is also very important in building and growing an NFT community. Because marketing and promotion are important in the growth of an NFT project, the social media managers will work with influencers to bring awareness to your project.
4. Put the community first in decision-making
Allowing the community to take part in the governance and decision-making is also an important part of building and growing an NFT community. Community members should be allowed to participate in issues that will have a direct impact on their holdings and the future of the project.
This can be accomplished by creating a decentralized platform on which NFTs can vote and manage the NFT project’s environment. As a result, your community will have a stronger sense of commitment and support for the project.
For your community to progress, you must review member comments and determine which suggestions to apply. Consider your members’ comments and observations to offer them a sense of belonging. More importantly, since they’ll be the ones to buy your NFTs in the end, you should use some of their suggestions to pique their interest in your collection.
5. Make your community all-inclusive
Making your community all-inclusive comes into play when you notice a rise in members from non-English speaking countries. This helps to make sure that you are not neglecting them from participating and interacting in the community. This helps foster participation and awareness and there is a sense of involvement among all community members.
The community should also have channels for people to talk about shared interests outside of the NFTs like gaming, music, current events in the crypto space, and meme channels to strengthen the community bond so everyone is welcome to participate and express their passions.
6. Incentivize Participation
Rewarding community members as a result of their active participation in the project is also a good way to build and grow a community. Rewards can range from giving a Whitelist role on Discord to giving away crypto. This method does not only increase the size of the community but also makes every member of the community an indirect ambassador of the project — from friends to families, and colleagues.
There are also numerous projects that involve their community members in referral contests with the purpose of growing the community and offering whitelist spots to winners of the contest. In general, rewards are used to increase involvement. They’re especially beneficial when respondents’ intrinsic motivation (the desire to participate just to participate) is low.
7. Start a blog
Starting a blog page where educational content about the project can be found such as the roadmap, whitepaper, and project updates can help grow an NFT community. New community members will always appreciate a nicely-structured platform to catch up on the progress of the project and to learn about what the team intends to achieve next.
Using a popular platform like Mirror or Medium with built-in SEO can help save extra costs as they are easy to set up and manage.
8. Be open and transparent
Being upfront and honest about the project and the future you envision is one of the most crucial things you can do to build a long-term community. Inform the community about the project’s timeline and whether or not things are going as planned. Try to create appropriate expectations with your community members rather than overpromising and underdelivering. This will help you and the rest of the community form a trusting relationship.
If you keep your project updated on your social media accounts on a regular basis, the community will know what to expect from you and the initiative. This is especially critical in a market where scammers are common. Maintain a responsive presence on social media channels and remain receptive to comments.
9. Host community forums and Twitter spaces
Community forums and Twitter spaces are a good strategy to receive suggestions and notify community members who are passionate about the project. It fosters interaction and apart from having the personal benefits of gaining knowledge and insight, sharing also contributes to the community’s greater worth.
In community forums, members are invited to share and contribute value to the conversation rather than just listen to a group of people speak, depending on the type of place that is hosted. It’s essentially a live podcast in which the audience is an active participant in the conversations providing a better way things could be run in the community.
10. Collaborate with other NFT communities
Actively communicating and partnering with other communities will help grow your own community especially if you are just starting out — this helps you leverage their existing audience. The incentives to attract potential community members could be giving an early adopter role to everyone that joins within the first week.
NFT projects like Coolman Universe saw their average sale price increase by nearly 120% after partnering with Metaplex. Using the strategy of collaborating with other communities will help establish vital connections, strengthen their social arm and positively impact the value of the collection..
How do I measure my community growth?
Measuring your community growth as well as the impact your NFT community is having in the NFT space in general is vital. While growth is usually visible from numbers, you should always remember that the quality of its members is more important. You can take time to analyze the discussions that take place — are they positive and helpful? Is your community expressing frustration or delight about their experiences with your project? Check community attendance on calls. A simple way to do this is to ask community members to fill out a survey form.
Bottom Line
A community can undoubtedly help in sustaining the value of an NFT particularly because they are also the holders of your collectibles. Because NFTs are such a new form of investment, communities of enthusiasm and support play a significant role in the space.
Also, make sure you stick to your word and your vision when building your community. If you meet your project and community expectations, your community will become more loyal. Communities are the backbone of NFT projects. The value they add to the platform is crucial, but it is also critical for the project itself to evaluate the value it adds to the community it serves.
What is Crossmint?
Our goal at Crossmint is to help make NFTs as accessible as possible. Our first product, Crossmint Pay, is a tool for NFT creators to accept credit card payments. It allows anyone to create an NFT in under a minute using only their email and credit card, with no need for a wallet or cryptocurrency. We also have our minting API as a live product in beta, you can reach out to us to get access. Creators can use Crossmint for free, and we currently support Solana, Ethereum, Polygon, and Avalanche.
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Are you a developer ready to get started? Visit the Crossmint documentation and see how you can integrate Crossmint into your project in less than 5 lines of code.
