Community building easy as 1–2-Web3
Said no one ever.
TL;DR
In a world that is increasingly digital, it is more important than ever to build strong communities. Web3 projects are all about connecting people and creating value for everyone involved. By building a community, you create a space for people to come together and collaborate. A strong community can help a project grow and thrive. It can provide valuable feedback and help to identify problems early on. A community can also be a great source of support, both emotionally and financially.
Anyone can achieve some or all of the above. Web3 is an open sea of opportunity. All any project founder needs to do is the one thing that, in my experience, many are unprepared or unwilling to do…
…put in the hard work. Yes, that’s correct — hard work!
There are no shortcuts or fast passes for 99.99% of NFT projects out there. It requires good timing, careful planning, a strategy for your vision and even some luck.
But don’t get too discouraged. For those who are bold enough to venture forward, I have found a combination of the following 5 Tips have helped new projects build thriving web3 communities over time.
5 Key Tips for Building Web3 Communities
Building a community is not always easy, but it is essential for the success of any web3 project. By bringing people together and giving them a space to connect, you can create something truly special.
Here are 5 tips to help you get started on the right path toward achieving the results you aspire to.
- Understand Web3 Culture
- Effective Storytelling Required
- Project Transparency & Member Engagement
- Communicate Consistently
- Involve Other Web3 Communities
Understand Web3 Culture
Yes, that may involve using lots of web3 terminology, general knowledge of popular NFT collections , and memes (yes, memes.) In general, humans in web3 are working towards building a positive, inclusive, and better future using blockchain and crypto technology.
While each community is different, investing the time to learn about the most popular communities, how they were successful with what they did to grow, can give you an edge in growing yours.
Effective Storytelling Required
In a world of increasing white noise across social media platforms, the story we tell and how we tell it is more important than ever. Web3 communities are brought to life by effective storytelling. The purpose of your project and the way you tell its story paints a picture of what the community might accomplish and what challenges it might solve. The story gives life to the project and attracts individuals who feel aligned with its stated purpose.
Discord was the weapon of choice for web3 community building, but there are several shortcomings that are quickly becoming glaringly obvious as more and more projects enter the space. As Discord notifications start to mount up, it’s important project founders understand how to break through. While Discord is great for chat communication, you’ll need an alternative platform for your media consumption (video, audio, event access, unlockables, rewards, etc). At the time of writing this article, MintGate is the only project I’ve found (and use) addressing this very real need.
Content creation has a cost. If you’re willing to put in the hard work to create it, give your community an ideal and easy way to consume it. By doing so you will help ensure your NFT project sits at the perfect intersection of storytelling and community building.
Project Transparency & Member Engagement
Keeping your community engaged means keeping them informed on the development of the project. Successful web3 projects typically maintain and update a public roadmap outlining near-term and long-term initiatives. Founders are vocal on Twitter or whichever social platform they focus on for their audience.
That said, it’s not enough just to be transparent. Building an engaged web3 community requires creating a framework for community members to actively contribute to the project. One of the most effective ways that projects are encouraging community participation is by organizing as DAOs, sharing a roadmap and delivering on expectation setting.
Communicate Consistently
Lack of consistency may reflect disorganization in the team, which can cause many users to leave your community. While blockchain pitfalls happen, it’s critical to always communicate good and bad news to the community. One of the worst things you can do to dampen your momentum is to share false information or ‘ghost’ your users as far as updates are concerned. Again, with the unfortunate amount of scams in our industry, keeping your community updated is mission critical.
Being consistent will show how strong your project and community are. Your ability to handle the ups and downs will lead to growth and will generate trust and excitement within your community. Projects who consistently ship and communicate regularly with their communities are light years ahead of those that do not — period.
Involve Other Web3 Projects
Most web3 projects use Twitter and Discord to engage and grow their communities. If you’re new to these platforms, it can often seem a little overwhelming. That said, exploring and joining other web3 communities is the best place to start. Follow a bunch of projects on Twitter. Join dozens of Discord communities that interest you.
Getting hands-on experience will help give you a taste of their personality, organization, structure, and overall community sentiment. Ultimately, you want to use this opportunity to come up with creative ideas on how you want your community to look like.
While web3 is evolving quickly, it’s critical to understand how those involved in web3 talk, act, and think. Yes, that’s going to take a lot of work — but I can speak first hand to the value that’s on the other side of the effort. I have met more amazing people to collaborate with in the last 2 years of my web3 journey than the previous 20 in the web2 space.
At the end of the day, good things come to those who work hard. I hope these tips will prove useful in your web3 community building efforts.
