How We Marketed Our Product: Insights, Mistakes and Working Strategies
Part 3: Telegram
While the first half of 2018 was dedicated to the launch of our product, the second half was focused on announcing it to the world. In other words, we created a buzz and built a community. The process was both fascinating and challenging. We’ve made mistakes, then even more mistakes, learned a thing or two and finally have managed to attract 50,000 active users. Now we want to share our story.
Looking back at the USDX Wallet app promo campaign, I can’t help thinking: wow, we did quite a job! And in a very short period of time. I have this enormous spreadsheet with data on channels, lots of numbers and stats. It looks dull and raw for an outsider, but for us, it’s like a mood board filled with visuals and memories. So, let me spell it out for you.
Airdrop
We’ve finalized our marketing efforts with an Airdrop campaign, and Telegram was (and still is) our main channel. We already had a Telegram group, where we post news and announcement, and two chats — in English and Russian. We created a support chat and an Airdrop bot for the needs of the campaign.
Our campaign had three stages, so we had three Airdrops in total. We completed the first Airdrop in a day when 10,000 customers participated in the activity. The total result of all three Airdrops — 55,000 participants and active community members. Moreover, our Twitter and Facebook following grew significantly.
How our Airdrop was different from all others? Because we already have a working product — a USDX Wallet app — our goal was more challenging than just a promotion: we needed app installations. This action became the primary task of our Airdrop. Plus, participants had to join our Telegram group and chats; following Twitter and Facebook accounts was an optional opportunity to earn more USDX tokens. For the second Airdrop we’ve added a “refer your friends” task, and for the third one — a “write an overview of our app” task. There was one strict rule for all Airdrops: one registration per person.
There may be some skepticism about Airdrops and their value, so here is what we’ve learned.
The good
Airdrop campaign allows you to recruit (and reward) early adopters, those who genuinely believe in your product. They’re quickly converted to the actual “users” and even to your “evangelists” — because they TRULY like what you’re doing, they convince others to join and to give it a try. Early adopters usually go beyond Airdrop tasks and earning easy tokens — they actually buy whatever you sell (in our cases, USDX tokens and LHT coins) >> they make investments. Later, these first investors were very engaged with the product, they:
- Helped us to gather votes for listing on the exchange;
- Answered questions coming from new community members;
- Some of them became a proper part of the community as consultants, community managers, and escrow agents.
During Airdrop campaigns you come face-to-face with your harshest critics, these people are vocal, and they don’t shy away from voicing their opinion and concerns about a product. Thus, you’re getting live feedback, an alternative POV, an unexpected perspective — and this is how you improve your product.
Airdrop attracts rather varied groups of participants, and it may bring you those potential users you never took into account. Suddenly, you realize that some needs were neglected, and thanks to those “unplanned” customer cohorts you see your product from a surprising perspective.
Airdrop provides the mass following on social media — this is purely a “PR” effect (won’t necessarily bring more installations): media, potential partners and investors favor those who have beautifully big numbers of followers.
We’ve collaborated with “101 Airdrop” — the team of very young and super-efficient tech guys and girls to make Airdrop campaigns smooth. These WizKids has developed bots and were very helpful throughout the activity (including community management). So we’ve got a long-term partnership with creative and skillful talents.
Last, but not least, Airdrop takes your communication skills to the Boss level. Oh, and you quickly learn how to be patient ))) During the campaign, you’d answer the same questions over and over (and over) again. Even if you have the smartest bot (we did) and the most detailed pinned message (we did) — the majority of people don’t read it! So grab a cup of coffee and be ready to test your patience and discipline.
The bad
Airdrop requires you 24/7 and 7/7. Be ready to hire more community managers and/or make the campaign a priority for your marketing team. We created an hourly schedule for marketing team members and took turns accordingly.
During the campaign, you’d answer the same questions over and over (and over) again. Even if you have the smartest bot (we did) and the most detailed pinned message (we did) — the majority of people don’t read it!
The unexpected
We’ve got a surprising complaint:
- Your product is all that you’ve got! — well, that’s a weird one. While many projects have just an idea, a vision, an MVP of their product, we’re offering a working product — and people blame us for this. Go figure.
