Compiled by / Odaily Golem（@web 3_golem）
Every month, Green Dots researches KOL promotional campaigns on the X platform to understand the strategies of other Web3 marketing teams and track which strategies and post styles are truly effective. However, the new paid partnership policy introduced by X has changed the marketing landscape on the platform (Related reading: Musk Casually Overturns the Rice Bowls of Crypto KOLs), rendering most Web3 project promotion strategies no longer suitable. In this article, Stacy Muur reveals the common problems in many recent Web3 promotional campaigns, using Starknet as the subject of this case study.
Author’s note: This is not targeting Starknet; their technical strength remains robust. Despite the many doubts and skepticism from the outside world after the airdrop and TGE, the team has persisted in releasing and developing products, which deserves respect. However, this article focuses on only one aspect: marketing strategy. Starknet’s recent new product launch is just a typical example.
How Did Starknet Conduct Its Advertising Campaign?
Starknet recently launched strkBTC [₿] and invited some content creators on the X platform to promote the event. They employed a very classic promotion model:
- First, release an announcement with a promotional video;
- Within 12-48 hours of the announcement, KOLs publish collaborative promotional posts;
- Subsequently, publish articles explaining the product’s advantages in detail.
Even though this campaign was conducted in late February, to comply with X’s paid partnership policy, some creators included the paid partnership identifier when posting related content. However, the focus of this article is not on the paid disclosure but on the effectiveness of this promotion strategy itself.
On February 10th, the marketing team conducted another KOL promotion around another announcement released by Starknet. The exact same playbook: first, a video announcement, then promotion through KOLs.
Of course, Starknet also has other promotional methods, such as publishing several long-form articles and conducting some promotional activities in the Korean-speaking region.
For the record, I don’t know who managed this campaign or if any agency was involved. I’m just providing thoughts from a marketer’s perspective as an outsider.
One glaring issue throughout the campaign is the weak vetting of the creators involved in the promotion.
X is essentially a perception layer. Ideally, creator promotions on X should lead to:
- More discussion about the brand
- Inspiring more independent creators to post voluntarily
- Driving the production of more community content
- Stronger ecosystem activation
But is that what we’re seeing? Not really.
If you use simple filtering criteria on X to view popular posts mentioning Starknet in February, the results are obvious.
The most-mentioned post was actually one by Warhol (link). Overall, only a little over 100 independent posts mentioning Starknet in February received more than 10 likes. For a well-known L2 ecosystem, this number isn’t high.
Some popular organic posts mentioning Starknet include:
- Mookie’s post about token unlocks (link) (~10k views)
- Warhol’s post about the best internship brands in the 암호화폐 industry (link) (~16k views)
- Warhol’s L2 ranking list (~30k views)
- Santiment’s post ranking L2s by developer activity (link) (~50k views)
- mztacat’s post about the “Big Four” (link) (~82k views)
That’s roughly the extent of Starknet’s mentions on the X platform in February. This leads to a more important question, not just concerning Starknet, but concerning how the classic Web3 marketing strategy is gradually failing on the X platform.
Why is the Classic Web3 Advertising Strategy Failing?
For years, the default mode of Web3 marketing has been: Announcement → KOL promotion → Community discussion.
This classic model worked when X’s timeline was less crowded, narratives were strong, and most promotions weren’t easily identifiable as paid. But it fails after the following changes.
Paid Disclosure Kills Stealth Spread
Once creators start adding paid disclosure information, this promotion model becomes obvious to followers.
First, users see an announcement, then within the next 24 hours, 5-10 similar promotional posts appear, all with largely the same content. Users can immediately recognize this structure. It doesn’t spark community discussion; instead, it signals “this is an ad campaign.”
In the environment of Crypto Twitter, ads rarely spark community discussion; they are usually just scrolled past.
KOL Behavior is Now Very Easy to Identify
Crypto Twitter has matured; people understand how KOL marketing works.
When the same group of creators references the same announcement with slightly different wording, it’s easily interpreted as a coordinated campaign. And once KOL content is clearly identified as a promotion, user engagement drops because the audience switches from curiosity mode to ad-filtering mode.
X Rewards Buzz, Not Announcements
X is not a distribution channel; it’s a narrative space. Unless a Web3 project’s announcement can trigger the following, it rarely becomes a hot topic:
- Arguments/Debates
- Meme coins
- Hot takes
- Competition between KOLs
Without these dynamics, promotion only brings brief reach, not truly winning mindshare. Therefore, to truly gain buzz, Web3 projects should change the order of their marketing campaigns.
The old promotion flow was Announcement → KOL promotion → Community discussion. The new promotion structure should be: Build buzz first → Spark creator debate → Produce community content → Finally announce. This way, the announcement becomes the final confirmation moment, not the starting point.
If a project skips the narrative stage, promotion has nothing to build on.
How to Redesign a Campaign for Starknet
Let’s be realistic. Starknet carries heavy baggage. The previous airdrop phase generated a lot of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). Explanations and promotional videos alone won’t solve this. The project needs to control the conversation to address it. Different goals also require different marketing strategies.
If the Goal is to Win Mindshare
The strategy should be to actively engage in controversy. Don’t try to suppress critics; design topics that spark debate.
예를 들어:
- “Which L2 is better for developing BTCFi?”
- “Ethereum L2 vs Bitcoin L2”
- “Top 5 Ecosystems for BTCFi Developers”
Then sponsor posts related to ranking lists, posts comparing Starknet to other projects, and posts with debates. Maybe half the timeline supports Starknet, and the other half attacks it, but both sides increase exposure. Creating drama isn’t bad marketing; marketing that goes unnoticed is bad.
If the Goal is to Dominate the Narrative
Then stop publishing lengthy PR articles; few people read them. Instead, publish visual infographics, ecosystem maps, competitor comparisons, and short frameworks that KOLs can reuse. Give creators space; content they can remix is far more powerful than content they can only quote.
The goal of dominating the narrative isn’t one good article, but dozens of derivative articles. That’s how narrative spreads.
If the Goal is to Attract Developers
Then remember that developer acquisition is a B2B model. Posting announcements on X doesn’t effectively onboard developers. What projects should do is:
- Build topic momentum
- Build ecosystem prestige
- Showcase developers who have already succeeded there
Once this trend forms, onboarding developers becomes much easier because developers also chase trends.
결론
The traditional Web3 promotion model (Announcement → KOL promotion) is dying on X. The new model is more like: Design a topic → Spark creator interest → Spark discussion → Let the community run with it.
A project’s announcement is still important, but it should no longer be the beginning of a campaign; it should be the end.
이 글은 인터넷에서 퍼왔습니다: Web3 Teams, Stop Wasting Marketing Budget on Platform X
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