(2022) Expert Web3 Community Building Tactics to Get More Members

Web3 is beginning to grow at a breathtaking rate. The web3 blockchain is expected to grow at an annual rate of 41% over the next five years. This would make Web3 worth an estimated $23.3 billion by 2028. Brands need to build a presence in Web3.

At Token Page, we have noticed that brands thriving in Web3 are adept at building communities. That’s why we want to show you the steps needed to build a community in Web3.

Decentralization in Web3 Changes the Rules

Web2 was all about social media and building a brand through SEO, paid to advertise, and word of mouth. Web3 changes all that.

Web3 is completely decentralized and will need more authentic forms of engagement. That’s where community building comes in.

Why Build a Community In Web3?

Let’s take a closer look at why you will need to build a community in Web3. As you will see, the world of web3 operates by a different set of rules which means brands have to be more proactive in creating a community.

1). Decentralization makes gathering a community a must

Web3 operates on the blockchain. There is no social media platform or direct paid ads initiatives to bring the community to you. Even if you build your presence on Twitter, you’ll need to find a way to stop relying on the (Web2) platform and move to another platform trusted by most of your members. You will need to carefully create and cultivate the community through non-paid, organic channels.

2). A community helps build a brand in Web3

Because you simply can not use ads in Web3, you will need to have a community that will know and trust your brand on the blockchain. You can do this by offering a gathering place for your community, providing unique digital goods and services as well as promoting issues important to your community. Soon, the size of your community will be noticed by others who will be eager to join.

3). Stay relevant as the internet evolves

Businesses operate much on the Darwinian principle of “evolve or die.” We saw several dot com companies go bust during the Nasdaq crash of 2000. You should not be surprised if some of the big Web2 players don’t make it to the Web3 world.

For instance, even Facebook recently changed its corporate name to Meta to stay relevant with the emergence of Web3. Building a community that you can bring to Web3 will keep your brand relevant for years to come.

Seven Steps to Building An Online Community In Web3

Now that you understand the importance of community building online, it is time to get started. Here, we will take a look at the seven general steps that you can take to build a community that is ready for Web3.

1) Identify Your Audience

You want to make sure that the audience that you choose will be properly engaged with your Web3 projects. One of the best ways to identify your audience is to start with your current customer base. Discover the trend among your audience. Are they men? Are they women? What is their income? What is their interest?

One great tactic is to build a “customer profile.” This is the description of your average customer. The profile will include the following information:

• Identify purchasing behaviors - What do they purchase from you? How often do they purchase from you?
• Pain points - What problems are your customers trying to solve?
• Psychographic data - Values, attitudes, interests, and personality traits.
• Demographic data - Age, income, gender, geographic location etc

2) Define a Purpose or Goal

Now that you have identified the audience that you want for your community, you have to create a goal for this project. Is your goal to have your audience purchase a certain product or service? Perhaps you want the community to purchase NFTs from your brand. Maybe you have a play2earn game that you want to promote.

By defining the purpose or goal, you can create content or services for your community to steer them to that goal.

Be sure to list out the goal and then list out the actions that can help get your community to take action. As an example, beer maker Budweiser has partnered with Vanyerchuck media to create what is known as “The Budverse.” According to the project’s whitepaper, the Budverse is designed to get the community to purchase NFTs that come with various digital and physical NFT benefits.

3). Select Your Platform

Next, you will want to select the web2 platform that you will need to bring your community over to your web3 project. Currently, there are three popular platforms where communities are built

• Telegram - Telegram is a popular message service where messages can be deleted after a short period. Telegram is good at disseminating a short amount of information quickly. However, this platform is not ideal for archiving information
• Discord - Discord is the most popular community builder for web3 projects. Here, you create a server that can house lots of information and member interaction. The downside is that you have to specifically invite someone to the platform for that person to gain access.
• Twitter - Twitter is the largest and most well-known of the three platforms. This microblogging service is excellent because there is already a huge built-in audience. The downside is that maintaining a community is challenging because members can be easily distracted by other Twitter accounts.

Bored Ape Yacht Club is an excellent example of community building on Twitter. Today BAYC has over one million members on its Twitter account making it one of the most active Web3 communities on a Web2 platform.

4). Develop Community Rules

Once you have your community platform ready, you need to create some rules to ensure that everyone acts appropriately. In just about every forum, you will find people who will endlessly try to either promote their agenda, instigate fights or otherwise act inappropriately. Therefore, you will want to have community rules in place.

Here are some rules that you should consider having for your web3 community:

• Prohibit discrimination and make the community a welcoming place for everyone.
• Clarify that moderators do not favor one group or an individual over another.
• Set language policies that prohibit strong, abusive, or inappropriate language.
• Note that posts that violate community guidelines will be deleted.
• If someone violates the community rules, make it clear what kind of sanctions will be imposed and how many violations are permitted before suspending or banning someone.

If you use discord, then you can set up an entire section that can clearly state the rules. As an example, this NFT discord server has created a list of rules for its forum.

5). Find a community manager

Since your community will be operating 24 hours a day, you will need to make sure that you have a team of community managers that can moderate all activities. This is a must no matter which online community builder you choose. Your community manager should be able to have the following qualities:

• Being a leader who can step in and handle any issues that may arise.
• Knows how to be courteous to other members.
• Possesses excellent written communication skills.
• Who is available to moderate the forum regularly?
• Being able to deal with multiple pressing situations.
• Has the ability to anticipate issues and take action accordingly.

6). Identify Key Performance Indicators for Community Growth

You need to know if your efforts in building your community are working properly. Therefore, you need to set up some key performance indicators (KPIs). While there are several KPIs that you can use, here are three that should be at the top of your list:

• Community size - The overall size of your community will be the biggest external performance indicator. If others see that your community has a large size, then your project will likely attract more interest.
• Engagement - See how many times each of your posts are read, commented on, or liked. Competition - Measure how your community is doing against your competition’s communities.

7). Promote the Community

Finally, you will need to promote your community. No matter which online community builder you use, Twitter will be the best place to promote your community. As an example, Gary Vaynerchuk has built one of the largest web3 communities by constantly delivering valued packed content in each of his Tweets. Here are some Tweet content ideas to consider:

• Link important news stories related to your community
• Offer unique facts and figures
• Use memes to entertain and enlighten
• Ask questions and hold polls

An example of creating a Tweet to build interest via poll taking is this post from the Crypto Squireely NFT account. Here, the post is taking a poll on how to name the project’s whitelist.

Creating A Thriving Community in Web3

The world of web3 will be won by those who can bring a thriving community into the blockchain. Get started building your community today through the steps listed above. To learn more about community building and web3, be sure to check out our latest posts on the Token Page blog.