Background

OneQube was a digital marketing firm focused on audience development and growth through the promotion of content via paid and organic social media for cryptocurrency and other markets. The firm helped clients navigate the complex digital marketing landscape to ensure that they reached their audience on all relevant platforms to consistently grow and strengthen their customer base.

My Role

I was brought on board for my Blockchain background to help apply OneQube’s existing strategies to the Cryptocurrency marketplace. Together, the other team members and I developed their Blockchain Marketing framework as well as write and promote content for client campaigns.

Blockchain Marketing Strategies

Blockchain, as a new financial marketplace, had fluid marketing regulations that were being created and changed frequently. In addition to navigating these fluctuating rules, Companies had limited time to attract new investors to their ICO while often faced with strong restrictions on paid blockchain ads. Cryptocurrency products created by those outside of the blockchain community faced skepticism about both the payment viability and safety of their blockchain. Social Media and Press Metrics were especially important in building the reputation for a brand new coin.

Defining the Audience

Targeted demographics are essential for maximizing the return on social media advertising budget. Adds must be seen by the

For a social media advertising budget to be maximized, ads must be seen by the right Individuals. To ensure that we built out detailed audience demographics, we built out two different demographic profiles for each client blockchain company: Investors and Product Users. Our goal was to create a large reach to show a high organic social media footprint for potential investors stimulate interest and participation in the Initial Coin Offering.

Who were those Cryptocurrency investors likely to participate in sales? They were Individuals with a high net worth, tech savvy and non-traditional investors. At the time there were very few institutional investors willing to take a risk. The blockchain was a niche market which the general public did not not understand. Our target market included only investors outside of the US, which was one of the first markets to start regulating cryptocurrency investment. At the time only institutional investors could participate in ICOs. Most of these investors were not interested in the risk, especially for an unproven coin.

The second profile the user profile vary based on the users of the actual product. For instance one of the largest ICOs we supported and the first project I worked on was CanYa. CanYa was building a platform where gig workers could be paid in Their cryptocurrency lessening the costs of currency conversions for the global gig market. The User base was made up of working professionals. In the gig market who typically used platforms such as Skillshare and Fiverr.
The average age range of product users was targeted to to be mid 20s to mid 40s. Workers were middle-class and their salary ranges would vary based on their countries of origin. CanYa was Australian company so the initial target market as Australia.

Content Marketing Strategy

The core of the amplification strategy was creating content that would be shared across multiple platforms to create large digital footprint that would be continually expanded. This would allow our target demographics to be reached on multiple platforms We developed two different type of articles for blog content that could then be used for PR content as well.

We wrote articles focused on Cryptocurrency based content that would help lead potential investors to our clients’ sites. We also designed articles about the topics associated with the specific use of the coin with a cryptocurrency spin. This would ideally get potential users of the core product such as CanYa’s gig platform to sign up for newsletters, beta release lists ,and follow the brand on social media.

The goal was to not only bring investors to the ICO but to also get potential users to buy into the product. Many of our clients such as CanYa were designed for users outside of blockchain based industries and we had to educate their potential users and make them feel comfortable
about using their platforms.

New blog posts were posted a minimum of 3 times a week. I would help design the content calendar and write articles. Here are samples of some of the pieces I have written.

Organic Social Media Posting and Community Management Strategy

Blog posts were not only posted on the clients blog page but on blogging platforms such as Medium and Steemit, a cryptocurrency focused blog site , well as on the company’s Linkedin page. We then created posts with links to the articles and shared them on traditional social media sites: Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram. The key to the organic strategy was utilizing blockchain hashtags as well as the appropriate hashtags for the industry aligned to the core product. We also employed traditional follow unfollow strategies to increase the clients’ social media followers.

We posted the articles regularly in community platforms frequented. By Blockchain investors: Reddit, Discord, Telegraph and forums such as Bitcointalk. We had a set frequency of posts for social. We posted two to three times daily on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We would repost
Industry related topics. Any new blog articles and PR posts would be shared in the Clients Discord Channels, Telegram groups, and on their Reddit Pages.

We then managed the groups the community groups and kept the conversations moving by answering questions and starting relevant discussions. During the period we managed the social
Media and communities for clients we would build out FAQs that the client would be able to use to better internally manage their online community. We also helped build out international communities by defining key international markets and helping to hire necessary personnel.
For example if a company wanted to move in the Work Korean Market we researched local social media platforms, hired community managers and translators in the region. This way all content could be shared locally.

While OneQube worked with companies in multiple industries, social media. Amplification in was key for Blockchain companies. Many had extremely small teams pre ICO and a large need for community management. In this untested market investors would determine a coin’s potential in part by how active and robust the company’s online communities were. the founding team was expected to directly interact with these communities. With the proliferation of fraud in the industries investors needed to interact with founding teams to verify that they were real individuals likely to keep their promises and not misuse their investments. Our role was to help these founding teams interact with potential investors and product users. We helped them build confidence in their brand.

Paid Social Media Strategy

Initially our greatest challenge was the cost fo ads. Blockchain companies were seeing a boom in investment and new companies were being created almost daily. Ads for industry based key terms and demographics were of high cost even out side the US were digital ads were typically cheaper. We mostly ran ads on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Most of our budget was spent on Twitter ads. This strategy quickly became untenable as the fraud being proliferated with false ICOs and the lack of regulation in the industry led the leadings platforms to ban blockchain advertisements till stronger Industry based ad regulations could be developed.

Twitter which was the core of our original strategy had the most stringent regulations. If a
blockchain company posted any ads on Twitter, Twitter would permanently ban their account. This made attempting any ads on Twitter to be too risky regardless of if the ad was blockchain focused or not. At the time ad regulations were changing daily many platforms were becoming stricter on a daily basis. We would have to reassess the strategy and change our ad buys based on the rules. Some of the changes we would make would include creating secondary accounts that did not mention the blockchain for ads focused on the industry the core product was for. We would write articles that did not mention the blockchain that could then be safely used with ads.

We also prioritized developing a Reddit strategy as Reddit ads were cost Effective, and Reddit Communities included a large amount of users who fit our investor demographic profile.We also researched ads on international social media communities, and on Steemit and other blockchain communities.

Results of Content and Social Media Strategies

We built out a social media amplification strategy that tailors traditional social media strategies to fit the block chain marketplace. Our framework was designed to be adaptable given the consistent changes in the market. We were able to provide clients with guidance that allowed them to build out their brands. Ultimately the strategy had its desired effect of increasing brand awareness,
making our clients into potential industry thought leaders and creating consistent social media growth.

What I learned?

Working in social media amplification and community management showed me how valuable interacting with your users online is for interacting with potential and existing customers. Community and social media management extends beyond initial marketing and is crucial to maintaining your brand’s image and products. Social communities provide a way for your customers and the overall market to connect with your brand and provide valuable insights on your products and services.