Please, will you stop calling giant Telegram chats a community?

A long time ago, in a crypto sphere far, far away (about 12 months ago) ICOs got people excited. The ideas and implementations of Blockchain created the hype and the money followed. Billions flowed into projects and the community exploded. Everyone wanted in.

When you think about it, the essence, the base for a successful ICO is nothing but an amazing marketing project. Scams were just good-looking marketing material and a group of smooth talkers. And when you look at marketing we shouldn’t ignore all the buzz words right?

Social, youtubers, Reddit, Telegram, community. ho, community. certainly the best buzzword nowadays when everyone wants a community.

By the time I post this article on relevant platforms, the ICO ecosystem will change at least twice. The market is evolving that quickly and the arms race to have the biggest numbers is on. So, a year ago, no one was doing Facebook ads. In fact, an ICO that did was considered a joke; then everyone did it. With the bans of Facebook, Google, YouTube, snap, Twitter and more to come, we will have to see how these new ICO’s adapt.

The community was there from the start. Without them you could not have done it. What you might call the true believers are the community that came together to build something, to create and push something they believe in. I met an early Etherium investor who told me he invested his first 50K there because he was so excited by the implications that he couldn’t sleep. A community is people who believe in the same thing and come together to talk about it.

Every ICO wants a huge following on Telegram and they want a community. So, here’s some shocking news for you out there. Bounty is not your community. I mean, it might be in rare circumstances, but in general these are crypto people who have read your White Paper and decided they should join your marketing efforts and get their payment in tokens. Without them, you have nothing. Take care of them. This are the people that might Hodl your token for a long time.

And now to your community. It is almost impossible to create a community in 2 or 3 months. Why? Because it takes time, trust and patience. Stop trying to call each Telegram group a community. Take the time to meet people, have mutual interests surrounding the project, understand the implications. Nurture the people who believe what you believe. You do not need thousands of followers, you need a strong core. Remember, this is how it was done in the crypto sphere before and it will probably revert back to this. Why? Because it will mean something; it will kill the scams and allow a crowdfunding like system.

Here are some key metrics you could use:
1. Create a list of people who might be the first to join. A short FFF list if you want (Friends, family, fools).
2. Have a regular update system in place for them.
3. Remember a good bounty is more marketing than community.
4. Make sure you interact with your bounty members and keep looking, maybe some of them will become your best investor referral team.
5. Stop talking about yourself —  these people are already interested. Make sure your marketing message is about the project and what’s in it for them. What will they get out of it?
6. Value —  bring them true value. Scams don’t have any value.
They say about 1,300 ICOs will try and make it to the finish line every month. It’s all about the marketing; it’s about crowdfunding and finding people who believe what you believe.

The Emissary Guild is a strategy and marketing agency. We focus on building bounty campaigns and communities. We utilize the power of gamification and fun in everything we do.

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This article was written by Nir Zavaro, CEO and founder of the Emissary Guild. The Emissary Guild is a group of professional marketers, storytellers, crypto enthusiasts and crowdfunding junkies. Together, we are a marketing agency focused on helping companies build and execute marketing strategies, run bounty campaigns, manage communities and create crowdfunding tactics.

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