How channel strategies will change in Web 3
As marketers, most of us rely on centralised platforms like Facebook, Linkedin or Instagram to market our products or services. These channels give us access to vast amounts of potential customers at very little cost and help us create touchpoints for our users to connect with our brands.
But with the developments in Web 3 and the push towards decentralised and distributed platforms, many marketers may be wondering how this new phase of the internet will impact marketing channel strategies.
In this article, we'll explore how channel strategies may change in light of new Web 3 business trends and how marketers can utilise their channels in Web 3 to enhance user experiences and build communities.
Channel diversification:
A dual-platform strategy is a key step in diversifying your channel strategy for Web 3.
Access-restricted channels like Discord or Slack provide a deeper connection with your community. Large-scale platforms like Twitter or Reddit help you sustain your outreach efforts to ensure parallel community building.
Nearly two-thirds of users aged 18-30 prefer to talk in private message threads rather than on open forums and feeds.
With this in mind, as marketers, we should be thinking about segmenting our marketing channels, using larger-scale platforms to outreach and using private channels to promote community growth engines.
Currently, Web 3’s biggest challenges are barriers to entry, education and user experience, so a dual-platform strategy can help break down these barriers.
Discord’s top server categories include crypto, community, anime, social and gaming with some channels doing giveaways and events. Even high street brands as well as others like AllSaints and Chipotle have all hosted events and Q&As in their own Discord channels.
This could be a great place to connect with your audience and keep them engaged.
There are a lot of channels to choose from and they are quickly evolving, so be sure to choose a channel that aligns best with audiences’ habits and your brand niche.
Diversifying your channel strategy also makes sense from an operational standpoint. If one of your channel servers goes down or is hacked, you don’t have all your eggs in one basket.
The importance of transparency:
Web 3 businesses promote transparency as part of their philosophy of being the antithesis of Web 2 companies. They do this not just by saying it but by building into the product or service.
Whether it’s about ensuring personal security or communal ownership, Web 3 businesses continue to strive for a culture of transparency and as marketers, we should be using our channels to further this message.
Being purpose-driven gets people invested in your business. It’s no longer sufficient for brands to use their channels to post generic content and add to the noise of main feeds. We should be clear about our vision and what our products or services are trying to achieve and have this be reflected in our channels and content strategies.
Peer-to-peer marketing:
Being purpose-driven also helps build positive narratives around our projects which is effective from a peer-to-peer marketing perspective.
Snoop Dogg’s partnership with The Sandbox, a metaverse, highlights this. The celebrity said in a press release,
“I'm always on the lookout for new ways of connecting with fans and what we've created in The Sandbox is the future of virtual hangouts, NFT drops, and exclusive concerts.”.
As marketers, we should be making sure that the narratives we build into our channel strategies are beneficial, meaningful and align with the values of our brand and audience. This is a simple but effective way to build strong peer-to-peer marketing and brand affinity in Web 3.
The democratisation of channels:
A term that is often thrown about when talking about Web 3 is the term ‘DAPPs’ which stands for decentralised apps. DAPPs are applications that use blockchain technology to remove central authorities from platforms, unlocking new community models that were once impractical.
Web 3 networks such as decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) get rid of the need for central decision-makers. In these spaces, voting power is distributed through tokens that represent the distributed ownership of the network.
Essentially, it gives community members a say in the way things operate and with blockchain technology community votes can be tracked and verified, increasing the level of transparency in these networks.
As marketers, we’re used to using surveys and polls, but this is a new development that could be a further addition to our arsenal of market research and product development, giving users more of a say.
Channel content:
Engaging content is the thing that keeps community members coming back to our channels. A popular form of content in the Web 3 space is meme humour.
The power of memes within micro-communities should not be underestimated because this allows communities to connect with your brand in a humorous way.
Running jokes and memes can help build brand affinity for your business and create a sense of belonging for community members by being ‘in’ on a joke.
As marketers, it’s important that our channels can be spaces where everyone feels welcome and humour is a great way to go. Even as a purpose-driven business, it’s easy to come across as preachy so humour is a great way to keep audiences engaged.
Use channels to create a journey:
Channel strategies have always been about creating touchpoints for audiences, but in Web 3, it will go a step further with brands using channel strategies as a means of producing better and more creative user experiences.
With Web 3 trends like VR and even high street brands like H&M creating interactive storefronts in the Metaverse, there is a clear shift to creating impactful experiences.
As marketers, we should be seeking out these opportunities to innovate the user experiences through our channel strategies.
One of the ways to do this is by creating a larger, overarching narrative for your brand. Get really specific about your brand persona and take users on that journey through telling stories.
In Web 3, people join communities because they want to be a part of a story and follow a journey and this adds to the excitement factor and enhances the customer experience.
NFT Group Bored Ape Yacht Club is a great example of this. When announcing their roadmap on Twitter they produced a captivating graphic visually illustrating to their audience their vision for the future of their brand. This post received massive support from their community and got them excited about their future projects.
Our Conclusion:
Channel strategies will still remain as important as ever in Web 3. However, they will focus on more nuanced and intentional ways of engaging with audiences and initiating community-led experiences.
The move to Web 3 will undoubtedly take time and we are already seeing the ways in which brands are utilising their channel strategies to attract early adopters. Essentially, Web 3 channel strategies will nurture, taking brand loyalty and advocacy to a new level.
If you would like to learn more about the marketing trends in Web 3 and their impact on the nature of the community and identity, read more about how community and identity will change marketing in Web 3.
