The Importance of Communities in Web3

If the “community” is the backbone of a successful project… Why do so many teams suck at managing them properly?

Introduction

If you’ve been in the Web3, NFT or cryptocurrency spaces for any amount of time — you’ve probably gravitated towards one or more projects that interest you. You may have even taken the leap and joined one of their communities (via Discord, Twitter, Telegram, etc.) in an attempt to bond with like-minded people, get closer to the source of information, and have direct conversations with the team and founders behind the project itself. Sometimes, you get lucky and the projects team are openly (and frequently) engaging with their community — but this is the exception… Not the rule! Most projects teams show little interest in engaging with their communities!

“But Kai… What about all the Tweets from the team..? And the announcements in their Discord..? and… and…”

…I hear you… But No.

That kind of engagement is usually a means to give the community just enough information to get them to back off of wanting more communication from the team. It isn’t true engagement. The importance of a projects community cannot be understated. They are the lifeblood of your vision — taking the time to interact with them is something all teams and founders should strive to do better at. Think about it this way — if a projects team is great at communicating… Then, by extension, the community will be much more active organically!

I think you get the picture now… So how can we use this info?

Community engagement is complex. The variance in what people deem to be “quality engagement” from a projects team can be huge from person to person. But there are some attributes that can be widely applied to differentiate good levels and attributes of community engagement from bad. The problem is quantifying them based on importance. Here are a few research-based attributes that separates good community engagement from bad:

• Daily updates from the Founders of a project
• Consistent levels of daily interaction by the Founders and team of a project (they make to be as visible and accessible as possible)
• Ease of access: In-Discord AMA’s, Twitter Spaces, answering questions via tickets or in chats
• Meaningful interactions: Founders and teams who regularly interact with their community start picking up on details of individuals that stand out to them
• Announcements, Tweets and Newsletters with prudent information (and not just for farming engagement!)
• Making community interactions fun and worthwhile: by hosting games, asking questions, requesting feedback, making small talk, etc.
• Having the ability to be directly included in decisions made by the project (such as being part of a projects DAO)

This isn’t an exhaustive list — but should give you an understanding of a few aspects of community engagement that most people would find favourable. Quantifying these attributes is something entirely different! This is where it gets subjective and open to interpretation — but having some sort of a visual framework is something that usually helps!

I’ve spent hours in various Discords (both actively interacting and passively watching) and have a lot of criteria. However, I for the purposes of this article I have condensed and distilled everything into 3 general categories in order to assign a ranking:

1. How well does the community engage amongst themselves?
2. How well does the team engage with each other?
3. And how well does the team engage with the community?

To that end, I created a quick infographic that illustrates (in my opinion based on my personal experiences) where certain communities currently rank — from the “Gold Standard” (10) all the way down to “Red Standard” (1). Take a look and feel free to debate or discuss— that’s one of the joys of making lists like these!

What is “Gold standard” Community Engagement?

It’s a tall order to have high quality community engagement… Especially considering how busy a projects core team tends to be! But it’s easy to spot teams and founders that are really interested in engaging with their community. Boomlands is my current example of “gold standard” community engagement as their team and founders are constantly engaging with their audience! They make a point of consistent daily interactions, asking questions and getting feedback, hosting fun events, and releasing meaningful updates to keep their community engaged and up-to-date. Their approach constantly gets the community talking and their Discord is one of the busiest (and happiest) I’ve been a part of for a long time! Check out their Discord and get involved with their testnet game that’s currently live!

What is “Red Standard” Community Engagement?

Unfortunately, this is extremely common in Web3 (especially when it comes to NFT projects) due to the nature of the space. While anonymity and real control over our assets are some of the big factors that draw people towards crypto and NFTs — it also draws in people that have less than honourable intentions! The “red level” of community engagement can be much more difficult to spot, especially if you lack experience within a genuinely good community. However, there are some tell-tale signs to keep an eye out for such as:

• Little-to-no engagement from the team or project founders within their community (e.g. poor levels of interaction in Discord)
• Generic engagement (the infamous “coming soon” being overused when you ask questions about developments)
• Engagement with no purpose or substance
• Lack of responsiveness to feedback (and by extension a lack of willingness to take on board suggestions from their community)
• Bad Discord etiquette (not clearing out offensive messages, allowing bots to run rampant, not responding to tickets, etc.)

Keep these things in mind when you venture into a project and start observing how the team interacts with their community. Quiet teams aren’t always indicative of a bad project — as some teams with amazing narratives are heavily focused on building which often leads to unintentionally leaving the community in the dark. However, you’ll quickly realise how much the team cares about its community by keeping an eye on the quality and levels of their interactions.

What can Projects do to Improve Their Engagement?

While communities involved in Web3 and NFT projects should demonstrate some understanding of how hard some of the teams in the space are working — this shouldn’t be used as an excuse for the projects teams to not be making an effort to communicate with their audiences. If you’re struggling to find ways to accomplish this (as a member of a community, a team member of a project, or a project founder) and want to ensure your community starts to flourish then here are some tips to help you improve your engagement:

• Have More Meaningful Engagement: Fostering a great community is like trying to develop a relationship — people respond when they believe they are being listened to and their concerns are being addressed. If people have questions, do your best to answer them! If people want to know what the team is currently up to, update them in an appropriate way!
• Practice Transparency: During my time in the space — I have noticed that almost nothing makes a community incite FUD more than a lack of transparency. This is especially true in the NFT space, as there are a large number of untrustworthy projects, which keeps peoples guards up. Being a bit more open about what you’re doing, when, how and why will transform how your community interacts with the project immediately! You may even find that they want to spread the word!
• Be Reachable to your Community: Very little is worse than a projects team completely ignoring questions, conversations and suggestions from their audience. Make a point of being accessible and visible to the people in your community in order to foster better relations and build trust
• Ask for Feedback: A powerful, yet underutilized, benefit of having an existing community is that they can see things you may not have thought about! Remember — Community is your biggest asset… Use them wisely!

Summary

There’s such a drastic difference between projects with teams that emphasise building a great community and those that don’t. As the Web3 and NFT spaces continue to evolve — there will always be one true constant: Community is the biggest asset you’ll ever have!

Projects often learn this fact too late and fail because of it. But those that succeed in this aspect usually succeed everywhere else. There are some traits that these projects exhibit (such as daily updates, meaningful interactions, asking for suggestions and feedback, etc.) that push them towards the “Gold Standard”. However, projects that neglect their community, or simply use them as a form of farming engagement, are the “Red Standard” and often fail because of it.

If you hope to run a successful community — be sure you treat them with respect and include them in the project. A few simple interactions go a long way to building the rapport you need to realise your visions of future success!