Web3 teams should stop wasting marketing budgets on the X platform

Original Title: How Web3 Teams Burn Marketing Budgets on X

Original Author: Stacy Muur

Original Compilation: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily

Every month, Green Dots conducts research on KOL promotional activities on the X platform to understand the strategies of other Web3 marketing teams and track which strategies and post styles are truly effective. However, due to the new paid partnership policy introduced by X, which has changed the marketing landscape on the platform （Related Reading: * Elon Musk Upsets Crypto KOLs' Livelihoods）*, most Web3 project promotional strategies are no longer suitable. In this article, Stacy Muur reveals common issues present in many recent Web3 promotional activities, using Starknet as a case study.

Author's Statement: This is not aimed at Starknet; their technical strength remains strong. Despite the doubts and skepticism from the outside world after the airdrop and TGE, the team continues to release and develop products, which is commendable. However, this article focuses solely on one aspect: marketing strategy. Starknet's recent product promotion is just a typical example.

How Does Starknet Conduct Advertising Promotions?

Starknet recently launched strkBTC [₿] and invited some content creators on the X platform to promote the event. They adopted a very classic promotional model:

1. First, they released an announcement with a promotional video;
2. Within 12-48 hours after the announcement, KOLs would post collaborative promotional posts;
3. Subsequently, articles would be published to explain the advantages of the product in detail.

Even though this promotion took place in late February, to comply with X's paid partnership policy, some creators included paid partnership labels when posting related content. However, the focus of this article is not on paid disclosure but on the effectiveness of this promotional strategy itself.

On February 10, regarding another announcement released by Starknet, their marketing team conducted another KOL promotion. The same routine was followed: first, a video announcement was released, then promoted through KOLs.

Of course, Starknet also has other promotional methods, such as publishing several long articles and conducting some promotional activities in the Korean-speaking region.

To clarify, I do not know who is responsible for managing this activity, nor do I know if an agency is involved; I am merely providing some thoughts from the perspective of a marketer as an outsider.

One obvious issue throughout the promotional process is the weak selection criteria for the participating creators.

X is essentially a perception layer. Ideally, creators promoting on X should lead to:

• More discussions about the brand
• More independent creators voluntarily posting
• Increased production of community content
• Stronger ecosystem activation

But is this what we see? Not at all.

If you use simple filtering criteria on X to view the popular posts mentioning Starknet in February, the results are evident.

The most mentioned post is actually Warhol's post. Overall, only a little over 100 independent posts mentioning Starknet received more than 10 likes in February. For a well-known L2 ecosystem, this number is not significant.

Some naturally popular posts mentioning Starknet include:

• Mookie's post about token unlocks post (about 10k views)
• Warhol's post about the best internship brands in the cryptocurrency industry post (about 16k views)
• Warhol's L2 rating list (about 30k views)
• Santiment's post ranking L2s based on developer activity post (about 50k views)
• Mztacat's post about the "big four" post (about 82k views)

This roughly summarizes Starknet's mention volume on the X platform in February. This raises a more important question, not just concerning Starknet, but concerning the classic Web3 marketing strategies that are gradually becoming ineffective on the X platform.

Why Have Classic Web3 Advertising Strategies Become Ineffective?

For years, the default model for Web3 marketing has been: release announcement ------ KOL promotion ------ community discussion.

In a less crowded timeline on X, where narratives are strong and most promotional activities are not easily identified as paid promotions, this classic model was effective. However, this model has become ineffective following the changes below.

Paid Disclosure Stifles Implicit Communication

Once creators start adding paid disclosure information, this promotional model becomes obvious to fans.

First, users see an announcement, then within the next 24 hours, 5-10 similar promotional posts appear, and all the post content is quite similar, allowing users to immediately recognize this structure. It does not spark community discussion; instead, it sends a signal of "this is an advertising campaign."

In the environment of crypto Twitter, advertisements rarely provoke community discussions; they are often directly scrolled past by users.

KOL Behavior Is Now Easily Recognizable

Crypto Twitter has matured, and people understand how KOL marketing operates.

When the same group of creators quotes the same announcement with slightly different wording, it is easily interpreted as a coordinated promotional activity. Once the content posted by KOLs is clearly identified as a promotion, user engagement rates drop because the audience switches from curiosity mode to advertisement filtering mode.

X Rewards Topic Engagement, Not Announcements

X is not a distribution channel; it is a narrative space. Unless Web3 project announcements can provoke the following, they rarely become hot topics:

• Argumentative debates
• Meme coins
• Popular opinions
• Competition among KOLs

Without these dynamic factors, communication can only lead to brief user reach, failing to truly win over users' minds. Therefore, to genuinely gain topic engagement, Web3 projects should change the order of their marketing activities.

The old promotional process was announcement ------ KOL promotion ------ community discussion; the new promotional structure should be to first build a topic ------ provoke creator debates ------ produce community content ------ finally announce, making the announcement the final confirmation moment rather than the starting point.

If the project skips the narrative stage, promotion becomes impossible.

How to Redesign a Promotional Activity for Starknet

Let’s get back to reality; Starknet carries a heavy burden. The previous airdrop phase triggered a lot of panic, uncertainty, and skepticism, and merely explaining and promoting through videos will not solve this issue; the project team needs to take control of the dialogue to address the problem. Different goals also require different marketing strategies.

If the goal is to win over users' minds

The strategy should be to actively engage in controversies, not to try to suppress critics, and to design topics that can provoke debate.

For example:

• "Which L2 is better for developing BTCFi?"
• "Ethereum L2 vs btc-42">Bitcoin L2"
• "The top five ecosystems for BTCFi developers"

Then sponsor posts listing rankings, comparing Starknet with other projects, and posts that spark debates. Perhaps half of the timeline will support Starknet, while the other half will attack it, but both sides increase exposure. Creating drama is not bad marketing; marketing that goes unnoticed is what is truly bad.

If the goal is to dominate public opinion

Then stop publishing lengthy PR articles; very few people will read them. Instead, release visual infographics, ecosystem maps, competitor comparisons, and short frameworks that KOLs can reuse. Give creators space; recombining content is far more powerful than content they can only quote.

The goal of dominating public opinion is not a good article, but dozens of derivative articles; this is the way of narrative communication.

If the goal is to attract developers

Then remember that developer acquisition is a B2B model. Posting announcements on X does not effectively guide developers. What the project team should do is:

• Build topic momentum
• Create ecosystem prestige
• Showcase successful developers already there

Once this trend is established, guiding developers will become much easier. Because developers will also chase hot topics.

Conclusion

The traditional promotional model of Web3 (release announcement → KOL promotion) is gradually dying on X. The new model resembles: design topic → stimulate creator interest → provoke discussion → let the community continue to play a role.

Project announcements are still important, but they should no longer be the starting point of promotional activities; they should be the endpoint.