Road to Growth: How Web3 Brands Seize Trending Traffic

By Akashi Seijuro

Nothing excites people more than a "trend."

In the 24/7 market of Web3, opening social media reveals intense discussions on different topics at every moment: sky-high fines for Binance, snapshots for StarkNet airdrops, Bitcoin Core Dev opposing ORDIs. Various popular topics are intertwined with well-known projects, and many leading projects in history have gained fame by leveraging a trending topic.

From the IEOs of 2019 to the DeFi Summer of 2020 and the NFT craze of 2021, each storm in the Web3 industry has seen projects emerge, quickly ascending to the forefront of their respective tracks. Just mention a specific track, and people immediately think of these projects.

It's evident that at times, a project's market visibility depends on its foothold in trending topics. Trends are fleeting, and a project's utilization of these topics must be prompt, swiftly positioning itself within the trend.

How can Web3 brands leverage topics? The relationship between Web3, brands, and topics can be discussed within the Web3 domain:

The Relationship Between Brands and Topics

In the Web2 realm, the market is already quite mature, and the launch of certain products often triggers trending topics. For example, the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI quickly ignited attention in the AI field. This move not only prompted many tech companies to follow suit by releasing their AI products but also attracted a significant influx of funds into the AI sector.

The market size of the Web3 domain is far smaller than that of Web2. In this domain, the relationship between brands and topics is more about brands attaching themselves to trending topics to open up market visibility.

Innate Connection of Brands to Topics

This relationship is the most natural and stable, indicating that a brand's core values, mission, vision, product, or service itself is closely related to the topic. Long before the topic gains popularity, a project deeply engages in this field, lacking only in market visibility. When the trending topic arrives, the project naturally gains higher recognition among the public. For example, Uniswap, founded in 2018, experienced explosive growth during the DeFi Summer of 2020, becoming the leading project in the DEX track.

 For brands inherently tied to trending topics, any promotional content related to the hot topic is appropriate and easily accepted by users due to the high alignment between the brand and the trending topic. However, for projects that are not closely aligned with trending topics, does this mean they can only watch as trending topics spark widespread discussions and generate significant traffic without getting a piece of the action? These projects also have their own strategies to capitalize on the momentum:

Utilizing Trending Topics for Growth and Customer Acquisition

Seizing the opportunity presented by a trending topic is a rare occurrence. Even projects that may not seem directly related to popular trends can employ marketing strategies to align their brand with these hot topics. Different projects adopt various approaches to ride the trend:

Ecosystem Support: Recently, both Starknet and Layerzero announced airdrop plans, prompting an increasing number of projects to declare support for their mainnets to capitalize on the hype. Projects actively engage in collaborations and announce partnerships within the ecosystem to boost their brand mentions in trending topics. They strive to divert the attention of users interested in airdrops towards their own initiatives.

Content Creation: The emergence of a trending topic signals an opportunity for content explosion. Media platforms and data accounts on social platforms start releasing news and integrated data related to the trending topic. Projects can leverage this content surge to amplify their presence in the conversation around the hot topic.

Joint Campaigns: Joint campaigns can take various forms. For example, there are ecosystem-based joint campaigns where projects within the same ecosystem collaborate to launch large-scale activities. In the case of the previous hot topic of the Scroll mainnet launch, many projects on the Scroll mainnet collaborated on platforms like Web3 growth platforms like Galxe and TaskOn to introduce joint campaigns, attracting users.

 There are also holiday-themed joint campaigns. For the annual highlight—Christmas, projects often team up to launch joint campaigns. Dozens of projects released their Christmas activities on growth platforms, including leading projects in the DEX track like 1inch. Utilizing growth platforms and similar tools to collaborate on activities with multiple projects allows for a win-win scenario:

• Expand Prize Pools: Collaborative marketing efforts through joint campaigns can expand prize pools, increasing attractiveness and enhancing the overall effectiveness of the campaign.
• Enhance Brand Exposure: For smaller projects, actively participating in these joint campaigns, especially when established projects are involved, can increase their brand visibility. Even projects with similar levels of recognition can mutually attract users, collectively boosting their exposure.

These joint campaigns provide an opportunity for projects to pool resources, attract a broader audience, and achieve a synergistic effect in terms of marketing and brand promotion.

Forcing the Continuation of Project Lifecycles through Trend Utilization

If a brand seems to have no connection whatsoever with the current trending topics, there are still instances where projects insist on forcing a link. Some projects may find themselves in the declining phase or approaching it, and in an attempt to extend their lifecycle, they continually associate with trending topics, leading to a somewhat pathological relationship between the brand and the topic.

 The current buzz around the integration of AI and Web3 has prompted many projects to claim the launch of AI-related initiatives, even when the practical applications are only loosely related to AI.

 In such cases, some projects might overlook the relevance between the topic and the brand's core values, mission, vision, product, or service. They may even disregard the sensitivity and negativity associated with the topic. Despite the lack of substantial connection, these projects are willing to do whatever it takes to link themselves with the trending topic, as long as it captures users' attention and clicks.

 This forced association can lead to an unstable brand image and may even result in long-term negative impacts, as users may develop doubts about the authenticity and reliability of the project.

Market Chaos Triggered by Trending Topics

Faced with trending topics, many projects, driven by the idea of not missing out, employ all means, even if completely unrelated, to get their project names into the spotlight of popular discussions. This excessive focus on topics has led to some issues, particularly in situations where market brands excessively pursue short-term popularity.

Emphasis on Speculation and Performance

Projects overly fixated on immediate trends often prioritize speculation and performance in their strategies. To quickly capture attention, some brands may align themselves with popular topics regardless of relevance, employing exaggerated marketing and speculative tactics to gain momentary attention. Over time, this approach can have adverse effects on the overall ecosystem of the market.

Difficulty for Users to Identify Projects with Long-Term Value

Users find it increasingly challenging to distinguish projects with genuine long-term value amid the multitude of brands focusing on trending topics. Excessive promotion and speculative tactics mask the true nature of projects, requiring users to carefully analyze the background and data to discover their real long-term value. For the majority of users, who may not have the time and resources to delve into project details, the chaos driven by speculation and performance is detrimental to attracting new users. It may even drive away existing users, contrary to the goal of utilizing trending topics for growth and customer acquisition.

 This market is highly competitive, with numerous new projects emerging at every moment. To avoid being eliminated, ensuring the product's growth rate is crucial. The market is still in its growth phase, presenting the optimal opportunity to establish a strong foundation. Sometimes, seizing a single opportunity can propel a project to new heights, providing a stable foothold. However, it's essential to approach trend marketing with prudence, carefully balancing the relationship between the project and trending topics. By utilizing marketing strategies, projects can achieve growth and customer acquisition, ultimately becoming projects that hold long-term value in the eyes of users.

Author Bio

I am a passionate Web3 journalist who takes great pleasure in sharing insights and opinions related to the exciting developments in the world of decentralized technologies.