The first steps to growing on Twitter
Fearsam Weekly Newsletter 11th January 2023
Welcome to Web3 Wednesday all! The second one of the year, and so much has already happened.
Many suggested a January bull run, and it seems that factors like a new tax season and memeland profits rolled over into some collections, especially established ones, having nice run ups in the last week or two.
Hopefully you all are feeling happy and bullish. Positive sentiment towards projects and the space overall serves to bring in new users, which is what we all want. All of us reading, all of us on twitter, all of us being active in the space - we are all web3 ambassadors. It’s important to remember that and act accordingly.
So! This week, what are we talking about?
I want to talk a bit about building your brand on twitter. This year seems like the perfect time to do it, and everyone who spends time on twitter already can quite easily implement a few steps to build their brand over the coming months.
With the news this week, we’ll be experimenting with slightly longer articles. Your feedback here would be super appreciated.
We’ll also look at some projects worth keeping an eye on, discuss an actionable thought around personable development and of course check out some of our favorite memes of the week.
Let’s get into it!
CONTENTS
THIS WEEK’S PIECE
Twitter building. You see those guys with blue check, 1000s of followers and a horde of engaged people in the comments. But how do you get there? There are no cheap tricks or secret sauces, but trust me, with a plan in place it’s very feasible to get to 5 digits.
Firstly though, why try? A growing and engaged audience is essential for everything. For any business or goal, people can help you succeed. With a good number you have the ability to collaborate, to sell products or to leverage that audience into helping you achieve your goals.
So let’s talk about a framework to get going and speed up that progress.
Step 1 - Who are you?
Before anything, you need to decide who you are. People connect with what someone or something stands for, so you need to choose what those things are with you. What is your brand? Are you a market analyst? A personal development coach? Write down what you enjoy, what your expertise is in and decide from those jumping off points what you want your brand to be.
Step 2 - Be ready
First time visitors to your page need to be impressed. You have lots of opportunity here with twitter, namely your cover photo, your profile picture and your bio. Get help with a design or do one yourself for a cover. Write a bio that sums up your brand and what people can expect from you, and find an eye-catching profile picture that helps define your brand.
Step 3 - The content
Now you know who you are and you’re set up, it’s time for content. On twitter, the majority will be writing, so the more you can write and sharpen your skills, the better. Threads work incredibly well but the key when you’re small is being a ‘reply guy’. Sharing opinions that garner attention and show expertise under big accounts tweets is an amazing way to show off who you are when you’re small. You should be doing this extensively. Make sure the replies are on point, sharing information and/or opinions. Simple emojis and GMs sadly don’t cut the mustard here.
Step 4 - The routine
Once you’re in the groove, it’s time to set a routine. My personal routine is this newsletter every Wednesday at 9pm UTC+4, two thread a week in my area on Sundays and Fridays and tweets on the rest of the days, weekdays and weekends. Set one that works for you and stick to it. Once you start, consistency is key. There’s a general rule we have in marketing that people need to see something 3 times before they pay attention. Your routine will help in this regard.
Step 5 - Who’s with you?
It’s great to grow. It’s more fun to grow together. I have a fantastic group in the DMs who help each other with quality control and post ideas. There are always people looking to grow, and especially in web3, people love communities. Find one or create one and grow together. This will also help you stay motivated.
So, 4 easy steps to get you going, and what better time to start! This week on my twitter I’ll be going over some more specifics, such as tools that can help make your growth journey easier and how to set up lists to help you find people in your niche and be the best reply guy around. If that’s of interest to you, feel free to follow me!
NEWS
A quick note before we start. This isn’t the place to look for alpha from 5 minutes ago, or a deep dive into a crazy project no-one has heard of. Here we focus on real world linked stories, things that may have got lost amongst the mayhem or just pure fun bits of news.
This week:
1 Moonbirds sign with UTA.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen a few we’ll known projects sign with agencies. The goal seems to be transcending web3, with the agencies using their knowledge and connections to helping build the global brand of the respective projects.
The latest of these is Moonbirds owner Proof, who have signed with the United Talent Agency.
In the words of Kevin Rose; "we’ll be focused on partnerships that extend Moonbirds far beyond our existing Web3 audience, transforming Moonbirds into a global brand.”
With the agencies experience in spots, books, film, tv, music and more, it would be tough to bet against this being a fruitful partnership.
2 Microsoft invests $10 billion into ChatGPT
Perhaps this one is slightly outside our usual NFT scope, but it’s a piece of news that I see as important nonetheless.
If you’ve been on twitter for more than 3 seconds in the last month, no doubt you’ve seen mentions of ChatGPT and AI in general, with it seeming to be the crypto influencers favorite choice for easy engagement this month.
The news this week is that Microsoft is in talks to invest over $10 billion in ChatGPT’s owner OpenAI.
If you’ve used the software, you know how humanlike it can be, and with a little more thinking, I’m sure the cogs started turning at how important this kind of service could be to any business moving forwards. How Microsoft builds the service into it’s existing ecosystem is something to keep a keen eye on.
For more of the financial details, you can check the link here: https://reut.rs/3IA5U82
3 PUBG moves into web3
Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG is one of the most popular games in the world, with millions of players and being seen by most as creating the ‘Battle Royale meta.’
This week we got the news that the team is ready to test a version of the game that includes NFTs. This could be some of the biggest news we’ve seen with all the potential we hear about related to web3 gaming.
PUBG’s 250 million + players a month will now be exposed to the space if they choose, and if just a small percentage of those are won over, that’s huge for all of us in the space.
So, lets get into the details around it all. Back in March 2022, PUBG’s owner Krafton partnered with Solana. Now they’ve partnered with ‘Banger’, which is essentially a white-label service allowing games to integrate NFTs into their games. There will be different game modes available to players that include ranks that could lead to different prizes.
For those interested, you can sign up yourself for the alpha test and earn a non transferrable collectible here: https://www.bangergames.com/alpha
4 Web3 Funding - a blessing or a curse?
2022 was undoubtedly a hugely significant year when looking at funding in web3. Massive amounts of funding poured in, and on the flip side, huge collapses such as Celsius and FTX left people questioning the space in general.
Theres been a lot of talk around both the positives and negatives related to big VC firms backing our favorite projects. Let’s look at a few with backing, and see how VC funding has affected these projects.
Doodles raised $54 million, lead by Seven seven six, the fund of Alexis Ohanian (co-founder of reddit.) At the time, this valued the company at just over $700 million. The funds were set to be allocated towards development, mainly in the television and music sectors as well as owner experiences and hiring. Despite the raise and the project still being one of the most known in the space, their secondary launches and lack of communication with holders have caused them to not continue to grow as some had hoped.
PROOF collective, owners of Moonbirds had two rounds in 2022, totaling $60 million. The project has perhaps one of the most ‘in the know’ founders in Kevin Rose, and is looking to build a social platform as well as expand out into other mediums, as highlighted by their recent partnership with UTA lee mentioned above.
Seemingly coming out of nowhere to some, and being an obvious winner foe those in the know, Digidaigaku owners Limit Break has a $200 million raise in late August. The funds are set to be used to develop MMOs, with founder Gabriel Leydon having significant experience from his time with Machine Zone. The project has an upcoming mint as well as an anticipated Super Bowl commercial which will no doubt bring eyes to the project.
Back in March, Yuga Labs lead the raise to end all raises, with a $4 billion valuation being achieved thanks to a $450 million funding round. Yuga has plenty to work on, with Otherside still continuing to develop, as well as a new free mint for holders this month. Already to top owning the top projects in the space, Yuga’s raise cemented it’s no.1 status.
As we can see, although VC backing is not a 100% guaranteed signal of success, it damn sure helps! The backing of a hug firm inspires confidence from the community and shows the belief of a different group in the project and founder. It’s too early to judge both long term success and how the projects allocate their funds, but it’s safe to say if a new project has backing, it’s not going to hold them back.
PROJECT UPDATES
Now for the section that al you Alphaholics scroll straight down to. Let’s look at a few projects worth keeping an eye on, both minting soon or already existing.
A Kid Called Beast
I mentioned this one a few issues ago, and how it feels like it’s been around for a while, when in fact, it mints this month. I’m a fan of the art, the discord community is tight and the team seems to be engaging. They dropped this little preview for an AMA below, and it made me more bullish - as someone who works in the creative field, I appreciate the quality, the effort put in to a smaller announcement and how on brand it is.
https://twitter.com/akidcalledbeast
JUUNI
Sitting at a solid .23 floor, Juuni has seen nice movement since it’s mint. The reason it’s in here this week is due to the announcement of ‘Juuni quests.’ I read through it so you don’t have to, and here’s what you need to know.
Juuni quests are a form of soft staking. You send your Zodia (token) on quests, which upon completion earn you a reward. During this time, your token remains in your wallet but will not be transferable. Use your rewards, or tickets, to earn NFTs, WLs, tokens from other projects etc.
A nice form of staking that is on-brand and goes above the usual, almost boring staking.
Read more here: https://mirror.xyz/kidice.eth/V_XruWwU-JCBmH9rae0yVdZTZUJqaMJ72Ve9JmFbx6w
Momoguro
This is one of those projects that just keeps popping up on the feed. When I see something like that, I take notice.
First off, the art. Their first teaser was Saturday morning cartoon quality, and that’s impressive (see below). A little trip over to the website shows a team with 9 Emmys between them, and a backing studio (Baobab) with big name investors and a list of previous collaborators including Disney+, John Legend, Oprah Winfrey and more.
The teams showreel is also incredibly impressive, and with a list of web2 animation and creative projects under their belt already, this is one to get involved with asap.
https://twitter.com/MomoguroNFT
Operation Sin
Another one that popped up a long time ago and now is back in the collective focus. The Llamaverse ecosystem can never be ignored, with past successes and a really strong community. Their commitment to continue through the recent markets is very respectable. Application codes are being handed out currently and it think it’s worth trying to get your hands on one.
https://twitter.com/operationSIN
Honorable mentions:
Cyberkongz - True trendsetters with a new mint in Q1.
Azuki - Hit their one year anniversary. Worth keeping an eye on any celebrations/rewards and resulting price action.
Karafuru - Celebrate their anniversary on the 4th Feb. Team continues to build with fantastic activations offline.
THREAD OF THE WEEK
'I figured out the ultimate system for creating tweets with ChatGPT’ by @NFT_GOD
MEME REVIEW
THE UPGRADE
Resolutions. It’s that kind of time where people start to give up, or realize that they might have set something too difficult to achieve. I want to say two things. The first is that sometimes giving up isn’t giving up, it’s just reallocation your priorities. Everyone has time for the gym, but for some they have other priorities that are more important. That’s ok. The second is that resolutions don’t have be huge and be set in stone. Break down your resolutions, see what habits can help you achieve them and start there.
Remember, not everyone is the same. Your wins are you wins. Go at you own pace and try and enjoy the little things along the way.
SO…
Thank you for spending time on this this week. If you enjoyed it or learned anything, or the opposite - if you think something major needs to change, I would love to know.
Until next time!
Love the format of your newsletters! Keep up the great work, Sam!