As the NFT market grows and matures over the next few years, numerous projects will be launched but only a relatively small percentage will catch the attention of collectors. This means that competition will also grow and become more intense in the effort to capture the public’s attention and disposable income.
Knowing the NFT Market
The most successful projects will know who their market is just as surely as any traditional brand. One of the unique factors of NFT marketing is the crossover with multiple generations and the need to incorporate a variety of tactics. That said, today we are looking at the role of influencers.
What is an NFT influencer?
An influencer is an individual who is popular and has some level of expertise in their area of focus. They have the ability to leverage that expertise with their popularity to influence an audience into taking action…such as buying an NFT. Influencers can be a vital part of a marketing strategy because of their, well, influence, among millennials and younger generations. Those target markets are used to getting their buying information via social media platforms which are the primary domain of influencers.
How to Successfully Implement NFT Influencers
Influencers are often considered grassroots marketers but it is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and expensive to hire the right influencers for a project. As with traditional advertising which hires celebrities as spokesmodels, crypto projects hire influencers who will appeal to the desired collector.
Matching the influencer to the project and budget requires some level of media buying savvy and an understanding of who you want to reach.
For instance, you may create an NFT project designed around endangered species. Of course, if the artwork is appealing and professional, you will have collectors who are primarily interested in adding to their NFT collection because they love NFTs as an investment. You also have another potential market. Garnering the support of organizations devoted to endangered species will allow you to reach their supporters, who may have never heard of an NFT but will become a new collector because of their support for the charity.
Once you look at all of the potential collectors and their reasons for purchasing you can move forward with lining up influencers.
How to hire an influencer for your NFT Project
Your NFT marketing agency can be invaluable in vetting and hiring influencers. There are thousands of individuals who market themselves as influencers. But there is a big difference in an influencer with millions of followers and one with a few thousand. And that difference needs to be considered.
There is nothing wrong with hiring smaller influencers if they are a good match for your project and budget. They may be well on the way to garnering a large audience and they may also be flexible in pricing.
If you are hoping to have a high-value influencer shill your project, you will need to have the budget to pay them. And it can run into huge amounts of money. And will require working with agents.
Again your marketing agency can be helpful in negotiating prices and packages, vetting the value, and developing the message for the influencer. Unfortunately there are many people who want to be paid for tweeting about a project but may disappear once they are paid in advance. Marketing experts will do their best to have viable lists of honest and successful influencers.
What will the Influencers do for your NFT Project
The benefit of hiring influencers is to have them promote your project to their loyal followers who will then buy your NFT. It’s really the same as companies hiring sports figures or actors to sell their product but done through social media rather than TV ads, print ads, etc. A good influencer will meet your market where they are – discord, twitter, the metaverse, etc.
Once hired, they will send messages to their followers, possibly make appearances, etc to sell your product. That is what they were paid to do and they want to be successful and they want your project to succeed.