KOLs: Leverage them right, and you own the narrative. Get it wrong, and they own you.

After working with multiple KOLs, including legends like @Flowslikeosmo for a significant amount of time - here’s my unfiltered KOL marketing 101:

1. A False Shepherd Leads the Lamb Astray

Every cycle, projects pump money into KOLs, and every cycle, most of them burn it.

Most projects think:

• Paying KOLs = tractions
• Going viral = making it
• Engagement = conversions

In reality, 95% of them don’t convert - they only improve vanity metrics.

Your post got 200k impressions and 200 botted comments? Awesome tech - hope that really moved the needle. How’s that TGE and TVL going for you?

Projects tend to chase viral moments. To quote @madladshad “flash in the pan marketing” - they forget about retention and optimising for metrics that actually matter.

2. Symptoms and Disease

KOLs love your project… until the money stops. Then they’ve never heard of it.

Generally speaking, KOLs can be grouped as follows:

• Grifters (90%): Post about everything and anything. Jump on every trend and extract as much as they can. Use socialplug or similar services to pump their metrics and engagement. Have a network of similar entities to collectively fake metrics to fool projects. Shill and dump etc.
• Semi-grifters (5%): Tend to have a niche or passion that they talk about. Followers and engagement are mostly real. Usually sincere but some deals are too enticing to not take.
• Sincere (5%): Grew their account without botting. Have a specific niche that they are knowledgeable about. Rarely take deals and if so, they make sure to take care of their audience. Market and conversion movers. Kaito inner circle (mostly).

I don’t blame any of the above. KOLs of any kind are just a symptom of our industry. The root cause is the greed and grift of big money/VCs & teams behind the scenes.

3. Constants and Variables

If you don’t control your own narrative, the market will write one for you. And you won’t like it.

You need to understand that KOLs are an amplification tool. Get the fundamentals right before even considering using them:

• Build a genuine product that solves a problem
• Craft your narrative, brand & positioning
• Decide on your core principles as a team
• Determine on your distribution channels
• Decide on how important community is for you
• Partner with substance

Most projects lack identity, purpose, a solution, morals and a vision.

4. Our Choices Define Us

Leverage greed to your advantage.

Once you handled the fundamentals, how can you translate that into action?

Ideal scenario: Your product has PMF and makes people and KOLs talk about it for free because it makes them money and they want to produce good content for views.

But it is a chicken and egg problem - since many believe you need reach for PMF. This is partly true - the difference is that “reach” can be achieved without KOLs - ie. partnerships and mouth to mouth marketing.

A more realistic route: Once you have identified your niche and target audience, it is time to identify the fitting KOLs. You can use tools like@_kaitoai""> @_kaitoai to check their mindshare and smart follower count (if any). Having a great network helps, as a connect and introductions goes a long way. Another option to reach out is to use @Tunnl_io and filter on there.

Start interacting with the KOL(s) of your choice on X. Reply thoughtfully, slide in the DMs & support. You want to build the relationship on a personal basis - not transactional. This works as brand, however is more effective from personal accounts. Don’t expect this to work in a week - consistency compounds and takes time, so start early and make it a core part of your marketing strategy.

At some point, the conversation will revolve around the product that you’re building and this is the time to pitch and show how it benefits the KOL. Again - the goal here is to build the relationship and your network, you can reap the “benefits” down the line.

Assuming that your product benefits the KOL fiscally and fits the brand - the chance of them pushing you is much greater cause they benefit from your growth. Furthermore, you can ask for introductions to their circle of KOLs and don’t have to go on a fishing expedition. Introductions = much easier than cold outreach.

Let’s not kid ourselves - most KOLs will want compensation, even if your product makes them $. Giving away tokens is easy - but will hurt you in the long run cause people will sell to realise profit (there’s nothing wrong with that). Additionally, most serious KOLs accept cash only (USDC). So what can you do?

When negotiating deals, you should prioritise long-term deals over a one post basis. Why? With one post, you don’t reach the majority of the KOL’s audience —> you need multiple posts for greater reach.

When a KOL posts consistently about you, the perception of the audience changes from a paid shill to belief in the project. Perception shapes one’s reality.

Other KOLs see you and reach out to you = gives you more leverage when negotiating the terms.

There’s no need for you to go to the “big” KOLs exclusively. There is much more value in partnering with “MicroKOLs” because their audiences tend be way more authentic.

5. No Gods or Kings, Only Funnels That Work

Virality fades, funnels compound. The strongest brands in crypto don’t rely on hype cycles - they build pathways to real engagement.

Assuming that you build a useful product with impeccable UI/UX and onboarding - here’s a working funnel example:

1. Clear X page with profile picture and banner. A user needs to understand what is going on within 3 seconds. Furthermore, a concise bio with links to the landing page and distribution channels (TG/Discord).
2. Landing page should follow the same design philosophy as the X profile page. Easy to understand within seconds + call to action to the main product.
3. Through consistent X posting, AMAs, team posting, partnerships, cold dms and replying you peak a users interest
4. They click on your page and see 1. and consequently 2.
5. User is now on the main dAPP and gets onboarded to the product
6. Satisfied user joins the community on TG or Discord
7. On TG or Discord he is greeted by a welcoming community and team that gives him reasons to stay beyond the project @ORCA_FD
8. The user is successfully converted into a believer and will push you out of conviction and belief

Where do the sincere KOLs come in?

The KOLs are a massive boost to your reach and distribution - ie. 3. Remember how I mentioned that you should prioritise for long-term deals & filter for the “right” candidate, this is where the loop completes:

• KOLs post consistently about you for months —> you reach most of their audience
• Interested audience clicks on your profile and due to your fundamentals you get them on your product
• Your impeccable UI/UX and product + welcoming team convert the user
• Satisfied user shills you out of their own
• KOL network of the initial sincere KOL notices and gets interested
• You are being approached by multiple KOLs including legit ones
• You have leverage in the negotiations

6. A Million Doors, and One of Them Leads to Something Real

A short personal story

The reason why I am writing this article in the first place, is because I made mistakes along the way which led to being grifted and burning marketing budget.

I fell for the vanity metrics game and grifters pushing each other’s content to make it look like it is real. Long story short, the posts came out and it didn’t move the needle besides the X analytics for 1 week. I was so pissed at myself and searched for ways to improve.

A KOL that I was looking up to was @Flowslikeomso . In my opinion one of the realest KOLs we have in the space. Why? He actually cares about his audience, doesn’t accept any deal, is very strict with who he works for and grew without botting.

I got acquainted with him through a connect that I had during that time period (network = networth). I started chatting and getting to know the man which led to us meeting during Token2049. We spoke a lot about life, goals, visions, crypto and marketing. Through time we became very close friends. We have reached a stage of friendship where I can comfortably ask him for introductions to other likeminded KOLs (trusting that his recommendations are vetted), opinions or alpha about other KOLs if I need more data to make a decision & if I work on something that fits his audience pitching him a deal that benefits both parties.

I know that this is an uncommon case but in an industry full of grift, extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. I made a friend and business partner for life.

7. Summary

Will your marketing build an actual brand, or just another hype cycle?

• Get your narrative, brand & product right first
• Understand that KOLs are an amplification tool not your salvation
• Spray and pray doesn’t work - you will loose money
• Build relationships for life - not just transactional
• Prioritise quality over quantity and long-term deals over short-term
• MicroKOLs have value - don’t dismiss them
• Followers are not the holy metric for choosing your KOLs. Instead look for smart followers, niche, sentiment & quality of posts
• Start targeting as soon as possible as it is a long road to success

Most projects come and go because they leave nothing behind. The mind of the audience will desperately struggle to remember you if you never gave them something worth believing in.

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