KOL Investor Rounds in Web3 | Guidance

25.04.2024

Gleb Specter

17 min

RELATED

When launching your Web3 project, you've likely heard about the power of crypto influencer marketing. It's not just about sending emails or tweeting randomly—it's about getting top key opinion leaders on board to promote your project.

You might hesitate due to the potential cost and complexity involved. One strategy is to allocate tokens for influencer engagement and conduct a KOL Investor Round. This can generate buzz around your project and yield visible results.

So, what's the deal with KOL Rounds?

It's simple: Projects offer some of their tokens to KOLs at lower prices, and in return, these KOLs help promote the project.

Why bother with KOL Rounds?

Well, while VCs are great for big funding and support, Crypto Twitter influencers are becoming a force to reckon with. They can bring tons of attention and real interest to a project. So, KOL Rounds help projects get noticed and funded, while influencers get a chance to turn their influence into profit.

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Choose KOLs whose values align with the project, who demonstrate genuine interest in the sector, and boast a proven track record of successful collaborations. Select influencers relevant to your target audience and geographical area. Scrutinize their metrics thoroughly, and ideally, engage in direct discussions to iron out all details.

Dealing with KOL investors can be tough due to a bunch of hurdles. Some misuse their influence by hyping up projects or tricking followers. And if too many tokens go to KOLs, regular investors might get hurt early on.

Getting past rules and regulations is no walk in the park. Adapting to global crypto laws is a must to dodge legal troubles. But hey, snagging those big-name influencers? Pricey and not so easy. That's where crypto marketing agencies step in to help.

Trust in the crypto world? It's a tough nut to crack. Influencers' past slip-ups make folks doubt, so teaming up with real-deal influencers and keeping it transparent is key. Too much advertising? It can kill authenticity. Stick to long-term relationships with the right influencers to steer clear of that mess.

Picking the right influencers? It's a biggie. Grab those who genuinely dig your project to avoid sudden sell-offs and major losses.

Now let's consider what a successful launch of a KOL Investor round looks like in practice:

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1. Identify the Right KOLs

Define specific objectives for the investor round, whether it's boosting visibility, enhancing credibility, or securing funding.

2. Set Clear Goals

Ensure all terms of the agreement are transparently outlined, covering aspects like compensation, deliverables, and performance metrics.

3. Be Clear About the Agreement

Accurately calculate the portion allocated from your tokenomics to avoid over- or under-allocation, preventing potential issues in the future. It's crucial to accurately distribute the allocation among influencers, considering average metrics and the number of integrations to ensure fair and equitable distribution.

4. List Everything Clearly

Keep track of the impact of the investor round on key metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, and investor interest.

5. Monitor and Measure Results

Foster enduring relationships with KOLs to harness their support beyond the initial investor round, ensuring their continued involvement over time.

6. Maintain Long-term Relationships

Crypto influencers have a big impact, making your project more visible and trusted, especially in a market often viewed with skepticism. They have lots of followers who love cryptocurrency, creating a strong community.

You get to decide who talks about your project, so you can shape how people see it from the start, making sure it matches what you want.

In the wild world of crypto, trust matters a lot. When respected influencers say good things about your project, it makes potential investors and users feel better about it. Their support can really boost your project's credibility, which is super important in a world where trust is everything.

Having a lively community is really important for crypto projects. Influencers don't just talk about your project—they chat with your audience, making them feel involved and loyal. A strong community gives great feedback, tries out new features, and cheers for your project.

Standing out in the crowded crypto scene is tough. Influencers, especially the big names, have lots of followers who can help bring attention to your project, moving it from unknown to popular. This is especially important when you need to get noticed.

Crypto influencers talk to people who are already interested in cryptocurrency. Each influencer has their own style, so you can reach out to your target audience in a way that feels right. Working with influencers means your message gets to the people who care about crypto, making your marketing more effective.

XBorg, dedicated to pioneering the next era of gaming with a focus on player and fan ownership, governance, and rewards.

In 2023, following a successful XBG Seed Round, the team conceived the idea of a KOL Round.

They outlined the basic structure as follows:

XBG KOL Round proposal

XBorg Improvement Proposal is a strategic allocation of $300k to $500k for Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) within our seed round, aiming to address concerns about their influence on retail investors. This proposal seeks to enhance transparency and community alignment.

Motivations:

- Forge partnerships with KOLs whose values align with ours to raise awareness of XBorg.
- Strengthen our presence in the Web3 ecosystem and gaming industry through strategic collaborations.
- Allocate funds within our seed round to build relationships with KOLs cost-effectively.
- Foster mutual interests between KOLs, XBorg, and the community.
- Leverage SwissBorg's influencer network for potential collaborations with prominent KOLs.

Specifications:

- Allocate $300k to $500k from the $3 million VC round for KOLs.
- Tier 1 KOLs can receive up to $30k, and Tier 2 KOLs up to $10k.
- Onboard 15 to 30 KOLs, ensuring representation across various focus areas.

The idea got a big thumbs-up from voters, with almost everyone agreeing. Then, team started searching, organizing, and getting things ready.

And already this year, on February 16th, the team announced the first phase of the KOL round, attracting the anticipated influencers.

The launch coincided with the announcement of one of the biggest GameFi presales in the industry. The lineup of KOLs was truly impressive, featuring crypto influencer legends like Ivan on Tech, boasting 1 million followers on Twitter and YouTube, alongside other notable figures such as Raiden, Digital Asset News, Alliestrasza, etc., with 50,000 to 150,000 followers on Twitter and 200,000 to 300,000 followers on YouTube.

All the involved influencers actively engaged in the comments under XBorg's posts and promoted the project in replies to other tweets.

The primary aim of the influencers' tweets was to announce the upcoming presale.

They ranked it among the top most promising presales of the year and highlighted the project's benefits. On average, each influencer from the initial pack posted 1-2 tweets. Also, most of the tweets are precisely the tweet quotas of the project.

In addition to tweets, there were also mentions on YouTube, and joint broadcasts were conducted with the project founders.

On March 13th, XBorg will unveil the second wave of influencers, surprising their community even further. This phase saw the campaign attracting legends like Alex Becker with 1 million Twitter followers, Dingaling with 180,000 followers, and other top influencers from the GameFi industry.

This phase differed as influencers began making multiple publications simultaneously, with some even posting 3-4 mentions. Lengthy threads and detailed tweets about the project also became more common.

And, of course, there were mentions on other platforms, including several dedicated videos solely about the project.

As the presale is ongoing, we don't have the final results yet. However, we can analyze some indicators at this stage. Did the influencers' posts contribute to the project's development?

Firstly, there has been a rise in the number of active community members. In the past month alone, Twitter gained 12,500 new memebers.

Overall, the surge began immediately after the influencers' launch, with the total Twitter followers increasing from 50,000 to 79,000.

Since the launch of influencers, price of the XBorg NFT collection on the OpenSea marketplace has risen significantly and is still rising. The number of holders is also beginning to increase noticeably.

Upon the initial posts by the influencers, there were 3,500 registered wallets and a total interest of $4.5 million.

As of the latest update, those figures have surged to approximately 12,000 registered wallets and $21.6 million in total interest.

The momentum continues to build, with significant growth in these metrics. Many are hailing this presale as one of the most anticipated of 2024.

KOL Investor rounds offer valuable benefits as a pre-launch marketing tool. However, it's crucial to assess risks and employ best practices to maximize returns. By collaborating with the right KOLs, setting clear goals, and monitoring outcomes, projects can effectively harness the power of these rounds for a successful launch.

Getting in touch with influencers can be tough and their prices are so high. Yet, web3 marketing agencies can bridge this gap. With our extensive influencer database, we can help. Schedule a free call, and let's explore launching a highly successful KOL round together.