In 2020, when Facebook, Twitter, and other large social media platforms banned conservative and alternative-right political groups, many users defected to Parler and MeWe. Parler CEO John Matze said his platform gained 4.5 million users after the 2020 presidential election. MeWe surpassed 5 million users in June 2019 while Parler claimed to have more than 10 million users in November 2020. Neither of these come close to Facebook’s 2.7 billion daily active users, but they don’t really need to if they serve a viable niche.
By contrast, Minds claimed to have more than 3 million users on its Wefunder page in 2017. In December 2018, that number was updated to 1 million.
How Not to Grow a Social Media Audience
If we could define the audience these three platforms are aiming at, I’d call it the anti-Facebook crowd. The messaging seems to be, “We’re not Facebook, therefore, we must be great.”
That’s not a marketing strategy.
It’s much better to define who you are rather than who you are not relative to someone else’s success. When Katy Perry kissed a girl, she didn’t enter the pop music scene with the tagline, “I’m not Taylor Swift.” She had her own style. Like it or not. And that gets to the heart of effective marketing. It must do two things:
- Attract that which you want to attract
- And repel everything else
Minds calls itself a “free speech platform” and encourages users to “take back your social media.” Parler’s home page copy says, “Speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being ‘deplatformed’ for your views.” Both of those are direct shots at Facebook. MeWe’s tagline is “No Ads. No Spyware. No BS.” Again, the idea is to attract an audience by stating what the platform is not.
If these three social media platforms are aiming to attract the same audience, why is it that Parler and MeWe were so successful at attracting disgruntled Facebook users in 2020 while Minds was not? I suspect it may be for two reasons.
First, Parler and MeWe seized upon the opportunity. Whether the platform marketeers juiced up its user base to spread word about their anti-Facebook personas or that came from the ground up is irrelevant. It happened. Facebook users upset over the platform’s policies left in droves and went to Parler and MeWe. I didn’t see anyone say they ditched Facebook for Minds, which brings me to my second point.
It’s all about the crypto.
In other words, in the minds of the Minds user base, and probably its owners and developers, the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency for mouthing off about all the things you don’t like in the world is the selling point. But if that’s the only selling point you have, then the only people you’ll attract are people interested in earning cryptocurrencies for communicating their ideas. You’re leaving out everyone else.
What I’m getting at is Minds needs to follow Parler and MeWe at least part way down the path of free speech and no censorship. It needs to be more than just a tagline.
Why Cryptosocial Media Needs to Expand Its Messaging
In sales and marketing, perception is reality. How potential clients, customers, and platform users view you determines what you are. That’s true whether you like it or not. If the only message potential users hear is, “Crypto is great, earn some!,” then I’m afraid you’ve lost most of your audience before you’ve had a chance to get in front of them. Reality is the best medicine for bad thinking.
The question to ask is this: What do users want in a social platform? For every user, the answer to that question will be different.
One trick that marketers use to determine who they want to attract to their product or service is to create audience personas. You do that by categorizing each type of individual you believe would benefit from your platform. Here’s a sketch:
- Crypto lovers – Say no more. If it’s all about crypto, I’m in.
- People who want to be heard – Whether alt-right Donald Trump fans or commies blogging for mommies, if they have a message and want to spread that message, they’ll want a platform that promises them the freedom to speak without fear or threat of censorship.
- People who just want to express – From therapeutic digital art to emoting at the drop of a dime, these folks don’t care about the money or the fame, they just want to log on, release their energy, and express their innermost desires.
- Data ownership freaks – These folks aren’t on Facebook because they don’t like being tracked. They want a platform that allows them anonymity, privacy, and the ability to hide from lurkers, and that doesn’t track them with cookies.
I think you get the point. Your audience consists of more than people who love cryptocurrencies—unless it isn’t. In which case, keep on truckin’.
The bottom line is, cryptosocial media won’t grow unless it expands its messaging beyond “It’s all about the crypto.”
Two More Ways to Grow Your Cryptosocial Brand
Any time there is new technology, there is a new language to learn. Cryptosocial platforms don’t do themselves any favor, nor will they attract an audience beyond the early adopter nerds, if they just throw around a bunch of buzzwords.
In the “How Does It Work” section of its home page, Minds tells potential members that they can “Earn tokens for your daily contributions and use them to upgrade your channel, boost your content for more reach and support other creators.” I can’t help but wonder how many alt-right Facebook defectors know what a token is, or even care?
The alternative right is a very small part of the overall user base of Facebook. If Facebook had aimed its service at the alt-right, it would never be as popular as it is today. The reason it grew to such prominence in the first place is that its usefulness was so universal that one’s political persuasion was irrelevant. One’s gender, religion, marriage status, and every other demographic is mostly irrelevant. Facebook has something to offer everyone even if everyone isn’t interested. Any social media platform that aims to overtake Facebook in popularity must think beyond the boundaries of its own walls and get to the heart of human nature. What do people want in a social gathering? But there is something else you must do too: You must speak the language of the users you want to attract.
If they don’t care about crypto, find out what they care about and educate them on how your platform helps them achieve what they want to achieve. Kill the mumbo-jumbo.
The other thing you’ve got to do is make it easy for the new user to get started. I’m utterly amazed at how many cryptosocial platforms make it difficult to join. On Steemit, in 2018, I had to either pay a fee in the native cryptocurrency of the platform or wait two weeks for approval by email. I think it actually took longer, if I recall. Other platforms have their own hurdles, but almost every single cryptosocial platform I’ve joined has had hurdles.
Even if you do everything right, there’s no guarantee you’ll knock Facebook off its mountain. Facebook took four years before it overcame MySpace in traffic. Even then, that was the beginning of its journey to social media dominance. And it will be much more difficult to overtake Facebook than it was for Facebook to overtake MySpace, for a number of reasons.
Blockchain technology is difficult enough as it is. It’s hard to understand and it’s hard to explain. The last thing cryptosocial media platforms need is additional complexity. Make it simple for the Average Joe, explain the benefits of your platform clearly, and make onboarding easy as apple pie. If you do can do those three things, you at least have a fighting chance. If you can’t beat Facebook, you can at least survive long enough to say you tried.
DISCLAIMER
I am not a financial advisor, nor do I give financial advice. The above information should not be considered financial advice but is for informational purposes only. Neither I nor Cryptowriter are responsible for financial losses incurred as a result of acting on this information. Please consult a financial advisor before making any financial decisions.
This post is published for Cryptowriter in association with Voice.
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