In Search of #TheTippingPoint

10 Strategies for Sending Bitcoin over Twitter

In the last 2 weeks a culture of tipping is helping to drive Bitcoin awareness amongst online communities. ChangeTip is the harbinger of this movement by enabling evangelists to tip users on Reddit, Twitter and Youtube primarily. Tipping on Reddit has been happening for a long time now but in the last 2 weeks something has changed; we appear to be reaching a tipping point.

#TippingTuesday

The r/bitcoin community has decided that tuesdays will be a day for tipping and outreach. I believe in the redditors ability to take the message to new subreddits but i’m more interested in the Twittersphere myself.

By tipping someone on twitter who knows little of Bitcoin it almost guarantees that they will look into it further. At the end of the day, tipping is an awareness campaign where we provide exposure to Bitcoin and it’s utility. Sending Bitcoin over Twitter was simply not possible before and now it’s as easy as tweeting a photo.

Tipping in practice

Last tuesday, I was on a place from Ottawa to San Francisco and was fortunate to have wi-fi on the plane. Locked in the middle seat, I proceeded to go on a wild tipping spree for 8 hours. I targeted actors, directors, musicians, politicians, newsmakers, news outlets, the moon, the sun, jesus, and many more. My average tip was between $5–10. In total I gave out well over $750 in tips. The question is how many have been collected. The answer from the verified accounts camp…zero. This is OK and I was expecting it. Had Ellen, Tom Hanks, Taylor Swift, Nickleback, Bieber, or someone like them accepted their tip and begin to understand and promote Bitcoin; then we soon may reach this moon. This isn’t to say people didn’t actually accept their tips. A lot of the non-verified real people accounts that I’ve engaged did collect their tips, were thankful, and asked questions. Also there is some genius marketing/growth-hacking going on here too. Because the tips expire, I get refunded for all Tips and can keep repeating this process until my fingers bleed.

Some people think it’s spammy. My answer to that is that twitter is spam. With the amount of crap and nonsense being discussed I have no problem telling someone to turn off the Kardashians and learn about bitcoin…here’s $5 @ChangeTip

Improving Process & Strategy

Since last Tuesday myself and @AdmiralLeviathn have been continuing the tipping movement and challenging each other to see who can find a formula that works. Well we’ve come to some conclusions:

Don’t tweet directly to but reply to a tweet; it gets your message into the conversation TrendJacking; find out whats trending and jump into the conversation, we’re seeing some better conversion numbers here. Be relevant to the discussion, use monikers if you think they’re appropriate. If someone says their friends are freeloaders and never pay for gas give them a “gallon.” Be funny in some cases, serious in others; cater you message to the target. Target groups and communities; I am a hockey fan and my team is the Ottawa Senators, I gave every player a personal message along with $5. While none of them have accepted I can almost guarantee that there has been discussion about it. I encourage everyone to target their favourite teams; ideally not when they’re playing but while they’re in transit. Be creative and have fun; we’re spreading awarenss about something we all love so stay positive and go get em.’ Tip all your own personal contacts and followers; let them know that this is something they should look into and give them their first bits. In the real world ask people if they have twitter and then send them some Bits; Changetip is the easiest way to get started in Bitcoin and then if they ask how do you store, use, and sell inform them. Personally I recommend circle, coinbase, and CAVIRTEX (if they’re Canadians) as additional services. Ask businesses whether they accept bitcoin yet and try and start a discussion about the benefits; this is great exposure because people who follow the companies will also start understanding. When you see advertising campaigns asking for donations or advertising their twitter acknowledge them with a tip. Tip your new followers. As you tip the outside world people are going to start following. Tell them you appreciate the follow and give them 500 Bits or something; again beware of scammers and beggars.

Conclusions

Have fun, be creative, and spread the word. Reward people for good content and anything that adds value to your life. One person at a time we will reach the #TippingPoint.

About me

My name is Kyle Kemper. I love Bitcoin. My twitter username is @kylekemper. My Tip.Me address is http://kyle.tip.me; please feel free to reach out.