Behind every successful blockchain project is a community of motivated supporters offering both social and financial assistance. A project’s survival in the crypto ecosystem is dependent on how well they build their community. Conversation can be driven by Telegram, Reddit, Twitter, Discord, Bitcoin Talk, Facebook, and even Linkedin, among others.

When a community is growing, it must be carefully maintained and supported. This daunting task is orchestrated with the help of a dedicated team of community managers. Some projects choose to handle community management in-house, while others reach out to agencies such as BlitzCrypto, AmaZix or MLG.

Zhe Tang, the founder of BlitzCrypto explained the importance of using community managers to monitor conversation for a growing project.

“The quality of community management is what will determine the quality of project and amount of financing it will receive,” he noted. “So long as there are members in the community who do not have the information and support they need and want, the number of missed out investors and opportunities will continue to increase.”

One of the most organized and well-managed groups we’ve noticed belongs to the Telegram for the VR/AR blockchain project, Cappasity.

CEO Kosta Popov explained that Cappasity has a team of 26 working full time on the project, with several of those members working full time on PR outreach alone. To grow a community, he recommends publishing internal content as well as engaging bloggers, YouTubers and other content creators for coverage. To stay ahead of the game, Popov’s team takes cues from advisors who are experts in the space.

Amelia Tomasicchio, Head of Marketing at hybrid exchange Eidoo, keeps updated on a daily basis by reading press releases, news, and breaking articles from the overall ecosystem. Being part of a larger holding company (Poseidon) also gives the group an edge on the news.

From her experience managing thousands of engaged community members for Eidoo, there are two main activities that projects need to work on to build a strong user base:

The first is to communicate. “You need to have a blog where you write daily (or almost daily) news and communications to inform your users that you are working hard on your product. Also, my suggestion is to update your social network profiles very often.”

The second is to answer. “You need to be as transparent as possible, so always replying to any question (Medium, Telegram chats, Facebook, or any email and social networks you have).”

Tomasicchio advises growing projects to avoid using fake bots to grow a community rapidly, which can break the reputation of a project. Companies also have to be aware of the risk of scammers and trolls taking advantage of the anonymity of the blockchain ecosystem and disturbing their communities.

Another issue for new projects to be wary of is what Tang calls “empty members.” He explains, “’empty members are the result of poor community management. Unable to obtain the proper information they need, many members will remain inactive or unwilling to participate in different campaigns or a crowdsale.”

We have observed that projects that use free token airdrops often have high percentages of “empty members,” as airdrops often require investors to join a project’s community channel in order to receive the free tokens. Given that airdrops are fantastic for community building, projects should have a clear strategy in place for keeping these new members engaged.

Growing a community takes time, commitment and a lot of patience.

“As the proverb goes, hе that will eat the kernel must crack the nut,” Popov explained. He elaborated that all successful projects start with a strong concept and end with a well-maintained community who grow to expect that they’ll be kept informed about everything happening inside the company.

When Tang is looking for community managers to join his team at BlitzCrypto, he searches for a combination of support skills, knowledge of the crypto space, patience, and the ability to communicate effectively. Community managers are trained by working in well-balanced teams of experienced and junior managers, and new managers must learn to research all aspects of a client’s project, from the whitepaper, to the website, to the team.

He urges projects to treat their community members as if they were their own team members, saying, “your community is the key to transforming blockchain ideas into reality.”

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Disclaimer: The author(s) of this article may have a position in one or more of the securities mentioned above. This article is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. Always conduct your own due diligence before making investments.