Tips for hiring in Web3: Finding a social media strategist for your NFT project
To gain insight into the responsibilities and skills required to promote an NFT project, I interviewed Adam Finkelstein, a Web3 social media strategist.
I met with Adam Finkelstein to answer my questions about what it was like for him to work for an NFT project as their social media strategist. We discussed the differences between marketing within Web3 vs. Web2 and the focus on community engagement to grow and promote a business.
Here are our thoughts on hiring a candidate, pay, and the skills needed to attract potential buyers for your NFT project.
Qualifications
The applicant pool of Web3-savvy individuals is smaller, which can make it more challenging to find experienced candidates. Adam believes that those without years of experience can make up for it with enthusiasm for learning, curiosity, and an innovative mindset.
In Adam's case, he was successful because of the support and enthusiasm of the founders of the NFT project. They provided strong leadership and mentorship to guide him along the way.
Web3 is an environment where decentralization, open-source development, and community collaboration radically differ from the Web2 world. Engagement and communication with members is the defining difference. Gaining likes and followers from an audience is no longer as important.
Look for candidates with an eagerness to learn, a curious mind, social media experience, and the ability to engage and communicate within the Web3 world.
Compensation
For Web3 to gain traction, raising capital is essential for new companies to have adequate funding to compensate their team.
In Adam's experience, he started his job at the height of the NFT boom in 2021. His compensation came from a percentage of the sales (mint) of the NFTs. With the decline in the market soon after, Adam's expectations for the same compensation as he expected at the hire date were eroding quickly.
Offering a percentage of the mint as compensation can incentivize employees to work harder to encourage people to buy into their project. However, this can also be a deterrent, especially when market conditions are challenging.
On the other hand, providing a salary offers consistency but may not motivate employees to work as hard and maybe more stressful for the company to ensure they have enough money to pay their team.
Incentives, free NFTs, giveaways, and other perks can help when companies are unable to find the funds.
A mix of salary and percentage of mint may be the best option.
Finding candidates
Adam found his job through a job board posting on Twitter. Others, though, have had great success finding jobs by joining Discord communities.
As a member of the community, you can contribute to the conversations and help where needed, which in turn gives you the exposure you need to grab the attention of the hiring manager/team.
This was the case inside Adam's community. They hired a community member to serve on their security team because of the work and assistance he provided in Discord.
Engaging in conversation
The difference between Web2 and Web3 is engagement.
On Discord, Adam assisted with reaching out new members and ensuring their questions were answered. Community managers guided members to the right channels to find information and help facilitate conversations.
While Discord is the most popular community platform, Adam suggests using email and other "traditional" communication methods to engage with members, especially if they aren't familiar or comfortable with Discord.
If people like your project, they will naturally have conversations with people inside the community. For those who aren't comfortable posting publicly, simply reading what others say is good enough for those members. Email and simple marketing tactics can fill in the gaps.
Regardless of the method of communication, members expect conversation and two-way communication. This sets Web3 businesses apart from our "traditional" marketing strategies.
Promoting your project
Adam explained the most powerful promotion is through grassroots marketing from your community members. Spread the word organically.
Partnering with other projects is also vital for the success of the project. Members who join other communities help spread the word and boost all communities they belong to.
Adam helped grow Twitter followers from 2,000 to nearly 55,000 within 5-6 months. He used Twitter Spaces to inform and answer questions from those interested in learning more about the NFT project.
Encourage members to join other communities and share experiences. Collaborations share the work and spread goodwill.
Here are some samples of ways Adam encouraged, educated, and engaged followers on Twitter:
Onboarding newbies
Like many NFT projects, Twitter was the go-to platform to promote and gain interest. Each social media platform has its unique audience. Potential members were already Web3 curious and in the tech field. Twitter has become a primary communication platform for those in the Web3 world.
However, if your potential members are not typically active on Twitter or technical, onboarding them into Web3 is another unique hurdle you must overcome.
NFT natives or curious are the people who are attracted to participating in Web3 projects. If your potential members still need to arrive, then more education is required to get them onboarded, explains Adam.
Summary
When hiring for a Web3 project, the ideal candidate should have qualities such as enthusiasm for learning, a curious mind, social media experience, and the ability to engage and communicate within the Web3 world.
Keep an eye out for those who are active within Web3 communities. The ideal candidate will engage with others and embrace the community aspect of this new way of marketing to customers.
Thank you to Adam, who helped contribute his experience to this article. You can connect with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-finkelstein-983ab4107/ or on Twitter at afink1015.