How To Grow Your NFT Community (2023 Guide)

Strong NFT projects like VeeFriends, World of Women, Deadfellaz have one thing in common: a strong community. It is arguably the most important key to a successful NFT project. This guide discusses several effective tools and strategies to build up your NFT community.

Why Build An NFT Community?

An NFT community is one of the key components of a successful NFT project. It forms the backbone of your project from pre-launch all the way to post-launch. At the pre-launch phase, it can be one of your biggest distribution channels. The community can help spread the word and bring the hype to an upcoming launch. By consistently engaging with your community, you can encourage them to spread awareness and education about your project and bring in new potential collectors.

But first things first— What Is An NFT Community? An NFT community is an online group with limited membership. Access to this exclusive community is often gained by acquiring an NFT from the collection.

As NFTs typically allow a sense of digital identity and belonging, these communities usually consist of like-minded individuals from a diverse demographic background. For instance, an NFT project centered around Manga-styled art is more likely to attract Manga, Anime or comic book enthusiasts.

What Are The Types Of NFT Communities?

On one hand, there is the macro-community that includes anyone that partakes in the NFT space in some way, such as the creators, collectors, and even the onlookers. On the other hand, there is the micro-community which consists of individuals that participate in a particular NFT project. Usually, each project will carry its own identity, unique in its own way.

Tools And Strategies For Building Your NFT Community

1) Choosing The Right Platform

While Tik Tok and Instagram continue to be the go-to social media platforms in 2022, the majority of the NFT community remains active on Twitter and Discord. Twitter is most commonly used for public communication, often involving the NFT community at large. Whereas Discord is used to communicate directly with the micro-community. Good Discord setups make the onboarding experience extremely smooth for new entrants. There are also a bunch of useful Discord tools to help you manage your community. Of course, NFT projects can take advantage of other social media platforms to attract more people, or simply post quick updates regarding the project.

2) Collaborations And Partnerships

As with traditional marketing, engaging in collaborations and partnerships can widen your reach and increase brand awareness quickly. New NFT projects can also leverage collaborations to build up trust from the macro-community. This can mean collaborating with other established NFT projects, NFT influencers, or celebrities.

You can start off by giving shoutouts to NFT projects that align with yours or those that you admire. We have also seen new projects create NFT art inspired by established NFT projects. The goal here is to get them to share it with their followers, exposing your work to a larger pool of audience.

3) Holding Contests And Giveaways

Many NFT projects have been giving out whitelist spots, NFTs, merchandise, and exclusive access to events in exchange for something as simple as following their socials. Over the past year, it has proven to be a quick method to attract new members. In fact, they have been so effective in the NFT space that it has led many to fall for scams and rug pulls. However, giving away too many freebies might reduce the value that existing members perceive of the brand, which may lead to further adverse effects. Therefore, do proceed with caution.

4) Create Engaging Community Events

There are many events that NFT projects can organise, both online and onsite. Organising in-person events such as VeeCon 2022 and NFT.NYC can effectively build the community through various fun activities. For instance, VeeCon 2022 allowed NFT holders to meet the developing team in person, experience the latest technologies in the NFT space, and even meet celebrities like Steve Aoki and Beeple. This year, the events managed to attract more than 7k and 20k attendees respectively. Organisers can also release POAP NFTs to further reward the participants for coming.

Another common activity to increase engagement is through a community AMA (Ask Me Anything). This is an open conversation online where one or more team members answer any questions that the community may have. This is a great tool as it does not require large investments or preparations. A well-executed AMA should be able to engage the community in valuable conversations, build closer relationships, share knowledge, and promote project transparency. Twitter or Twitter spaces are good platforms for this purpose.

5) Education

As the macro-community continues to grow, it is imperative that new entrants get quality education with regards to the NFT space in general. Providing learning opportunities (for free) can effectively grow your brand and eventually your community. For instance, some NFT projects such as Doge Fight Club and Wall Street Dads reward their community with trading tips and crypto-lessons. Whereas Bankless and Cryptonary focus on providing education and insights surrounding the NFT and blockchain space, successfully growing their respective communities in the process.

Ultimately, these are supplementary tools that should be implemented on top of your brands’ core qualities. As long as your project consistently brings value, actively communicates, and practices transparency within the community, you should be on the right track.

Examples Of NFT Projects With Strong Communities

If you need a point of reference, here are some NFT projects with the strongest communities today.

Bored Ape Yacht Club by Yuga Labs. [1 million followers]

VeeFriends – Founded by social media mogul Gary Vee. [261k followers]

Azuki: Top 10 NFT project. [312.3k followers]

Rarible: Decentralised, community-centric, multichain NFT marketplace [493k followers]