🍵 Spilling the tea on making KOLs work for you Also, stick around till the end coz I might have a new year present for you.
I don’t feel like bringing in the Christmas cheer or holiday vibes, so let’s kick things off with a horror story. It begins on a dull day at Project X HQ. On the wall, hung a whiteboard filled with colorful scrawls—most of it was barely legible, but the goals stood out clearly. They wanted to get listed on the top exchanges and attract serious investors to their project for TGE. To achieve this, they had to inflate their metrics as quickly as possible. They needed to build engagement, community buzz, and everything that screamed, “This project is worth investing in!” Building the metrics organically wasn't an option because that would take time, and today, time wasn’t their ally. So, they decided to rely solely on KOL campaigns to amplify their brand and messaging. After all, what could go wrong? Turns out, everything. While the project managed to gain initial traction, the heavy dependence on KOLs backfired. Once the TGE (Token Generation Event) occurred, the KOLs cashed out, and the project was quickly labelled another pump-and-dump scheme. Project X had become a villain in their own story. And this isn’t new; it’s happened so often that projects now declare, “No VCs. No KOLs,” to attract users. But what if I told you Project X wasn’t doomed from the start? What if they were just doing KOL campaigns all wrong—and could have rewritten their story?
When you hear “KOL,” you’re probably thinking of someone that tweets gm, shills 20 different tokens every day, and has a comment section filled with more bots than humans. So, let’s first sanitize the term. A real KOL isn’t just someone who shills for quick gains. They’re someone who understands your project, aligns with your values, and engages meaningfully with their audience. In short, they’re someone who adds actual value—not just hype. Now that we’ve agreed on a standard definition, let me show you how to work with KOLs like Unhashed. Start by cultivating micro KOLs, individuals who already believe in the project and passionately advocate for it. These can be anyone from customers to community members to even employees. One of the projects we worked with cultivated micro KOLs by encouraging their community to create and share content on their Discord.
Once a member submitted the content, a moderator would then review it and reward points if the submission was original. This helped with their distribution and encouraged more people to create content about them.
Another way to cultivate micro KOLs is encouraging employees to yap for you.
Alex (@AlexOnchain) explains the benefits of cultivating the yap culture and how the Omni team does it in this tweet.
But what if you’ve got some extra budget to play with? It’s time to build relationships with macroKOLs. These are people with larger audiences. The trick isn’t just throwing cash at them; it’s about actively involving them so they champion your project authentically. Pizza Pets, while not the best example, comes close to showing how to involve KOLs meaningfully. Instead of just promoting the game, KOLs actively participated, sharing how simple actions (like feeding pets) could help users earn rewards. This authenticity encouraged deeper engagement for the game followers. This is different from KOLs shilling the game/ product directly, which doesn’t do much. What you want to incentivize is people watching KOLs ‘play the game’ or use the product; so that’s the incentive, NOT the token.
Now, I know what you’re thinking—how do you even find the right KOLs, get them on board, and actually see results? Sounds like a headache, right? Wrong. I’m giving away a cheat sheet to help you find the right KOLs for your project and drive sustainable hype while working with them. Just reply to this email with “KOL” to grab it. Oh, and I’m not done yet. I know I promised an offer you couldn’t refuse in the last newsletter, and I’m getting right to it.
Let’s step back for a second. Forget the influencers, the hype, and the noise. What if your TGE wasn’t just another “launch” but a launch people can’t stop talking about? Here’s the truth: a successful TGE isn’t just about buzz. It’s about showing up with crystal-clear messaging, smart strategies, and a foundation so solid that your token becomes the benchmark for success. For this you need:
That’s not all; we’re also giving you: • A narrative mindshare audit: We’ll evaluate how your project is perceived and help align it with your goals. • User breakdown across channels: A detailed analysis of your audience to understand who they are and how to engage them effectively. • Tools and analytics setup: Recommendations on how to set up mindshare, community, and retention tools to make data-informed decisions. While we charge $300K for this engagement and execute this over six months, we understand that not every founder has the bandwidth for a massive, months-long campaign. So, this year, we’re running an exclusive, shorter 40-day sprint for just $30k where we’ll work with only 2 projects that have the most potential to blow the roof off their TGE. This offer’s only on the table for 48 HOURS. So, if you’re ready to make your TGE unforgettable (for all the right reasons), book a 30-minute call now.
