Web3 teams, stop wasting marketing budgets on the X platform.

Written by: Stacy Muur

Translated by: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily Golem

Every month, Green Dots conducts research on KOL promotional activities on platform X to understand the strategies of other Web3 marketing teams and track which tactics and post styles are truly effective. However, due to X’s new paid collaboration policy changing the marketing landscape on the platform (see: Elon Musk casually disrupting crypto KOLs’ livelihoods), most Web3 project promotion strategies are no longer suitable. In this article, Stacy Muur reveals common issues present in many recent Web3 promotional activities, using Starknet as a case study.

Author’s note: This is not targeted at Starknet; their technical strength remains solid. Despite doubts and skepticism from the outside after the airdrop and TGE, the team continues to release and develop products, which is commendable. However, this article focuses solely on marketing strategies. Starknet’s recent product promotion is just a typical example.

How does Starknet conduct advertising and promotion?

Recently, Starknet launched strkBTC [₿] and invited some content creators on platform X to promote the event. They adopted a very classic promotional approach:

First, release an announcement with a promotional video;

Within 12-48 hours of the announcement, KOLs post collaborative promotional content;

Followed by detailed articles explaining the product’s advantages.

Although this promotion took place in late February, to comply with X’s paid collaboration policy, some creators marked their related posts as paid collaborations. But the focus of this article isn’t on disclosure but on the effectiveness of this promotional strategy itself.

On February 10, another announcement about Starknet was released, and their marketing team conducted another KOL promotion. The same routine: first, a video announcement, then promotion through KOLs.

Of course, Starknet also employs other promotional methods, such as publishing long-form articles and conducting some activities in Korean-speaking regions.

For transparency, I don’t know who manages these activities or whether an agency is involved. I am merely an outsider offering some thoughts from a marketing perspective.

A glaring issue throughout the promotion process is the weak filtering of participating creators.

X is fundamentally a perception layer. Ideally, promotion by creators on X should generate:

More discussions about the brand;

Encourage more independent creators to post voluntarily;

Drive the production of more community content;

Activate a stronger ecosystem.

But is that what we see? Not really.

If you use simple filtering criteria on X to look at popular posts mentioning Starknet in February, the results are obvious.

The most mentioned post is actually by Warhol. Overall, in February, only about 100+ independent posts mentioning Starknet received over 10 likes. For a well-known Layer 2 ecosystem, this isn’t a large number.

Some popular organic mentions of Starknet include:

Mookie’s post about token unlocks (around 10k views);

Warhol’s post about the best internship brands in crypto (around 16k views);

Warhol’s Layer 2 rating list (around 30k views);

Santiment’s ranking of Layer 2 based on developer activity (around 50k views);

Mztacat’s post about the “Big Four” companies (around 82k views).

These roughly represent Starknet’s mention volume on X in February. This raises a more important question: it’s not just about Starknet, but about how traditional Web3 marketing strategies are gradually failing on X.

Why are classic Web3 advertising and promotion strategies failing?

For years, the default Web3 marketing model has been: release announcement — KOL promotion — community discussion.

On X, when the timeline isn’t crowded, narratives are strong, and most promotions aren’t easily recognized as paid, this classic approach works. But after certain changes, it has become ineffective.

Paid disclosures kill covert promotion

Once creators start adding paid disclosure labels, the promotional activity becomes obvious to followers.

First, users see an announcement, then within the next 24 hours, 5-10 similar promotional posts appear, all with similar content. Users can immediately recognize this structure. It doesn’t spark community discussion; instead, it signals “this is an ad campaign.”

In the crypto Twitter environment, ads rarely generate community discussion; users tend to scroll past them.

KOL behavior is now very easy to identify

Crypto Twitter has matured; people understand how KOL marketing works.

When the same group of creators cite the same announcement with slightly different wording, it’s easy to interpret as coordinated promotional activity. Once KOL content is clearly identified as promotional, user engagement drops because the audience shifts from curiosity to ad filtering.

X rewards topic engagement, not announcements

X isn’t a distribution channel but a narrative space. Unless Web3 project announcements can trigger:

Arguments and debates;

Meme coins;

Trending opinions;

Competition among KOLs;

Without these dynamic factors, promotion only achieves short-term user reach and can’t truly win minds. To gain real buzz, Web3 projects should change their marketing sequence.

The old promotion flow: announcement — KOL promotion — community discussion. The new approach should be: build a topic — spark creator debate — produce community content — finally publish the announcement. This way, the announcement becomes the final confirmation moment, not the starting point.

If the project skips the narrative phase, promotion becomes impossible.

How to redesign a promotion campaign for Starknet?

Let’s be realistic: Starknet carries a heavy burden. The previous airdrop caused panic, uncertainty, and doubt. Simply explaining and producing promotional videos won’t solve these issues; the project needs to control the conversation to address concerns. Different goals require different marketing strategies.

If the goal is to win over users’ minds:

Strategy should involve actively engaging in controversy, not suppressing critics, and designing topics that provoke debate.

For example:

“Which Layer 2 is better for developing BTCFi?”

“Ethereum L2 vs Bitcoin L2”

“Top 5 ecosystems for BTCFi developers”

Then, sponsor posts listing rankings, compare Starknet with other projects, and posts that invite debate. Perhaps half the timeline will support Starknet, the other half will attack it, but both sides increase exposure. Creating drama isn’t bad marketing; ignored marketing is.

If the goal is to dominate the narrative:

Stop publishing lengthy PR articles—few people read them. Instead, release visual infographics, ecosystem maps, competitor comparisons, and short reusable frameworks for KOLs. Give creators space; reassembling content is more powerful than just quoting.

Leading the narrative isn’t about one good article but about dozens of derivative posts—this is storytelling dissemination.

If the goal is to attract developers:

Remember, developer acquisition is B2B. Publishing announcements on X alone isn’t effective for guiding developers. The project should focus on:

Building topic momentum;

Establishing ecosystem reputation;

Showing that developers are already succeeding there.

Once this trend is established, guiding developers becomes much easier because developers chase hot topics too.

Conclusion

Traditional Web3 promotion methods (announcement → KOL promotion) are gradually dying on X. The new approach resembles: design a topic → spark creator interest → initiate discussion → let the community continue.

Announcements are still important, but they should no longer be the starting point of promotion—they should be the final confirmation.