All good things come to an end. After 11 incredible months, my time at XBorg has come to a close. A little over a year ago I joined CT. A few weeks later, Connor DM’d me about a social media role at the company. I had no idea that message would lead to one of the most formative periods of my career. I’m incredibly grateful to the XBorg team for trusting me with the opportunity and letting me prove myself beyond what was written on my resume. Over the past year I’ve learned more than I could have imagined and become a far better marketer than the version of me who first joined CT. Now I’m ready to take that experience and bring it to the next project. Let’s cook again 👨🏾‍🍳

I saw a tweet a while ago from someone saying they don’t even like Fomo, but they still use it to “feel among.” Perfect example of social proof becoming part of the product. Even if they don’t get much value from it, they’re using it anyway because everyone else is. Brands should think about this when creating content: showing people that others are using, talking about and benefitting from your product is just as important as explaining what it does.

There are 2 marketers inside you One wants to build the brand. The other wants to shitpost.

Every purchase is an attempt to close a gap. The gap between being tired and feeling rested. The gap between not knowing and understanding. The gap between holding crypto and spending it. Your product is simply what the customer believes will close that gap. So instead of obsessing over what the product is, ask yourself what the customer is trying to change.

Me when my dev friend says crypto marketing is “just shitposting”

CT when a project with an upcoming airdrop does the most basic thing

Is the value first approach dead? A few months ago, I searched for brands with general openings on their websites. For each one where I liked the product and could see myself working there, I did a detailed social media audit: highlighted gaps and proposed ways I’d fix them. I checked recently and found that one of the brands (a pretty well known one) had implemented some of the fixes I suggested. They never even acknowledged receiving my audit. Crazy work.

A few more things to keep in mind when running a brand account: 1. Don’t repeat the same action multiple times within a short period (especially replies) 2. Don’t overdo engagement between your personal and brand accounts, especially from the same device (can trigger platform manipulation filters) 3. Space your tweets out (2–3 hours is a good rule of thumb) 4. If you delete a tweet to fix a typo, wait a while before reposting (reposting it immediately can look like duplicate/spam activity)

Crypto projects when they need to attract more users

Me when the devs suggest adding 7 hashtags to the announcement tweet

Please don’t do another Token2049 booth. You’d be competing with thousands of others and blending into the crowd. The best way to stand out is to do something unexpected with viral mechanics. I shared some ideas you can try instead ↓

Need content ideas? Here are a few places to look: - What are your customers asking? - What do they misunderstand? - What are your competitors talking about? - What’s happening in your side of crypto? - What do you know that your audience doesn’t? A lot of good content ideas are already right in front of you.

We have to do something about hiring tweets like these. It’s getting out of hand

Companies when they need extra labor but don’t want to pay market rates

Are you using social media as a product research tool? Your replies, DMs, mentions, etc can tell you what people like, what confuses them, things wish existed, what they think you’re missing. Your social team sees this stuff every day. Product teams should be listening.

How I feel when a big brand steals my meme

Marketing a niche product is a two step job: 1. Sell people on the category. 2. Then sell them on your product. That's the only right order.

You know one of the biggest problems with writing? Overassumption. The more context you have, the harder it is to tell when your writing assumes too much. You know what “combining our Vision AI with cryptographic verification” means because it's your product. Your reader doesn’t. That’s how you end up with copy that makes perfect sense to you but leaves your reader confused.

Kast is probably the best example I’ve seen from a newer brand of building genuine brand affinity. And I think that’s especially important for financial products. A lot of them are functionally similar to the average user. Your card works, theirs works too. You let me send money for free, so do they. When those differences start shrinking, your brand becomes a much bigger part of the reason someone chooses you. Kast seems to understand that.

Who’s gonna tell them?