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

Original Title: How Web3 Teams Burn Marketing Budgets on X

Original Author: Stacy Muur

Original Compilation: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily

Every month, Green Dots studies KOL promotional activities on the X platform 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_ (Read more: Elon Musk casually upended the crypto KOL scene),_ most promotional strategies for Web3 projects are no longer suitable. Stacy Muur reveals common issues found in many recent Web3 promotional activities and uses Starknet as a case study.

Author’s note: This is not targeted at Starknet; their technical strength remains solid. Despite external doubts and skepticism after their airdrop and TGE, the team continues to release and develop products, which is commendable. But in this article, I focus on one aspect: marketing strategy. Starknet’s recent product promotion is just a typical example.

How does Starknet conduct advertising and promotion?

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

2. First, release an announcement with a promotional video;
3. Within 12-48 hours of the announcement, KOLs post collaborative promotional posts;
4. Follow up with articles explaining the product’s advantages in detail.

Although this promotion took place in late February, to comply with X’s paid collaboration policy, some creators included paid partnership tags when posting related content. But the focus of this article isn’t on paid disclosures; it’s on the effectiveness of this promotional strategy itself.

On February 10, another announcement about Starknet was made, 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 articles and conducting some campaigns in Korean-speaking regions.

To be clear, I don’t know who manages this activity or if an agency is involved. I’m just an outsider offering some thoughts from a marketing perspective.

One obvious issue throughout the promotion process is the weak filtering of participating creators.

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

• More discussions about the brand
• More independent creators voluntarily posting
• Increased community content production
• A more active ecosystem

But is that what we see? Not really.

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

The most mentioned post is actually by Warhol. Overall, in February, only about 100 independent posts mentioning Starknet received more than 10 likes. For a well-known L2 ecosystem, that’s not a lot.

Some popular posts naturally mentioning 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 L2 rating list (around 30k views)
• Santiment’s ranking of L2s 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—not just about Starknet, but about the fact that classic Web3 marketing strategies are gradually failing on X.

Why are traditional Web3 advertising and promotion strategies failing?

For years, the default Web3 marketing pattern has been: announce — KOL promotion — community discussion.

On X, when timelines are less crowded, narratives are strong, and most promotions aren’t easily recognized as paid, this classic pattern works. But after certain changes, it no longer does.

Paid disclosures kill covert promotion

Once creators start adding paid disclosure labels, this promotional pattern becomes obvious to followers.

First, users see an announcement, then within 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 recognizable

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

When the same group of creators quotes the same announcement with slightly different wording, it’s easy to interpret this as a coordinated promotional effort. 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:

• Debates and arguments
• Meme coins
• Hot takes
• Competition among KOLs

Without these dynamic factors, dissemination only reaches users briefly and can’t truly win their minds. To gain real topic traction, Web3 projects should change the order of marketing activities.

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

If projects skip the narrative phase, promotion is impossible.

How to redesign a promotion campaign for Starknet?

Let’s be realistic: Starknet carries a heavy burden. The panic, uncertainty, and skepticism triggered during the previous airdrop phase can’t be solved just by explanations and promotional videos; the project needs to control the dialogue to address issues. Different goals require different marketing strategies.

If the goal is to win user minds

Engage actively in controversies. Don’t try to suppress critics; design topics that provoke debate.

For example:

• “Which L2 is better for BTCFi?”
• “Ethereum L2 vs Bitcoin L2”
• “Top 5 ecosystems for BTCFi developers”

Then sponsor posts listing rankings, compare Starknet with other projects, and spark debates. Half the timeline might support Starknet, the other half attack it, but both 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 will read them. Instead, release visual infographics, ecosystem maps, competitor comparisons, and reusable frameworks for KOLs. Give creators space to remix content—repackaging is more powerful than mere quoting.

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

If the goal is to attract developers

Remember, developer acquisition is B2B. Announcements on X alone won’t effectively attract developers. The project should focus on:

• Building momentum around topics
• Establishing ecosystem reputation
• Showcasing successful developers already there

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

Conclusion

The traditional Web3 promotion model (announce → KOL promotion) is gradually fading on X. The new model is more like: craft a topic → spark creator interest → incite discussion → let the community continue.

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