It's no surprise that Coinbase is poised to lead the crypto commerce space. With a top-notch marketing team, they’re making sure that growth is the first thing people think of when they hear their name.
... and recently, they've been making waves with innovative on-chain guerrilla marketing campaigns and setting new standards in the industry.
For a long time now, Coinbase has been known for its forward-thinking advertising strategies, earning praise from industry leaders for challenging traditional norms and continually educating the public about cryptocurrency's evolving role in the financial system (Remember the infamous QR code ad during Super Bowl LVI).
In early February, Coinbase shook things up yet again with a thought-provoking TV ad that challenged the conventional perception of traditional U.S. fiat currency, particularly the penny. The ad humorously highlighted the penny's outdated and inefficient nature, pointing out the cumbersome aspects of physical currency.
Following this clever ad and leveraging Farcaster's innovative frame technology, Coinbase launched the "Mint a Penny" campaign. This allowed users to mint their own penny NFTs through a Farcaster frame or via MintAPenny.xyz on Base. These limited-edition penny NFTs not only showed how digital currency can give new value to $0.01 but also served as a unique promotional opportunity.
After minting their penny NFT, users could visit the Coinbase merch shop, connect their wallet, and purchase a commemorative penny hat for just $29.99 (The minted penny would allow the first 100 users to purchases the hat for just $0.01).
This campaign was one of the first to take users through the entire marketing funnel, from initial engagement to the final purchase, all within Farcaster’s engaging framework.
Even with only 1000 commemorative hats available, the response was huge—over 219,000 penny NFTs have been claimed.
This proves that full-cycle onchain marketing is here to stay, and with Onchain Summer upon us, it's only going to get bigger. If you're eager to experiment with new ways to connect with the most dedicated supporters of your protocol, consider using a points system or a thoughtfully crafted NFT mint to reward them and turn it into real-life assets. And yes, I'm talking about socks (because hats are sooo last bull run).
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Marketer Spotlight - Chiara Munaretto
1. Why did you choose to build your personal brand on LinkedIn, and why do you believe others should consider doing the same?
It wasn’t a one-night magic decision, it came logically after years of unsatisfied social media exposure. Instagram and TikTok weren’t really my type of platform. I love knowledge, and I love writing about it. So I casually joined LinkedIn a few years ago, just exploring the platform. Up until 6 months ago. I realized the potential of the platform in sharing valuable knowledge and building a network of people who have the same mindset of knowledge, growth, and critical thinking. Once I started sharing more content, people started to ask me: how did you create your personal brand? (enhance your question) And that’s when I realized that what I was doing was inspiring people to start being active on LinkedIn and hence I could help them making this social network work for them too. Building your personal brand is not just doing business, is a journey of self-discovery. This latter, combined with the compound results you get over time for just being able to properly advertise yourself online for the skills you have, should make everyone think: Why haven’t I optimized my profile yet? Once you tell people what you are good at and showcase it in posts every day, you become a magnet for opportunities targeted for you.
2. How do you find inspiration for your LinkedIn posts?
Via what I call: a hypervigilant mindset. You observe the world and consciously react to it. Anything around you is content, and that’s where my inspiration comes from. It seems fictional and vague, but once you adopt this mindset you will see ideas flowing over and over to you. Here’s how it works:
You clearly set the type of topics you want to write about
You consciously understand what is your take on this topic (example: pro or against AI?)
You critically observe the world around you and keep a proactive/vigilant mind that grasps news/opinions/words that can be the basis of your topic + your take
You write that down on your notes (no need to fully elaborate it)
You schedule 2h in your calendar per week to elaborate on all your ideas (notes) and turn them into posts for the week after
You need to train your mind daily to make the hypervigilant mindset work for you.
Aside from that, looking at what other inspiring creators post always help me in improving the type of content I create.
3. What types of content does your audience engage with the most?
Collaborative posts, stories and polls. Let me address them one by one. Collaborative posts allow you to double leverage the network, increasing comments, likes, and reach and also the quality of posts thanks to different perspectives brought by the people you collaborate with. Stories: people love hearing stories, whether it is your story or the way you storytell an advice, an example or anything else. Finally, I started using more polls. Polls will help you in two ways: getting more specific insights from your audience (for you) and making them feel engaged with your posts (for them).
4. How do you use personal posts to build a deeper connection with your audience?
That’s a great question, but if done properly all posts ar/should be personal posts. I don’t need to put a picture of myself or tell my story to make it personal. If your personal brand revolves around sharing your opinions or your strategies to help your audience achieve a certain outcome, that it is personal enough. Being vulnerable makes you human. It detaches you from the concept of business and allows you to concretize the concept of “people buy from people” - but ultimately you should stay personal also in other types of content, not just when sharing your challenges or achievements. That’s when your audience fully connects with you - because they can see your story in all your posts.
5. How often do you post on LinkedIn to maintain momentum?
I vary. I never post less than 3 times per week and never more than 6. I want to keep a balance that allows me to stay consistent over time. The most important thing I realized is that it doesn’t really matter if it’s one post more or less, so don’t overfocus on these small details that may keep you away from actually being consistent over a long period (1 year<). Focus on delivery quality and start with an amount of posts that is feasible for you, considering the other life commitments you have. My rule of thumb: balancing time-efforts-goals. This way you don’t give false hopes to yourself, you don’t overstress, and you simply adjust your goals based on your life priorities. Last, don’t compare yourself to others, build your own time-efforts-goals path. You ultimately decide what is momentum for you, which can change over the months.
6. What strategies do you use to achieve your LinkedIn goals, whether it's increasing followers, getting clients, securing speaking engagements, or expanding your network?
This question needs more than a paragraph answer as you may shape your strategy differently according to your goals. Briefly, it always revolves around:
The content: Are you reporting other people’s information? Are you sharing your knowledge? Are you dreaming and sharing creative ideas?
The way you write: Are you trying to solve a problem? Are you trying to become famous? Are you trying to impress others with your opinion?
The CTA: Who do you want to take action? And what action shall be taken? Make it clear.
Your overall profile: once again, who are you trying to impress? How can you best optimize your profile based on what your ideal target would look you up for?
