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

Author / Stacy Muur

Translation / Odaily Planet Daily Golem (@web3_golem)

Every month, Green Dots studies promotional activities by KOLs 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 (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 in 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 external doubts and skepticism after the 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 adopted a very classic promotion model:

1. First, release an announcement with a promotional video;
2. Within 12-48 hours of the announcement, KOLs post collaborative promotional posts;
3. 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 disclosures 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 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.

To be clear, I don’t know who manages this activity, nor whether an agency is involved. I’m simply offering some thoughts from an outsider’s perspective, focusing on marketing.

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
• More community content production
• A stronger ecosystem activation

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 clear.

The most mentioned post is actually by Warhol. Overall, in February, only over 100 independent posts mentioning Starknet received more than 10 likes. For a well-known L2 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 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 decline of traditional Web3 marketing strategies on X.

Why are classic Web3 advertising and promotion strategies failing?

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

In a less crowded, more narrative-driven timeline on X, where most promotions aren’t easily recognized as paid, this classic pattern has been effective. But after certain changes, it no longer works.

Paid disclosures kill covert promotion

Once creators start adding paid disclosure statements, the promotion 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 pattern. It doesn’t spark community discussion; instead, it signals “this is an ad campaign.”

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

KOL behavior is now easily recognizable

Crypto Twitter has matured, and people understand how KOL marketing works.

When the same group of creators quote 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
• Trending opinions
• Competition among KOLs

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

The old promotion flow: announcement — KOL promotion — community discussion.
The new approach: 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 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 previous airdrop caused panic, uncertainty, and doubt. Explaining and promoting videos alone can’t solve this; the project needs to control the conversation. Different goals require different marketing strategies.

If the goal is to win user minds

The strategy should be to actively engage in controversy, not suppress critics, and design topics that provoke debate.

For example:

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

Then sponsor posts listing rankings, compare Starknet with other projects, and create debate-provoking content. Half the timeline might support Starknet, the other half attack it, but both increase exposure. Creating drama isn’t bad marketing; ignoring marketing is.

If the goal is to dominate public opinion

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

The goal isn’t a single good article but dozens of derivative pieces—this is narrative dissemination.

If the goal is to attract developers

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

• Build momentum around topics
• Establish ecosystem reputation
• Showcase successful developer projects

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

Conclusion

The traditional Web3 promotion model (announcement → KOL promotion) is gradually fading on X. The new model is more like: 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.