Fixing Web3 Marketing: What Channels Actually Work in Web3

Welcome back to Fixing Web3 Marketing: From Hype to Sustainable Growth - a series exploring the biggest challenges Web3 companies face when promoting their products. On our last blog post, we discussed the many Web3 audiences you might be overlooking in your campaigns, and how to build personas that actually align with your goals. Today, we’ll dive into the channels that really drive results - how to get your project noticed and attract the right audience to your brand.

Over the course of this series, we’ve talked quite a bit about Twitter/X and how Web3 projects tend to treat it as the end-all, be-all channel for reaching, building, and engaging with their communities. That made sense for a while - it was the hub where builders, traders, and enthusiasts gathered to celebrate launches, dissect tokenomics, and dunk on bad takes. But as we’ve learned, your marketing strategy can’t rely solely on one platform, especially not X, since that limits your reach to the same closed loop of people talking to themselves.

Web3 marketing needs to evolve beyond hype threads and emoji engagement. Success lies in multi-channel storytelling, where you use the right mix of platforms to build awareness, educate users, and establish lasting trust.

Choosing the Right Channels

Whether you’re in IT, e-commerce, or Web3, there are certain marketing channels that are staples: LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Facebook. Among these, two tend to dominate in Web3: X and YouTube. Both serve important but different purposes:

X

X remains a major channel for Web3, blockchain, and crypto projects. It’s great for brand positioning, announcements, and thought leadership, and it’s a powerful tool for visibility and conversation. However, it’s also chaotic - algorithms shift constantly, attention spans are short, and viral threads rarely translate to actual product adoption. That makes it less effective for onboarding, education, or retention.

YouTube

One of the best tools when it comes to attract adoption, especially from visual learners. Along with TikTok and Instagram Reels, it can simplify what whitepapers often overcomplicate, for example, a two-minute video showing “how this dApp actually helps you save time or money” can do more than a 2,000-word technical doc ever could. Plus, video contest is great for quality search engine rankings.

While X and YouTube are powerful on their own, you’ll get much better results when you pair them with other community-driven channels. Let’s look at those next.

Discord, Telegram and Reddit: The Pulse of the Community

Discord and Telegram are where most Web3 communities live. They’re essential tools for community management, allowing teams to stay in touch with their audience and create two-way communication. Discord, in particular, has evolved into a structured environment with channels for announcements, governance, and feedback loops. Unlike Telegram, it allows for micro-communities within a larger ecosystem. While these spaces bring builders and enthusiasts closer, they’re also known for noise, spam, and occasional burnout.

The real challenge lies in turning those spaces into hubs of genuine engagement rather than just announcement boards. The most successful projects do this by fostering authentic discussion, rewarding participation with recognition instead of just tokens, and using moderation tools to maintain a healthy environment. Community spaces aren’t billboards; they’re living ecosystems, and should be treated as such.

Reddit sits somewhere between a community hub and a social listening platform. Many projects now use it to learn about common user questions, understand public sentiment, and respond directly to feedback. A dedicated subreddit is an excellent space to gauge how well your audience understands your project, identify recurring points of confusion, and improve your communication accordingly.

Blogging: The Credibility Engine

In Web3, blogging remains one of the strongest ways to establish credibility and thought leadership. It’s where you can explain your technology, share your roadmap, and showcase your expertise. Done well, it becomes a credibility anchor that proves your project has depth beyond memes and tokenomics.

However, long-form content shouldn’t only live on one platform. Syndicate it across your website, LinkedIn, and platforms like HackerNoon to reach wider audiences. Combine technical deep dives with human storytelling: talk about your mission, the people behind the project, and how your tech solves real problems.

Good content doesn’t just build SEO - it builds trust and your position as a thought leader in the space.

SEO and Email Marketing: The Long Game

Because ad bans and platform restrictions have long limited crypto promotion, organic channels like SEO and email are critical for sustainable growth.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization

In short, SEO is all about helping search engines understand your content, and helping users find your site and make a decision about whether they should visit your site through a search engine.

SEO helps projects become discoverable outside of crypto circles and with a good strategy, it builds trust with search engines and drives organic traffic to your content. In order to do this, you’ll need to employ blockchain SEO strategies within traditional digital marketing frameworks such askeyword research, content optimisation, authority building, and analytics:

• Keyword research: This is the first step toward improving organic traffic. By understanding which keywords your target audience uses when searching for products or services, you can target the right market and attract problem-driven users.
• Content: Solid keyword research is pointless without content to match. Remember blogging? That’s what we’re talking about - strong thought leadership content, not keyword-stuffed or clickbait pieces.
• Authority Building: Link building is your best friend when it comes to boosting your project’s domain credibility and authority. Connecting with reputable sites and getting backlinks to your content can improve your project’s standing with both search engines and potential users.
• Analytics: Your little big helper for assessing your current marketing strategy’s success. Analytics shows which channels have the best engagement, drive quality traffic, and impact rankings. Without data, teams keep guessing and burning resources. Don’t like the results? Pivot and try again!

Email marketing

Email, meanwhile, is one of the few channels you actually own rather than rent from algorithms. It’s an invaluable tool for keeping users engaged long after the initial hype fades. Use it to share updates, tutorials, and insights - not just promotions - and to tell investors and customers about your brand, goals, and roadmap. In an ecosystem full of noise, consistent and clear communication through email can cut through and build lasting relationships.

PR and Partnerships: Bridging Web3 and the World

One of the biggest missed opportunities in Web3 marketing is public relations. Many teams focus so heavily on crypto-native audiences that they forget the importance of reaching mainstream media.

Partnerships with established tech publications, traditional brands, or educational platforms can give projects a legitimacy boost. It signals stability, trustworthiness, and real-world relevance.

Equally important are cross-project collaborations within the ecosystem. When projects partner, share audiences, or co-host events, they multiply visibility while lending mutual credibility. In a decentralized space, collaboration is marketing.

Alternative channels

1. Influencer marketing: This strategy isn’t just for fashion or consumer brands; it has proven effective in the blockchain space as well. If your budget allows, working with Web3 influencers who align with your values can help expand your reach.

2. Airdrop campaigns: While we sh*t on this option, it can still be useful if you do it right. Whether you have a crypto or NFT project looking to get more traction, airdropping free tokens or NFTs can be a good way to incentivize and build a community. However, remember that it can also be damaging to a brand and create a false community made up of people just looking for freebies.

3. Events & Conferences: Hosting events (online or in person) is a great way to connect with your audience and share insights.

4. Paid ads: Beyond Google and Social Media, there are a number of crypto specific media sites that have paid ads structures in place. Using this could be another string to the bow of blockchain projects, to reach the right audience.

Finding the Right Channel Mix

There’s no universal formula, but a good rule of thumb is this:

• X: Awareness and conversation.
• Discord/Telegram: Community management and retention.
• Blog: Thought leadership and depth.
• YouTube/Video: Education and accessibility.
• Email & SEO: Retention and discoverability.
• PR & Partnerships: Credibility and expansion.

Each channel serves a different stage of the user journey - from discovery to loyalty. The challenge for Web3 marketers is integrating them into a coherent narrative instead of running disconnected campaigns.

Marketing in Web3 isn’t about choosing between new and old channels but about combining them intelligently. The goal isn’t just to be seen; it’s to be understood, trusted, and remembered. The best Web3 marketing strategies blend hype with substance, visibility with value, and community with clarity.

In the next and final post of this series, we’ll explore how Web3 marketing can move beyond tactics entirely and focus on what truly matters: education, trust, and long-term sustainability.

References

ColdChain Agency. (n.d.). Digital Marketing for Web3 Projects: What Are the Key Differences? Link