Web3 Marketing Case Study #1: Sei Network Viral Marketing (Seiyan)

Market timing, community empowering, strategic spreading, and builder supporting... all come together to make Sei blossom recently

Disclaimer: This post is written from the perspective of a Web3 learner who primarily has a background in marketing. The opinions expressed are my own, and I am open to corrections.

---

Firstly, I want to shout out to the Sei team for their expertise, this “Seiyan” campaign is an extremely successful case that we need to learn to do Web3 Marketing.

As we can see from recent days, the word “Seiyan” has been floating around our feed and the majority of Crypto OG are driving their attention to Sei Network in general and Sei’s NFT/meme world in particular. Let’s see how they managed to achieve all that:

Good Market Timing

If we zoom out and start connecting the dots, the pre-preparation and launching stages have been perfectly timed with the Crypto market news.

Preparation:

The word “Seiyan” was coined by “Seiyan By Cult NFT and has been officially used by the Sei team since 20s December (2 days before Christmas time). *FYI, Seilor was the previous name for its community*. As people need time to digest their new “Sei personality”, banging out the new name before the biggest holidays, when users are likely to spend more of their time on social media, is not a coincidence.

Launching:

And boom, the campaign kicked off with the Seiyan collection (which was freely minted and then sold for around $400 $SEI on the market, at around $300) at the beginning of January when everyone was actively on their phones, waiting for the BTC Spot ETF news. Printing money out of thin air, who doesn't like it? Therefore, the attention has now shifted to Sei Network.

As the snowball effect, more and more collections have been launched on Sei Network, including some of the blue-chip projects that have led the market, such as WeBump, Dob, Seiyan, and Colony. Starting from 02 collections, Sei Network now has over 30 collections, with more than 5 new ones being added every day.

Community Empowering

Seiyan, Seiyan, Seiyan

What a great idea to come up with that name. Familiar, Involveable & Empowering is what made that name all over your Twitter feed these days.

• Familiar: Tell me someone who doesn't know a word about the famous comic Sogoku. It's very clever to name your community with a name that sticks to everyone's childhood. That "easy to pronounce and remember" name makes the Sei community the most memorable to anyone.

• Involveable: The key to building a successful community is the feeling of being involved/belonging to something. Sei Network knows that. No matter whether you are a builder, a Sei team, or an investor, anyone can be a Seiyan. There is nothing that distinguishes the team from the investors.

• Empowering: Last but not least, it's undeniable that this name sticks to a powerful comic character ("Super Saiyan"). This name expresses that the community is an unstoppable hero, a tornado that can destroy anything they go through.

  

It sounds silly, but it’s strategic.

Personal Building

The Sei team is also successful in building a personal presence on Twitter. The core team has become a dream team of spokespersons, which is desired for any project. Each of them gives off a specific vibe, and they have gained a large number of enthusiastic Sei followers on Twitter. This plays a role as an "alpha" media channel for the Sei Network, where less intense news/updates are often shared.

Leveraging that fame, the team actively comments/replies to all the NFT projects related to the Sei Network. This can be seen as an endorsement of the "Sei Network" and a strategic spreading plan that I will talk about later.

→ Building personal branding in Web3 is crucial because it can benefit your career path or the foundation you are working with.

Strategic Spreading Plan

This campaign wouldn't have become so viral without the team's strategic spreading strategy, particularly the use of GIFs. I've read all the Web3 Growth Hack content by Phillip, the Growth lead of Sei Network. He truly "walked the walk" by implementing exactly what he shared with the audience, especially the GIF expansion technique, as mentioned in this article. With this strategy, the priority will be to fill and reply with Seiyan GIFs as much as possible in any tweets.

I have done some research on Phillip's account, and here is what I found:

Now we can see the importance of a spreading strategy and how an individual can contribute to the virality of a campaign.

Builders support

The final factor that contributed to the success of this campaign is the support from the Sei Network team for its Builders, especially the owners of the NFTs collection. I have come across several "leaked" chats (referred to as alpha in Web3, lol) from a group chat involving the Sei team (specifically Phillip) and other NFTs collection owners. From these chats, we can infer that Phillip and the team are actively providing support to other projects and fostering a cohesive NFT ecosystem on the Sei Network. 

Key takeaway

1. Timing is important, agree or disagree

The cryptocurrency industry is a different dimension from traditional fields since the market timing matters. The market greatly influences your campaign's success. If the market is driven by greed (at the bull market), your campaign is more likely to succeed. Conversely, during a bear market or winter, your campaign may not receive much attention.

2. Embrace your community as a team

When engaging with your community, ensure they feel involved and valued. Avoid categorizing them as mere holders or fans. Remember, you and your community are a team.

3. Personal branding is essential

Regardless of your field, establishing a strong personal brand offers significant advantages. In the crypto space, personal branding acts as a micro media channel for your foundation. It allows for a more relaxed dissemination of news and fosters natural interactions with your supporters.

4. Utilize GIFs as a communication channel

This is a practical and direct key takeaway. Leverage GIFs to spread your campaign effectively and rapidly. Their impact is easily implied from this campaign. Take note of this technique and give it a try. You can read more about it in this article by Phillip.

That's it! While there are many factors contributing to the success of a campaign, these four pillars are crucial (IMO). If you believe there are additional factors that I haven't mentioned in this blog, please leave them in the comments below. I would love to hear more!

If you enjoyed this series, subscribe for more! See you next time!