What You Need To Know About Twitter and NFTs! ~via @iSocialFanz
What can I say about Brian Fanzo, he immediately caught my attention when we connected via Twitter about 10 years ago with his personal touch and brilliant ADHD mind... he came to me to learn, and it was me who ended up doing most of the learning. Whenever I didn't understand a new tool or technology Brian stepped in and explained it in terms I could understand. I miss the regular connection we once shared. As is usually the case with Brian, he brings so much value, knowledge, and resources to the conversation about NFTs, and specifically here in this post, NFTs and Twitter. /Ted
For those new to the NFT space one of the first things you’ll realize after you google “What the hell is an NFT” is how much of the conversation and information isn’t being shared on traditional blog posts or mainstream social media channels. I’ll explain where and why that is below, but before we get there let’s level set on NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
NFTs are the newest and hottest technology in the blockchain market. After Facebook banned cryptocurrency advertising, Twitter became a new home for crypto marketing. And with its recent addition of NFT support, and NFT brands and projects leveraging Twitter Spaces (social audio) it’s only going to get bigger.
The gaming industry has been using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) since 2011 when Cryptokitties was released and became one of the most popular games of 2018. But, now we’re seeing them pop up everywhere, from artworks to collectibles to sports to music and of course those silly new animal profile photos.
What is an NFT? I feel one37pm.com created the best guide to NFTs “WTF are NFTS?” and explain them as
“NFTS ARE A TYPE OF TOKEN THAT ARE GOING TO COMPLETELY REVOLUTIONIZE ENTIRE INDUSTRIES BY CHANGING THE WAY WE SHARE AND CONSUME PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING.”
One of the most significant benefits of NFTs is that they can exist across different blockchains, which allow for more scalability and flexibility in terms of where your digital asset will live.
With all that being said, I believe NFTs at the moment have yet scratched the surface of what’s possible but we can’t get there till we first open people’s minds to the true power of the blockchain. Currently, NFTs are essentially being leveraged as one of two things, profile photos (PFPs) or digital signaling letting people know the community you are a part of.
The tricky part is how do you know which NFT projects are worth investing in or how to get on a whitelist or the trends regarding the floor, and who is involved in each of these projects. Yes, this is the tricky part, but I also believe this is the fun part where listening, engaging, and doing your research can pay off in some fantastic ways.
Thankfully, the opportunity to learn and engage in the NFT community itself has migrated primarily to two places: Discord and Twitter. One of these mentioned platforms I’ve loved since 2010 and use daily while the other I hated for a while but am learning to manage and leverage. (Twitter vs. Discord)
If you want to go deeper with NFTs I’ve created this Flipboard Magazine with 170+ blog posts I’ve found valuable on NFTs, crypto and the creator economy:
What is NFT Twitter and How can you leverage it?
NFT Twitter is a new community that caters to NFT fans on Twitter, and it’s been gaining massive steam, by leveraging all of the great features of Twitter. The NFT community creates conversations amongst a variety of hashtags and within daily live Twitter Spaces. Some of the hashtags being used within Twitter to organize conversations and create this community include #NFTcommunity #NFTdrop #NFTs #NFTart #NFTgiveaway #NFTcollector, and many more…
As someone active on Twitter since 2010 and was verified back in 2015, the #NFTcommunity on Twitter has been one of the most exciting things to hit Twitter in years.
“THE MAGIC OF TWITTER ISN’T IN THE FACT YOU CAN SHARE IN REAL-TIME AS ANYONE CAN DO THAT. THE MAGIC IS POSTING IN REAL-TIME, AT THE RIGHT TIME WITH THE RIGHT CONTEXT.”
For many having to learn about NFTs is just as overwhelming as having to use Twitter as I know many friends who tried Twitter for a while but gave up years ago. If that’s you then I’ve got some exciting new for you.
It’s not the same Twitter you remember of the past.
The algorithm is much better, and they have twitter spaces and allow 270 characters instead of the 140 characters of the past but the true magic still lives within our ability to have conversations and listen in real-time. I believe there is no better social network for real-time news and finding those you don’t know, aren’t connected with but share a common purpose, passion, or community of focus than Twitter. I describe Twitter as an
“UNFILTERED FIREHOSE OF REAL-TIME 1 TO 1 CONVERSATION HAPPENING IN PUBLIC THAT ANYONE CAN JOIN IN ON AND SHARE”
To simplify the learning curve for embracing Twitter I decided to break down the different aspects of Twitter and how to best use each for NFT toolbox.
Power of the #PoundSign
Hashtags are the glue to discover the people, conversations, and active communities on Twitter. Testing out different hashtags will help get your content in the discovery and feed of others who share your views but aren’t following you.
Follow more people than you feel you need to…. then follow a couple more after that.
I firmly believe most people struggle to stay active on Twitter because they aren’t following enough people. The algorithm will make sure you see those most critical tweets. Still, you have to first feed it with as many people, brands, and conversations as you can. Follow more people than you feel you need to…. then follow a couple more after that.
Twitter Lists: Can’t Live Without Them
I have more than 100 Twitter lists that I’ve been curating since 2010. If you’ve never heard of Twitter lists, that’s ok because creating them and managing them has never been easy, but I wouldn’t use Twitter the way I do today without lists. You can use private, and public Twitter lists to organize people under topics which is terrific for managing the people you follow by NFT project, knowledge, types of tweets, and more.
The bonus is you can pin your Twitter lists and then toggle them on and off within Twitter mobile for iOS, therefore, filtering the noise of Twitter into the lists you create. Although I will say Twitter lists + Tweetdeck is where the magic really happens.
Tweetdeck: My Secret Weapon
This has been my secret weapon for 5+ years, and the fact more people don’t use it has always blown my mind. The mac app & browser versions are maintained by Twitter. Essentially they allow you to curate your dashboard into different feeds, including multiple Twitter accounts (I had 11 I managed for my personal brand at one time), by hashtag for monitoring event conversations, Twitter lists, and several other feed categories.
RT + Quote RT’s are FREE:
I can’t stress this enough that part of the power of Twitter is our ability to share, amplify and celebrate each other and tweets that we find valuable. I use the “heart aka twitter like” like a fist bump of acknowledgment. Still, I smash the RT button if the tweet was of value to me, and I believe it will be valuable to my audience. If I want to add some personal context to a tweet I found helpful, I use the “Quote RT” feature, which I believe isn’t used enough.
Tweet, Test, Engage, Tweak, Repeat
I used to preach that you must reply to every tweet, but before, I had 100k followers and realized that that scale can be near impossible. On the other hand, I believe it’s essential to let people know that you saw their tweet, so for every tweet, I’m mentioned, I hit the heart button to let them know they are heard.
I do take pride in the fact that every reply to a question, tweet, and RT I’ve done over the last 10+ years has been made solely by me and nobody else. I know that sounds crazy, but I committed to making my community interaction a PRIORITy in my business and was willing to give up other tasks to my team so I could be the voice and face of my primary Twitter accounts.
Learn to love Twitter DMS because you have to
I used to look at my Twitter DMs must like the spam folder in my Gmail. I would check it once or twice a month, but that was it. Fast forward to the last 24 months, and Twitter DMs are often where followers ask questions and want to set up next-level conference calls. I’ve also created and been a part of many Twitter dm group chats where we can share tweets and have out-of-public eye discussions without leaving Twitter. I will say the management of DM notifications, lack of search, or pinning of messages does make managing the Twitter DMS still painful. Still, I’ve found it’s worth the pain for now.
Analytics Are Important and Available
There are all kinds of tools to schedule content and report on content outside of twitter but I’ve found that twitter analytics and twitter on browser scheduling can give you most of what you need without paying for a third party tool. Analytics.twitter.com
Media and Video: Press The Damn Button
I’ve always felt video can be overwhelming with YouTube and even Facebook but the leveraging of media and video within Twitter can make all the difference. You can natively upload any video and post it under 270 seconds long in the browser or mobile device. If you want to post a longer video you must use Twitter media studio on your browser.
Remember your goal with media and videos posted along with your tweet is to create a “thumb-stopping” experience catching the users eye and hopefully adding additional context to your tweet.
Twitter is Innovating, in real-time!
Twitter spaces, communities, and share tweets to IG. One of the most impressive aspects of “new Twitter” has been their commitment to building new product features and tools in public and allowing us, the Twitter power users, to help shape the products.
Social Audio: Twitter Spaces Adds Depth
Twitter spaces have been the most outstanding example of this. The social audio feature within Twitter that came out as competition to Clubhouse, a platform I’ve built a massive community on, has been slowly adapting and growing. I’m using it daily, and I soon believe it will replace much of my Clubhouse use.
The NFT community has really dove into twitter spaces to bring social audio discussions to their Twitter followings which really allows more depth and passion to be felt and heard within the walls of Twitter.
Twitter communities are a new look at communities or just a “private-ish” twitter feed within Twitter
Twitter “communities tab and environment” are the newest feature, and although I love the potential at the moment, the couple communities I belong to are minimal. It’s challenging to strategize when something should be posted within the Twitter community walls or just to the public feed. You can read more here:
Take Tweets off of Twitter:
A feature that I’ve really loved is the updated Twitter share options. You can share a tweet of yours or someone else’s from your mobile phone directly into your Instagram story, and the format and feel of the tweets are excellent.
Tweets also happen to share very well in Discord channels so making it easy to share and integrating your tweets into your discord will drastically improve your engagement and value on Twitter.
Don’t get Rugged: Be Transparent
It’s easy to fall into the trap because someone has a lot of followers or they are verified that they are trustworthy, but I caution you that is only the case about 25% of the time. Especially with NFT Twitter emerging, many of the most prominent thought leaders in the NFT/Crypto space have low follower counts as they just joined or came back to Twitter. Hence, it’s essential to do your own research and remember that tweets are just people’s opinions. Before you decide or believe in something based on a tweet, do your research on who the person is that’s tweeting it and their agenda.
NFT leaders must learn from Twitter influencers’ mistakes.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” and over the years, we’ve seen every error imaginable when it comes to influencers promoting brands they didn’t use, not disclosing they were paid for the promotion, and in many cases tweeting without first thinking. This is a hot topic for me as I preach transparency. At the same time, I’ve also generated 6 figures worth of influencer content work each of the past 7 years. For me, when in doubt, disclose your relationship with the context of the tweet and remember every action you take on Twitter is part of the story you are telling.
Lastly, be careful for the “pump twitter algorithm” experience that I’ve noticed can be a problem. What I mean by this is people you follow all promoting one NFT project, then your entire feed is full of tweets from that project. You get this feeling as if Twitter is blowing up around this project. It must be excellent. No, NFT communities on discord have really done a great job of promoting tweets and using Twitter to celebrate active NFT project holders and those thinking about jumping into the NFT project. The downside is the Twitter algorithm will often flood your feed with these tweets, but in no way does that mean all of Twitter is seeing this same content or that project is trending on Twitter.
“NO NFT PROJECT OR SPONSORED OPPORTUNITY IS WORTH JEOPARDIZING THE TRUST AND CREDIBILITY YOU HAVE WITH YOUR FOLLOWING!”
Toggle Often Between “See latest Tweets” & “Top Tweets.”
As I’ve mentioned, Twitter is excellent for real-time breaking news content and conversations. At the same time, its algorithm IMHO is also perfect at curating the “Top tweets” for you based on the topics you follow, the people you follow, and the content you interact with. This is why you must understand when you are looking at your feed based on the latest tweets, or you are looking at the top tweets, which in many cases could be tweets from 24 hours prior that you missed.
NFT PFP verification:
Twitter announced recently that they are learning even more about Crypto and NFTs as, yes, you can tip me in Bitcoin (only happened once), but soon you’ll be able to verify your profile photo is the NFT that you own in your wallet. This type of integration via the transparency of the blockchain will drive lots of new features and added connections to Twitter over the next couple of years.
Notifications by device and turn on individual notifications:
Notification management is also a tough subject to cover when it comes to social media because we each have our own strategy on what apps or types of notifications get priority.
Within twitter they allow a lot of micromanagement of notifications which I love so I can enable notifications via DM but only if the person messaging I follow. Beyond the app notifications, I’m also a fan of using turning on notifications for certain brands and NFT projects so I can be aware of each and every tweet and be the first to hear about a roadmap announcement and such.
No matter your strategy I believe it’s important to also manage notifications across devices as I have different Twitter notifications enabled on my iPhone vs on my iPad and even more dynamic on my MacBook. In this NFT space being the first to know can be the difference between minting or not minting and in some cases be the difference in thousands of dollars.
Are you still unsure why Twitter + NFTs are a match made in heaven?
Here are some general use-cases and scenarios where NFTs + Twitter make sense:
Twitter for NFT education
Twitter for NFT Thought Leadership & Influencer discovery
Discover NFT mint & discord launches
Celebrate your favorite NFT projects
Connect with others who own the same NFTs
Show off your favorite NFT as your PFP
Market your upcoming NFT launch
Connecting your community of NFT supports to amplify and celebrate each other
Bring conversations out of discord into Twitter spaces or threaded tweets
Make announcements
As you can see, NFTs can use Twitter to reach early adopters and benefit from the existing NFT community on Twitter to generate awareness, discussions, education, and adoption.
Yes, it might feel shocking or overwhelming that Twitter isn’t as simple as the idea of posting in less than 140 characters, but that’s also why the NFT community has exploded on it.
At the start of this post, I mentioned that most NFT discussions are taking place on Twitter and Discord, and while this article breaking down Twitter may appear to be overwhelming, trust me that my next post about decreasing the clutter of 150+ discord servers I’m a part of is considerably more complicated than sifting through the tweeter feeds.
As those who follow me know, my mantra is PRESS THE DAMN BUTTON, and when it comes to NFTs + Twitter, there is no better time than right now to press the create account button and get active again Twitter. NFTs are the perfect intersection for this platform to excel, and NFT projects aren’t just NFTs but NFT communities.
Below is a couple of my “Public” Twitter lists that you can follow and feel for how I curate my communities.
Ps. my private Twitter lists are where the magic lives, both filtering for those NFT projects I’m tracking but also listening to the competition and those I believe are living on the bleeding edge.
Give me a Follow on Twitter @iSocialFanz and let me know your thoughts or any Twitter tips I missed.
NFT Twitter lists I’ve created:
NFT Misfits No BS: (Those talking NFTs and keeping it real): https://twitter.com/i/lists/1450914126008565762?s=20
CryptoDads NFT: Those in the CryptoDads NFT community active on twitter:
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1441174090815922179?s=20
NFT Brands & Tools:
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1452664565033062413?s=20
NFT Fresh 2021: Speakers at the event:
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1450862804458745856?s=20
Creator Coin Economy:
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1371579665354272774?s=20
