Crypto has a branding crisis.
Have you ever really been influenced by a KOL (Key Opinion Leader)?
Like, really followed them for a long time and jumped into whatever they are paid to shill? As a co-founder, I get proposals and quotes in our Telegram all day saying, “We will ‘push’ your project to our ‘community’ for $xx to our community of 230K.” Does anyone really think this is of any value knowing the KOL is simply paid to post without any knowledge of the project? How did this shill get a community of 230K? Or worse, how does anyone follow them for real not knowing they only exist to do this and are not serving anyone except themselves? How did we come to this?
It’s the same for network TV news — they are paid by some interested party to say certain things, especially political or financial, otherwise that interested party could not afford to pay them. In 1973, America’s trust in mass media was 75%. Today, it is 29% and dropping, according to Gallup polling. But are polls even real? I digress.
Industry KOLs have to, in part, separate someone from their money over and over to continue. Apparently, this worked for decades, especially on older people who still trust others based on a telephone call or handshake.
But I believe times have changed. A few bad people have ruined our ability to trust each other. And they started by preying on the elderly who trust a phone call or handshake, unfortunately. While you might think that is naive, it is actually the best way humans used to interact — your word mattered and reputation was king. Trust was implied in all we did.
Growing up in the 1970s, if a car was pulled over on the road with trouble, people would stop and help. Now, including me, I drive by knowing “they probably have a cell phone,” but honestly, you could be in a life-threatening situation just stopping to help another human. While some places are still like the old ways, the world has changed, which does cause changes in how we communicate and view the world. Of course this applies to business as well. Unfortunately, an increase in content and lack of trust has caused many good people to not know where to turn. And in crypto, many won’t even try the space.
Podcasts (a newer form of KOL) like Joe Rogan are a bit refreshing, but then this is random content about all things. And even there, it is a highly connected and selected guest based on a narrative. Guests are also “made,” as once they appear, they seem to have a bright future and a “stamp” of approval because they were on a show.
It is reality, but some lesson is to be learned here. Somehow, it reveals that people will follow advice from a trusted friend or verified source. The problem is vetting and finding a trusted source and then trying to figure out how to access that source if you are a brand trying to grow. For a brand, it can pose a challenge as the polarizing aspect of any famous KOL, which made them famous to begin with, could cut you off from 50% of your potential. I once saw where Michael Jordan was asked to endorse some Democrat political cause. He declined, saying, “Republicans buy shoes, too.”
The whole thing seems confusing when it comes to trust. Add in something like the technical gobbledygook (yes, it’s a word, look it up) in crypto, and where do you turn to trust and learn?
So one of my questions is — who do you believe and why? Or do you just follow blindly, or are we all just watching stuff and not really interested all day? I saw a survey that 96% of people hate to watch commercials or ads. We are in a strange place now as there is little trust.
At Skew, we think we can learn most from our community. As we grow our like-minded base, we hope there is a real source of trust for newcomers to start their journey or continue a new experience with real people. While this takes time, I really don’t see how any brand can ignore the people already using or following them. I don’t think you can focus too much on your community, no matter how small. How else do you find like-minded people and grow a network together — whether it’s car enthusiasts, pet owners, or any general topic of interest? If there is no sense of community to help protect you, it’s like sheep following a wolf.
This is why I think crypto has a brand crisis at the moment that no one will openly admit. We can’t grow on trust as a space right now. It’s the same issue in Wall Street too, but no one wants to admit that either.
The answer is not more elite KOL types. It is the communities that need to band together and vet out the bullshit.
My real question is, why are there so many bad actors, and how do people navigate to find good ones?
