NFT Marketing 101: The Art of the Shill
NFT shilling is a smart move, especially if you have more time than money. It takes some patience and a bit of cunning, and it helps if you have a good “way with words”.
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In today’s newsletter you’ll learn:
- What is Shilling
- You’re gonna need thick skin
- They need to know you care
Shilling NFTs can be somewhat tedious work, but it’s a smart move, especially if you have more time than money or have VA's working with you. Read on to learn "The Art of the Shill"!
What is shilling?
A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with said person or org…
One of the oldest uses for “a shill” was when a traveling salesman who did public presentations would have someone travel with him or hire someone in a town to plant in the crowd. That person would pretend to have used the product with great results.
Another use, probably still done today, is a stooge at a magic show… someone the magician secretly places in the crowd and has “assist” or be a part of a trick or illusion. So how does this help us to promote or sell our NFT collection?
For our purposes, a “shill” (or shilling) is when we manually post in Telegrams, Discords, and on social media sites to drive very targeted users back to our website, Telegram, or Discord. (without the hoax of pretending not to be involved with the program if asked)
I guess the way we use “shill/shilling” is also a verb, whereas the hucksters of yesteryear would use the term as a noun… not that it really matters, lol!
Shilling is a good way to bring people to your collection, however, we don’t post “hey everyone, come buy our NFTs”, because it will be deleted, and even worse, you might be banned or suspended. We need to shill properly and strategically.
Where do we shill?
If you’re a web3 game, Discords and social media sites that talk about play-to-earn blockchain games would be best. Gaming “guild” Discords or forums can be good as well.
If you are promoting an NFT collection, any other NFT Discord, Telegram, or social media site can be good. The key point is that it’s somewhat related to NFTs, the subject of your NFTs (for example, cat lover sites for a cat NFT) or the utility they provide.
You "DO" provide utility, yes? If not, read this newsletter and learn why you should: https://arisingfloor.com/articles/post/unique-selling-point
So… Discords, YouTube channels, Facebook pages or groups, LinkedIn groups, Instagram, or anywhere else you know there are gamers or NFT collectors. I like YouTube chats the most because if they don’t get deleted, they remain forever, or as long as the YouTube video stays online.
You better have thick skin
First… have thick skin. Most of the time you’ll be ignored, and sometimes you’ll get kicked or have someone respond rudely to you. Who cares, right? You’ll never talk to these people again.
There are a few main ways to do this, but in truth, it’s limited to you and your imagination. Sometimes getting a feel for the site or group first is the best. The better your posts fit in, the less chance of being deleted or criticized.
To keep it simple, I’ll break it down into a few sections, sharing the where and what to do.
This first method is usually the easiest and the quickest. It involves simply posting an “announcement-like” post and hoping it gets some traction and isn’t deleted. It’s pretty cut and dry, and there’s not a lot of sneakery (is that a word?) involved.
We simply go to YouTube, other SM sites, and Discords and post blindly without being known. Take a message that includes your Discord invitation link and/or website link and copy and paste it 50–100 times a day to different channels. It’s blunt, unhidden, and strangely... can work.
It can be as simple as: Check this out! John’s NFT collection launches Sept 12! They’re playing some games with prizes in the Discord, check it out. (then add a link)
Sometimes it's best not to post the https:// or www, or write the link like: arisingfloor dot com.
Another simple shill can be:
There’s a new blockchain game coming out on September 12th… called elephant toss. You can play totally free and still have a chance to win. They say it's “play to own”. Check it out: (links)
Notice I write it in the third person, using "they said" instead of "we" or "I"...
These types have a higher chance of deletion, but I can assure that you’ll still get views and visits. Maybe look at the channel first and see how active the moderators are first. If you see a few spammy posts remaining like “I made money listening to Joe Baloney”, or “call me at this number”… then it will probably stay.
This is definitely the “quantity over quality” version, so you need to post this by the hundreds to work. (or at least dozens) It won’t do much if you only post it 11 times.
A way to be a little smarter using this method is if when you post in Discord communities, if you look for channels called: “Shills”, “Other Games”, “Discuss NFTs”, “New Games/projects”, or a channel with some type of name that shows you that it’s ok to talk there. Those won’t get seen as much as posting in “general”, but won’t be deleted as much either.
WARNING: If you’re doing the above, CHANGE the message a little bit every 5–8 posts if you are posting on YouTube and/or other social media sites so you don’t get banned for spamming the same message over and over on the platform. It does work though.
Here are a couple more methods that are a bit more advanced. They need to be “setup” to a degree, but work much better than just spamming like we talked about above. It's more work but has a higher % of success.
Before mentioning your program, join the Discord channel and chat for a few days so people see and become used to your name appearing in the chat. The goal is to become a bit familiar to the regulars.
They need to know you care
Post in the general chat for a few days simply talking about anything. Just get involved, talk about whatever they are already discussing, and become a part of the group.
The goal is to put yourself into the community so when you post a link later they won’t feel you’re spamming. On the 3rd or 4th day, post your shill message in the general chat, or wherever makes sense.
This method is slower but may be more effective because you will post in the general chant and not the “shill” channel. To make it seem more innocent, you can include:
“Oh btw — I don’t want to post a link or seem like I’m spamming, but there’s a new NFT that I’m into that I love the artwork of. If anyone is interested, send me a DM.”
You may want to include your link if you feel bold or feel it won’t get deleted. Sometimes you’ll get a response like: “cool, what’s the address?”… if so, use your judgment, and maybe post the url in response.
If the mods are active and someone asks a question like the above, you might want to ask the mod something like: “hey mod, someone asked about the link to a new collection I like, can I post it?”. Sometimes they’ll say “Sure, go ahead”. Bingo!
Another way to shill in Discord is to go to Discord channels, and similar to the method above, post in the community for a few days so your name becomes a bit familiar to the regulars. Keep track of the names of people you chat with, then send a DM to those people.
Here is an example:
Hiya [name] . I’m new to the [channel name] but am starting to get to know people… so that’s exciting. I’m curious if you have any other nft projects that you like?
You can include it in the first message, or it's probably better to wait for a response, and then add something like:
I've not heard of that one yet, I'll check it out! Here’s a program I'm pretty excited about as well: [link here].
This one works because they have seen you chatting, maybe chatted with you, and you don't feel like a spammer.
I hope these are good enough examples so you can get started. Again, this is a numbers game, and the more times it gets posted, the better you’ll do. Use them in Discord of course, but they also work on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
Reddit is a great place to sneak in some shill posts too, as is Quora!
One of my favorite methods is to find YouTube videos that talk about NFTs, or whatever subject your NFTs, or NFT game includes. There are a ton of influencers who make videos about NFTs. Search and find the ones that like-minded people may be watching, and post your shills in the YT chat.
As an example: “This project looks incredible, it’s one I’m looking pretty seriously at. I’m also looking at a new NFT called “hippos on a diet”. The art is crazy! Is anyone else going for that one?”.
I hope you can see how this can easily drive people to your website. Of course, make sure the videos you post on are actually getting watched, or it’s a waste.
Finally, where should we shill? Anywhere is fine really, as long as it targets similar people, and will get eyeballs on it. However, as an example, I included below a message I sent to one of our full-time shillers in the past explaining what I wanted him to to:
I would like you to follow this schedule:
Facebook Group Shilling — 42 shill post on different FB groups per week (6 per day on 7 days)
Twitter Shilling — 28 shill comments on different post from well-known NFT people per week (3 per day on 7 days)
Discord Shilling- 70 shill post on different Discord shilling channels per week (10 per day on 7 days)
YouTube Shilling — 14 comments on videos by a well-known NFT youtuber or any video related to NFTs and crypto (2 per day for 7 days)
Instagram Shilling — 21 comments on posts by well-known NFT people per week (3 per day on 7 days)
Tiktok Shilling — 7 comments on posts by well-known NFT people or posts per week (3 per day on 7 days)
You can shill on your own, but it’s a great task to give to any virtual assistants that might be working with you as well.
So there you have it! As usual, if you have any comments or questions, hop into our Discord and ask away!
If you need help, ask for it. If you don’t… prove it!
Deacon Z
PS- Again, be creative… you never know where that one whale you’ve been looking for will come from!
Follow Nick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickcifonie
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