For almost a year, I’ve bought creator coins from tens of creators to invest and support them and study this new opportunity

I’ve seen creator coins soar and sink. Here’s what I suggest to build a successful creator coin strategy that’s fruitful for both the content entrepreneur and their community.  

Social token holder @MrCabasVidani shares what the best #CreatorCoins do to grow their #ContentBusiness. #CreatorEconomy Click To Tweet

Creator coin refresher

First, let’s briefly review what a creator coin is. Creators who issue coins are creating their own currency system. The creator coin is a fungible token minted on the blockchain through a platform like Rally or Bitclout. (I acquired my coins from Rally, so my recommendations are based on its platform.) 

Creator coins can be bought via crypto and fiat money. They can be used within the platform to earn rewards and buy products or services from creators. They also can be sold for crypto and fiat currency.

The value of a creator coin fluctuates for myriad reasons, some within the creator’s control and some outside of it. So, issuing a creator coin comes with all the benefits, risks, and challenges of building your own economy.

What can creators do with their coin?

By minting your own coins, you have no limits on the ways you can use them – you can accept them as a method of payment as well as use them as a method of reward. Among some of the common reasons people purchase the coins:

  • Access to communities based on holding a certain number or value of the coin
  • Purchase of digital and physical products
  • Acquisition NFTs
  • Sales of sponsorships or shoutouts

Often coin creators offer a hefty discount to people who pay using their creator coins because they save on transaction fees and possibly the expense of shopping cart technology.

Creator coins can be accepted as methods of payment AND distributed as rewards to your #Community, says @MrCabasVidani. #ContentEntrepreneur Click To Tweet

Creator coins can be gifted to the community for:

  • Referrals
  • Giveaways and prizes
  • Guest content
  • Services to the creator’s community

The best thing to do is to keep growing the value of the coin. But enough with the overview, here are the best practices I found after studying tens of successful and failed creator coins.

Expect speculators

In the first weeks or months after the coin launch, a few may buy loads of them to take advantage of the almost guaranteed initial growth. But sooner or later, they sell their stake. If they own a large percentage of available coins, the value will dive. 

With a healthy inflow of new holders, the coin will recover quickly, but before that, you can take a couple of steps to grow the coin’s value:

  • Spend some of the Rally coin rewards you receive by holding your creator coin to buy your own coin.
  • Spend dollars (or other fiat money) to acquire your own coin with fiat money.

As the community and the coin value grow, attractiveness to investors will decrease. So this problem will disappear.

Expect speculators when you launch a creator coin. Be prepared for the dips when they eventually sell, says @MrCabasVidani. #CreatorEconomy Click To Tweet

Offer perks

Creator Ethan Pierse rewards holders of $ETHAN with perks like access to a community Discord channel and VIP meet-and-greets at his events. 

$ethan coin

Some coin creators fail to offer any bonus or perk to coin holders. Maybe they hope engagement is enough to convert their fans. Usually, they are wrong. I know a single exception that I’ll show you later.

Creator @EthanPierse rewards holders of $ETHAN coin on @Rally_IO with access to private Discord channels and VIP meet-and-greets: via @MrCabasVidani. Click To Tweet

Don’t start with a coin

Maybe a handful of supporters will be attracted by the novelty and buy your creator coin. But don’t count on them.

You need at least one working audience-acquisition channel, such as a blog, YouTube channel, newsletter, etc. You also need to actively develop a good level of engagement with your followers. Only then are they likely to be interested in acquiring your own.

Don't start your #ContentBusiness with a #CreatorCoin. You need at least one working audience-acquisition channel first, says @MrCabasVidani. Click To Tweet

Give your coin holders a gathering place

You need some kind of online community for your coin holders. For creators on Rally, that’s usually a Discord server because the two platforms are integrated. Coin holders can simply type a command in the Discord community to gain access based on their holdings. 

An active community will motivate members to keep holding or even buying new coins. You can create different tiers within the community based on the amount or number of coins owned. A community like this also can act as a distribution channel for other perks.

Share your strategy

Coin holders are your stakeholders. If they know your plans, they feel safer and may be inclined to invest more. Regularly update your community about your business activities or even involve them in your decisions. 

Creator Mark Schaefer sends a newsletter every Sunday to holders of his $RISE coin.

$rise coin
Creator @MarkWSchaefer sends a weekly newsletter to holders of his $RISE token on the @Rally_IO network: via @MrCabasVidani. Click To Tweet

Reward referrals with your creator coin

Coins can be an effective incentive to reward your community and attract new members. The Tilt’s referral program is a great example. It rewards new newsletter subscribers with $5 in $TILT coin. If they sign up through a current subscriber’s referral code, the referring subscriber also earns $5 in $TILT coin.

tilt coin referral

This keeps both the newsletter and the coin value growing.

But you are not limited to lead acquisition. You can also create a referral program for products and services.

Give holders more coin

When you want to accelerate growth, you can reward coin holders with more coins. Brian Fanzo of $ADHD did this a lot in the beginning. It also helped him quickly recover from some dips in its coin value. Brian continues rewarding holders with more coins today, using a tool like Bonfire to offer air drops of coins to holders of a certain amount. 

Sell services

$OMARI by a music marketing creator is a wonderful coin. It can be used to buy marketing services such as promotion, website design, ad management, etc. Though people can pay through traditional US currency, they receive a discount when paying with $OMARI.

$omari coin

After a payment, $OMARI coins are “burned” – removing them from circulation so the value of the remaining coin increases.

Don’t forget expensive perks

Many creators on Rally have perks that can be accessed with a small amount of creator coin, but not as many offer benefits for creators who hold a high number of coins. Develop an elite access level with very expensive perks – worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Most perks for creator coin holders are for those with a small amount. Make sure to include elite access with expensive perks, too., says @MrCabasVidani. #CreatorEconomy Click To Tweet

If you have an engaged community (or when you’ll have it), there’s always someone inclined to pay more and get more from you. Most of all, having higher-tier perks motivates people to keep buying your coin.

Create great content

Remember the unique creator coin without perks I mentioned earlier? It’s Ann Handley’s $WORD coin. It’s the greatest Rally mystery. Though it enjoyed early adopter advantages because it was issued in the first months of the platform, that doesn’t justify its unstoppable growth.

For me, it boils down to just one thing: Ann publishes an inspiring and perfectly written newsletter about writing. At the end of every issue, she invites the reader to support her through her creator coin.

She builds such a strong connection through her words that the newsletter subscribers can’t help but support her by buying her coin. At least that’s is the only reason I can see for its big success.

Measure the better way

Coins can be seen as investments in creators. Their value can grow and decline, like the value of stocks. So it’s important to know how to accurately measure the success of your coin. 

In the Rally system, the coin’s value is expressed both in dollars and $RLY coin. The traditional monetary value is affected by many factors outside the creator’s control. So, to evaluate the actual strength of the creator coin, you should always refer to its $RLY value.

You can see in the first chart the US dollar value of the coin declining steadily, then leveling off in April and May.

However, when viewing the coin’s value in $RLY, you can see how it rose consistently – that’s a better indicator of the value developed by the creator.

Grow an audience and make a plan

Each platform has its own criteria for creators to mint their own coins (Rally requires an established audience, while Bitclout is open to all). However, as the number of coin platforms grows, expect the barriers to entry to lower as well. But that doesn’t mean every creator should start their own coin. The key to long-term success starts with a launch to a sizeable audience and a good business plan.

Learn more about $TILT coin and how to get some for free through our newsletter subscriber referral program.

infographic explaining tips on how to use creator coins aka social tokens.
Thanks to Tilt community member Robert Katai for this infographic.

About the author

Alberto has been a content entrepreneur since 2010, writing posts, producing videos and podcasts, and selling ebooks, courses, and services. Now he helps content creators become consistent through coaching at https://www.coach.me/albertocabasvidani.