# Kiwi News communication directive

Author: timdaub
Date: 2024-05-08

This document outlines the Kiwi News communication strategy.

## Motivation

As the time of writing, on April 23, 2024, it has become really difficult to cut through the noise on social media to generate reach.

Kiwi News is now one year old and so far we've marketed it online mostly by "just being ourselves."

But considering our size today and our goal of growing bigger, it is time to implement a strategic shift in communication and to consciously design communication.

If we view Kiwi News as a heterogeniously connected group of people, then this directive details how communication should flow. So in simpler terms, this document designs it, that communication.

## Application and Impact

The idea of a directive is to enforce responsibility and accountability through specification and intentional design.

This is done by authoritatively outlining how, for example, marketing is "supposed" to happen to then re-arrange all existing and past marketing to align with the directive.

In March and April 2024, we've enforced branding through such a [design document](https://hackmd.io/RHS-DNWsTOis2QK-r6Jm0w), the "Kiwi News Branding Guide" and it had some positive effects, for example, it automated the branding work and decision-making and started giving people a base line for "discussing" what makes a good branding for the project.

In the below we'll now do the same for Kiwi News's outreach model and communication strategy.

## Our outreach model

We call any type of communication to a person that relates with Kiwi News "outreach."

Broadly speaking, our model is based on a simple funnel design by Jack Conte from Patreon (as seen in the image below).


(from [Jack Conte's talk at SXSW](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zUndMfMInc), it's pretty good)

Let me describe what can be seen here. It is an inverted pyramid, stacking people's faces and where membranes filter a crowd down to a small group.

The membranes which filter the crowd are called "Reach," "Following" and "True Fans." The function of a membrane which filters people out is the process of churning, so a time when people drop off from the marketing or even using the product.

The general understanding of this model is as follows:

- "Reach" funnels into "Following," such that Reach generates more Followers.
- "Following" funnels into "True Fans", such that more Followers generate more True Fans.
- True Fans can be monetized.

Finally, we can apply this model to all the differnet user roles in Kiwi News as shown in the image below.


### True Fans

Starting at the bottom of the image, you can see that at the end of the journey sits the Kiwi News "Contributor," a person that involves themselves in the project even beyond "just" curating content on the website. A Contributor is someone that helps to build the project, like someone sending in open source patches or someone who writes blog posts for us.

Then, the person, above a Contributor, we call a DAU, WAU or MAU. They are the product's users and to become one, they have to mint the Kiwi Pass NFT and use the product frequently.

Note that there's actually a pretty clear deliniation between a "Follower" and a "True Fan." The criteria is that if a follower mints the Kiwi Pass, they start to become a True Fan.

#### What is a True Fan's motivation?

- They use the product
- They want to influence the project
- They're paying
- They seek a sense of belonging

#### How should we design communication for True Fans?

- We should allow True Fans to "dial up" their involvement as much as they want. This means, for example, that we should openly discuss and communicate the project's goals in the Telegram channel as if our True Fans were our co-workers.
- A True Fan is capable of dealing with responsibility and greater involvement. There are True Fans who deliberately ask for more responsibility and if we (the leading team) are not giving it to them, we are losing out on an opportunity.
- True Fan communication should NOT aim for reach as we're already guaranteed a True Fan's "ears." Instead, for True Fans we should communicate in a style that concentrates a message, and NOT in a style that optimizes to disseminate it. For example, in the past, we falsely used the Telegram channel to "promote" certain topics but this is a "disseminating" style of communicating. Instead, we should assume a "True Fan" to be on the same page as us and only provide further context when explicitly requested.
- We may however speak in an informing tone to our True Fans, for example, by promoting the features of our product, or by communicating changes to them etc.

### Follower

The definition of a Follower is that they follow us, and by "us," I mean anyone from the Kiwi community that somehow stands for who we are or actively promotes the the virtues of being a Kiwi fan.

There are, however, as with True Fans, various levels of following.

The type that is most likely to become a "True Fan" is a Daily Website Visitor or a Kiwi Weekly Newsletter subscriber. Note though that a "Daily Active User" and a Daily Website Visitor are different. The DAU interacts with the protocol and curates, the Daily Website Visitor just clicks links and leaves.

A less engaged follower is a person who follows our social media accounts. These accounts inclue Mac and mine on Farcaster and X, but they potentially also include the followers of active Kiwis like ccarella or Misha.

#### What is a Followers's motivation?

A follower, having been exposed to our content a few times already, has decided that they want to consume our content more often.

Now, when they clicked follow, they probably did that with the intention of "wanting to see more of such content," and so this is also how we can understand their motivation. A follower is someone who is interested in what we do and who wants to learn more or who likes to be entertained and "follow along." Somehow, this might sound very different to a True Fan, who also likes to be entertained and who also likes to "follow along." Yet, the Follower hasn't paid or isn't ready entirely to pay for the content or even commit themselves to using our product on a regular basis.

#### How should we design communication for Follower?

- Followers are following for "more of the same." When we reached them there was something that they thought was interesting about our content. It is therefore all the more important that we end up delivering "what we promised when they followed us."
- Rather than pushing direct updates or brand promotions, we prioritize showcasing unique, high-value experiences and viewpoints. For example, VCs often publish compelling trend analyses that attract interest despite branding, but our focus is on original “spectacles” beyond social media.

### Generating Reach

Finally, "generating reach" is any activity that increases your Follower count. The point of generating reach is not to speak to your Followers necessarily, albeit your message must resonate with them too, but generating reach means leveraging content in such a way that the algorithm recommends your posts to more people than just your intimate circle of followers. As the point is to generate more followers, and to trust that eventually, if those followers stay on for long enough, they'll be convinced into supporting you by buying our product.

We believe the real marketing value is created by staging or participating in significant “spectacles”—talks, conferences, on-the-ground events, or unique collaborations—that draw genuine attention offline. Only afterward do we briefly document these moments on social media, rather than posting purely informational or self-referential updates. In fact, we think that strongly promoting the product to followers may not even be necessary as in, to tweet: "Hey followers, please go to this link and buy my stuff." Although this would have the targeted effect in the short term, amassing more Followers by generating reach and then just making it clear that you're an entrepreneur, a founder, or a member, for example, in your bio, may have an more potent effect.

#### How can I generate reach?

##### Example: Slaying the golden calf

We usually post "in our comfort zone," and so if we publicize an opinion that is outside of our usual posting style it might provoke more attention than that which we usually get just from our followers. Often times when I (Tim) have "slayed the golden calf," and when I was, hence, willing to be scrutinized for my heterodox opinion, I would generate immense reach beyond my usual Followers. It often pays off to be just a bit more edgy and more emotional than usual, to get a higher level of virality.

#### Building a recognizable brand

Millions of people post on the internet every day, so it is incredibly difficult to stand out, especially when tweeting isn't your full time job, and more an activity you do in your free time.

Yet, having a recognizable brand often stems from real‑life or otherwise substantial “spectacles.” The only valid use of social media here is to briefly document those notable events or achievements. Spending time on purely self‑referential or promotional updates is a waste of time and should not be done on company hours.

Representing a person that stands for a particular topic. Antonio García Martínez, for example, wrote a book called "Chaos Monkeys," converted to Judaism, and founded a web3 ad tech company. The spectacle is his set of unique real-world experiences, not routine social media posts, which makes him compelling to follow.

##### Clique

Branding also involves "who likes you," so who you're seen interacting with. Imagine being rich and part of a scene in St. Tropez. Surely, you wouldn't want to be seen partying with _the wrong people_! The same is somehow true for branding. Those who you engage with and those who engage with you "make your brand." So you should use that to your advantage. Prominent investors can often help to get access to other influential or prestigious groups.

##### Vibes

It's actually super important how "your vibes are." Someone who just rips of old memes from reddits might come across pretty cringe, whereas there are people who enjoy a very wide-reaching reputation for "being cool," simply because they provide all their friends with completely original and new memes. Yet, the point here is not "the fresh memes," the point is that we must reflect what kind of vibe we give off and if it's one that is positively or negatively perceived.

##### Mission and Vision

The mission of a group is crucial for allowing others to understand what they're up to. Some missions and visions are HUGE. Dan Romero wants to onboard 1B users to the Farcaster protocol. But missions and visions inspire a group of followers because they might have related goals and so mutual aid can carry the group forward.