A successful NFT project should tell a compelling story. The story of an NFT project can be structured, if we want it to be any good, by asking the right questions as we listed and answered below:
Why are my NFTs significant?
An NFT project can be special by many differing ingredients. It can have distinctive art, a phenomenal artist can make it, and it can provide varying utilities. A significant NFT project would inspire an online community to create, interact and organically promote the project because of how much they like the community where they are a member. For a PFP project, creating the artwork is the initial process; after that, there should be a binding culture that keeps the community in a lively manner in its way.
A peculiar culture binds people and is the most vital and integral part of a given PFP community. The culture, if it addresses a set of people who are dispersed around the globe by the denomination of the common values, can create a body that consists of pseudo-anonymous or identified(aka doxxed) people who can act as a local community—making a difference in everybody’s lives in the group regardless of their geolocation. Communities already exist through online communities, but online NFT communities differ because financial stakes are also involved for individual participants, whereas this is not the case for most online communities. When it comes to NFT communities, the binding element would not only be the common interests and values of individuals, which regular online communities already have, but the welfare of the entire community’s economical value-priced through the NFTs held by the exclusive members who own them.
How are they different from other NFTs?
How can NFTs differ from one another?
They can differ by medium:
- Digital Picture NFTs as JPEGs
- Sound NFTs as Songs/Music
- Sound and Graphics NFTs as Video Clips
They can also differ by type:
- PFP NFTs
- GameFi NFTs
- 1 of 1 Artwork NFTs
- Meme NFTs
- Trading Card NFTs
The most popular NFT type is PFP NFTs, and successful ones have differentiators that are divergent from what is known because the entire space is at the cutting edge in every shape or form.
Successful community NFT projects are quite meticulous. They nailed:
- Community: Engaging with community members, listening to their feedback, and nurturing their concerns, desires, and attention are fundamental to a successful NFT project. Also, building the project on the side with community members can be achieved through showing acknowledgment and appreciation for every effort the members put into line.
- Right Blockchain: Each blockchain is a decentralized districted ledger where the funds of the NFT communities and members store immutably. A blockchain for an NFT project is what is the land for a country. Choosing the right one is important for the project’s longevity because it will live there forever. The blockchain community of the given network selected is also a factor in the success of that NFT project because the community’s tendencies, needs, desires, and wants should align with the NFT Project’s aims, goals, and objectives.
- Smart Contracts: One of the selling points of blockchains and their applications is their programmability. Wide-ranging open source communications allow endless composability(building and interaction between two or more applications) opportunities, so the cumulative value of blockchains and applications appreciate in a compounding manner. A good NFT project needs a smart contract to implement varying applications with robust security measures where contracts can fulfill the engaging collaborations. Having competent and intelligent smart contract developers is integral.
- Know Your Customer(Target People for your Community):
Why will people try to get their hands on them for years to come?
An NFT project is ultimately a clubhouse of some sort with exclusive membership. The initial first drop of a PFP NFT project is the golden ticket to that clubhouse for years to come. If we exemplify a 10,000 pieces NFT project, that particular clubhouse can contain 10,000 people. On the other hand, more than 10,000 people should want to get involved in this clubhouse and its exclusivity for the same given project to appreciate. For a PFP project to appreciate, there has to be demand for every 10,000 pieces. In this calculation, we completely disregard collectors who wish to have more than one piece in their hands. However, at the end of the day, they will sell their pieces when they are appreciated a lot until they have only left; the one they like the most to remain as an exclusive member of the given community, or they will keep one or two NFTs in their hands as they are a really big fan of the project regardless how much the NFT pieces would appreciate.
The question has to be asked, why would 10,000 people worth of demand should come into the given NFT project’s pieces while there are tens of thousands of other projects in the ecosystem.
How many people are actively involved even if the entire project has sold in the mint? If there are only 30-40-50 people who are willing to contribute to the online community actively, what fills the rest of 9950 pieces’ prices/demand?
What value do they give my customer?
Another question is, being a member of online communities was free, and it was working perfectly. Reddit has passionate communities that can work towards a common goal, and participation is completely free. Becoming organized as an online community didn’t have a bearing on being an exclusive member so far, so what exclusivity are these NFT PFPs offering?
My stance isn’t against the idea of overpriced NFT tokens at all. But if something costs at least 100 dollars to become an exclusive member, a clear, continuous, and robust value proposition should be backing it. Most of these online communities have a discord channel that doesn’t require an NFT PFP to be a part of anyway. Even if it does, what is so valuable about them that you would pay to be in one of the hundreds of thousands of discord communities anyway?
Simply ask: what do I get in return, or do I want to signal my ownership of the community by the dollars I paid? If you ask this question for 99% of the PFP NFT collectors, you will see that they are just buying an NFT to sell it to someone at a higher price, and there is nothing wrong with that. But why would the next person pay more than you have already paid? So, the questions you should ask yourself about what your community gives back in return remain the same whether you bought the NFT to sell it at a higher price or you have bought it to get something in return for yourself by becoming a member of any probably overpriced PFP communities.
How exclusive are they?
How many pieces in the NFT collection do you want to invest in? Are there 5555 of them, 8888 of them, or a classic 10,000?
The fewer pieces there are, the more chance the demand will surpass the supply. Sometimes, less is more; however, if there are only 100 pieces of the given NFT project, there would be fewer super fans to promote the projects to other possible investors.
Keeping the number of pieces in a sweet spot at launch is an important balancing dynamic. We want as many as tokens so we don’t be left hanging, but also, we don’t want too many pieces, so demand would never be higher than the supply. Keep supply and demand balance in the continuum then growth will come. Digital scarcity is what Non-Fungible Tokens are about, and it already doesn’t make sense when there are ten thousand NFT projects that offer virtually nothing.
Summarizing the points of a successful PFP NFT Project
- Community, Community, Community (this is the make or break for any project, you need to do the work and make your community the best it can be. This means engaging, nurturing, and appreciating the hell out of your members/supporters)
Each valuable member of the community adds value. You will hear the word community often when you invest and become involved in something entirely based on its members.
Be additionally keen on each active member, and engage with them to build lasting relationships.
- Choosing your blockchain & marketplace (you need to work out which ones are right for your project)
There are many projects to build your NFTs, and it is an important decision to choose where you would like to host your NFTs and the entire history of the contracts you will create continually.
- Set up your smart contracts correctly (understanding how your contracts will work)
Smart contracts are the management layer for your NFT project. How does it work, how secure is it, and what its capabilities are the initial factors of a well-made contract? Also, many interactions and engagements can be built with smart contracts, attracting NFT owners and community members to interact with it. This contributes to the vitality of the entire ecosystem.
- Building hype (social platforms, influencer reach out, twitter spaces, giveaways, professional website, NFT calendar, promotional content)
You need to build some hype at some point for an NFT project to succeed. It is a form of commercial culture creation so make sure you are on all social platforms, reach out to influencers, build a loyal following through twitter spaces, and conduct giveaways so people would hear about it; a professional website is part of your portfolio, set an NFT calendar to keep members anticipating, and pay for some promotional content.
- Know your customer (this is like any product, you need to market it to the right people)
Know whom you are building for. Although NFTs are a form of culture creation, they are commercial ones. Especially PFP NFTs are aimed towards a segment of people who would enjoy the art and the values the community represents, so first, make sure for whom you are building your project, and second, you are the best person to build a culture around those values. Your artwork, values, memes, and culture should overlap with your customer segment.
- Ensure your staff website is prepared for high traffic (I can’t tell you how many projects have failed at this. It sounds obvious, but make sure you get it right)
It is hard to be a founder of a successful NFT PFP project, but sometimes, actually, most of the time, success feels like it came out of nowhere. It strikes founders and teams as a complete shock, so they may not be ready to meet the abrupt demand they have accrued by the chains of cascading events. Make sure you have a website with enough robustness where you are 100% you can meet the overwhelming demand if it does emerge because missing the opportunity to meet an overwhelming demand can be a loss of a once-in-lifetime opportunity.
- Create real utility and value for NFT holders (NFTs need to provide value; otherwise, they are literally just a JPEG – this is something you need to really think about)
It is a slim chance that people would only buy 1 of 10,000 NFT PFP-generated art pieces for its artwork. There should be utility built around it continuously with an engaging community. Make sure to have any forms of utilities that are suited to your artwork and the cultural values they display.
- Have a god damn road map (strategically planned and executed – this will create ongoing value)
As Mike Tyson says: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Although plans never work in the same way they had been laid out, they give an aspirational vision for both team and the individual investors of the project. Also, long-term plans are more like to work than short-term plans. Laying out a roadmap that is compatible with the culture of the given project for the long-term is assuring, and executing on them promptly is even better.
A PFP NFT project is not solely art, its a living community with distributed financial incentives, a collective effort towards growing its mass and becoming closer with online affiliates who share the same values and incentives is a powerful concept, and when executed correctly, the flywheel it brings can and does reach to the billions of dollars of valuations.