Though creator coins (also known as social tokens) are in their nascent stage, they are quickly becoming a powerful tool that most, if not all, content entrepreneurs should want in their bag.

Let us explain one reason why:

Creators can’t be successful entrepreneurs without people. It’s even in the content entrepreneur definition:

“A content entrepreneur is someone who creates content to grow an audience and eventually makes money from that content they develop. Content entrepreneurs are building a content business, not using content as a marketing tool, side gig, or hobby.”

Now, imagine the potential of growing that audience into a community by using creator coins or social tokens. It elevates your audience’s role in the business. Since they have a currency in your business, they’re more likely to get and stay involved in the community.

Creator coins or #SocialTokens can elevate your audience's role in your #contentbusiness, says @AnnGynn. #creatoreconomy #creatorcoins Click To Tweet

To get started in coinage, you can mint a creator coin or social token through platforms such as Rally and Bitclout. Bitclout simply requires creating a profile to be eligible to create a coin. Rally has a more detailed application and vetting process.

Like most currency economies, people can buy, hold, and sell your social tokens. But unlike most, coin holders also can receive benefits unique to your content business. You get to decide what they get.

Tilt Advice

You don’t need creator coins to build an audience. In fact, you probably should have at least some audience before you mint a coin. Then, use your coin to grow a community where people can gain an even more direct value of being involved. Here are how some creators are doing that with their creator coins.

Brian Clark created $MOVE coin. The founder of Copyblogger, Brian also publishes Further, a personal growth newsletter, and launched Unemployable, an educational community for solopreneurs.

He has built a thriving Discord community talking creator coins and NFTs for coin holders with at least $15USD in $MOVE coins. This group also receives 10% of training and events. Community members who increase their investment to $120 USD of $MOVE gain VIP access to exclusive small group coaching and 50% off training and other events.

Nicholena Moon is in the top 0.06% of Twitch streamers, but she is growing her community through her $MOON coin. Though her audience can interact with her on Twitch, they can elevate their interactions by joining the $MOON Coin Discord server to “talk about gaming, crypto, Twitch, Rally … play in daily Hearthstone games … bid on NFT auctions, and listen to unreleased music.” It’s free to join the Discord server, but coin holders can take on special roles and gain additional benefits.

A collective of creators known as DownToQuest airs 420-friendly content 24/7 from a Colorado-based streaming house on Twitch. It, too, offers multi-level benefits based on the holder’s $DTQ coin count (not dollar value). Among the benefits holders of at least 100 $DTQ get are a VIP badge in the Twitch chat and access to a secret Discord server. (Holders of at least 10 $DTQ also can join that Discord server.)

The emo-rock band Emery has been around 20 years, but it’s taking on the future with its $WALLS coin. It’s set up a private Discord server for holders of at least four coins. They plan to sell special pop-up merch on the server as well as “grow a cohesive, collaborative community that sustains the art at the center while enhancing relationships and value.”

In related news … The Tilt has its own coin ($TILT). While they can be purchased, readers and contributors also can earn them for referring new subscribers, contributing guest blog posts, and more. 

As founder Joe Pulizzi explains: “At The Tilt, we believe that the audience and community we are working to build should also benefit financially. These are the early days, but social tokens and creator coins are a start. Web 3.0 is all about audience collectives, and all content entrepreneurs need to be prepared for this.

We’ve also launched a Discord server for The Tilt community, which has their own robust cryptocurrency/coin conversations. You can access it here. (It’s free to join. Some levels are available only to $TILT coin holders.)

What else?

When you develop a community, you should be prepared to be active in it. That’s particularly true for communities built through a currency like creator coins. When members have an investment in your content brand, they have higher expectations of what you deliver.

You also should be prepared to evolve your community channel as it grows. Is one topic crowding out others? Maybe it’s time to create a stream dedicated to that topic. Is someone posting inappropriate or harassing content? Community behavior guidelines can help you take action quickly. 

One more thing. As you may have noticed, many creators opt to put their coin-based communities on Discord, where they can build their own channel (known as a server), add dedicated topic conversation streams, and create tiered-level access. Here’s an article from Discord on how to set one up. (You don’t need to have a coin to do it.)

About the author

Ann regularly combines words and strategy for B2B, B2C, and nonprofits, continuing to live up to her high school nickname, Editor Ann. An IABC Communicator of the Year and founder of G Force Communication, Ann coaches and trains professionals in all things content. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.