[Approved] Wild User Interviews Podcast October 2023

Marketing DAO Marketing DAO
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tldr

Overview

This proposal includes four episodes for previous months that have already been released and the standard four episodes - one per week - corresponding to the month of October. The current pricing is a reflection of the last funding proposal for September being closed. Expected future proposals, at the standard 4 episodes per month, are expected to be ~$4,000.

It has been very challenging to keep up operations after September proposal closed. We are spending considerably more money to attend ecosystem events such as NEAR APAC and NEARCON (booked in advance) than what we are asking for the actual content we produce.

Below is our breakdown on how the pod is addressing the most recent KPIs published by MDAO in September.

Addressing September KPIs

Acknowledging that MDAO has released updated KPIs and areas of focus for the month of September, I encourage everyone to go read our last report where we share how each pod for that period has been contributing to these goals. For this proposal, in general:

Increasing numbers of active Developers

  • Wuipod is fighting tooth and nail to reclaim and establish NEAR as the Builder’s Blockchain. By having long form conversations with top tier developers and builders where we get to go deep, we are unlocking a ton of insights and lessons that are valuable to builders at any stage. Fostering a sense of community and belonging - this is where ambitious people go to feel at home.

We are leading in spreading the KEY narratives to the wider community:

https://x.com/wuipod/status/1708689348491976840

Increasing numbers of active Users and Transactions (On-chain onboarding, On-chain engagement, On-chain participation in ecosystem dApps)

Wuipod has been a pioneering on several fronts.

  • Two Shard Dog Links: Wuipod & Proof of Spice have close to 1000 claims and are enabling us to engage audience and easily onboard new people (free wallet creation, custom onboarding flow that redirects to Youtube or prompts user to share on Twitter, etc.
  • Additionally, my personal shard.dog/avb has also been 'time-stamping who is building on NEAR for the month of X’ since March 2023. A unique collection of NFTs to show off builder prowess and loyalty during the bear. Net promoter of Shard Dog in ways that have inspired many others to also adopt the tech.
  • Both Wuipod and AVB are among the most active accounts in NEAR Social. Both have been setup with Wormhole so that all twitter posts with the hashtag #BOS automatically posts on NEAR social, providing a constant stream on unique content that often includes images, etc.

Increasing numbers of Tools, dApps on BOS

  • Wuipod is a proud community partner of BOS HACKS - hackathon aimed at training and increasing number of BOS Components.
  • We have also been invited to be a partner on an Account Abstraction hackathon that is in the works. This is all extra time we are dedicating to the ecosystem without any remuneration attached to it.

Increasing the number of people educated about NDC governance, BOS and active projects in the ecosystem

Wuipod has been providing a valuable platform for candidates to elevate their profile, share their vision and goals.

  • We’ve been actively promoting these NDC candidates and podcasts
  • We have scheduled two more candidates as guests and will be fast-tracking the recording and release time to be within the Election Period.
  • Proactively invited Marieke to join the conversation
  • Introduced the Follow Up Series, a product focused twitter space where we host previous podcast guests to talk specifically about their new accomplishment (i.e Mintbase Wallet Release: actionable insights for builders).
  • Held impromptu, timely spaces for community to be able to meet and discuss the most pressing issues surrounding the elections and NDC. A town hall to increase awareness, participation and enhance trust.

Content

This proposal includes the following:

  1. Cameron Dennis, Banyan Collective - Recorded, Scheduled Release Sunday 8/10

https://x.com/Cameron_Dennis_/status/1708229122005368907?s=20

  1. Ken Jon - NEAR Horizon (Recording scheduled 6/10)

Plus two more - currently in talks with Meteor Wallet, Nearweek and a couple others to arrange scheduling (which can be quite time consuming and confirming a guest can often take weeks + many reschedules).

Twitter Spaces

  1. Mass Adoption is NEAR: Unpacking NEAR APAC and Mintbase Wallet
  1. Mass Adoption is NEAR: Unpacking Tekuno onboarding at NEAR APAC
  • Alpha into an upcoming Tekuno wallet?
  • Aim to break down walls between communities, provide more visibility to NEAR Balkans initiative
  • Insights into the business requirements of large corporate deals and the ways in which Tekuno is leveraging Calimero
  1. It Wasn’t Me - Live Election Coverage NDC
  • 12 hours before elections ended, we jumped in hot to follow the lead of possible shenanigans on-chain regarding elections
  • Systematically shared all the resources available to analyse and directed people to whistleblower program (2x submissions after the space)
  • Had an opportunity to provide the floor to many community members to express a variety of things
  • Created a strong, resilient sense of excitement around elections
  • Followed up by an official ‘Viewing Party’ from NDC, of which I was also a speaker
  1. How the sausage is made - NDC Q4 Budget Review
  • Dissected the ‘rough draft’ of Q4 Budget for NDC produced by Blaze and Kaz (currently for viewing of candidates only)
  • Casted a light on many dubious line items
  • Were able to get a community pulse on where the priorities should be around spending
  • Strengthening the community by making them feel heard, and providing hope - we have an opportunity to get rid of all the excesses and wastefulness of GWG.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am grateful for the support provided til now and looking forward to creating great content and doing everything I can to grow the ecosystem.

Proposal

We are requesting a budget of $1,000 per podcast, reflecting a slight increase from our previous proposal to accommodate enhanced production quality and content optimization. The breakdown of the budget per podcast is as follows:

  1. Sourcing and Scheduling Guests: Active management of guest acquisition and scheduling to ensure high-quality interviews and diverse perspectives.
  2. Researching Guests and Topic, Notes + Agenda: Up to 2 hours dedicated to conducting in-depth research on guests and their projects, preparing detailed notes and agendas for engaging conversations.
  3. Recording Podcast: Up to 2 hours for recording each podcast episode, allowing ample time for in-depth discussions and capturing valuable insights.
  4. Editing Podcast: Approximately 4 to 6 hours dedicated to post-production editing, ensuring seamless audio quality, removing any unnecessary segments, and enhancing the overall listening experience.
  5. Distribution: direct messaging relevant parties for amplification, maximizing the reach and visibility of each podcast episode.
  6. Promotion (Clips): We have engaged freelancers to create engaging clips from the podcast episodes. This includes both promoting the current episodes as well as covering the backlog of previous episodes that have already been funded.

6 podcasts x US$1000ea = $6,000

Let me know if you have any questions. I am grateful for all the support provided to date and I am looking forward to creating more great content and doing anything I can to support the ecosystem.

I can also be reached on telegram (@guatopori) or by Twitter DMs.

AVB

Proposal Updated 25/10 - reduced scope to 6 podcasts and removed twitter spaces bringing down total to $6,000.

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Thank you for your proposal and your great job.

What exactly do you mean by this? Is it a reimbursement, or am I misunderstood?

Read about our latest update here and make sure your proposal is aligned.

Also, 1k for a single podcast is a bit steep; instead, make it a package that includes a thread, an AMA with a podcast, a recap of any podcast, and finally a community spotlight. What do you think about it?

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Hi Bakaka,

The section you’ve have quoted is just to clarify that:

  • October proposal is higher than usual as the last approved proposal was in July, so there is work that spans across more months.
  • If the podcast were to continue on a regular, monthly cadence, then the expected amount would be ~$4,000 (which is likely, at face value, a more reasonable amount).

Thanks for picking up on the ‘bundling’ of services: technically we already do this. Each podcast has a series of tweets (teaser, announcements, highlights, etc.) and short videos/ clips (just started working with another freelancer to repurpose some older content).

The structure of the bundling can be discussed, although it already represents a significant amount of work (~2 hours scheduling + research, ~2-3 hours recording, ~3-4 hours editing, ~2-3 hours distribution and promotion, + shorts editing and miscellaneous).

Also thanks for sharing the October Update, my initial thoughts -

  • The guidelines are broadly aligned with the October 2022 guidelines from MDAO
  • The challenge MDAO has always had is to reconcile ‘top of the funnel’ marketing (hard to trace or quantify - i.e: someone who is informed and inspired to take action and join a hackathon after consuming the content)
  • The Community is on life support. Part of the reason why communities are dying is because they were not aligned with the NEAR strategic values (innovation, product, founders).
  • Wuipod is one of the few strong brands and voices that have been championing the tech and championing a narrative around THE BUILDERS BLOCKCHAIN, which has finally been formally introduced (shift from web 2.5 and devs to FOUNDERS).
  1. Social engagement score — some compound metric of the number of posts, likes, and followers/views in social media produced by the users.
  • Considering the bear market, the size and state of NEAR ecosystem as a whole, and the evergreen nature of our content (people keep listening to episodes past the date the report is submitted, new entrants to the ecosystem can and will consume this content as they come in into the future) I think Wuipod has been punching above its weight: an icon on NEAR that is consumed by the best and inspiring the rest.

Let me know if you have any other questions,

AVB

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Hi @satojandro thanks for the proposal. As a core contributor to the ecosystem who consistently produces high quality content and is serious about marketing/brand, you’re a creator I would like to figure out a way to fund for October. That said, I can’t support in the current format for the following reasons:

  • The current price point is too high for me to support – $1K per episode is high even for non-crypto shows. It exceeds what I would call market rate, especially for the ~100 subscribers reported on the forum in Sept. I say this with full knowledge of what it takes to grow a show (having had one for years), and I get that momentum takes time and subscriber numbers do not always tell the full story around impact. I am sympathetic around that, but that said, the MDAO has KPIs we must ensure proposers are aligning with in order to allocated funding, and the ballpark CAC is really high on this. Additionally, funding this proposal in full would account for ~12% of the overall MDAO budget, which in my view is too high for any single proposal to receive at this stage given the need to continue to support a variety of projects in Q4. Would you consider reducing to what was discussed in Sept - $6K?
  • There’s no direct/transparent mention of how, if funded, you will track and report on the KPIs in the proposal. Can you add your plans to meet the ones you feel the show and associated marketing can contribute to (I understand not every initiative is going to demonstrate results across all 5 NDC KPIs for October)? For reference they are:
  1. Accounts retention after 1/2/4/8 weeks — the percentage of accounts who continue interacting on the chain over a given time period (higher is better)
  2. Account acquisition cost — budget divided by the number of accounts interacting through the funded initiative (lower is better)
  3. Median number of dApps used by P95 accounts retained for 1+ week (higher is better)
  4. Number of accounts retained for 1+ week using at least three dApps (higher is better)
  5. Social engagement score — some compound metric of the number of posts, likes, and followers/views in social media produced by the users.

I need to see that posted publicly for each proposal supported.

Thanks for the consideration.

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Hi Lorraine,

I have just reduced the scope of the proposal to $6,000 by removing the twitter spaces and by updating the output for October (two less podcasts releases, one upon request from guest and the second due to technical issues and me being sick when we recorded, we’ve agreed to re-record). It’s a touch deal as the two podcasts that were not released took upwards of 10 hours of work, but I stand by the deal of only getting funding for actual released content.

Expanding on the above, I have reduced the total ask amount but not the price tag per episode. A couple of things to note here:

  1. Ecosystem KPIs need to be seen through MDAO lenses. My reasoning, which seems to be shared by others and I’ll be advocating for within NDC, is that Community is vital for growth. Any attempts at growing raw metrics such as ‘number of wallets’ has failed in the past. No one wants to be here if it feels like a dead chain, etc.
  2. Expanding on the above, as we reboot the ecosystem, it is more important that ever to be able to display strength, maturity, easily disseminate ideas, etc. The value to NEAR of an established distribution channel and of a trusted person to carry the message greatly exceeds the $1,000 per podcast. This has been validated by the $1,500 per podcast DevHub has agreed to pay me (for a brand new podcast).
  3. Less important but relevant consideration is that I do not have a full time job or any form or regular income and I ‘do NEAR ecosystem 100%’. The opportunity cost of producing all this content and promoting NEAR 24/7 is also greater than $1000.

I mention the above to say that I believe that the value the content represents to NEAR and the cost of me producing it are fairly balanced at the current price tag. Happy to revise this conversation going forward as the podcast grows, expanding possibility of sponsors or merch (additional streams of income).

On the metrics front -

  1. We’ve always had the ‘top of the funnel’ metrics challenge. I believe that the first four KPIs are a general benchmark that, while it cannot be applied directly to most MDAO projects, can be used to inform questions such as:
  • ‘Is this project likely to increase account retention?’;
  • ‘Is this a cost effective way to acquire and engage (retain) accounts?’;
  • ‘Is this project likely to contribute to the usage of dApps’?.

It would then be up to each project to present a thesis of how they think they can influence those metrics and for MDAO Councils to assess and make a final call.

  1. Engagement Score not as an isolated metric, but also as validation for the general thesis.

For example, if the general thesis is that:

'By creating high quality content that explains the technology in simple terms for Founders, raises awareness of what is possible and pushes the boundaries, and creates a strong sense of community to welcome newbies and retain people while we build we can positively have an indirect impact on the metrics above.

If the thesis is accepted (high quality content being something everyone from Core Protocol to Apps crave) then we can use Social Media engagement as validation of the quality or it hitting the right audience. Not a perfect science, but this model can help balance out the need for raw data with the need to be experimental and do whatever it takes to grow.

For Wuipod specifically, as I’ve shared on my original proposal and subsequent answer to Bakaka, we’ve always been obsessed with creating a culture of Builders and High Achievers. We want to attract the best, make them feel welcomed, and inspire the rest to become the best version of themselves. We often go deep and guests share Alpha that hasn’t been captured elsewhere.

Measuring KPIs
I previous reports I’ve included a link to the Airtable where I’ve been tracking impact, mostly of tweets and high profile accounts sharing and interacting organically. So the basics are there, commitment to transparency always.

I’ve recently started engaging a freelancer that is on fire creating Shorts, next step is to also find someone to manage Youtube, Insta and TikTok. I can include as part of their tasks to keep track of metrics on these platforms (the only active ones as Twitter and Youtube for full episodeS).

We can continue to review and refine the reporting process.

Many thanks for your support in advance,

AVB

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Happy to support your proposal.

Looking forward to seeing your report

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Hello ! I am happy to support your proposal because all your activities in ECO align with NDC goals and KPIs. Have a great day!

PS: wen interview with Iliia ser?

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H @satojandro thanks for your proposal. I am happy to support this long running channel that aligns with the new KPIs. Keep up the good work!

Could you reshare a link to the Airtable please? I believe that in the past @Bakaka requested that you add viewer/listener numbers in this document. Thanks

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Thank you for your support Sir!

We’ve been trying to get Illia on for a long time now. He is a busy man with a tight schedule. BUT, we do think that the time to have him on is NEAR: there are several new narratives around chain abstraction and AI that are screaming for a 2+ hour deep dive :space_invader:

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Dear Marketing (Eco) DAO contributor, your application was approved by Marketing (Ecosystem) DAO. The approved proposal included in October’s request to NDC Trust.

Please advise that during this transition period (NDC v0-v1), the following applications’ approval procedure:

  1. :green_circle: October 21 - 25th time for proposals from the Community, updates accordingly to NDC Metrics;
  2. :green_circle: October 26 reviewing by MDAO councils, approval on governance forum, and creation post-request to NDC (House of Merit , CoA, NDC trust);
  3. :yellow_circle: October 27-31st, House of Merit (HOM) will review your proposal;
  4. :red_circle: October 31 – HOM will vote for your proposal on-chain;
  5. :red_circle: November 1, in case of successful approval by HOM, HOM will pass the request to COA to vote on-chain;
  6. :red_circle: November 2nd-6th – CoA will review your proposal and vote on-chain (can veto);
  7. Once the CoA gives its approval, the NDC Trustees will carry out the transaction, provided that the expenses align with the Trust’s objectives;

So, during this time, please

  1. Fill out the form to pass KYC KYC Request Form (if not yet)
  2. Wait for future instruction from Marketing (Ecosystem) DAO and an invitation to create a transfer on Astro DAO.
  3. Please join NDC Marketing HUB Telegram: Contact @ndc_marketing
  4. Please feel free to contact me on telegram @kmotiv 24/7 if you have any questions.
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@satojandro quote=“satojandro, post:1, topic:36502”]
Proposal Updated 25/10 - reduced scope to 6 podcasts and removed twitter spaces bringing down total to $6,000.
[/quote]

Good morning! @Could you please
share report by tomorrow? Thanks!