This article delves into the challenges and opportunities of social viral marketing for Web3 projects in the European and American markets, exploring how to overcome cultural differences to achieve effective growth.

Written by: Stella L

As Web3 projects expand globally, many are beginning to consider how to break through the growth bottlenecks caused by regional cultural differences. The social viral model that has been successful in Asian markets often encounters setbacks in European and American markets. Behind this phenomenon lies a more complex interplay of cultural differences and user psychology.

Pinduoduo Model: The Secret to Social Viral Success in Asia

The success of Pinduoduo has brought the marketing method of "social viral" to its peak in the Asian market. From its establishment in 2015 to 2020, Pinduoduo achieved an astonishing growth in annual active buyers to 788 million in just five years (according to Pinduoduo's financial report), becoming China's second-largest e-commerce platform.

The reasons for this success are firstly based on the deep-rooted collectivist culture in Asia. Here, interpersonal networks are intricate, and people have a strong sense of group identity; sharing discount information not only does not create social pressure but is seen as a way to maintain relationships. This cultural foundation provides a natural soil for social viral marketing.

Secondly, the highly digitalized social environment in Asia plays a crucial role. The combination of a well-established mobile payment system and frequent social media usage has fostered a mature digital social culture. People are accustomed to sharing various aspects of their lives on social platforms, including consumption experiences and shopping discounts.

More importantly, Pinduoduo has a precise grasp of user psychology. They successfully transformed the individual behavior of "saving money" into a social topic, reducing marketing traces through carefully designed gamification mechanisms, and cleverly leveraging community power to create a strong sense of participation. This approach not only encourages spontaneous user participation but also maintains ongoing activity.

It is noteworthy that Pinduoduo's success relies not only on the social viral mechanism itself but also on a deep understanding of local user behavior patterns. They perfectly combined the seemingly contradictory concepts of "saving money" and "socializing," creating a unique "social + business" model. This precise understanding of local user psychology provides important insights for considering how to promote social viral marketing in other markets.

This successful model has since been attempted in the Southeast Asian market. Several local social e-commerce platforms have adopted similar mechanisms, demonstrating strong vitality in markets like Vietnam and Thailand, fully illustrating the high compatibility of this model with Asian culture.

European and American Markets: A Fertile Ground or a Barren Land for Social Viral Marketing?

As the overseas version of Pinduoduo, Temu cleverly adapted the social viral model when entering the U.S. market. Its "Referral Bonus" program features simple rules but significant effects: users can earn a $20 cash reward by inviting five new users to register through platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook, with higher rewards for more invitations. Although this mechanism cannot fully replicate Pinduoduo's "cut a slice" model due to local legal restrictions, it still successfully triggered viral spread.

Data confirms the effectiveness of this strategy: in the first month of 2023, Temu topped the U.S. iOS free download chart for 28 consecutive days. By the end of 2023, its monthly active users (MAU) ranked second only to Amazon, achieving approximately $16 billion in GMV within a year, surpassing SHEIN, which has been entrenched in the market for a longer time.

It is worth noting that even successful cases like Temu have undergone multiple adjustments to their social viral strategy. From the initial five-person invitation for $20 to later adjustments requiring seven invitations for the same reward, this flexible strategy adjustment reflects ongoing observation and response to market reactions. This iterative optimization approach provides important practical references for Web3 projects.

However, this may be one of the few successful cases of social viral marketing in Europe and America to date. Several failed cases over the past decade warrant reflection. Facebook launched the "Refer-a-Friend" program but ultimately had to adjust its strategy due to user aversion to such "spam-like" invitations. The case of Groupon is even more cautionary. Once a group-buying giant with a market value of $16 billion at its 2011 IPO, its over-reliance on high discounts and social pressure ultimately led to user attrition, with a market value of only about $320 million by November 2024. This dramatic decline highlights the fragility of a marketing model that solely relies on discounts in the European and American markets. Snapchat's referral program also faced bottlenecks. Despite its popularity among young users, its social viral marketing plan performed poorly due to users' privacy concerns and fatigue from continuous marketing messages.

These cases reveal the uniqueness of the European and American markets: users have a strong awareness of privacy, remain highly vigilant against commercial promotion behaviors, and the tradition of individualism makes users reluctant to be labeled as "marketers." More importantly, these markets have a lower tolerance for marketing methods, with users more inclined to make decisions based on personal judgment rather than social pressure.

However, recent data indicates that the European and American markets do not completely reject social viral marketing. For example, Telegram has surpassed 950 million users, with over 10 million paying users, a significant portion of whom come from Europe and Russia. In 2024, acquiring users within the Telegram ecosystem has become a clear trend for Web3 projects. This suggests that European and American users are also willing to accept innovative social forms.

There are indeed significant opportunities in the European and American markets. Firstly, the advantage of a large user base provides ample growth space for projects, with a substantial number of active social media users. These users have a high degree of digital acceptance and are accustomed to switching between multiple platforms, providing a good channel for social viral marketing.

Moreover, the current level of competition among Web3 projects in the European and American markets is relatively low, and there is still room for optimizing user acquisition costs. The market's acceptance of innovative marketing models is high, providing a rare opportunity window to redefine social viral marketing.

Dilemma: Why is Traditional Social Viral Marketing Difficult to Replicate?

Culturally, the deeply rooted individualism tradition in European and American societies sharply contrasts with the collectivism in Asia. European and American users generally have a strong sense of personal boundaries, maintain a natural vigilance towards marketing messages, and place great importance on personal privacy protection. These cultural traits often make traditional social viral marketing methods ineffective.

Social pressure is particularly evident in the European and American markets. Users generally worry that commercial promotion behaviors will affect real social relationships and are reluctant to be labeled as "marketers." This psychological burden severely restricts the natural spread of social viral marketing.

Building trust mechanisms faces greater challenges in the European and American markets. Cryptocurrency-related projects generally have low trust levels in these regions, and users maintain a cautious attitude towards emerging technologies. Establishing trust requires a longer process and more effort. Additionally, European and American users have higher demands for marketing methods; direct incentives often yield poor results, necessitating more refined value delivery methods.

Breakthrough: Redefining Social Viral Marketing in the European and American Markets

To achieve breakthroughs in the European and American markets, the primary task is to transform strategies. The traditional "pressure marketing" model needs to shift to a "value-sharing" model. This means that when designing growth strategies, there should be a greater emphasis on individual benefits rather than community pressure, highlighting users' autonomy and focusing on building positive sharing motivations. When users feel real value and can decide whether to share, the effectiveness of dissemination often improves.

Gamification design also needs localized transformation. Interactive mechanisms should pay more attention to personal experiences, reduce obvious marketing traces, and provide users with personalized participation methods. This transformation should consider not only functional aspects but also delve into user psychology. The new growth paradigm should explore optimal user incentive mechanisms within the boundaries allowed by rules, finding a balance that can effectively create viral marketing without causing user aversion.

For Web3 projects, social viral marketing has a unique advantage: the automated reward distribution mechanism achieved through smart contracts can ensure fairness and transparency throughout the process. This not only reduces users' doubts about marketing activities but also builds trust through the inherent verifiability of blockchain technology. For example, projects can put invitation records and reward distribution processes on-chain, allowing each participant to verify the fairness of the activity.

In specific implementation, attention should be paid to the following key points:

• Transparency: Clearly display rules and reward mechanisms to establish trust.
• Autonomy: Provide users with sufficient choice, avoiding coercion.
• Value Orientation: Highlight individual benefits rather than social pressure. "Earnings" in the Web3 field can be set as waitlist whitelist qualifications, points, tokens, or NFTs, combined with industry characteristics.
• Privacy Protection: Strictly comply with local regulations and respect user privacy preferences. Social viral marketing activities in the Web3 field can effectively utilize blockchain technology to protect sensitive information such as participants' wallet addresses.

At the tool level, technological innovation will play a key role. The emergence of no-code tools has significantly lowered the usage threshold, enabling operational teams to quickly adjust strategies. Strong data analysis capabilities provide support for decision optimization, helping projects better grasp user needs. Additionally, native product integration, simplified participation processes, and transparent reward mechanisms will all become important factors in enhancing user experience.

Furthermore, in addition to social viral marketing, other marketing methods can be combined for a multi-pronged approach. Temu's success did not rely solely on social viral marketing. It also invested heavily in social media advertising and traditional advertising (such as the Super Bowl). On average, each American user has encountered Temu ads 60-70 times across various platforms. Most Web3 projects may not have the massive advertising budgets of Temu, but they can leverage industry characteristics by using KOLs or influencers for social media content dissemination, combined with social viral marketing, to achieve better results.

Future: A New Paradigm for Social Growth in Web3 Projects

As Web3 projects develop globally, how to achieve effective user growth in different cultural contexts will become a key issue. In the European and American markets, social viral marketing is not impossible; it requires deeper localization and innovation. Especially in the Web3 field, with the development of new generations of social protocols and decentralized identity solutions, social viral marketing may welcome new opportunities. These technological innovations can not only better protect user privacy but also provide more diversified value delivery methods for social viral marketing. Project teams need to continuously pay attention to these technological developments and integrate them into the design of growth strategies.

Through appropriate tools and strategies, combined with a deep understanding of local user psychology, Web3 projects can find a new paradigm for social growth suitable for the European and American markets. In this process, flexibility, transparency, and user experience will be key factors for success.

In this global competition for Web3 growth, the true winners are not mere imitators who copy successful experiences but pioneers who can innovate and adapt to local conditions. Only by truly understanding and respecting market differences can one seize the initiative in the wave of globalization.

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