Our success or failure depends on our users. Do we still need to grow in Telegram?

Written by: Xiaobai Navigation Coderworld

TON, one of the most popular public chains this year, seems to have lost some steam recently.

Backed by Telegram's billion-level users, the huge traffic attracts countless people to build projects and do some research on it.

But after several ecological projects were launched,Everyone started Telegram Questioning the flow.

Poor user quality,bot/There are too many people who like to play with hair.is the complaint we hear most often.

The end result is that the exchange of traffic between projects is not good, or the launch effect of new projects that want to grow is not good.

Is Telegram's traffic not real? Is there a better way to grow? Is Telegram/TON worth investing in?

This article will attempt to analyze the effective path to future growth on Telegram/TON from the perspective of Telegram’s recent development.

Telegram + wallet, Pandora's box of commercial potential has been opened

Telegram The inner demon of the heart is that there are many users, but the quality of users is poor?

First of all, it is undeniable that Telegram traffic is confirmed to be large. According to current data, by 2024,Telegram has more than 700 million users worldwide and currently has 950 million monthly active users, making it the third largest traffic portal after Google and Facebook.

*Charts From Statista

But from a commercial perspective,TelegramBut it has just begun.

First, Telegram launched a paid subscription service to provide users with more advanced features and customization options.

In addition, they also make profits through advertising in channels and groups. These ads can be targeted based on users' interests and behaviors. This is Telegram's current main business model.

However, this commercialization process also faces some challenges, such as:

• Due to the diversity and anonymity of its user base, it is difficult to establish an accurate user portrait, which makes the precise delivery of advertisements complicated.

• TelegramWith a focus on privacy and ad-free experience, how to commercialize without compromising user experience is an important issue.

Based on the above problems, whether it is the traffic owner (a group with TG traffic, such as a group owner of a large group or an application with many users) or the advertiser (a group that wants to place advertisements on TG, such as a project party) they may be helpless in the face of such a huge traffic position.

Then the problem becomes that there is traffic here, but how to make good use of it is a problem to be solved.

andwallet, Mini app may gradually change this situation.

Wallet drives the explosion of Mini apps.TelegramThe user portrait is clearer

First we need to clarify two concepts:Telegram Wallet and Telegram Mini Apps.

Telegram Wallet：Telegram Wallet is a feature developed by Telegram that was previously abandoned but later replaced by TONCommunityThe development was completed, and in September 2023, Telegram announced the integration of Telegram Wallet.Support TON, etc.cryptocurrencytrade.

Telegram Mini Apps: Telegram Mini Apps were officially launched in April 2023. These apps allow developers to create and run web-based applications within Telegram.

Although Telegram Mini Apps were launched earlier, the use and development of Mini Apps has further exploded after the launch of Telegram Wallet. Although there is no official data to prove it,Since Wallet provides more convenient payment and transaction functions, it will attract more users to use Mini Apps for shopping, payment and other activities.

For example, just like TOKEN 2049, TON and TADA launched a mini app not long ago, which allows users to hail a taxi directly through Telegram. Currently, the app shows that it has more than 2.8 million monthly active users.

The number of Mini Apps is still increasing. It is with the further popularization of Mini Apps thatUsers can choose from more types of applications, such as encrypted games, taxi apps, etc. Telegram The user portrait is more diversified and clear.

Through these rich application ecosystems, Telegram will be able to better understand user needs and label users.

Once users can be tagged,Telegram The marketing potential is thus opened.

belong Telegram ofGoogle Ads/GuangDianTong

As mentioned earlier, Telegram currently mainly provides paid subscription services and group advertising services. When user tags become more concrete, we come to the familiar Web2 traffic delivery logic, such as Google adsand Tencent’s GuangDianTong.

Google Ads and Tencent Guangdiantong areAn advertising platform that delivers targeted ads based on user data and behavior.

Google Ads provides advertisers with targeted advertising services by analyzing user search habits, browsing history, geographic location and other information.

Tencent Guangdiantong leverages the huge user base of Tencent's social network and combines users' social behaviors, interests, hobbies and usage habits to deliver precise advertising.

Advertisers can set up ads based on specific keywords and audiences, thereby improving ad conversion rates and return on investment to achieve better marketing results.

With Telegram With the enrichment of user tags, Telegram will also generate more similar business development opportunities.Through accurate user portraits, Telegram can provide advertisers with more efficient advertising solutions and attract more brands and companies to cooperate.

However, currently Telegram There is no official release of similar Google Ads Or Guangdiantong’s advertising platform.

At the same time, Telegram has a natural peculiarity: Telegram Wallet native supportcryptocurrencyPaymentTherefore, many mini apps can actually allow users to directly interact with cryptocurrencies and Web3 applications.

therefore,We are not just looking for a traditional third-party platform to support Telegram In order to build an advertising ecosystem and combine it with the Web3 platform, it can help advertisers to effectively place advertisements on Telegram.

Web2 + Web3, making traditional investment flow better

let Telegram Advertising can reach people as effectively as WeChat

First of all, we need to make a clear definition. Advertising and growth are actually relatively broad terms, covering many types, such as creativity, operations, etc., which are all related to it. The direction discussed in this article is mainly about advertising on Telegram.

In the field of traditional advertising, there are mainly the following modules:

1. DSP(Demand-Side Platform): A system used by advertisers to purchase ad inventory/slots. Advertisers can bid in real time to select the ad slot that best matches their target audience.

2. SSP(Supply-side platform)：Provide publishers with tools for ad inventory management. Connect with multiple DSPs to achieve real-time bidding for ad slots.

3. Data Attribution: The process of tracking user behavior to evaluate advertising effectiveness. By analyzing data, advertisers can understand the effectiveness of different advertising channels and optimize their delivery strategies.

4. Ad Network：Ad networks are intermediaries that connect advertisers and publishers. They aggregate the advertising inventory of multiple publishers and provide it to advertisers for centralized purchase. Ad networks usually offer a range of ad formats and delivery options.

Image source network

In the complex ecosystem of Web2 advertising, although the synergy of various modules has improved the efficiency and accuracy of advertising, traditional advertising still faces some important problems.

Black box operation: During the bidding process, advertisers and traffic owners have no control over the entire process.transparencyVery low, which prevents them from clearly understanding the specific situation of the bidding.

Fake traffic problem: Although data attribution tools can help analyze advertising effectiveness and provide certain insights, the existence of fake traffic remains a serious challenge.

In fact, there are already some similar projects in the traditional advertising field in Web3, such as Spindl in the figure below, Addressable, which is an attribution platform built based on the on-chain behavior habits of Web3 users; Coinzilla, the main traffic network that integrates many crypto application advertising spaces.

But based on the special properties of Telegram, what we need to do isget through Web2 + Web3 dual-end user labels can better "define Telegram users", so we found OpenAD is the first decentralized platform that integrates Web2 + Web3 data/tags for Telegram traffic.

OpenAD, the first to openTGDecentralized platform for on-chain + off-chain labels

I first came into contact with this project from a friend who told me that the results of their advertising through OpenAD were more than twice as good as those of buying ads directly through TG.

How does OpenAD do it?

Overall,OpenAD uses innovative methods to embed various types of ads (banner ads, interactive ads, etc.) into mini apps, allowing your ads to be effectively exposed in different scenarios.

In this process, OpenAD acts as a middleman, connecting those who sell and buy ads.

Image source: offline event sharing

It sounds like the same as the traditional approach, but in fact, OpenAD has the following main features:

1- Label the mini app users

OpenAD uses data analysis and user behavior tracking to finely label mini app users. For example, it collects information through user behavior data in the mini app (such as browsing history, click-through rate, and usage time), analyzes user interests, preferences, and behavior patterns, and ultimately builds detailed user portraits/labels.

2- Combine with Web3 to make advertising more transparent and prevent fraud

OpenAD’s advertising itself does not set up an incentive mechanism to avoid ripping off users and ensure that advertising and triggering are based on real user activities. At the same time, the advertising system design also adds robot users, automated operations andWitchThe difficulty and cost of the attack. In addition, combined with Web3, users’ activities in OpenAD ads will be monitored from time to time through smartcontractThe advertising data is recorded and uploaded to the chain, and can be transparently traced by advertisers and publishers.

3- Form an efficient traffic network with traffic owners without user overlap

OpenAD has established cooperative relationships with traffic owners in multiple industries (such as multiple large traffic project parties) to form an efficient traffic network. At the same time, traffic owners can also integrate their own traffic resources into the OpenAD network to form a traffic exchange alliance, turning the original 1v1 BD traffic exchange relationship into a 1vN relationship to achieve better results.

This will also bring new changes to both traffic owners and advertisers, who are important in advertising.

For example, for advertisers,Xiaobai NavigationAdvertisements cannot identify user quality, have low selectivity, and may encounter fake traffic. For traffic owners, they want to monetize their traffic but customers are hard to find, and if they forcibly embed advertisements into their products, they worry about affecting the existing user experience.

With the access to platforms like OpenAD, the entire ecosystem experience will be completely changed.

From the official website, we can see that, for example, BananaTV, as an advertiser, has achieved an overall user interaction rate of 60% and a retention rate of 10% based on OpenAD's high-quality user delivery; and NOTON, as a traffic owner, can obtain higher profits for itself by selling its own traffic.

Currently, OpenAD is also launching a one-month traffic incentive campaign. For details, please refer to the official link: https://x.com/OpenAD_Protocol/status/1859126324436041758

Mutual success with Web3 will make Telegram’s advertising ecosystem more prosperous

The evolution of the advertising ecosystem is inseparable from the advancement of technology. As a rapidly developing social platform, Telegram is also actively exploring the integration with Web3 technology, which will surely promote the prosperity of its advertising ecosystem.

Compared with other platforms,Telegram Although it has unique characteristics, it does not mean that Telegram will be separated from other ecosystems.

Just like the previous Web3 growth-related projects, OpenAD, as an emerging advertising platform, may not only be limited to Telegram traffic in the future, but also be able to integrate data from other platforms.This cross-platform integration enables advertisers to deliver targeted advertising to a wider user base. Through projects such as OpenAD, Telegram can also complement other social media and applications, gain a more comprehensive understanding of user interests and behaviors, and build a rich advertising ecosystem infrastructure.

By integrating with Web3, Telegram can provide users with richer application scenarios and interactive experiences. When using mini apps, users can see ads related to their interests, further enhancing the effectiveness and fun of ads.

Telegram + Mini App + Web3's multi-faceted cooperation, we look forward to a more prosperous future for Telegram's advertising ecosystem.

The article comes from the Internet:Our success or failure depends on our users. Do we still need to grow in Telegram?

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