The Post ICOnomy: Community + Blockchain

I've started many communities even before the idea of "community manager" became popular.

From forums, DeviantArt clubs, and mIRC channels in the early 2000s, to student associations, research groups in college, and later on online communities in the blogosphere (a word that sounds weird to me as it did back in 2006).

Then, in June 2012, I became an Elance ambassador in my home country, Romania. And that later turned into an Upwork ambassador as the company merged with oDesk and rebranded.

As a community voice and manager, you're contributing to the growth and education of your members. You shift people's lives. You get a direct experience of what the audience thinks, breathes, feels.
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-vs-community-manager/

In the past year though I've joined multiple ICOs either as an early investor, advisor, or marketer. Independent of the reasons behind my presence in a coin offering, one constant aspect in all of them was the community that formed around the token/coin.

Now, we live in times where the term "community manager" has finally received a green light and is separated from that of "social media manager" or "marketing manager".

And there is a huge demand of Community Managers in the Blockchain. Because the very foundation of a startup in the blockchain industry is its community (present or future one).

An ICO will attract a crowd, which can later become the community of that business. But that community has needs that should be addressed.

There's also a segmentation degree to ICO communities. Pioneers and early adopters are not static. There's a dynamism present inside the community. This dynamic relationship means they can leave at any point, sell their share of coins/tokens, and move away from the vision of that startup.

There is no guarantee that they will still be there by the time the masses join in. Global user acquisition implies acceptance of early adopters loss.

And that's fine. It's part of the process. You won't be the first or last to see this shift taking place.

But that leads to this post's title: Post ICO.
It's not enough to just invest in the pre-sale and the ICO. You need a community manager in the post ICO as well.
The community, as it settles and grows, needs a powerful voice and a leader who will listen to the members' needs and demands.

I'm glad to see some founders understand this. I've recently found out that Simple Token is looking to hire a Community Manager, less than two months after their ICO ended:
https://recruit.zohopublic.com/recruit/ViewJob.na?digest=ZmrHtYbqDUPdk8.eRn7Z1kl7Jl3H5HZ6JSWuazMVJBY-

That's a good example of the post ICO mentality.
Congratulations, guys!

Product development requires an audience input at some point. And for the ICOnomy itself, this is what will contribute to its success and validation.

Blockchain isn't just a system, tool, industry. It's a path to bringing the human factor closer to the product.

IMG source: