Mentor: Kenny, TON Foundation

Editing & Organizing: BeWater

Preface: On September 21st, the second Growth Hacker Camp, co-hosted by BeWater & PANews, concluded successfully in Singapore. In this event, mentors from top Web3 projects and VCs delved into core topics such as personal branding, growth strategies, community building, user retention, and conversion, providing valuable insights and inspiration to the attendees.

The growth training camp received high praise, and BeWater has compiled the content shared by the mentors into articles and created a "Growth" series for readers to enjoy. The first article in this series is "Introduction to the TG Ecosystem and Discussion of Gameplay" by Kenny from the TON Foundation. The following is a distilled summary of Kenny's speech:

I. Basic Introduction to the TG Ecosystem

TG: The Third Largest Social Platform Overseas and Regional Market Distribution

TG is the fastest-growing global social platform in the future, with the latest MAU surpassing 9.5 billion, making it the "WeChat" of the 240 million population in the CIS region. It is currently an app with a billion-level user base, and the target for the next three years is to reach 15 billion, which is a 50% absolute growth rate. It is hard to imagine that WeChat and TikTok will have a 50% growth rate. Compared to the top two, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, TG is more flexible in terms of openness, has a more complete functional infrastructure, and has a closer-knit ecosystem, making it the overseas platform closest to the WeChat ecosystem.

In addition to developed countries, TG is the "WeChat" of the 240 million population in the CIS region. Other key markets include populous countries in emerging third-world markets such as India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Iran. Telegram has close to 1 billion users, and the proportion of crypto users is not as high as one might think. In many countries, it is used as a national IM software rather than as a fringe or underground communication software.

Functional Development of the TG Ecosystem

Channels (public accounts), Stories (moments), etc., have become important infrastructure and growth methods for developers in the TG ecosystem.

One of the most well-known Chinese projects on TON created short videos in the early stages, which had a good effect on user stickiness and community atmosphere, with tens of thousands of views on "moments" every day since March. The live streaming function is similar to WeChat group live streaming, and projects related to competitions are currently being tried and developed. In addition, the founder Durov, as the god of the TG world, has a great reference value for TG ecosystem entrepreneurs through his official public account channel. The future focus of the wallet function will be on promoting decentralized Ton Space. The development of the TG mini-program ecosystem is rapid, with almost all types of WeChat mini-programs being covered, and new categories that WeChat cannot achieve have emerged. Recent popular mini-programs include TADA for hailing rides, e-commerce, ticket purchasing, and short dramas.

The TG advertising system has not yet industrialized the way it acquires traffic, so a grassroots advertising system has emerged to solve the data layer problem. The TG advertising system is divided into official and grassroots advertising systems. Currently, the TG App Center only has manually selected "what's new" features. In addition, the Appbar has personalized recommendations. Currently, the official advertising system only supports the insertion of text and images for public accounts, and precise targeting cannot be achieved without collecting user information, which is not in line with the product philosophy of TG's founder, who does not agree with Facebook's behavior of using user information from mobile phones for advertising. Therefore, a grassroots advertising system has emerged, which is solving the data layer problem through various forms such as on-chain data and group performance.

II. Discussion on Traffic Growth on TG

TG is a Huge Traffic Opportunity for Overseas Mini Games

TG is a huge traffic opportunity for overseas mini games, and in the future, penetration rates, users, or Davis double-clicks may appear. The form of TG mini-games is constantly evolving. Many people may feel that mini-games are currently very competitive, and the cost of traffic is also high. Regarding the development prospects of mini-games, I have listed this chart. In terms of penetration rates, it may be difficult to reach 45% like WeChat, but I believe it can surpass Facebook's 12%.

Facebook's problem lies in the lack of an active game ecosystem and a commercial closed loop. Therefore, compared to the current penetration rate of TG mini-games (of course, my definition of mini-games does not include the most original pure tap types), we can predict that the penetration rate of TG mini-games can at least double.

In terms of user growth, the platform will have a 50% absolute growth rate in the future. The combination of mini-game penetration rates and user growth drivers is akin to a Davis double-click. The second point is that the form of mini-games is still evolving. The current form of TG mini-games is relatively light. If you look at the development history of mini-games in WeChat, there are many exciting prospects for the form of games, so everyone should have confidence in this. The third point is that TG will continue to iterate its products. The speed of official product iteration is relatively slow compared to commercial software in China, which leads to new dividends being released with each iteration.

How Do Projects on TG Go to Market?

Projects on TG need to first identify where their users are located and think clearly about which regional market they want to target and whose money they want to earn. This can be confirmed from two dimensions: geographical location and Web2/Web3. In the coordinate system below, the horizontal axis represents the region, and the related markets listed all have over a billion TG users. Here, there is a significant difference between TG and WeChat. WeChat is a unified large market with the same culture and system, while TG's market spans regions with significant differences in population, culture, resources, and strategies.

The vertical axis represents user profiles, i.e., Web2 or Web3 users. Currently, over 90% of projects have off-chain users who do not have wallets. They are not here to participate in airdrops. A typical profile can be seen in the parents and elders who usually need to use WeChat as a communication tool, occasionally play casual games, spend money, but do not get addicted. This user group has strong consumption capabilities and high user stickiness.

Therefore, when developing mini-games on TG, in addition to the business model of asset issuance, revenue can be realized by selecting the appropriate market and user groups, such as projects that have already run the pure Web2 IAP (In-apps purchase) path, based on the consumption capabilities, usage time, and usage habits of WeChat's version of the time machine. However, due to the lack of IAA, the more common model currently is a hybrid monetization model of IAP + heavy asset issuance. The customer acquisition path on TG is different from traditional platforms like TikTok and heavily relies on social fission within the core circle of seed users. This positioning should be relatively clear.

CIS Market

The entire TG ecosystem's market high ground is in the CIS region, where the "high ground" of the Russian-speaking market is not only reflected in the number of users, but also in user quality, usage time, and user commitment, making it the most worthwhile market to focus on. Notcoin, Dogs, Hamster, and other star TG projects come from the Russian-speaking region, and Catizen has already integrated well into the Russian market. Other regions, such as India, have the highest MAU in terms of numbers, but the user value and penetration rate are not high. Additionally, there are some markets, such as Iran, that are worth paying attention to.

The logic of TG's off-site traffic: TG receives a lot of traffic from off-site sources, especially in the Russian-speaking region, where large traffic platforms are worth exploring. For example, Hamster found agencies on TikTok and YouTube.

Regarding several takeaways about Growth:

1. Compared to the traditional gaming industry: the development cost on TG is low, with low expected certainty but high ROI. There is currently no mature and scalable customer acquisition method, and it is hoped that some advertising alliances can solve this problem.

2. Currently, there is no mature and industrialized growth path, so it's a process of trial and error. The importance of mini-games in 2022 is due to the integration of WeChat and TikTok. 60% of mini-games come from TikTok, and there is an internal advertising system. It is difficult for TG to propose an industrialized customer acquisition method due to the Web3 product philosophy and the founder's decentralized concept. Therefore, it is necessary to think through trial and error, and other methods need to be continuously improved.

3. Products do not need to be the best, they just need to be the most suitable and matching. Many projects currently feel that the product quality is average, compared to WeChat, it may seem rough. However, it is necessary to define what "the best" means. Is it a AAA masterpiece? I believe that only the most suitable or matching, i.e., matching the current user's usage habits, monetization methods, and traffic acquisition methodology, is important.

4. Treat users as traffic ➡ leverage users for mutual growth. I believe that there needs to be a shift in mindset, users are not just traffic, you need to leverage them. Many people already have this consensus, treating users as nodes and considering how users can help with mutual growth. However, after gaining this understanding or having this idea, more experimentation and action are still needed.

5. Gradually clear new hybrid monetization, centered around the value feedback loop. WeChat mini-programs and mini-games use a hybrid monetization of IAA + IAP. However, IAA is difficult to achieve on TG. It is becoming increasingly clear that many domestic projects are adopting the model of IAP + heavy asset issuance for monetization. Some may ask, aren't users just here for airdrops, as if these users are only here for benefits, or they all have ulterior motives. However, I personally believe that the core is still about the value feedback you can provide, what can you bring to users? When you are focusing on growth and monetization, you need to think about what value feedback you can provide to users. Airdrops may be a form of feedback, such as providing unlockable items in games. You need to consider from the user's perspective, even if you are providing them with entertainment value. The core is still about the kind of value feedback you can provide to users.

6. The three-tier theory of social communication. When doing social communication on TG, we believe in a three-tier theory:

7. First, the product must have social features. Many products still lack this feature, whether they are native or from other platforms, I believe this feature is essential.

8. The second is how to design the value chain, returning to the angle of value feedback, it is about how to leverage users to provide feedback, which can also be combined with the fourth point. For example, some mini-games have copied the "slash the price" feature from Pinduoduo, and many domestic operations are now copying this.

9. The third is the cultural attribute that cannot be sought but can be encountered. You may need to consider how to create icons or how to enter different markets. For example, if you are targeting the Russian-speaking market, you need to do some research on understanding the psychology of these users, including their icons.

In Q4, we plan to conduct a series of offline community tours around the world to share more detailed insights on traffic growth for TON developers, and we will also invite several outstanding project parties at different stages of development to share practical experiences. You are welcome to join us then. Thank you.

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