Written by: Stella L
As Web3 projects expand around the world, many projects are beginning to think about how to break through the growth bottleneck caused by regional cultural differences. The social fission model that has been tried and tested in the Asian market has repeatedly failed in the European and American markets. Behind this phenomenon, it reflects more complex cultural differences and user psychology.
Pinduoduo Model: The Secret to Social Media Success in Asia
Pinduoduo's success has brought the marketing method of "social fission" to its peak in the Asian market. From its establishment in 2015 to 2020, Pinduoduo achieved an astonishing growth of 788 million annual active buyers in just five years (according to Pinduoduo's financial report), becoming China's second largest e-commerce platform.
The reason lies primarily in the deeply rooted collectivist culture in Asia. Here, interpersonal networks are intricately woven, 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 has played a significant role. The well-developed mobile payment system combined with frequent social media usage habits has fostered a mature digital social culture. People are accustomed to sharing all aspects of their lives on social platforms, including consumption experiences and shopping discounts.
More importantly, Pinduoduo's precise grasp of user psychology. They successfully transformed 'saving money', an individual behavior, 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 users to participate spontaneously but also helps maintain their engagement.
It is noteworthy that Pinduoduo's success relies not only on the social viral marketing mechanism itself but also on a deep understanding of local user behavior patterns. They perfectly combine the seemingly contradictory concepts of 'saving money' and 'socializing', creating a unique 'social + commerce' 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 by multiple parties in the Southeast Asian market. Several local social e-commerce platforms have adopted similar mechanisms, demonstrating strong vitality in markets such as Vietnam and Thailand, fully illustrating the high compatibility of this model with Asian culture.
Western Market: A fertile ground for social viral marketing or a barren land?
As the overseas version of Pinduoduo, Temu cleverly transformed the social viral marketing model upon entering the U.S. market. Its 'Referral Bonus' program has simple rules but significant effects: users can earn a $20 cash reward by inviting 5 new users to register through platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook, with rewards increasing with more invitations. Although this mechanism cannot fully replicate Pinduoduo's 'cutting the price' model due to local legal restrictions, it still successfully triggered viral spread.
Data corroborates the effectiveness of this strategy: in the first month of 2023, Temu topped the free download charts in the U.S. iOS store 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 noteworthy that even successful cases like Temu have undergone multiple adjustments to their social viral marketing strategies. From initially offering $20 for inviting five people to later changing it to inviting seven people for the same reward, this flexible strategy adjustment shows continuous 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 the West to date. Many failed cases over the past decade are worth reflecting on. Facebook launched a 'Refer-a-Friend' program but ultimately had to adjust its strategy due to users' aversion to this 'spam-like' invitation. Groupon's case is even more cautionary. Once a giant in group buying, Groupon had a market value of $16 billion at its IPO in 2011, but its over-reliance on high discounts and social pressure ultimately led to user loss; as of November 2024, its market value was only about $320 million. This catastrophic decline highlights the vulnerability of a purely discount-driven social marketing model in Western markets. Snapchat's referral program also faced bottlenecks. Although the platform is extremely popular among young users, its social viral marketing program did not perform well due to users' privacy concerns and fatigue from continuous marketing messages.
These cases reveal the uniqueness of the Western market: users have a strong awareness of privacy and maintain a high level of vigilance toward commercial promotional activities, with individualistic traditions making users reluctant to be labeled as 'marketers'. More importantly, these markets have a low tolerance for marketing methods, and users are more inclined to make decisions based on personal judgment rather than social pressure.
However, recent data shows that the Western market is not entirely resistant to social viral marketing. Taking Telegram as an example, the number of users has exceeded 950 million, with more than 10 million paying users, a large portion of whom are from Europe and Russia. In 2024, acquiring users for Web3 projects in the Telegram ecosystem has already become a noticeable trend. This indicates that Western users also have a willingness to accept innovative social forms.
There are indeed huge opportunities in the Western market. First, there is the advantage of a large user base; a vast number of active social media users provide ample growth space for projects. These users have a high level of digital acceptance and are accustomed to switching seamlessly between multiple platforms, providing a good channel for social viral marketing.
Moreover, it is worth noting that the competition among Web3 projects in the Western market is currently relatively low, and there is still room for improvement in user acquisition costs. The market's acceptance of innovative marketing models is relatively high, providing a rare opportunity window for redefining social viral marketing.
Dilemma: Why is traditional social viral marketing difficult to replicate?
On a cultural level, the deeply rooted tradition of individualism in Western societies starkly contrasts with the collectivism of Asian cultures. Western users generally have a strong awareness of personal boundaries, maintain a natural vigilance towards marketing messages, and place great importance on personal privacy protection. This cultural characteristic often makes traditional social viral marketing techniques ineffective.
Social pressure is particularly evident in the Western market. Users are generally concerned that commercial promotional activities may affect real social relationships and are reluctant to be labeled as 'marketers'. This psychological burden severely restricts the natural spread of social viral marketing.
The establishment of trust mechanisms faces greater challenges in the Western market. Cryptocurrency-related projects generally do not enjoy high trust in these regions, and users maintain a cautious attitude towards emerging technologies. Building trust requires a longer process and more effort. At the same time, Western users have higher demands for marketing methods; direct financial incentives often yield poor results and require more refined value delivery methods.
Breakthrough: Redefining social viral marketing in the Western market
To achieve breakthroughs in the Western market, 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, it is essential to emphasize personal benefits rather than community pressure, highlight users' autonomy, and focus on building positive sharing motivations. When users perceive real value and can independently decide whether to share, the effect of spreading is often better.
Gamification design also needs localization. In light of the psychological characteristics of Western users, interactive mechanisms should place greater emphasis on personal experience, reduce obvious marketing traces, and provide personalized participation methods. This transformation should not only consider functional aspects but also delve into user psychology. The new growth paradigm should explore the optimal user incentive mechanisms within the boundaries allowed by the rules, finding a balance that effectively achieves viral marketing without causing user aversion.
For Web3 projects, social viral marketing has another unique advantage: the automated reward distribution mechanism realized through smart contracts can ensure the fairness and transparency of the entire 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 the blockchain, allowing each participant to verify the fairness of the activity.
When implementing specifically, attention should be paid to the following key points:
Transparency: Clearly present the rules and reward mechanisms to establish trust.
Autonomy: Give users sufficient choice and avoid coercion.
Value orientation: Highlight personal benefits rather than social pressure. In the Web3 space, 'benefits' can be set according to industry characteristics as qualifications for waitlist whitelists, points, tokens, or NFTs.
Privacy protection: Strictly comply with local regulations and respect user privacy preferences. Social viral marketing activities in the Web3 space 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 significantly lowers the usage threshold, enabling operation teams to quickly adjust strategies. Strong data analysis capabilities will optimize decision-making.
Support was provided to help projects better grasp user needs. At the same time, native product integration, simplified participation processes, and transparent reward mechanisms will all become important factors in enhancing user experience.
Additionally, apart from social viral marketing, other marketing methods can also 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 (like the Super Bowl). Overall, the average U.S. user has been exposed to Temu advertisements 60-70 times across various platforms. Most Web3 projects may not have the massive advertising budgets like Temu, but they can combine industry characteristics, utilizing KOLs or influencers for social media content dissemination alongside social viral marketing for better results.
Future: New paradigm of social growth for Web3 projects
With the global development of Web3 projects, how to achieve effective user growth in different cultural contexts will become a key issue. In the Western market, social viral marketing is not impossible; it requires deeper localization and innovation. Particularly in the Web3 space, with the development of a new generation 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 monitor these technological developments and integrate them into the design of growth strategies.
By employing appropriate tools and strategies, combined with a deep understanding of local user psychology, Web3 projects can fully find a new paradigm of social growth suitable for the Western market. In this process, flexibility, transparency, and user experience will become key factors for success.
In this global Web3 growth race, the true winners are not mere imitators who simply replicate successful experiences, but pioneers who can innovate and adapt to local conditions. Only by genuinely understanding and respecting market differences can one seize the initiative in the wave of globalization.