Zealy is a leading web3 community engagement platform, serving millions of users. When we needed to scale our own content marketing efforts, we dogfooded our newest feature – and the results exceeded all expectations.

Challenge

Zealy needed to amplify brand awareness and educate the market about earning opportunities on our platform. But we faced the same expensive nightmare every web3 company knows too well:

• Inflated KOL pricing: Influencers demanding $500-$2,000+ for tweets that barely crack 1,000 views. We watched web3 companies burn $10,000/month for less reach than a single organic viral post…
• Getting scammed with fake followers: Paying upfront only to discover those "50K followers" were bots and those promised views never materialized.
• Manual outreach hell: Spending 20+ hours/week DMing influencers, negotiating rates, chasing responses, and managing campaigns instead of building product. Our team was becoming a full-time influencer babysitting service.

Approach

Instead of paying upfront for promised reach, we used our new Performance-Based KOL Campaign system – a feature that only pays influencers after they deliver verified results.

How it worked:

We created a campaign with clear requirements and shared it with our network of KOLs:

• Educational content about how to earn on Zealy
• Minimum 1,000 followers + X Premium account
• Proof of engagement BEFORE submission (x likes, x reposts, x comments, x numbers of views)
• $15 USDT reward automatically distributed via Zealy's platform once the quest is marked as successful
• Manual review with feedback for improvements

The genius? Creators only got paid AFTER delivering real results

Results

• Total spend: $525 (35 posts × $15)
• Total reach: 100,000+ views
• Cost per 1,000 views: $1.05 (vs. $25-50 industry average)
• Savings: 95.8% reduction vs. traditional KOL rates
• Content velocity: 35 high-quality posts in 5 days

I've personally managed KOLs campaigns for years, and the difference here is night and day. No more wasting hours negotiating with influencers who deliver nothing. No manual payment processing. Most KOLs are selling smoke – promising huge impressions, delivering barely any real views. Performance-Based KOL system cuts through all that bullshit. You set the rules, creators deliver verified results, payments happen automatically. It's fast, it's scalable, and any community can replicate it. This campaign proved what I've always believed: when you align incentives properly, everyone wins.
Mathis Grosjean - CEO & Co-founder @ Zealy

Why this changes everything

Traditional influencer marketing is broken. You pay thousands upfront, hope for results, and usually get disappointed.

Performance-Based KOL Campaigns eliminate every pain point:

Instead of paying $500-2,000 for empty promises → Pay $15 only AFTER creators deliver real engagements

Instead of getting scammed by bot followers → Verified performance metrics before any payment is released

Instead of wasting 20 hours/week on outreach and payment → Creators come to you, submit proof, get paid automatically – zero manual work

Instead of hoping creators understand your product → Natural selection – only creators who genuinely get your value prop can create engaging content

Instead of managing 10 influencers manually → Same automated system handles 35, 350, or 3,500 posts with zero additional overhead

Sample campaign posts

The content creators produced was authentic, educational, and engaging. Here are examples of the posts: