With the global expansion of Web3 projects, many have started to think about how to break through the growth bottlenecks caused by regional and cultural differences. The social growth model that has worked well in Asia often faces setbacks in European and American markets. Behind this phenomenon lies a more complex interplay of cultural differences and user psychology.

Pinduoduo Model: The Success of Social Growth in Asia

Pinduoduo’s success has elevated the “social growth” marketing model to unprecedented heights in the Asian market. From its founding in 2015 to 2020, Pinduoduo achieved an astonishing growth rate, reaching 788 million annual active buyers (according to Pinduoduo’s financial report). This makes it China’s second-largest e-commerce platform in just five years.

The primary reasons behind this success are rooted in Asia’s deep collectivist cultural foundation. In this environment, interpersonal networks are intricately connected, and people have a strong sense of group identity. Sharing discounts or deals doesn’t create social pressure; rather, it is seen as a way to maintain relationships. This cultural base provides fertile ground for social growth.

Additionally, Asia’s highly digitalized social environment played a key role. The combination of an advanced mobile payment system and the frequent use of social media platforms has cultivated a mature digital social culture. People are accustomed to sharing various aspects of their lives, including shopping experiences and discounts, on social platforms.

More importantly, Pinduoduo’s precise understanding of user psychology helped them succeed. They successfully turned “saving money,” an individual activity, into a social topic. Through carefully designed gamification mechanisms, they minimized the marketing aspect and cleverly leveraged community power to create a strong sense of participation. This approach encouraged users to join voluntarily and kept them engaged over time.

It is noteworthy that Pinduoduo’s success depends not only on the social growth mechanism itself but, more importantly, on their deep understanding of local user behavior patterns. They perfectly combined the seemingly contradictory concepts of “saving money” and “socializing,” creating a unique “social + commerce” model. This precise understanding of local user psychology provides valuable insights for considering how to promote social growth in other markets.

This successful model has since been attempted in the Southeast Asian market. Several local social e-commerce platforms have adopted similar mechanisms and demonstrated strong vitality in markets like Vietnam and Thailand, further illustrating the strong alignment of this model with Asian culture.

Europe and the U.S. Market: A Fertile Ground or a Barren Land for Social Growth?

As the overseas version of Pinduoduo, Temu has cleverly adapted the social growth model upon entering the U.S. market. Its “Referral Bonus” program, which is simple yet highly effective, allows users to invite 5 new users to register via platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, or Facebook to earn a $20 cash reward. The more people they invite, the higher the reward. While this mechanism could not fully replicate Pinduoduo’s “team-buying” model due to local legal restrictions, it still successfully triggered viral growth.

Data confirms the effectiveness of this strategy: In its first month of 2023, Temu held the top spot on the U.S. iOS free download chart for 28 consecutive days. By the end of 2023, its Monthly Active Users (MAU) ranked second only to Amazon, with approximately $16 billion in GMV within a year, surpassing SHEIN, which had spent much longer in the market.

It’s worth noting that even a success story like Temu has gone through multiple adjustments to its social growth strategy. Initially, users earned $20 by inviting 5 people, but this later changed to 7 invites for the same reward. This flexible approach shows the team’s continuous observation and response to market reactions. Such iterative optimization offers valuable practical insights for Web3 projects.

However, Temu’s case may be one of the few success stories in the West regarding social growth. Over the past decade, several failed attempts are worth reflecting on. Facebook launched its “Refer-a-Friend” program, but ultimately had to adjust its strategy due to users’ aversion to this kind of “spammy” invitation. Groupon provides a more cautionary tale. Once valued at $16 billion at its IPO in 2011, the daily deals giant relied too heavily on deep discounts and social pressure, leading to user attrition. As of November 2024, Groupon’s market value had plummeted to just $320 million. This sharp decline highlights the fragility of a social marketing model that is purely discount-driven in the European and American markets. Snapchat’s referral program faced similar challenges. Despite its popularity among younger users, the platform’s social growth initiative failed due to privacy concerns and user fatigue from constant marketing messages.

These examples reveal the unique characteristics of the European and American markets: users have strong privacy concerns, are highly wary of commercial promotions, and the tradition of individualism makes them reluctant to be labeled as “marketers.” More importantly, these markets have lower tolerance for marketing tactics, with users preferring to make decisions based on personal judgment rather than social pressure.

However, recent data suggests that the European and American markets do not completely reject social growth. For example, Telegram has surpassed 950 million users, with over 10 million paid users, a significant portion of which come from Europe and Russia. In 2024, Web3 projects have seen a clear trend of customer acquisition within the Telegram ecosystem. This indicates that European and American users are also open to innovative social models.

There are indeed significant opportunities in the European and American markets. First, there is the advantage of a large user base. The vast number of active social media users provides ample growth space for projects. These users are highly digitally receptive and accustomed to switching between platforms, providing an excellent channel for social growth.

More importantly, the competition among Web3 projects in the European and American markets is relatively low, and there is still room to optimize user acquisition costs. The market’s higher tolerance for innovative marketing models offers a rare window of opportunity for redefining social growth.

The Dilemma: Why Traditional Social Growth is Hard to Replicate?

On a cultural level, the deep-rooted tradition of individualism in Western societies contrasts sharply with the collectivism found in Asia. Western users tend to have a strong sense of personal boundaries, are naturally wary of marketing messages, and place a high value on protecting their privacy. These cultural characteristics make traditional social growth methods less effective in the West.

Social pressure is particularly evident in Western markets. Users generally fear that commercial promotions might impact their genuine social relationships, and they are reluctant to be labeled as “marketers.” This psychological burden significantly limits the natural spread of social growth.

Building trust is an even greater challenge in Western markets. Cryptocurrency-related projects, for instance, tend to have low levels of trust in these regions, and users are cautious about emerging technologies. Establishing trust requires more time and effort. Additionally, Western users have higher expectations for marketing methods, and direct incentives often fail to produce the desired results. More refined ways of delivering value are needed.

Breakthrough: Redefining Social Growth for the Western Market

To break through in Western markets, the first step is to shift the strategy. The traditional “pressure marketing” model needs to be transformed into a “value-sharing” model. This means that when designing growth strategies, the focus should be on highlighting individual benefits rather than community pressure. It emphasizes users’ freedom of choice, and creates positive motivations for sharing. When users perceive genuine value and have the autonomy to decide whether or not to share, the effect of social growth is often stronger.

Gamification design also needs to be adapted to local markets. For Western users, interactive mechanisms should focus more on individual experience, reduce the obvious marketing traces, and offer personalized ways of participation. This adaptation should not only address functional aspects but also delve into user psychology. The new growth paradigm should explore the optimal user incentive mechanisms within the bounds of the rules, striking a balance between effective growth and avoiding user aversion.

For Web3 projects, social growth has a unique advantage: the automation of rewards distribution through smart contracts ensures fairness and transparency throughout the process. This can reduce users’ doubts about marketing activities and establish trust through the inherent verifiability of blockchain technology. For example, projects can put invitation records and reward distributions on the blockchain, which allows each participant to verify the fairness of the process.

Key Implementation Points:

1. Transparency: Clearly display the rules and reward mechanisms to build trust.
2. Autonomy: Give users full freedom of choice to avoid forced actions.
3. Value Orientation: Highlight personal benefits rather than social pressure. In Web3, “benefits” can include Waitlist whitelist qualifications, points, tokens, or NFTs, depending on the industry’s characteristics.
4. Privacy Protection: Strictly adhere to local regulations and respect user privacy preferences. Web3 social growth activities can leverage blockchain technology to protect sensitive information, such as wallet addresses.

On the tools front, technological innovation will be crucial. The rise of no-code tools has significantly lowered entry barriers, which allows operational teams to swiftly adapt strategies. Advanced data analytics empower decision-making optimization. This enables projects to better understand user needs. At the same time, seamless product integration, streamlined participation processes, and transparent reward systems will play a vital role in improving the overall user experience.

Additionally, aside from social growth, other marketing strategies can be used in tandem to achieve better results. Temu’s success did not rely solely on social growth. It also invested heavily in social media ads and traditional advertising (such as the Super Bowl). Overall, the average U.S. user was exposed to Temu ads 60-70 times across different platforms. While most Web3 projects may not have Temu’s massive advertising budget, they can still combine industry-specific characteristics with KOLs or influencers to spread content on social media and pair it with social growth for better results.

The Future: A New Paradigm for Social Growth in Web3 Projects

As Web3 projects expand globally, effectively driving user growth in different cultural contexts will become a key issue. Social growth is not unattainable in Western markets; it just requires deeper localization and innovation. Especially in the Web3 space, with the development of new social protocols and decentralized identity solutions, social growth may encounter new opportunities. These technological innovations can better protect user privacy and offer more diversified ways to deliver value. It is necessary for projects to closely follow these technological developments and integrate them into their growth strategies.

With the right tools and strategies, along with a deep understanding of local user psychology, Web3 projects can find new social growth paradigms suited to the Western market. Flexibility, transparency, and user experience will be crucial factors for success in this process.

In the global Web3 race, success will not belong to those who simply replicate proven models, but to those who tailor their approach to local markets and innovate. Only by genuinely understanding and embracing market differences can projects lead the way in the global expansion.

Disclaimer:

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