$20M revenue in 180 days with HTX

Introduction

Even for a well-established company getting traction with a new product can be tricky, especially if the company works in an ever-evolving, highly competitive, and international market. This was the case for Huobi’s mobile app launch.
Founded in 2013, Huobi.com (HTX.com since 2023) is the world-leading Bitcoin and Ethereum trading platform, providing secure and convenient trading services for hundreds of digital assets. The company released their mobile app in 2020 and had been struggling in getting more traction with it post-release: not as many deposits came through the app compared to their more established website, and this is where we came to the rescue.

Getting a bit ahead of ourselves, we ended up developing a high-budget digital marketing campaign leveraging paid social ads to reach the target audience and drive downloads and engagement, but we knew it wouldn’t be enough on its own – we had to increase brand awareness and trust during the campaign to maximize its effectiveness and make sure that the leads we would bring in, would really stick around and become satisfied customers of the Huobi exchange.

This case study takes a look at how NetShopping developed a theme with a high visual appeal, tied it to multiple marketing channels, with the focus on PPC ads, brought in millions of USD in deposits in under 180 days, and even came away with some insights for our future campaigns, which we will share at the end of the case.

The core concept of the campaign was thus set – we had to inform new users that Huobi (HTX) was the right place to acquire some meme coins and jump on the bandwagon without losing their investment in risky trading activity, but rather by getting them as bonuses for completing the onboarding tasks, which, naturally, included making a deposit.

We had to get creative in designing a new campaign, identifying the right target audience (and researching it), in order to tailor the new bonus program specifically to their liking. We called it the campaign “for newbies”, and focused our ads on the trending Shiba Inu coin.

To maximize the effect of the paid ads campaign, we decided to provide cross-functional support to it by improving the community management framework for Huobi and making sure that its social media and PR activities aligned with the main ideas we tried to promote to the target audience.

Design

PPC Marketing – Driving App Downloads with Precision

The agency implemented a strategic PPC marketing campaign to drive targeted traffic to the mobile app download page. Key elements of the PPC strategy included:

NetShopping’s strategic implementation of paid social ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger successfully increased app installs, enhanced user engagement, and addressed the challenges faced by experienced traders and beginners on the Huobi App. Within 3 months the campaign achieved a below-average customer acquisition cost, a significant increase in monthly active users, and improved user retention. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of paid social ads in driving app installs and promoting user engagement for Huobi.

Community and SMM – Nurturing User Relationships

To foster a vibrant and engaged community around Huobi mobile app, the agency implemented a comprehensive social media marketing (SMM) strategy to increase awareness and boost user acquisition:

• Content Calendar: Developing a content calendar with a mix of educational content, app updates, market insights, and user testimonials.
• Engagement Campaigns: Running contests, polls, and Q&A sessions to encourage user participation and interaction.
• Best Community Management Practices: Appointing community managers to address user queries, provide assistance, and collect feedback. All of the above was done in a restructured and improved Discord server – new channels, regional chats, anti-spam bots, user levels and gamification mechanics.
• Feedback Loops: Establishing feedback loops to convey user suggestions and concerns to the development team, demonstrating a commitment to user satisfaction.
• Exclusive Events: Hosting webinars, AMAs (Ask Me Anything), and exclusive events within the community to strengthen the bond between Huobi and its users.

We conducted thorough research on our target audience, analyzing their age, interests, online behavior, and preferences in trading apps. Also, we scrutinized the competitors’ social media strategies, identifying areas where Huobi App could differentiate itself.

After analyzing the audience’s preferences, we decided on a balanced mix of static and dynamic posts to cater to different user interactions. We chose themes and topics that resonated with our audience’s interests, focusing on the Huobi App’s usability, features, and customer success stories.

We developed a detailed content calendar, scheduling posts at optimal times for engagement. We crafted engaging, informative content, blending appealing visuals with compelling copy. We planned interactive elements like polls, Q&As, and calls-to-action to foster user interaction.

• We saw significant improvements in follower count, engagement rates.
• This campaign provided valuable insights into effective content strategies and audience preferences, shaping Huobi’s future SMM approaches.

PR Campaign – Building Trust and Awareness

Focusing on the trending security concerns, we enhanced the efforts of Huobi in PR by initiating several publications in leading blockchain media focusing on security and trust, as well as several paid exchange reviews for beginners. We created a few security-themed articles and placed them in relevant crypto media outlets.

The small PR campaign resulted in 13 publications (not including syndicated articles and translations), and the total reach was estimated conservatively at 1.5-3M views.

Overall, it achieved the goal to position Huobi as a safe haven for traders, especially new crypto enthusiasts, who may be reluctant to trust any crypto exchange with their funds on the back of the negative news background in 2022.

Summary and Key Takeaways:

We try to learn and grow as professionals on a case by case basis. While working on the Huobi case we came to (or reaffirmed) the following conclusions:

• When marketing a multi-faceted product such as a crypto exchange, you need to do more than just publicize information, you have to constantly research different targeted audiences and test hypotheses, trying to cater to each audience segment. In this case, we made a few correct guesses, and it resulted in more than adequate paid ads campaign performance.
• It’s important to stay on top of trends and address specific user concerns, rather than bluntly advertise the strengths of your product or service. We focused on memecoins, security, sense of trust and reliability. A safe and welcoming environment, as opposed to the image of crypto the mass media had been painting – risky and full of fraud.
• A cross-functional approach should not only underpin a company’s overall marketing strategy, but can be employed on a per-campaign basis. We would not have achieved the same results had we not made sure that PR and Social Media activities were in alignment with the key message of the paid ads, and the community management was not brought up to the highest standards to welcome and engage the new users.