I just had a meal with a fren who is working on a project. Before and after the meal, we kept complaining about KOLs, saying that choosing a KOL now is like choosing a perfume; if you pick the wrong scent, it can ruin the entire project.

He gave an example: a certain super large KOL who doesn't post frequently, but every post can create a wave in the market. Do you think he is an emotional master? Wrong, he is a precision advertising machine. He doesn't rely on quantity, but on impact. They once collaborated, and the project's traffic exploded, with on-chain data that was downright shocking. As a result, after the project went live, it plummeted, and there were a bunch of retail investors washing for him in the comments... saying that this is expectation management.

No matter what, they just make money, with precise targeting and hitting the mark every time. There aren't many ads, but they are accurate.

In contrast, some KOLs only take advertisements worth tens of U, and when the content is posted, no one looks at it, no one shares it, and no one discusses it, which makes the project seem even less promising.

Fren also said that to judge whether a project is reliable, you can basically guess about 70-80% by looking at the KOLs it hires. Those with capability spend a lot of money to choose KOLs who can drive the trend. Those who are just messing around choose cheaper ones. Those who are outright scamming choose accounts with artificially inflated follower counts.

As retail investors, we don't have much insider information, but at least we can learn to see the logic behind the ads: who is speaking, why they are speaking, and who makes money after the message is delivered. Understanding these three things can reduce the chance of making mistakes by half.