Why should you hire a moderator for your ICO's Telegram chatroom? The answer is very simple. First impressions are lasting impressions. Your new blockchain business doesn't start when your ICO ends and you build your dapp/coin. It has already started. You need customer service asap.
Remember, most of the people that visit your Telegram are there to size you up. They want to know if you are someone they should invest in. If you give them poor customer service it reflects badly on you and your company. Reading the whitepaper about your team is one thing but it doesn't tell the investor if you know what you're doing. Have you ever run a company before? Do you have any business experience? Many people do not. Working at Kinkos is not the same as managing a Kinkos. Being in charge of this dept or that dept is not the same as running the joint.
Allow me to tell you a little horror story I just lived. There is currently an ICO named Bleh. I changed the name of the ICO so as not to embarrass them or give them free exposure they don't deserve. Bleh has a great product. I fell in love with it as soon as I tried the beta. However, when I went to the company's Telegram to ask questions before investing. I had an extremely bad experience. In fact, I was almost banned from the chatroom for asking about the token metrics. Wtf? Do these people not know I'm the customer? I'm the end customer of the product and the investor. How dare they!? It was outrageous. Now, let me explain. I was not trolling. I was asking about the token sale, which is very weird. They won't tell you the token price until the sale is over. What? Exactly. That doesn't make sense to me either. That's why I needed to ask questions. I needed clarity. Is that really how it works? Yes.
Okay, let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they are sick of people asking them about the token sale and telling them it's stupid. Still, I was almost banned and because of the experience, I decided not to invest, even if it is a great product and here's why. First, the product's success or failure depends on the community. If they don't know how to create a community that tells me they won't have much success building a customer base. Second, their Telegram was empty. Oh, it had lots of members but the chatroom was empty. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was alienated. Third, they don't understand customer service. Fourth, them not knowing about customer service tells me none of these people have ever managed their own business before. If they had a good manager on board she/he would have told them that their token sale was stupid and that they should hire a moderator to handle all the questions that were clearly making them angry.
A moderator's job is to provide customer service while keeping the chatroom under control and free of trolls and scammers. The moderator is the public face of your company. A respectful, fun, and knowledgeable moderator will create the perfect atmosphere for customers and investors to trust in your company. Think of a moderator as a spokesperson and public relations person rolled up in one.
The flip side. Many developers and CEOs like to be involved with the community. Being able to chat with the people making the dapp/coin is a great way to build community because it makes everyone feel involved. It's nice to be heard by the people in charge. It makes everyone feel like part of the team. This is true, and it's very powerful for building a community. However, you should still have a moderator there to handle trolls, scams, and disputes. It also makes your company feel bigger. This inspires confidence. Be careful that moderators do not use too many canned responses. Cut and paste can feel too impersonal. A few original words at the beginning or end of a macro can make a huge difference to the customer.
When Bleh's ICO went live I went to the main website to see if I could figure out the price of the token. I was still upset at the company but liked the product. The investment page confirmed my suspicion. You just send them money and they tell you how many tokens you've purchased after the sale period is over. What? I returned the next day to see how the sale was going. No one had invested. This morning I received an email from Bleh saying they were suspending their token sale. It's been a week since the sale began. It doesn't surprise me. If you drive away anyone who questions you that is going to happen. If they had a thriving happy community they'd be able to change the way the token sale works and get off to a good start a week later than planned. Happy customers would have been willing to wait around and give them a second chance, especially if they felt like part of the team. Never underestimate the power of great customer service. It's never too early to start. Your website is the first thing your customers will judge, and your Telegram is the first impression they'll have of your customer service. You should hire a moderator but occasionally pop in to chat with them face to face too.