Welcome to what I hope will be an informative and useful guide for beginners who are getting involved in ICO Bounty Campaigns.
First things first. Make sure you have an account for AT LEAST each of the following:
1. Bitcointalk.org (this one is pretty obvious)
2. Telegram
3. Twitter
4. Facebook (I don't do FB campaigning - I keep this just for my personal life.)
5. Reddit
6. Medium
7. YouTube
8. Steemit
9. Discord
10. Slack (maybe)
11. Any other Blogging platform that is currently popular.
12. Feel free to join any of the dedicated Bounty websites that are popping up. eg. bountylord.com (bookmark it) | Amazix Bounties @ bounties.biz (subscribe)
13. Cryptocompare.com
14. twitteraudit.com (for your Twitter account)
Have a selection of crypto wallet addresses for receiving your bounties:
1. ETH (most useful) and the Wallet must be ERC-20 compatible
2. XEM (Desktop version, not mobile app - Mosiacs currently aren't visible on the mobile wallets)
3. WAVES
### DO NOT USE EXCHANGE ADDRESSES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ###
Create a document/note on your desktop with all the various usernames, profile links, public wallet addresses, etc. You will be using this information repeatedly.
Next, create a Spreadsheet Workbook and make a Mastersheet that you will duplicate for each Bounty you join. Suggested columns include:
1. Date
2. Telegram
3. Twitter
4. Facebook
5. Signature
6. Reddit
7. YouTube
8. Medium
9. Other
10. Other
Row 1 should have each of the above labels.
Row 2 should be kept available for cutting and pasting the specific bounty instructions for each task
- under the Date heading, I add links for the BCT Bounty page itself and sometime a link to the ANN Page, Website, Whitepaper, and bounty spreadsheet.
Row 3 should be used to record which tasks were joined and any comments about what you did. eg. under YouTube - "Joined - upvoted all current videos."
Row 4 - leave blank. Use this as a delineation row from the actual work records.
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Now, to start with, users new to this forum will be Newbie rank. This severely limits what campaign activities you can participate in. Most signature bounties require Jr. Member as a minimum, but if you look around, you may find a bounty campaign that does allow Newbies to participate - just don't expect to get much in the way of reward. Use this time as an opportunity to start contributing to the forum discussions.
Don't just post crap and spam the forum with rubbish posts. Posts for the signature campaigns should be on point to the subject being discussed and add value. Take the time to give your opinion on the matter and extrapolate your ideas to give substance to your posts.
Remember, to get to the higher ranks, you now need Merit in addition to Activity, so make your posts as valuable as possible and hope that you get a bit of Merit for your input. Without it, you won't get to the Ranks that earn the big bounty bucks.
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Some campaigns require you to be a Jr. Member to participate in other/all parts of the campaign. READ THE RULES CAREFULLY & FULLY. You don't want to be wasting your time doing activities on a campaign you don't actually qualify for.
Be aware that some ICOs are now requiring KYC. Are you comfortable with doing KYC? If not, don't take part in those bounties.
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Become familiar with the interfaces for the various chat platforms - Telegram & Discord. Understand how to reply, how to send a PM, and be aware that many ICO channels prohibit discussion of Bounties. There may be a separate Bounty channel, or you may need to PM an admin to discuss bounty-related matters. (The General Rules of the campaign should explain how/who you contact for bounty questions. Sometime, there's a form you need to fill in; other times you need to post in the Bounty topic or PM the Bounty Manager in the Forum)
When you enter a room in Telegram or Discord, take the time to read the Pinned Message (Telegram) and check the Announcement channel (Discord), if they exist for the room you're in. Read back up the chat for a bit to see what has been discussed. Quite often, if you have a question, it may have already been answered recently or be included in the pinned message / announcement. Taking a couple of minutes to read recent chat will make the admins work much easier - there's not much more annoying than answering the same question multiple times every minute or so.
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Okay, let's assume you've found a campaign you want to join. What should you do next? REREAD THE RULES CAREFULLY & FULLY. Make sure you understand what tasks are required of you to be eligible for rewards. Understand how long the campaign is scheduled for? Be aware the schedule can change. If they hit Hard Cap early, the campaign will likely be finished early. If sales are slow, there's a chance the campaign may be extended.
Return to the campaign page at least twice a week to see if there's been any changes/updates to the campaign rules/timeline.
Be certain you know what reporting procedures are in place, if any. If in doubt, clarify uncertain points with the Bounty Manager.
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The first thing I do when I start a new bounty is label the spreadsheet with the name of the ICO, the weekly reporting date, and the campaign end date. eg. "AstorGame R-Sun Fin 14/3" Now I can easily see that I need to do the weekly reports on Sundays and the campaign his due to finish on 14 March. Use whatever format you're comfortable with. People in the US will no doubt use the 3/14 format for Month - Day, whereas we Aussies use the old British format.
For each part of the bounty you signup to, copy and paste that section of the rules into Row 2 of your spreadsheet under the relevant column. Now you have all the pertinent information on hand, which will make following the rules easier. Be sure to add links to the Twitter account / YouTube Channel / etc on your spreadsheet as well.
If, for example, the Twitter campaign you've signed up to requires 2 Tweets and 10 Retweets per week, go ahead and lay out the numbers you need for the coming week. If there's a max of 2 RT per day, then add dates spaced 2 rows apart so you can easily see what is needed each day.
Be aware that over-posting is just as bad as under-posting for some bounties and may disqualify you from receive a reward.
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If there's a Whitepaper available for the ICO, read it. Read it again. Use the salient points in the Whitepaper for crafting your Twitter/FB posts, or for asking leading question in the Telegram channel (on those occasions that activity is a requirement of the bounty).
Take screenshots of graphics from the ICO website and White paper and add these to your posts.
If there's a YouTube video - share it.
Make sure you include any required hashtags and links when making posts.
Create interesting ways of wording your posts: Pose questions | Highlight benefits | Make comparisons to other lesser Token in the same genre
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Be sure to check the bounty spreadsheets regularly - mistakes get made, so be sure you've been credited for the work you've performed.
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At the end of the bounty, don't pester the bounty manager or devs with questions like "Where are my coins?"
It takes time to ratify the spreadsheets, and even then, bounties aren't normally paid out before the ICO distribution. The rules will normally say when the bounties are due to be paid. Accept that they know what they're doing, but if no details on bounty distribution is mentioned anywhere at all, feel free to ask.
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You can also use the spreadsheet to keep track of any Airdrops you participate in.
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Well, that's about all I can think of for now. I hope this info proves useful to you. Happy Bounty Hunting!!
# Merit is always welcomed #