The hack
Post your product into communities that care.
Why it works
People love niche communities. Members of those are not just part of your target audience, they are also early adopters, which makes them the best first potential customers.
So where to post? Niche communities are usually on:
- Slack channels
- Discord channels
- Facebook groups (yes those still exist)
- Linkedin groups
- Meetup groups
- Topic-specific pages
The main question when it comes to communities is whether to post directly, comment under a popular post, or DM people separately.
Reddit is special
Posting your startup on Reddit is now almost impossible without getting destroyed in the comments, getting post deleted, or outright banned from the subreddit. That’s why it’s better to go with the → Comment on relevant Reddit discussion approach or posting content instead of your main product → Post your blog or newsletter on Reddit.
Where DMs are preferred
For Slack channels and LinkedIn groups, it’s best to combine posting with DMs. Read → Find people in Slack communities and → Connecting with people on LinkedIn (Beginner version).
For other niche groups, it’s worth posting and creating a discussion around it organically. Those are generally the best-performing ones. Everyone posts on Reddit and in the most popular Facebook group. Not many people go through random online forums, create an account, and start conversations there.
How to do it
Let’s say we’ve just launched a new product for the horse community. The sites you’re looking for look like this. The more old-school design the better. The Craigslist rule does apply here — if it works great, there is no need to change it. And some of those have been active for over ten years.
Posting
Read previous posts and make sure you hit the same style. Sounding like a regular member of the community will make you more approachable. If your posts stick out as spammy, it won’t work. It needs to be authentic.
Contributing regularly
Did well with your first post? Did poorly? Doesn’t matter. If you believe the community is relevant bookmark the page and force yourself to contribute every week. Don’t just promote yourself. Post and comment generally useful things. This is the most direct line you can get with your customers, so make good use of it.
