POST: 5 free ways to build an audience for your product
Hi 👋
5 free ways to drive traffic to your startup's product that I have used in recent months across various products and startups I work on or with.
I posted this on my LinkedIn earlier and thought I'd share it with the community here.
Many of my freelance clients have seen great success driving traffic from Reddit, both organic and paid. In fact it's an incredible source of free traffic if you engage with the right communities [called subreddits] authentically.
The key is to be upfront about who you are, what you've created and what you want people to do. Reddit users identify with real, personal stories shared mindfully.
Facebook Groups
In many ways leveraging Facebook groups is more powerful than creating and maintaining a Facebook Page for your startup. There are millions of groups themed around niche topics. Like Reddit, the key is to be upfront about who you are, what you've created and what you want the community to do.
There are dedicated startup Facebook groups that welcome conversations about your recently-launched product or company, but you should seek out communities of potential users for your product. Many of these are local - so if you're targeting new mums, you'll want to search Groups for 'new mums London', 'new mums Brighton'...
Product Hunt
A community of early adopters desperately seeking the next big startup. Crack this one and you'll build an audience in hours. But it's more easily said than done. Before submitting you'll need to create a profile, engage extensively in the community, and build your reputation and influence. There are almost no hacks here - though Product Hunt's own tool Ship may give you a leg-up.
If you've created a B2B product, LinkedIn is your friend. Grow your network by connecting to relevant professionals then regularly publish content in the form of blogs, videos and images that demonstrate your authority and lead people through to your startup.
LinkedIn doesn't always drive massive volumes of traffic, but the quality is normally very high. It's also quite easy for high-quality content to perform well in the user's feed, as post likes and comments generate greater visibility.
Real World Events
Review Meetup and Eventbrite for local events attended by your audience. Get away from your computer and build meaningful connections with people in the real world. Use them to help validate your ideas, try your product first, and ultimately advocate for you.
Remember, wherever you promote, use tracked links to measure the effectiveness of your activity.
