How do you find the communities where you can get feedback on your product?
I built a weightlifting tracker app, that allows to build very flexible workout routines (https://www.liftosaur.com/about). It has a built-in scripting language, that you can use to program any logic in the routines, like how to increase weights or reps over time, or when e.g. to decrease weights.
I want to release it on Product Hunt, and all the guides say - first build some user base, and fans, so they could support you with your launch. But that's actually where I struggle - where could I find those? There're a bunch of reddit communities related to weight lifting, but they all have strict no-ads policy, so you can't just post "Check my new app" post there, it will be banned. And any post I could make regarding my app would look like advertising, and immediately frowned upon.
I asked some feedback from friends, and that was incredibly useful, I figured that my app has quite steep learning curve, so I tried to invest into onboarding more. But now I'm running out of friends :)
I guess I could buy ads, but would like not to, because the app is free, so I'm going to lose money on that, and also everybody saying that FB/Google ads are not that efficient, and you need to build the core fan base first...
How did you find your communities and first customers? Or how did you advertised your products without it looking like advertisements?
You can try to create a reddit post that is interesting to them, like list of apps that can be helpful for weight lifters and you just slip yours among a few others so that the marketing won't be that obvious. (You add diet trackers, gym finders etc)
Just make sure that the post is helpful for them.
Good example: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeowners/comments/iqqig1/apps_services_and_resources_for_homeowners/
Great question. I'd love to hear what others have to say on this topic, since I've run into this challenge with Reddit as well. From what I understand, you can build lots of reputation by contributing to a Reddit community consistently. Then potentially share your list in direct messages, if the people would find it valuable.
Alternatively, Quora is a great place for this. I've gotten some traffic by finding questions that relate to what I'm promoting, writing the best answer possible, and putting my link as a small part of the answer.
Facebook groups (ones that are particularly active) are good places to do this as well. But there are a dozen other possible places.
Basically you have to do some searching to see where weightlifter "watering holes" are - i.e., where weightlifters are actively chatting online.
Thanks for advice! Quora looks like definitely worth a try, will try that!
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