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11 Comments

How to create a community before launch?

Hey everyone!

What tactics / strategies do you guys have, for building a community on social media whilst your product is being built?

What are the keys to making it work? Is it just being consistent? Having a schedule where you post consistently?

Or is it more about being transparent and sharing the process of product whilst its being built?

  1. 4

    Hi Alexandros!

    I created a free Facebook group on the subject I was creating a product for (DJs) and gave away free content to help them, e.g. blog posts and YouTube video tutorials.

    Whenever I gave away free content. I gave the option to sign up to my email newsletter.

    Then when I was ready to launch, I already had a whole crew of people who were interested in my offering and trusted me because they already knew me from teh group and the free content.

    Good luck!

    1. 1

      Thanks for your input Emma, got some really great ideas! My market is the same, for DJ's and music producers, so this definitely hits right at home.

      1. 1

        Hello Alexandros! You are welcome, glad you got ideas! If I can be of further assistance just ask. @schoolofscratch on instagram.

    2. 1

      how long did it take? How many subs did you have? How many group members?

      1. 2

        Hello, sorry I cannot give precise times or numbers as this was quite a few years ago and the group was since deleted. It was 100s. I launched to an email list of 1000 in 2014 and we are still going strong.

  2. 2

    Start with why: Why you need a community.

    Keep it small at the beginning, say 3 persons. Gradually increase the group size by digging out common topics and behaviors, identify the next 3, 4, 5 persons. Scale :)

  3. 2

    I think it boils down to providing value to an audience you want to serve. Consistency is part of the equation. Once people react to your value they start to trust you more if you decide to sell to them.

  4. 2

    Community can be build around a value that you provide for your audience before launch, e.g. at least some tips, advice (tweets), tutorials, templates (blog) etc. small things. Imo it can't be build about the excitement, buzz and promise that some day you will launch.

  5. 2

    Well, I'm trying to do this right now for the first time on twitter, so I am not the perfect person to give advice.
    But what first comes to mind is to tweet/post something useful and related to the area your business happens to be in.
    In addition to participate in the current community and unobtrusively recommend your product within the discussion.

  6. 1

    One thing that has worked really well for me and the brand/community I am trying to build are hosting monthly meetups for my targeted audience. I’m creating a product for runners so I host a running meetup group in my area. This has had huge success. If you’re able to create a local (or digital) group that is offering some kind of a unique benefit to your potential customers, this can lead to high engagement and interest!

  7. 1

    I'd be careful about using reddit. I tried that recently, and I guess I wasn't as transparent as they'd like (I'm pre launch so I don't want to publicly put the company name out there). They didn't take kind to that.

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