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How we used growth hacking on Reddit and got 4000+ new visitors in one day
It takes real finesse to promote something effectively on Reddit. Here's the story of how we use our own product Chunk in a growth hack to promote Chunk.
chunk.run
This is gold. I’ve been testing Reddit outreach too—especially in niche subs like r/SideProject and r/findeHackers. What’s worked best for me is pairing a curiosity-driven title with a clear rev-share offer.
Have you experimented with follow-up comments or cross-posting to boost visibility? I’ve seen solid traction doing both.
I've also had success with Reddit. Particularly with finding your first users and finding users for a private beta. I've done it with 2 products so far.
I was going to eventually make a post here on IH about it - but the trick has been three fold for me.
I realize the article suggests going for the big fish subreddits, but unless your product suits itself well for very indirectly linking to it and entertaining the masses (which OP did very well, I might add), you'll definitely be dealing with the anti-hustle brigade that disparage self promotion.
I think for most products, you need to target smaller subreddits.
Ideally a subreddit where you can see that a lot of the users that are participating on it don't spend too much time elsewhere on reddit. They're there because they have nowhere else to go. This gives you a more focused audience that is less on the hivemind and upvotes.. and is more interested in what you actually have to offer.
The second thing is, you gotta have a really great story that people relate with. Your story needs to target their pain to the T. And you have to be authentic. More authentic than elsewhere. You have to experience their pain yourself and be able to describe it in vivid detail.. then talk about how you got to work, and designed an app that solves it (for you).
Then pitch the ask: anyone interested in doing a private beta test and giving some feedback?
This works because you're giving them exclusivity and giving them the privilege of having your ear. And nowhere should you mention: pricing, trials, anything like that. They need to feel like you're rolling out the red carpet for them, if you want them to take action.
The third and final thing? Get them off Reddit right away. PM them a link to an email signup. Get them to take that next step. This goes for pretty much any platform really. Make them take some steps to qualify themselves.
Hey Can you send me some content on DM or in my mail ? I am not much good in sharing product on such sites also new to reddit.
Look forward to your reply
Hey there,
If there's anything in particular you want to know feel free to ask here (no PMs on IH). I pretty much laid out exactly what I focus on when looking for first users on reddit.
The only other thing I would do is I would try and glean some use case information from users when they signup for my private beta test. My Google Form would generally contain an email (required), name (optional), use case (optional). In my experience, users are generally very forthcoming with their use case, which is pretty powerful information to be working with.
I also setup an optional newsletter capture (it's actually a "help us improve your product experience" type page) in my app they get directed to immediately after signup. Around 50% of users fill this information out and sign up for the newsletter.
It gives me great marketing data on their job (if any), company size (if any), and use cases they'd be interested in exploring.
If I can see that there is a healthy amount of interest in the app for users that have X use case, and that users with X use case engage with the app the most, I now have some strong marketing data and I can start to optimize in that direction.
Basically, you want to start patching potential holes in your marketing funnel right away from the get go. You want to start the testing / optimization cycle early on in your app.
Sound advice and something I’m going to test with my next product launch! Thanks!
That's great advice thanks!
What a genius way of promoting Chunk!
Can you say something regarding Reddit's acceptance of running such kind of bots on posts? Is it possible to be banned?
Yes it is very much possible to get banned. The bot account was actually banned from reddit after about one day. We had to switch to another account we had created prior.
A rate limit for how much an account can comment also applies. For 10/h to way more the more comment karma you have
Thanks for the response!
Is Reddit anti bots per se or is it possible to run them in line with Reddit's policies to avoid bans?
Awesome idea @theo_champion - great to see someone thinking outside the box!
Loved it, gonna use it to test code online
thats an amazing idea!!! love the creativity
This has to be among the best way to showcase your product. Congrats on the brilliant idea.
I’ll definitely give Chunk a go.
P.S. love the name.
Thanks John! If you don't mind, I'd love to hear your feedback -> [email protected]
Alright. I got to test it for a few minutes and looks really fun.
After signup, I would like to be taken to a Dashboard where I can either see Chunks or get to start my own. This way I can figure out what this is all about rather than starting from 0.
I'd also like to have the option for the chunks in the library page to have a description of what they do and maybe a little comment section so that the community can discuss things.
But don't get me wrong, this is really cool and I am looking forward to seeing what comes next for you
If you ever feel like having an onboarding added or maybe some tooltips or guides, hit me up and I'll set you up with an Eyelet account.
Got any conversions?
Yes, about 1%
This is brilliant—congrats on the success! I think framing Chunk in a playful way (challenging users to "give it your best") also made your post engaging and interactive. As opposed to, say, someone simply writing, "I did X, check it out."
Very smart idea. The best approach on Reddit seems to be to find a way to promote your product only indirectly.
Love the "outside the box" thinking. Nice work @theo_champion
Congrats, check out on Indie Hackers how we got 43K new visitors in 1 day.
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/launch-day-1-17k-visitors-day-2-43k-visitors-thx-reddit-see-full-stats-here-7e5d24f835
Nice one, dude. Love how people get creative when they are desperate for traffic:))
I did the same thing my product greenlines.pro blew up on reddit and i got around 5000 people, reddit is an amazing place
Ah yes I stumbled upon it! Impressive product
Damn, leave the marketing side alone, you have aced it already!
Rather, You have to tell us more about how to use your product! Perhaps a video or something!
Great post! Out of curiousity, what portion of the 4K new visitors were relevant to you?
Conversion into sign-ups was about 1%
Pretty cool approach for Reddit. It's a really rough environment if you are trying to get the attention of developers.
I hope you have more of these kinds of ideas for posting on Reddit. You gonna need them :)
Making an article about it, then posting it again on Reddit (and here!) ;)
I also had good results posting on reddit. the main thing is providing value to them and not blatantly advertising your product.
I would post in entrepreneur, marketing, advertising, and findapath subreddits and wait to find what those communities needed in a product before posting about it.
Very amazing really.
Brilliant stuff, thats a goood one. Even I'm planning to spend time on Reddit. To learn and explore different communities. Any suggestions for me?
I guess a general rule of thumb is: give more than what you take and you'll (usually) be welcomed warmly
Thanks man. will do the same now
So creative! And the bots’s responses are so entertaining at times 👍😄
That amazing. The best way to promote your product is make other people promote for you without asking
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Some people seem to be doing it on Indie Hackers as well: https://upvotes.club/product-category/indie-hackers/
This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
43K visitors in one day thx to Reddit, here are the stats https://www.indiehackers.com/post/launch-day-1-17k-visitors-day-2-43k-visitors-thx-reddit-see-full-stats-here-7e5d24f835