Which media outlet has helped you find your users?
I find myself, with every project I do, creating social media channels on every possible platform. In the mean time, I am getting more and more on my plate and I eventually get overwhelmed and stop posting at all.
My question to you is, what social media/marketing strategy has really worked for you? And why do you think that happened?
Hi Jasper, I feel your pain with this one, I have been plugging away at Instagram for a long time and feel like I am pushing treacle up a hill.
I have included Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook also. What I find is that it catches on to an early algorithm then just flat lines.
Instagram in particular is incredibly frustrating. I have tried all sorts of tactics to catch onto their algorithms. One thing that stands out as much as everybody hates it, is reels are still popular and effective. Here are some other things I have found:
I believe they know when content isn't new, when pictures are recycled they will actively demote that post. Try and use fresh content every time.
Be consistent with your posts. Instagram needs to understand what you are all about, after a while it knows who to show your posts to.
Leave comments on high value accounts, try and do this when they have just posted something. One comment I left once had over 900 likes and I had no idea because it doesn't show notifications.
Provide value in any way you can. People are selfish, if they land on your page, they want to know exactly what they can get from you as soon as possible. Offer advice, education, information.
I am starting to learn that captions are also scrutinised, again if you can engage another user by there is a greater chance they can be drawn in and eventually engage with that post. e.g. Do you know why you shouldn't do this to your car....? Sounds a bit like click bait but it kind of works.
That's all I have for now, but I will follow this post closely as I have a lot to learn too.
What is your project / business?
Thanks
Sean
I just created a Twitter account, I'll let you know how it works out!
Hi Sean,
I am working on Qanda, a UX research tool that transcribes and synthesizes interviews in seconds (https://www.qanda.design/).
An experience I can share is the use of Medium. I use Medium to write blogs and am spreading the word about my tool there. You can apply to publications who then publish your articles to a broader public. I have shared the idea there and it has helped me gain 500 subs to my email list within a month.
The problem here is that publications aren't too keen on self-promotion and my articles have been repeatedly removed, rejected or edited by publishers. Which makes it weird is that they do not state that you can not do that. At risk of losing access to the publications I am not risking it again. I am not linking the product on my personal page which is rapidly growing through their large subscriber counts.
Other than the blogging I have had a lot of success through LinkedIn. Although these were shares by others, they have a quick way of going viral. LinkedIn shows every like to other and it is something people tend to use at work. That is why I think I am reaching my target audience quite effectively.
Now I am thinking about creating a Twitter account to repost my blog posts, promote Qanda and to have a quick outlet. It should be possible to automate that pretty easily so that I do not have to think too much about it. Do you have any experience on that? Or any tips on Twitter?
Now through my mailing list I was able to verify demand and I find it enough traction to start the project. I am now talking with my users and building a community with high-interest users on Slack. That way I can do surveys, ask quick questions and have a direct line of contact with users.
I have been talking with Pat from Lightster (https://www.lightster.co/everyone/) who offers a platform to do exactly that. The tool was not exactly what I wanted but it might help community building for some of you out there.
Hi Jasper,
Sorry for the late reply, I have been on compassionate leave.
Your landing page looks really great by the way, nice and clean, and gets the point across very quickly.
I haven't had my twitter account long. Because I had over 191 posts on Instagram I decided to circulate them onto twitter, but with very little success. I only have 7 follows and 6 of them look like cam girls! Not a great start.
I have tried a few tactics likes commenting in high profile posts, and giving genuine compliments where there are deserved, either way I am struggling with it, so in short I don't have any tips for twitter, sorry I am looking my self.
Medium looks like a good outlet for me though, as I might be able to republish some of the blog content on there, and remove some of the SEO derived text, which may get flagged.
Cheers
Sean
Hi Sean,
Let me know how it went! In the mean time I am pushing my media on Twitter, and it is slowly but surely picking up. I am hoping to get one post which does a lot out there, maybe I will be able to get some great traffic.