How many followers should I have on PH before I post a product? No idea, I'm new here, lol.

Katie Ames
33 replies

Replies

I'm sure it helps but no requirement for followers here. Creating a great product and building up a community/audience generally is what's important. You can then reach out to your community when you launch. Some potential ways to manage and reach out to your audience: - Whatsapp Groups - Slack - Indie Hackers - Twitter - Instagram - Newsletters - Facebook
Mirko Maccarrone
@rawoyemi Very helpful :) How do i Identity the Whatsapp groups and how do I get invited?
@mirko_maccarrone No problem! Whatsapp is more for managing groups than reaching out. They usually start at a local level with a more personal touch. I'm in tech and investment groups with many people I've never met before, but a member has directly invited me. Likewise, I've got two friends who have built up their companies by inviting early adopters to WhatsApp groups. In each case, it's been an excellent way for getting them to form a loyal community from their first 50+ customers who all go on to become strong product evangelists without realising it.
Katie Ames
@mirko_maccarrone @rawoyemi O great. Right now I probably use Instagram the most to connect with people and keep them updated on what I'm doing. My app is already live, so I'm just trying to connect with more founders, get more feedback and such. Thanks for the helpful answer.
@mirko_maccarrone @katie_ames That makes sense! Another way to reach founders is to create value so that they come your way. For example, blogging and newsletters are a great way to get discovered. I'm in the process of sorting mine out for similar reasons. Guest posting and featuring on other platforms (e.g. podcasts) is always a nice for people to discover you - although you need other mediums for them to secure their attention in the long term.
Nenad Golubović
It really doesn't matter. I might had some 4-5 followers when I launched CampTarget. It went to be #2 product of the day :D
Sharon Cohen
@nenadg whoa, impressive! How did you get to such a high place?
Nenad Golubović
@sharon_cohen2 To be honest - I really don't know. But I have a few thoughts - first I'm trying to be active on PH, post here and there. Doing that, I met few really nice people that are doing the same, just posting, talking etc. No abusive or creepy crap. When I launched, I got few upvotes from those people, and others followed. I guess some people really liked my little project, but also bunch of them just hit upvote when they see something is going up. That's also a cool thing, PH has supportive community, and that's a holy grail when it comes to communities :). Hope that helps.
Sharon Cohen
@nenadg definitely helps, thanks for this info. I'm sure it helped not just me but also many other people here who are reading. And it's great that you had a successful launch, I'm sure it'll just get better and better for you.
Nenad Golubović
@sharon_cohen2 thanks Sharon, time will tell, but I'm sure most of us will do the best we can following our dreams :) wish you the best!
None, 0, nada! You can have 0 followers on PH and post a product! Looking forward to discovering what you hunt :)
Katie Ames
@gabe__perez O thanks! Yes, it's an app for online challenges - just figuring out when to announce it to you guys.
Jacqueline von Tesmar
You don't need followers to post! Though I will point out two things; 1. When you post a product, your followers get notified. 2. Your followers on social networks carry over when you create an account on Product Hunt. When creating your Product Hunt account, you can sync your Twitter, Facebook, AngelList and Google accounts. Your followers on those networks will also become your followers on Product Hunt, as long as they also have a Product Hunt account. Reach out to us hello@producthunt.com if you have further questions!
Katie Ames
@producthunt @jacqvon O great - I didn't know you linked to so many platforms so that is helpful to know!
Mirko Maccarrone
@producthunt @jacqvon That's super helpful, thank you! How do I link to Facebook? Is it possible to link with Linkedin too? Thanks in advance :)
JV
Thanks for asking this. I had/have no idea either.
Tarek Dajani
I am relatively new here as well. But let me put it this way, if I am following someone and they post a product that I am not interested in (could be very good and potentially very successful but I am just not interested in or don't find it useful), I won't upvote it. On the other hand, when I do find an interesting random product, I upvote, comment and could even potentially use it. Hope that helps. Good luck :)
Hussein Yahfoufi
What matters more is how many followers do you have in general. When you post on PH, the key is to notify your entire network to help raise awareness of your post and to engage with you in the post.
Darko Williams
While theoretically it's possible to get on the front page with 0 followers, I think Katie meant: "What is the # of followers I should have in order to increase the chances my product will get traction?" I don't think there is a specific answer. I think it's good to have followers of YOUR PRODUCT (people who saw what it's about and subscribed), rather than followers who follow YOU, because the first ones demonstrate they want/need it, and other may want/need it too.
Yarin Lidor
Good question, I was posting my 1st product last night I have 182 followers but nobody up voted my project lol
Robin
yes, isnt important. The product is the most important thing. after that comes the marketing, but with a shitty product no marketing has an effect.
nilova.pande@qinaps.com
Actually i do believe that having some followers gets you a hang of how things will look like once you launch/post your product on PH. We at Qinaps did it when I had no followers at all. Then due to some technical issue I lost all my followers, so I am rebuilding my space within the community :)