How did you build a community before your launch?

Question

I'm looking to launch a product in the next upcoming months but have been having issues getting traction. How did you create a community and which platforms worked better for you?

Upcoming page: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/hoku
Website: hoku.travel

Bertha Kgokong · Accepted Answer

The right answer is Everything, all the platforms. If there is a platform, use it. What we are doing:

-Twitter posts and reaching out on DMs
-Product Hunt
-Indie Hackers (just getting started)
-I have been on medium for a while - it takes a year on Medium to get solid traction and a following
-Youtube - also takes about a year of consistent posting to get a solid following
-LinkedIn articles 
-Reddit
-Quora

What worked the best (this is for a previous product) was Youtube, Quora and Medium stack. Post a video on youtube, create a written version for Medium and answer questions on Quora related to that topic with links back to your youtube video. Its a long term project - after a year of consistency, you will rank for some keywords on youtube and start getting consistent traffic, by consistent I mean the same number of new users almost daily. Works like a charm -----

Edgar · Answer

@shariq_a Thats great! I'm doing all of those besides reddit. Also recently started writing articles on Medium. Its definitely hard getting those first few users interested if you dont have a product yet.

Shariq A · Answer

We are still trying to find the right marketing channel :)
We are on ProductHunt, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit.
We have tried Google Ads and running some Ads on Youtube as well.
We are writing articles on Medium as well.

Shariq A · Answer

@berthakgokong Thank you for sharing this. I was prepared to keep trying for the next 6 - 12 months and then give up on the project if it doesn't get any traction. But now I guess, I must try this consistently for 12 - 18 months and then assess if the efforts are producing any results

Shariq A · Answer

@edgar1 We are learning the same lesson :)
The market is overcrowded and getting the word out is almost impossible.

Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza) · Answer

@edgar1 @rachel_levitz Can you please elaborate on this? :)

Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza) · Answer

We haven't launched yet, but this is what we're currently doing:

*Reaching out to our existing user base. 
*Posting in different FB, LI, and Slack communities/groups. 
*Creating relevant content and engagement on LI and Twitter using both our personal accounts and the company accounts. 
*Reaching out to influencers and relevant newsletters. 
*Connecting with other like-minded makers on PH. 
*We're also planning to write a few articles (on platforms such as Medium).

Igar Volan · Answer

Hi, @edgar1 We are also planning to launch our product next month. For me looks like you need to spend a lot of time here, Slack, LinkedIn. You need to be everywhere and share knowledge and positive feedback.

And maybe someday you will find community around you and your product. A least we believe so.

So good luck with your launch.

Edgar · Answer

@lior_galante_cohen I definitely need to explore using influencers. How has that worked for you so far?

Edgar · Answer

@berthakgokong I liked your strategy, definitely have to look into implementing it for my product. Sometimes results need hard work and consistency

Edgar · Answer

@maxwellcdavis Thank you! I didnt think of these types of forums

Janinah · Answer

@lior_galante_cohen @edgar1 I'm also curious 🤔

Maxwell Davis · Answer

For your specific product I'd personally concentrate on the travel forums as just ask for some beta users:

https://travelsites.com/travel-forums/

Edgar · Answer

@ihar_murashka Good luck to you as well. I will definitely be looking out for your product

Bertha Kgokong · Answer

@shariq_a community building takes time, and you can build a community for anything - so never give up on your idea

How did you build a community before your launch?

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