Niv Dror
Social 🔑at Product Hunt
Discussion
M
Niv Dror
@nivo0o0 · Writer/Social Editor @ProductHunt
Hey everyone, I’m Niv (@Nivo0o0 - on - everything). I run all things social at Product Hunt, make GIFs as a competitive sport, and write the morning Tech Newsletter. Before Product Hunt I was the Community Manager at Meerkat (found out about it on Product Hunt! Joined about a week later pre-SXSW), and prior to that I was an Analyst at DataFox.
If you tweet me I will respond with a DM and fav 😀 (feel free to ask me anything outside the live chat as well).
Thanks for joining, ask me anything!
upvotesharetweet・
Jason Meeks
@jasonkristofor · Product @CrowdJoyEvents
If you were left on a deserted island with the choice of A) A box of La Croix B) 12 bottles of Soylent or C) An emoji pillow (of your choice) - which would you choose?
@jasonkristofor you know, I've been experimenting with this exact scenario on weekends.
On a deserted island the Soylent and LaCroix would be too hot to drink. I would choose the volleyball shaped emoji pillow and call it my Wilson. 🏐
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What is the worst thing you would do to get Twitter verified?
@bentossell I would do anything. And there would be no judging.
On a practical note though... I actually would, theoretically, do an internship at a tech publications if it meant getting verified in the process ✅😁
https://twitter.com/Nivo0o0/stat...
Matt Navarra
@mattnavarra · Social Media Director for @TheNextWeb
@nivo0o0 @bentossell Maybe i should try help you with this. Maybe.
Thomas Stöcklein
@tomstocklein · FoundersFundersFuture.com
@nivo0o0 @mattnavarra @bentossell I think Twitter should offer an account verification option to all users in order to eliminate (or at least reduce) spam/fake accounts and bots posting spam. Would definitely improve the user experience...
Thomas Soerenes
@soerenes · Email Marketing Specialist
What's your five year plan for yourself and for social at Product Hunt?
@soerenes 5 year plan for myself is a little hard to say, I never really plan that far ahead (I should). For social at Product Hunt, we have quite a few different Twitter account like @ProductHuntGIF, @ProductHuntKeys, and a bunch of vertical specific account that we're working on growing.
Also, @ProductHunt in VR (by latest obsession would be something to think about) 😇
Elkanah Carnell Reed
@elkanahreed · CEO, Eleven Digital, Inc.
@nivo0o0 @soerenes @producthuntgif @producthuntkeys @producthunt Are there any specific verticals that you would like to see VR applied to? For me personally, I know some people who are doing cool thing with fashion and commerce.
@elkanahreed ya fashion and commerce make perfect sense. I'm excited about what's happening in Sports and VR already, like the Manchester United vs. Barcelona game at Levi's Stadium summer
(side note, I took the image on the left at the game 😊)
Sydney Liu
@sydney_liu_sl · Co-Founder of Commaful
oh mannn i've been waiting for this moment for my entire life ❤️ but what to ask.... 😮
1) What is something that you think most people don't know about community building? Or common mistakes that people make when building community?
2) Where do you get ideas for social media? Like Trump Kitty or slowing down the Silicon Valley opening.
Keep being amazing man!!
@sydney_liu_sl hey! I've been waiting for you to ask this my entire life. 😮
Regarding community building, I don't know common mistakes related to that. I kind of just know what I did at Meerkat, which happened to work well (from a community perspective) which which was being responsive, listening, really spending an unreasonable amount of time talking to and *collaborating* with your early adopters. Those are actually strong friendships I hold (and they hold within themselves) to this day.
What I wouldn't do is making things transactional. Like asking too much of them (they are not your employee...) or if you're a company, which is something I often see with Product Hunt stuff, is tweeted at everyone who upvoted you for example. It seems transactional (and spammy), in comparison to a personal tweet to 5 people who really care about your product.
Regarding social media ideas, I think of how to relate concepts that people (or myself) already have an interest in. And there are definitely times when I'm just looking at things at the office thinking what would be funny to tweet out 😄
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
Can you walk me through your typical day?
@andrewett yes:
7:05am - Wake up
7:06am - Edit the Product Hunt newsletter based on @rrhoover's comments
7:30am - Send
12:00pm - Take a break from tweeting/#social PH updates
4:00pm - if it's a Monday, open email
6:00pm - start working on Product Hunt newsletter for next day
Sleep at various points throughout the day
Repeat
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@nivo0o0 @andrewett @rrhoover and the rest... 🙄
@jrdngonen I hate the word "Social Media Manger", slightly like the term publications use for a similar role which is "Social Editor" (which is a more accurate description). The email stuff takes a much bigger part of my day though which I wasn't initially what I was hired for (but I love doing). Don't know how to describe that yet 😁
John Meese
@johnrmeese · Dean of Platform University
How do you determine which social sites deserve the majority of your attention? How do you measure results from social campaigns?
@johnrmeese great question. The measuring aspect and knowing what to optimize for is something I never really though about before Product Hunt, but now it drives everything that I do.
My main goal is driving traffic to the site, so I'm looking at URL clicks very closely (with related goals being community engagement, and being an entertaining account to follow).
In terms of platforms, that means we've optimized most for Twitter, email is also one of our strongest drivers, and we've been doing a lot more Facebook the past few months.
It also means things like Instagram and Snapchat (which we keep active) are lower in the priority because you can't link directly to the site (but are excellent tools to engage with the community and show cool stuff).
Harry Stebbings
@harrystebbings · Podcast Host @ The Twenty Minute VC
My friend, finally we get to ask you the questions! My question is what is the highest converting platform for you with your content and what do you know now that you wish you had know at the beginning?
@harrystebbings highest converting, in terms of clicks back to the site in terms of social, has to be Twitter. It's what we spend most time on. But I've realized that what I do on my own/from @ProductHunt will always be a fraction of the broader community tweeting/posting/sharing stuff, so we're thinking about ways of making everybody else's 'content' better when they share Product Hunt stuff (utilizing off of existing work that I do throughout the day anyway).
Zach Cmiel
@zach_cmiel · CEO, PoKoBros
What are your thoughts on marketing with Snapchat geofilters?
@zach_cmiel I Snapchat Geofilters! I don't know how to make them, and whenever I'm asked I refer people to my friend @JeffCastillo who is so good at that stuff.
It feels like Snapchat Geofilters are hugely underpriced right now (the prices just feel low, like a no brainer, why wouldn't you do one) and that will only go up and Snapchat segments things better once they become more well know and easier to make for the public.
We're already seeing that started with tools like this one: https://www.producthunt.com/tech...
And this one is cool too, worth a shout out: https://www.producthunt.com/tech...