Founders: what is your favourite channel for growing your audience?
I’m pretty sure most founders grow mainly on Twitter. Or LinkedIn.
But I’ve realised it really depends on what kind of product you’ve built.
If you’re a fashion-focused founder, you probably grew up on Instagram or Pinterest.
If you’re a software developer, you’re likely on Twitter.
I even know a guy who runs a digital detox app, and he’s not trying to grow his personal brand at all.
Which social media platform are you growing as a founder, and in which industry is your product?
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Reddit was great for quickly validating LeetTrivia. I went from 0 to 300 active users in one weekend. The first paying customer came after 5 days, also via Reddit.
Long term, I use Linkedin, but it's a much slower process. Currently exploring Twitter and PH.
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@vladbalan How did you manage not to be banned or deleted on Reddit? :D Can you explain? :D
@busmark_w_nika Haha great question! :)
LeetTrivia is targeted at software engineers so I posted in the local programming subreddit. So I guess they were interested both as users and as programmers. It varies widely on the subreddit, but as long as you're transparent and what you're promoting is actually useful to that community, it shouldn't be so bad.
It also helped that I engaged with the commenters and addressed their concerns and feedback. Here's the translated thread, if it's useful as a case study 😬https://www.reddit.com/r/programare/comments/1oero7v/am_f%C4%83cut_un_joc_care_m%C4%83_ajut%C4%83_s%C4%83_m%C4%83_preg%C4%83tesc/?tl=en
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@vladbalan Congrats on a successful post, it seems that many of the comments are positive. That's rare for Reddit :D
@busmark_w_nika Thanks Nika! I'm lowkey proud of that too :))
Outcome
@busmark_w_nika whats our stance on Reddit as a medium. I like FB / LinkedIn for our non dev demo
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@dzaitzow Reddit is the place where people go for advice, so people trust people there. But dunno how often people click on your profile and links. I think it is better for discussing topics. As for me, I would prefer LinkedIn over Facebook (FB is too political and toxic for me).
IXORD
My product is in the productivity space, and we used social media where tips or advice on work were helpful. This definitely includes LinkedIn and Facebook :)
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@ixord Wow, how can you convert people from Facebook? :D I thought this social media already died :D
IXORD
@busmark_w_nika I thought the same, but a lot of users are actually on Facebook. In my own circle no one uses Facebook, so it seemed outdated to me. But that is a misconception. You can get very good traffic for a product from there
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@ixord also, depends on the demographic audience. There are especially elderly people (I mean elederly from me) :D
RankSpot
I was using Twitter for a very long time, but now I am also trying to start growing LinkedIn as well. Also IndieHackers and Product Hunt is a nice platform to grow audience ;)
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@danshipit are we connected on LinkedIn? :D I cannot recall :D
RankSpot
@busmark_w_nika Yes, I think we do! And on X as well
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@danshipit Sorry, I have so many people around that I cannot remember lol :D
I think a lot of it is based on how much value, the product that you are building adds to a particular audience.
We are building a NetWorth app, that helps users organize their finances, plan it ahead, for themselves and also easy transmission of NetWorth digitally, at ease.
We think LinkedIn is primarily the best platform to grow our audience, followed by fintech communities.
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@tiwarilakshya12 Probably LinkedIn is the place to go (as you said) :)
@busmark_w_nika Yes, I think its a good way to tap into the right audience.
yes, i agree it depends where your audience is. we are building in Fintech space in India and for us linkedin and strong community like reddit works best.
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@munmun_desai1 and what about X?
@busmark_w_nika X works well i agree in our case to have a very intended user base helps
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@munmun_desai1 I still cannot get how one can grow that social media :D
@busmark_w_nika i am also learning .. sometimes it works on the content.. sometimes its timing
Last month I joined X and I really noticed a different vibe from Linkedin. Before that I was most active on Linkedin but now I'm trying to grow my audience on X.
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@ivan_apedo Different in what? And which do you like more and why?
@busmark_w_nika On X most people have a builder, entrepreneurial mindset. You felt be around peope who have the same goal as you.
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@ivan_apedo Yep, at the moment, I feel LinkedIn like to be a beter fit for me :)
Why no one says SEO? It's great long term.
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@alextroitsky Do you mean your blog now? :)
@busmark_w_nika blog, programmatic pages, referral links, optimisation of the app :)
Im still learning that :
Your Audience doesn't really hang out on X.
If your targeting B2B Linkedin, but people don't really "Hang out there" they passively consume untill their friends post or they post, otherwise it pretty much remains closed.
Facebook Groups, are actually a thing
Email marketing & (AI) SEO is still king.
Meet people face to face at trade shows
Launching Today!
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@rishiuttamhk Good points! I am gonna check your launch :)
@busmark_w_nika thank you, we're Sinosend btw. Seeya!
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@rishiuttamhk I upvoted :)
Love this question — totally agree it depends on the product and audience. For B2B or SaaS, LinkedIn’s still unmatched for trust and reach, but for consumer or creator-focused products, short-form video (TikTok/YouTube Shorts) wins. Personally, LinkedIn’s been my best channel — consistent, organic growth with real connections.
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@bonnie8 What's your LI? We can connect :)