How do you use Product Hunt to make people aware of your product? (Less-known approach)
Most people use Product Hunt primarily for launching their product, which is completely understandable and a basic thing. That's what the platform is best known for.
BUT I think Product Hunt offers far more opportunities than just launch day. If you approach it strategically, it can become an ongoing marketing channel rather than a one-day event.
This is roughly how I use it:
Talk about the product before launch through discussions, comments, and threads to build awareness naturally.
Meet people through discussions and invite interested members (or potential users) to test the product, share feedback, and build relationships with them. (Many of them became part of my LinkedIn community too.)
Improve the product based on that feedback so you have some momentum before launching.
Launch on a weekday to maximise your chances of ranking well and potentially being featured in the Product Hunt newsletter, which reaches more than 140,000 subscribers.
Search Product Hunt discussions for people describing the exact problem your product solves. Help them first, and only mention your product when it's relevant (not as hard promotion).
Leverage your Product Hunt badge. If your product ranks well, the badge becomes great social proof that you can showcase on your website and social media.
Experiment with Product Hunt ads if they fit your budget and goals. But those almost 5M monthly visits of this website are worth it.
How do you use Product Hunt to get your product noticed (besides launching)?
Replies
the framing of PH as an ongoing channel instead of a single event is the real unlock most people miss. The 'help first, mention only when relevant' rule is what makes every other tactic on this list actually work rather than just being tolerated, without it, the pre-launch threads and post-launch searches read as promotion with extra steps instead of genuine participation. I'd add one more layer to this: the relationships built pre-launch (the ones you mentioned turning into LinkedIn connections) end up mattering more than the launch-day ranking itself, since a badge fades from relevance in weeks but a person who actually tested your product and trusts you sticks around for every future launch too.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@terranicgerald Just stay consistent, build credibility and your product will be more visible too ;)
Two weeks of doing exactly this, with the numbers, since the thread is mostly agreement so far.
What worked: commenting in other people's launches and threads. Every real conversation came from that. Five or six makers, one moved to email, and two people now reply to me across different threads rather than following a product.
What did not work: my own threads. Two of them, p/general and p/vibecoding, 2 views each. Same account, same week, one a write-up and one a question. The third went into a product forum whose maker already knew me and got 9 views and two comments in the first 37 minutes. So it was not thread quality, it was whether the room was already subscribed to somebody.
The bit I would add to your list is ordering. Comment for weeks first, then post. A thread from an account nobody follows is close to writing in a private diary.
Did your early threads land differently, or did they only start working once people knew you?
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@jernej_jan_kocica To be honest, some of my threads brought me traction but I have been building a personal brand for over 3 years.
Nice write-up. I never really thought about Product Hunt as an ongoing marketing channel, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Going to keep this in mind for future launches.
Also, we recently launched @brandgen_ai v2, and this really resonates. The conversations and feedback after launch have been just as valuable as launch day itself. Thanks for sharing this.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@brandgen_ai @abhishekpatel How much attention did you get from the launch? :)
Does the weekday even matter?
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@harper_cole yes, they matter because of higher traffic = a chance to be exposed to more possible users.
Nothing here about AMAs, feels like an easy pre-launch lever that got left off the list.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@hazel_brooks I think that AMAs used to be a special category on PH, but lately can see it less often. Tho you could try it as well.
The people who test pre-launch probably want to feel heard more than they care about the finished product, that's the real trade you're making here.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@valerie_june any marketing activity is good, but they should be careful about exaggerated promises. The product should be good enough to make a good impression and invite more people to use it :)
Someone should turn this into an actual week-by-week checklist, honestly half the value in this thread is the ordering, not the individual tactics themselves.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@mason_clark2 I am pretty sure there are more things we could benefit from on this platform :)
The newsletter subscriber number is doing a lot of work in that weekday argument. subscriber count and actual open or click rate on a feature are two very different things, worth separating before it becomes a reason to time a launch.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@hudson_reid Are we talking about the Product Hunt newsletter? Because I think even when not all people from 140k subscribers open the newsletter, there is a solid list of people who read it and are interested in the new products (myself included).
the "search discussions for people describing the problem" one is easy to underrate, but the hard part isn't finding the tactic, it's that the problem is almost never in the thread title. it's buried in someone's reply three comments deep where they finally admit what they're actually struggling with. keyword search on titles alone misses most of that. do you actually read full threads top to bottom looking for it, or is there a faster way you've found to surface those buried admissions?
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@galdayan I usually follow particular topics or "subdiscussion" categories and whenever I see that, I try to hlep :)
Thank you @busmark_w_nika I'm new to product hunt and I can't tell you how invaluable this advice is as I look to build relationships on this platform! Virtual coffee/tea from me as gratitude. Also, I love the last tip on experimenting with the product hunt ads. I need to learn more about the ads process.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@jacqueline_v_twillie you are welcome! :) I recommend searching more about PH within discussions. I outlined many topics, and you can benefit from them :)