Marketing has changed. Here's proof.
I posted a random thread on X about the cost of living in the Netherlands. Nothing about what we're building. Just genuine thoughts about life in the Netherlands.
It hit 1M+ impressions. And here's the weird part we got a ton of signups and paid users for Starnus from it. Without ever mentioning the product.
Meanwhile, my "here's what Starnus does" posts? Way less engagement.
This genuinely messed with my head. I'm sharing the actual X post below đ
What I think happened:
People connected with me as a person first, got curious, checked my profile, found Starnus, and signed up. The algorithm rewards content people actually want to engage with, not content you want them to engage with.
The uncomfortable truth for founders:
Your best marketing post might have nothing to do with your product. The post that drives the most signups might be about rent prices in your cityđ
I'm not saying stop talking about your product. But maybe the ratio should be 80% being a real human online, 20% product not the other way around.
Has anyone else experienced this? A random non-product post outperforming your actual launch content?
Replies
Oh yes! I think this happens because then you have a wider set of audience actually relating with your emotions? Maybe not everyone would relate with what Starnus does but a lot of people would want to compare the cost of living with theirs in same or different country and then commenting if it's higher or lower. It usually works as long funnel to be honest. A lot of my posts where I am just complaining about something or when I achieve something performs 10-15x better than me talking about product. I think a lot of people also get frustrated with this but if you are on any social media as well, you are likely to engage with things which connects with you.
Starnus
@krupali_trivedi Cost of living is something everyone can compare instantly (âwait, is it more/less than my city?â), so it pulls in way more people + comments. Starnus is more niche, only a slice of people will relate right away.
And Iâm seeing the same pattern: posts where Iâm sharing a win / stress / complaint do way better than product talk. Itâs annoying sometimes, but I guess thatâs how social works â people engage with what feels personal first.
This make total sense. I've publicly announced my app today on X, and many people came to support and share my post, but the conversion rates are very low.
After 4h, the post got like 3k impressions (which is good for a small account, and the post contains a link as well).
But, on the other hand, only ~40 people actually clicked the link, and checked the landing page.
I'll try your strategy as well in the following period and see how it goes.
Thank you for sharing this!
Starnus
@razvanmuntian Totally get it ,that click rate is pretty normal on X, especially when thereâs a link in the post.
One thing Iâve noticed: âI launchedâ posts get support/likes, but not many clicks. X seems to push story/insight posts more, and people click after they get curious
Flexprice
This happened to me too. The more effort I put into âperfectâ LinkedIn content about what weâre building, the quieter it gets. But the moment I post something random or personal, everyone shows up.
I think people engage with humans first, then discover the product. The algorithm just amplifies what feels real.
Starnus
@shreya_chaurasia19Â 00% same here.
The âperfect product updateâ posts usually get polite likes⌠and thatâs it. Then a random personal post pulls everyone in đ
I think youâre right: people connect with the human first, and the product comes second. And yeah, the algo seems to reward anything that feels real/relatable.
Curious, have you found any way to mix the two without killing the reach? Like a personal story with a soft product tie-in?
Flexprice
@ayda_golahmadi Whatâs worked a bit for me is starting with something real or personal, then naturally tying it back to a lesson weâre learning while building. Not a hard pitch, just context.
If the product is part of the story instead of the point of the story, it usually doesnât kill the reach.
So relatable aahahah I went through the exact same head-scratcher lately!
Posted a random thread ranting about the fact that we did not have any users on our widget even if it was soft launched a month ago. Not a single mention of the product, just venting real founder/consumer pain. Then impressions in a flash, signups, feedbacks about the widget, blablabla
People connect with the human first. They vibe with the shared struggle, get curious, peek at the profile, see it actually solves something useful, and convert because trust is already there.
My best "marketing" might just be complaining about life online đ
Starnus
@cathcorm 100% this đ Humans first, product second. The âreal painâ posts build trust way faster than polished launch copy.
Yeah, this happens way more than people admit, I guess it's time to post and comment more often :D
CUrious, any other post that helped get more customers besides this one?
Starnus
@viktorgems Yeah 100% đ Posting and commenting more often really helps.
Besides that cost-of-living thread, the posts that brought us the most customers were usually:
Real âwhat worked / what didnâtâ updates with numbers
Short founder lessons from mistakes we made
Screenshots of results (proof beats claims)
A simple story about one user win (that converts better than feature lists)
@ayda_golahmadi thank you for your insights!
P.S- in the post you made on X I'd add the cost of missing sunny days, really missed those when living there)
I've experienced this, too! When I post content about my life (not even being a founder, but my life outside of work - my creative hobbies), engagement is far higher. My hypothesis is that most people are tired of being sold to, but we all want to support a fellow cool human achieve their goals :)
Starnus
@samtalksfood Love that hypothesis, I think youâre right.
People are basically âsold toâ all day, so anything that feels human (hobbies, real life, behind-the-scenes) is a relief. And it gives people a real reason to support you beyond the product.
minimalist phone: creating folders
It feels like people honour personal presence over brands :)
Starnus
@busmark_w_nika Yeah, I think thatâs it.
People donât really care about âbrandsâ on social, they care about the person behind it.
Itâs almost like people log onto X for conversation, not to be force-fed yet another SaaS sales funnel disguised as a thread.
Starnus
@rolodexter Yep. People open X to hang out and talk, not to get pitched.
The best âmarketingâ here barely feels like marketing. Itâs conversation first, then curiosity, then people click when they actually care.
(And honestly⌠Iâm guilty of scrolling past anything that smells like a funnel too đ )
This resonates. We launched a dev tool for web scraping and posted 16 feature-focused posts on our LinkedIn company page. Technical specs, API comparisons, feature announcements. The engagement was nearly zero.
The one post that got actual profile visits was a raw, honest "here is what building a solo SaaS actually looks like" thread on my personal profile.
The 80/20 split you describe is interesting, but for dev tools the ratio is even more extreme. Developers are the most marketing-resistant audience on the internet. They can smell a product post from three sentences in and scroll past instantly.
What worked was something closer to what @krupali_trivedi described -- posting about authentic frustrations. "Cloudflare just changed their bot detection AGAIN and I need to rebuild half my bypass logic" performs infinitely better than "Our tool handles Cloudflare bypass automatically."
The uncomfortable realization: the frustration post IS better marketing than the launch announcement. It demonstrates expertise, shows you understand the pain, and people find the product through your profile. The polished feature post accomplishes none of that.
Starnus
@krupali_trivedi @yukendiran_jayachandiran This is so true, especially for dev tools.
Developers donât want to be âsold toâ, but theyâll happily read (and share) a real problem youâre fighting in public.