Do you ever hear people say post on LinkedIn and post on Product Hunt to build hype and get users, but still feel lost? Well, same here.
A few weeks back, I wrote an article about my experience from Zero to 100 users and how I leveraged LinkedIn and Product Hunt to build hype, so I decided to take a deep dive into what it was that I actually posted and when. I hope this helps some people.
Before We Dive In - A Little Context
Having done basically nothing in the realm of content creation, I set out to just learn as I go…..In hindsight, I think actually helped a lot with getting people interested. I knew I needed to share what I was working on prior to it going live, or it would just be crickets and suck the energy out of me. That was about the only thing I knew going into this.
Warning: this is going to be a longer post. Hang in there. I’m going to detail out the exact posts on did all the way from day 1 until launching.
My Timeline
- 3 months prior to launching I started to post on LinkineIin.
- 2 months prior, I started to post on Product Hunt (More on that in another blog)
- 1 month out, I started ramping up posting and talking with more people, showing them what was coming.
During this time, I tried to focus on a few key things
- Consistency. Being consistent played a massive part in getting people interested and staying top of mind. I didn’t post every single day, but I did do it at least 1-2 times per week…at least I think that was about the average
- Engaging with other people - I didn’t just focus on posting myself, but I also looked for questions and comments that I thought I could help provide value, so it felt organic.
- Posted on platforms where my target audience hangs out - For me LinkedIn and Product Hunt had a lot of marketing folks. On Product Hunt, so many people are trying to market their own products that if they find a tool to help them market it is a win-win.
- Talked a lot about coming soon - A lot of my posts consisted of “We are working on something cool” , “We are just about one month out,” “Only two more weeks,” etc.
THE POSTS
3 Months Out (August 2023)
This was the teasing phase. Talking about the fact I was working on something, what it was, and what I was hoping to do. I post here and there. The point of this was to get people intrigued with the idea I had going, but still need to 100% know what was coming down the pipeline.
Post 1 - August 14th (Was just excited to have the prelaunch up and wanted to share)
Yo!
I'm in the process of a new project, and I'd like to have y’all join me on this journey.
I'm developing a platform tailored for marketers, designers, and entrepreneurs. Its main goals are to provide access to great emails from industry-leading companies, streamline inspiration, improve products, and remove the need for email list subscriptions.
You can catch a taste of what's to come on our prelaunch site. The full version will be ready in the coming months.
I value feedback. Please share what resonates with you, any features you'd deem beneficial, and considerations I might not have touched upon. Your feedback will be super helpful in helping to guide this journey.”
Post 2 - August 15th (Was trying my hand at writing for the first time and wanted to share)
I wrote a short article about why I have decided to build in public. This is my first time writing a public article so hoping to learn and get better as I build Email Emu and write more.
EmailEmu.com has been fun to work on so far. It is a place for users to see email examples from industry-leading companies, without the inbox clutter.
Check out my article and prelaunch site here! If you love it or know someone who does please share it!
https://lnkd.in/g4pUgNfn
Post 3 - August - Probably a few days later (Was feeling inspired after seeing his design talk)
Why do you think there are not more UX designers as tech founders?
I heard that Brian Chesky of Airbnb was one of the only designer founders of a major tech company...... which makes me think why? Thoughts?
Post 4 - August (Lightweight method for trying to see what competitors were in the space that I was not aware of)
How are you currently finding good emails for reference?
Over my career, I have always found it a challenge to find good emails that I can reference to help me when designing them.
I have heard from a number of people in marketing they are constantly they are signing up for email lists and just sifting through their inbox.....no optimal.
So I have begun to create a place that fixes that problem. Emailemu.com
Would you find value in this? If so share it or sign up and support!
Post 5 - August (Posted this to try and get engagement while also trying to find helpful resources for myself)
What resources out there have y'all found helpful when trying to get your own project off the ground??
Personally, I've found product hunt and indie hackers great sites to have valuable information for tech founders.
Post 6 - August ( I remember being at a random coffee shop and noticing this happened, being super happy and motivated)
I made it to the Discover page for the first time!! Pretty cool. How did I do it?
In an effort to grow more of an audience, I have been posting consistently on a few different platforms.
-Linked In
-Indie Hackers
-Product Hunt
I have been posting a mixture of content relevant to the side hustle and partly just questions about peoples career. I have been trying to better understand what people have learned in their career journey.
What have been some of the biggest learning lessons you have learned early in your career or by starting a side hustle??
Post 7 - August (Was testing pricing, this got almost zero engagement)
As I build in public I'm playing around with pricing models and would love feedback.
What would you be willing to pay monthly to discover and save emails from direct competitors without subscribing to their email lists?
$10-20
50%
$20-30
50%
$30-40
0%
$40+
0%
Post 8 - August
When it comes to growing an audience on linked in, twitter, or other platforms tech folks hangout what have you found to be effective?
2 Months Out (September 2023)
I was trying to pick up the frequency of posting as the “launch date” came near.
Post 9 - September (My first time setting my official launch date on product hunt. This turned out to be so far off the actual launch day)
🎯 Targeting this launch for Oct 4th! 🎯
Go support/follow the updates on Product Hunt for all you nerds out there. 💙
🤝 If you know anyone who would find this product useful please share.
Post 10 - September (Post this along with a video of design concepts that I had been working on)
Been working on refining some of the designs while developers work on the backend services!
After chatting with a few marketing folks, here is a preview of our email detail pages. These provide the ability to view live email, dive into the code, or view the plane text.
We also have some great recommendations for similar emails based on categories.
Post 11 - September (The Reality of getting your product up, the timing didn’t go as expected so I posted about it, but spun it to be positive.)
Update, its taking longer than planned 🚀 Shooting for October 10th! 🚀
Would love y'alls support to share if you know people who would find this useful. Oh, and it's launching as a 🤑 free product 🤑 to start!
1 Month Out (October 2023)
Post 12 - October
(I remember getting super, super frustrated this week that the project was not up, the developer and I were having a lot of issues with communication, and I made mistakes in setting expectations. I wrote about it, hoping that it would allow me to vent and share the reality with people. Project got pushed back again)
This week has taught me to really be detailed and to accept that things will never go perfectly according to plan.
While I have been really pushing for the October 10th release of Emailemu.com beta launch, delays and issues In development have caused another delay. Stayed tuned hopefully we will be live the following week.
My biggest takeaways
1. Be careful with scope creep. I built what I had thought was an MVP but looking back it is much more then an MVP. Lesson learned to design and ship way faster.
2. Be overly detailed. I was a little to loose on detailing our requirements which has led to a bunch of updates that need to be made before going live.
3. Everything takes longer then you think. What initial we thought would take 2-4 weeks have been closer to 2-3 months.
What have been your biggest learning lessons in the early days of a company.
Post 13 - (I was on vacation in Portugal and posted a picture of me from the train working)
Not a bad working location. The Train from Lisbon to Porto Portugal.
Post 14 - (Posted a picture of me working on design concepts from a hotel on Maderia Island
Exploring some future concepts for Email Emu with a ridiculous view. Madeira Island.
Month of Launch (November 2023)
Post 15 (I had a really tough time posting this because I just felt like the dev work wasn’t going to be done in time. Turns out I was writing about that, But I posted it anyway to force myself just to get the project up)
🙌🏻 Finalllllyyy. One week out!! This took much longer than I had ever thought, and it won’t be perfect, but the beta of Emailemu.com goes live in a week.
Post 16 - (Was wondering if I should pay for it to DM people after I launch)
Is LinkedIn premium worth it?
Post 17th ( Finally launched it was super relieved to have it up)
The day has finally come!! I'm stoked to announce that after months of dedication and hard work, Emailemu.com is officially live!
We are working through a few bugs but are ready to open it up to get people in.
🚀 What is it 🚀
Emailemu.com is your go-to resource for discovering emails from leading companies across the globe. Whether you're seeking inspiration for your own email campaigns or aiming to stay updated on your competitors' email strategies, we've got you covered.
Here's what you can look forward to:
• Regular Updates: I'll be frequently adding new emails and brands, aiming for updates every week, or even more often.
• Your Voice Matters: Your feedback is invaluable. I am committed to listening to and integrating your suggestions to shape the future of the product.
We're launching with a selected collection of emails, with plans to expand rapidly. I'd love to hear your thoughts on which companies and emails you'd like to see prioritized.
Please spread the word to anyone who might benefit from this platform. Your support is greatly appreciated! 🌟
Oh, and it's like um, free to start, so there is that. You're welcome.
Wyatt
Key Takeaways
- Provide Content: Write something of value and you will get more engagement. The posts that I said something interesting or provided some preview into what I was working on tended to get the best results.
- Coming Soon Helps Build Hype: The fact I kept having setbacks I think, actually helped to build more hype actually. I kept being able to talk about delays…which gave me unexpected content.
- Show and Tell: They say videos and pictures are worth a thousand words. This is super true. They ones I put media with got good engagement and reach from people outside of my connections.
- Build Relationships: During the process of building the MVP I was constantly doing Zoom calls with my target audience, catching up with old co-workers, and others in the industry to just ask for feedback and learn about their day-to-day. This in return, got them to just post about it on their own LinkedIn feed, which got additional reach and a form of social proof.
So, that was a complete look into every single post that I did leading up to my launch on LinkedIn. Hopefully, that was helpful. I will do my Product Hunt post coming soon…..if people want.