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Ask HN: How to use social media as an indie dev?

22 points yathern | 2 comments | 15 Mar 25 19:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.421s | source

I'm an independent developer looking to launch a project soon that I'm excited about. I'll obviously post it here as a Show HN, and maybe in a few subreddits - but I'm out of the loop on where and how to reach more people. Haven't had a Facebook or other social media for years. I don't maintain a blog, though I assume I should. Does anyone have any resources or can speak to any experience doing this? Of the many hats I now must wear, this is the one I'm most begrudging about.
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skwee357 ◴[15 Mar 25 20:39 UTC] No.43375001[source]▶
You need to ask yourself one important question: are your potential customers on these platforms?

Many people see successful indie developers use social media to elevate their success, and immediately think they have to do the same until you stop and realize that most successful indie developers on social media, actually sell “the formula for success” to other indie developers.

Now, I’m over generalizing but you get the point. There are many indie developers who have little to zero presence on social media because their customers are not there.

What’s your product? Who is your customer and where do they spend their time?

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mooreds ◴[17 Mar 25 02:41 UTC] No.43384690[source]▶
> What’s your product? Who is your customer and where do they spend their time?

This is critical. Go where the people who might buy your product are.

Where are they?

You can ask.

* ask google: "where do <X> business users hang out"

* ask potential customers you've talked to (you talked to some prospects before you built, right?)

* ask google again by searching for answers to questions that your audience might ask

The right place for you could be generic social media, forums, slacks, discords, mailing lists, conferences, meetups or something else.

But having focus will help you get the most return for your time.

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1. achempion ◴[17 Mar 25 07:41 UTC] No.43386055[source]▶
A lot of good advice in this thread. The problem is that such places most likely prohibit self promotion, otherwise they'll be drowning in self-promotion spam (they're already are anyways).
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2. waqas123987 ◴[17 Mar 25 07:45 UTC] No.43386072[source]▶
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