How did I get my first 100 users?
TLDR: In pains.
A couple months ago I launched Vocapouch — application for vocabulary collection. After endless months of development, I had to find myself in completely new role — I became a marketer. I want to share my ups and downs on the path to the first hundred users. Here is what I did and how it worked:
Alpha
A couple months before official lunch, I forced nine of my friends to try Vocapouch Collector in a closed alpha. Of course, I asked more people, but only some found time (most only after a kind reminder). But it is not worth to push too hard. After all, it is better to have a friend than a user.
Family & Friends
The big launch of Vocapouch I did on Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, where I posted the link to the home page. I created a Facebook page for the project and I invited my friends. I got some shares and less than 10 new users.
Facebook Groups
I joined Facebook Groups for English learners and polyglots. I asked admins for a permission to advertise on their groups. It didn’t work. The reception was poor and I got 1 or 2 likes and one or two new users. That was a bummer. One valuable output was some great reactions from the admins who actually tried the product. However, I learned more about how those groups function and it brought ideas for new features.
Project Aggregators
At that stage, I was aware that my excitement for a product didn’t match with the audience excitement. I didn’t expect much from project aggregators. I put Product Hunt and BetaPage. Vocapouch was trending on BetaPage, but this site does not generate much traffic. Over all aggregators brought around 10 new users.
Facebook Ads
I also tried Facebook ads. I promoted my post, where I was giving away promo codes for Vocapouch Trainer. The 20 bucks I put on the adds, brought me 10 likes from shirtless middle eastern guys and few retired folks. It made me 1 user.
Influencers
I contacted influencers to get feedback on my project. I reach out to language bloggers. I had some warm feedback, but it was getting a response only from 1 in 20 people who I e-mailed. The one smart thing I did from the very beginning was setting up Hubspot to keep the communication organized. I didn’t ask them for an endorsement. I was rather interested in feedback and establishing relations. One guy added Vocapouch to the list of language apps on his blog. That would be it.
Blog
I started a Vocapouch blog on absolutely the greatest Medium. The first blog had 100 opening 50 read and 5 new users. I promoted it on Vocapouch Facebook Page and on Reddit. The next blog post: Do 20 pages of a book give you 90% of its words? hit the first page on Hackers News. It got 10k visits, 5k reads and 70 new users. I met the 100th user! The next blog post on rhymes brought 500 openings, 250 reads and 5–10 new users. Now I get one new user every three days.
Conclusion
If you are professional marketer you are probably rolling on the floor laughing, how poorly I performed in your job. My social marketing didn’t work and I am the only one to blame. I made other mistakes. Probably the biggest one was starting marketing after the product was done. I should advertise the idea, while I was developing the service. I could have relations with influencers established before launch. Luckily, that is not my last word and new exciting products and features are coming to the Vocapouch ecosystem.
Content is the king!
To sum up: an average, non viral blog post brought more attention than all the social efforts I did before. Content is the king!
