Hello all,
I’m going to launch a web 2.0 website in a few weeks. It is a social networking website but it’s quite different than a lot of established sites of the same kind like Facebook and Twitter. The problems is that initially I want a lot of people to check it out see if they like it and hopefully some of them start using it, but I do not know how to let them know about it as it would be a user generated content website, and not a blog so I cannot use traditional SEO techniques.
It is really hard to find info on how to market a web 2.0 website because every time I try I get results for “How to use web 2.0 for marketing”, I hope you know what I’m saying.
So can you give me some tips or links to website where I can learn about web 2.0 startups and marketing. Basically that rely on ugc.
I am also interested in how sites like Reddit and Twitter got their initial users and started to grow (in the very beginning), before they got investors paying for marketing and others things.
Thanks!
I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but there are HUNDREDS of social networking websites created every single day, all with their own take on what they believe will be the next big thing. It’s so common-place that these kinds of sites are often the butt of jokes on most marketing and tech forums.
Anyway, your first problem is that you have to convince people that your idea is actually one that people should care about. Since you’re posting on this forum, can you tell us why we would want to use your site (obviously without advertising it)?
Secondly, no one uses the words “Web 2.0” any more. People stopped doing that about six or seven years ago. If you’re promoting a web 2.0 startup now people will (again) laugh. Marketing web 2.0 is like talking about that fantastic new genre of music called disco.
In regards to advice you can actually use, all I’ve got is for you to release your product to a handful of people and to build from there. It’s incredibly rare for any business to taste instant success and it certainly won’t happen to you. Tailor your product to a handful of people and treat them like gods. Expand from there while keeping your user base happy and you’ll eventually reach a steady base to profit from.
Jhones,
Marketing a website (any website) will entail the same basic concepts. You need to get it in front of users and entice them to use it. There is no special marketing or things you can and cannot do depending on what kind of site it is. Sure you may not be able to do as much SEO to it but you can do some (such as offsite like building backlinks).
As ULTiMATE mentions, you should start small. When zuckerberg started facebook, he wasn’t thinking that it would become the juggernaut it is today. He just wanted to make a social network for his College. Google started as a project to better index books in a library.
You should promote your site however you can. Email links to it to all your friends. Let any followers you may have know about it and encourage them to share or sign up. As long as you have some passion and a genuinely good idea, you should experience some success.
Oh and in case you were interested, here is the story of how twitter was born,
Best,
Shawn
Thanks for all your remarks. i’ll definitely consider all your remarks on this. Also smanahar your link for Twitter was very helpful so thanks.
Also, I’m just curious and not that I’m making a social network, but is there really no point trying to make another social network that lets made for everyone and not for one particular niche.?