I recently launched a side project called MakeAnAppLike. It’s a simple online tool that will help you calculate the cost of your next mobile app project in 30 seconds.
We also share a detailed proposal and development workflow. How cool is that?
After knowing the cost of a mobile app, most people do one of the following.
- Start writing code yourself (assuming that you are a developer)
- Hire a team of developers (can be super expensive)
- Outsource it to someone on websites like UpWork or Guru (a lot of management overhead)
So you start working on the app development phase.But don’t forget that having a cool app is not enough. You need to build a community also. It’s your responsibility to find and connect with people who care about your idea.
Most people follow this plan
Focus on development = 100%
Focus on community building = 0% until after the launch. But by that time, it will be too late.
Instead, they should be spending 50% time on building the app and 50% time on building a community around their idea.
How?
Here are some actionable steps you can take to start building your community (or tribe)
1 – Strong foundation
First of all make, sure your landing page is all set. It should have a clear value proposition and an email capture form.
Use a site list betalist for inspiration and examples.
2 – Offline hustle
Find and attend relevant events in your city. Go to meetup.com and find “startup related” events in your city. Have a goal of exchanging at least 10 business cards in every single event. Now multiply that over 6 months and imagine how many connections will you have?
3 – Share your story
Start producing content. Create a blog on your own website or just use medium. Medium has a huge audience so that’s an added benefit of starting a blog on that platform.
If you are not producing content, people will not find you online (ali)
4 – Leverage existing communities
Join relevant Facebook groups in your niche and start participating in these groups regularly. Some groups allow “self-promotion” on certain days so you can share a link to your website or a recent blog article.
Also, don’t forget the LinkedIn groups and Google+ communities. Find and join some that are relevant to your idea.
5 – Social media
Get active on social media. Yes it will take a while to build a brand on social media but you HAVE to do it. There are no short cuts.
I know it can overwhelming, so just start with one or two social channels in the beginning.
6 – Product hunt
Join online communities like Product Hunt. You can find and connect with people who are doing cool stuff in your niche. Other founders and co-founders are humans just like you. If you email them, most of them will reply.
You can’t skip the “building a community” part.
Imagine launching your app with a list of people who care about your idea. Who are waiting for you to LAUNCH. With a community, your chances of getting an early traction will be extremely high.
Now over to you. What else would you do to build a pre-launch community?