Online Communities
On a busy Python forum, a user asks how to avoid scheduling outdoor jobs when it's going to rain. Within minutes, a brand-new account from another weather company replies: "Use our API! Link below." The reply gets no upvotes, a moderator warning and a reputation that will follow that company around. Meera wants to be the opposite of that account.
The rule
Join as a member before you speak as a company.
Developers gather in many places online: Q&A sites such as Stack Overflow, chat servers on Discord or Slack, forums, subreddits, GitHub Discussions, and community blogging sites such as DEV. Every one of them has its own norms: rules about self-promotion, how questions should be asked, what tone is welcome.
There are two kinds of community in an advocate's life:
- Communities you host, such as Rainkit's own Discord server. There, you set the rules and you owe members quick, honest help.
- Communities you visit, such as a Python subreddit. There, you are a guest.
As a guest:
- Read the rules, then watch for a while to see how people ask and answer.
- Help with questions that have nothing to do with your product. That is what makes you a member rather than a marketer.
- Mention your product only when it genuinely answers the question, and say plainly that you work there.
- Recommend something else when it fits better. Nothing earns trust faster.
The shortcut
Before posting in a community you don't run, run the guest check:
- Have I read this community's rules?
- Would this post help the asker even if they never use Rainkit?
- Have I said that I work at Rainkit?
Three yeses: post it. Any no: fix that first.
The rules
The forum allows product mentions only with disclosure. Meera read the rules when she joined months ago, and she has answered forty questions since, most of them not about weather.
The trap is drive-by link dropping: showing up only to post your product. Communities notice quickly, and a company that gets a reputation for spam can find itself ignored or banned for years.
Drills
Answer fast — trust the rule.
Meera joins a developer forum she has never used. What should she do first?
Someone asks a Python question that has nothing to do with weather. Should Meera answer it?
For one asker's needs, another service really is a better fit than Rainkit. What should Meera do?
Which answer passes the guest check?
Remember
- Join as a member before you speak as a company.
- Shortcut: the guest check: read the rules, help even non-users, disclose.
- Trap: drive-by link dropping, which gets you ignored or banned.