

Ask HN: How would you market this site? - oseibonsu

I made a site that allows you to find out if a crush is mutual without having to embarrass yourself. Something I perceived to be a useful service (which may or may not be true). How should I market this site? How can I validate that the site actually has value for people? (I created a test Facebook ad campaign - we'll see how that goes)
http://www.luckychat.biz
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retroafroman
Personally I think a FB ad or pitching to friends is a little too impersonal
and not a high enough likelihood of many crushes between that group. Instead
I'd aim for a small but well interconnected network first, like a single dorm
building. The next week, the next one over. Eventually, it could own the
campus' attention for a bit, then maybe the next school nearby. Getting a
single dorm on board could be as simple as setting up a table in the lobby
with a couple laptops and giving out donuts to people who sign up.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
This is very good advice. You need to get a community that is intimate enough
that there will be crushes found. That's your successful customer. People
aren't likely to invite their crush for fear of outing themselves, so they
would have to be exceedingly lucky to get their crush there through random
invites.

~~~
oseibonsu
I think I might be able to do this. Its getting the first users on the site
that is that hardest part. But in a few hours, I will go out and see if I can
start recruiting users. (Coding is far easier than motivating people)

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aorshan
I think having a bit of an explanation of what the site is and how it works
would be very helpful. Having a video of you using the website to show some
features while also explaining how the site can help people will go a long
way. Other than that I would recommend starting small and getting everyone you
know to talk about it. Perhaps you should also try to market it on a local
college campus if there is one near. College kids are always looking for ways
to meet people who are interested in them (read: get laid) and I'm sure would
be glad to check your stuff out. Or perhaps you could try and get in touch
with the guys from like a little and see if you could do something with them.

~~~
oseibonsu
I think a video is clearly needed. Although it might take me a while to put
one together.

~~~
aorshan
All you really need, at least at the beginning, is you using the service with
a voiceover explaining what you are doing.

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frommers
I think you need to add an explanation of the site, the concept, and address
how it works. I think most people may be scared away by not having a good
understanding of how it works, especially being that it has to do with their
personal lives.

~~~
jaredsohn
...and that it requires giving access to all sorts of Facebook permissions
when all the user knows about the site beforehand is "LuckyChat - Connect with
someone special"

A general concern that I would have is that there have been various websites
over the years that address this problem (the first one I remember was called
something like CrushMail back in 1999 or so and the most recent was the pivot
made by Breakup Notifier after Facebook shut them down
(<http://apps.ycombinator.com/item?id=2264660)>). But often, they end up being
mostly a way for people to spam their friends instead of people getting value
out of it. (Typically, they ask you to enter email addresses of who you think
has a crush on you. The site then uses that information to notify those people
that someone has a crush on them. So when you find a 'match' it could just be
that both people entered the others' name on there thinking that they might be
the one to have a crush on them.)

~~~
oseibonsu
Comments like these is why I love HN. Thanks!

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jjets718
Hey! When I saw your post for luckychat on Hacker News, I thought it was a
good idea. A while back, I had an idea for something similar to this, and was
glad to see someone finally implementing it. My suggestion for marketing the
site would be to have every one of your Facebook friends start using it (if
you know them all), and have them post that they are using it. Start small,
and then try to grow the app.

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michaelpinto
The tagline should be a bit more clever and tell you what's unique about the
service. I get the abstract sense that this site has some connection to
dating, but you haven't given me a reason who I should take the time and sign
up with my Facebook ID. Also from a branding point of view the site feels a
impersonal a minimal to me.

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martinshen
Doesnt this idea exist.. everywhere? Orkut had this feature.

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martinshen
to advertise though. I would target a specific middle school or highschool.

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olegious
Make a landing page that explains what the app actually does.

~~~
oseibonsu
I'm going to work on making a video clearly demoing the site and probably
rework the entire landing page somewhere along the way

