

Ask HN: Is social media a user acquisition strategy?  - hansy

I was having an argument with another founder about listing social media as a user acquisition strategy in a pitch deck. I think social channels might be a way of getting users, but to me it doesn&#x27;t seem like a reliable way to do so unless your target user is best reached through social media.<p>Or am I just over-thinking what user acquisition strategy means?
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chris_excel
I think people misconstrue the value proposition of social media. By
definition, social media channels are where people congregate... so therefore
wouldn't it benefit EVERY company and product to understand how social media
best applies to them?

The targeting options in Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (not just paid via
ads, but also via strategic searches and groups) are vast. If you know how to
find the right users, and build trust with them, then that is a high-
converting way to start the acquisition funnel via Awareness (McClure's AARRR
metrics).

I should also note that for various clients and companies, I've seen at LEAST
20% conversion rates, through the actual homepage registration (legitimately
acquired into the SQL database, not just email list).

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anthony_franco
It depends on your company. Are you geared toward creating shareable content
that appeals to your target market? Then social medias is definitely a viable
user acquisition strategy. Just look at Upworthy (although lately they've been
dinged by Facebook, apparently).

But if your social media strategy is to just create a Twitter/Facebook account
and put out a few random blog posts, then don't expect that channel to bring
in a consistently large amount of users.

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phantom_oracle
Just adding my 2 cents here.

I would say that if you are consumer-facing and your product has a broad
appeal, then perhaps user-acquisition could work on social media.

The trick is to not focus on user-acquisition and to build user-relations.
Perhaps your first followers may not need your app, but maybe their followers
and followers-followers might find it useful.

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palcu
Buffer is one of those companies that uses social media to acquire users. But
I know they've invested significantly in writing their blog posts. It really
depends on your product.

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britney
as social media is pretty much anywhere people chat or gather on the internet
wouldnt this site be part of a social media strategy? in some cases posting to
hacker news just hoping on a wish and a prayer it gets picked up is some
startups strategys. so in short. yes its a very valid strategy.

