Community marketing terms

Reddit, Hacker News, Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, building in public and word of mouth. 20 terms, each with what it means, why it matters and what to do about it.

AMA (Ask Me Anything)

An AMA, Ask Me Anything, is a live session where someone answers open questions from a community, popularised by Reddit’s r/IAmA.

Brand community

A brand community is a group of customers and fans who connect with each other around a brand, in forums, chat groups or events.

Build in public

Building in public means sharing your product’s progress, numbers, decisions and mistakes openly as you build, to grow an audience along the way.

Community marketing

Community marketing is taking part in, or building, communities where customers gather, and earning attention by being genuinely helpful.

Community-led growth

Community-led growth is growing a business through a community of users who help, teach and recommend each other, with the company as host.

Forum marketingWhite hat

Forum marketing is taking part in online forums where your customers gather, helping with questions and mentioning your product where it fits.

Guerrilla marketing

Guerrilla marketing uses low-cost, unconventional and memorable tactics, such as stunts, street campaigns and clever online moves, to get attention.

Hacker News

Hacker News is Y Combinator’s community news site for technology and startups, where links and Show HN launches are voted on and discussed.

Indie Hackers

Indie Hackers is an online community of founders building profitable, often self-funded internet businesses, sharing numbers and lessons openly.

Lurker

A lurker is a community member who reads regularly but rarely posts. In most online communities, lurkers are the large majority.

Online community

An online community is a group of people who interact around a shared interest online, in forums, subreddits, chat servers or social groups.

Product Hunt launch

A Product Hunt launch is posting a new product on Product Hunt for a day, where the community upvotes, comments and ranks the day’s launches.

Quora marketing

Quora marketing is answering questions on Quora related to your expertise and product, so readers find you through genuinely useful answers.

Reddit karma

Reddit karma is a score reflecting the upvotes your posts and comments received. Many subreddits require some karma before you can post.

Reddit marketingWhite hat

Reddit marketing is reaching customers on Reddit by joining relevant subreddits, helping in discussions, and posting or advertising within the rules.

Self-promotionGrey hat

Self-promotion in communities is posting about your own product. Many communities limit or ban it, so check each one’s rules first.

Shadowban

A shadowban hides a user’s posts from everyone else without telling them, usually because a platform flagged the account as spam or abusive.

Show HN

Show HN is a type of Hacker News post where people share something they made themselves, for the community to try, discuss and critique.

Subreddit

A subreddit is a community on Reddit dedicated to one topic, such as r/smallbusiness, with its own rules, moderators and culture.

Word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing is when customers recommend you to others, and the work a company does to make that more likely and easier.