This One Weird Trick
We can't call our company dysrupt without offering novel recommendations and predictions from time to time.
We say this in jest but honestly, with this one weird trick, we have increased subscriptions to our newsletter 35% month over month, got invited to speak at a conference, and were published as one of the top e-comm experts.
In researching this write-up, we couldn't find one article written about this growth hack that has existed for over 18 months!
What's the growth hack? Slack. Specifically public Slack Workspaces.
The easiest way to break down new systems is to understand their unique verbs and vocab. If you are not an expert Slack user, there is a bit of a learning curve, these terms will be brand new and useful.
- Workspace - Think of this as the office building of the Slack office park. As a slack user, you can gain entry to numerous office buildings. Your own company has its own building but there are other companies or groups of people who will allow any person entry if they follow the workspace's rules.
- Channels - To extend the metaphor, these are the offices and conference rooms in the building. Each channel has a unique topic and are denoted with an hashtag, #. Typically with public workspaces, there will be a #random, #marketing, or #promotion for people to post what they are working on.
B2B's Wild West
If you are in the B2B space, our suggestion is simple - become familiar with Slack, its top public workspaces, and how the largest groups are monetizing the communities they have built. Online Geniuses, offers a 1-month wait to enter or a $25 "skip the line" fee to gain access immediately. Other groups have a monthly subscription fee that can exceed $1,000 a year!
There are numerous new avenues emerging on this platform to connect with interesting B2B audiences in unique ways. Generally these break out to two approaches: contributing to a group with valuable content or creating and growing a thriving community.
On the contributing front, proper B2B marketing means producing high-value content. Supportive communities exist that are hungry for this type of content and services. Everyone is looking for an edge and your product and service offers one...it just needs the right eyeballs on it. Just this morning, we found an impressive pitch deck template from the Startup Studygroup and have been able to absorb real-time, industry vetted opinions on IDFA changes impact from Mobile Dev Memo.
Creating a thriving community is difficult but the benefits of doing so are tremendous. (Especially the $1000/year variety.) Slack offers a way for people at work to be part of a community in secret. No peering eyes noticing that you are on Facebook or Reddit all day. (Or you can use this site that makes Reddit look like Outlook.)
From a brand perspective, having a thriving community provides a robust network to understand market trends, easily garner feedback on any new products and services, hiring funnels, etc.
Best Practices
Slack can be anonymous but our recommendation is to treat it as an extension of your LinkedIn profile in terms of decorum and types of content.
Public workspaces on Slack typically have a channel around promotion or shameless plugs. These are the easiest places to start with posts as they are designed to absorb this type of content. You can be more bold on how and where to approach but content moderators appear top notch in the groups we are part of.
Outside of shameless plugs, actually contributing insights and useful content overtime to any community is a great way to build up credibility. Many of these communities are stock full of first adopters and innovative people looking for other smart folks in their given field. Find a way to actively engage and be authentic!
In terms of a posting strategy, Simon Sinek has you covered on a great framework to leverage that he profiles in a video about helping a homeless woman. Instead of having her sign read, “Please donate. I’m homeless” or something to that effect. He had her update her sign to read, “If you only give once a month, please think of me next time.”
With that one weird trick, she doubled the amount she received in only 25% of the time. We think you all can achieve similar results by experimenting with Slack. Have fun!
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Thanks to Morning Brew for sharing their work on Unsplash