Hey all, 

I hope you are having a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend! I’m Julia, and every week in this newsletter, I break down marketing insights I’ve learned building software and consumer products (bootstrapped + VC-backed) and lean into the organic, creator, and paid strategies that fuel viral growth. 

I have a confession to make. 

I’ve been obsessed with micro communities online for years. First, as a member of a band’s micro community (otherwise known as a “fandom”), growing up on Twitter, where I amassed thousands of followers in middle school by keeping up with music news (RIP to that account, don’t even remember the username).

Then, when I quit my first job and moved to Summit County, Colorado, I consumed tons of ski and mountain life content, which had the purpose to serve as a stark, thematic contrast to corporate life. Powder days, top-tier skis vs. thrifted classics, backcountry bowls only accessible by hiking to remote places, popping out a portable grill on your friend’s hatchback, and making cheeseburgers in the snow.

Micro community content is a deep look into a niche, created by few but consumed by many who are even in adjacent communities, interested in learning about something new, or admired onlookers in a completely different world that stumble across it. 

It’s also loud and polarizing. Rarely have I ever seen micro communities and fandoms overwhelmingly agree on anything.

This is because the people attracted to these communities are often deeply passionate about the chosen topic and come armed with viewpoints, receipts, and perspectives on history that make for the strongest of arguments on any side. 

Why do I love these communities so much in the startup world, and why should you care about them? Because if you can tap into them, and convert them into lovers (and some haters) of your brand, you’ll be armed with (at minimum):

Today, I’ll teach you how to find and tap into these communities for your brand. What’s cool is that you can do this completely for free. At the very least, you’ll get a truly deep look into how people communicate online. 

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Whenever I talk to early-stage founders, they all want advice on where to go first when building an audience. Getting involved with micro communities is one of my favorite seeding strategies, and I’ve seen companies start with this and continue to leverage it as they grow to 100M+ in ARR.

The smartest companies do this. When I asked Tyler Denk (founder of Beehiiv, the awesome platform in hyper-growth mode that I use to send you this newsletter) what he did, he shared that X was huge for them early on.

He focused on a micro community of writers with active newsletters who used X, and combined that with building in public, sharing their growth, and turning it all into viral case studies. It created a flywheel of organic, word-of-mouth growth without spending a dollar on acquisition in year one. Pretty awesome.

The point is: all micro communities, in any vertical, live online. It’s where people are engaged 24/7, sharing opinions, spreading facts, and staying informed on the latest industry news at lightning speed. It gives “stalker energy for a niche” in the best (yet obsessive) way.

This is an opportunity wide open for you to tap into.

X: Opinionated voices sharing what they think. This used to be where fan accounts thrived, but I actually think better micro communities and fan accounts live on other platforms now (I’ll tell you which ones, keep reading). 

Reddit: Super anonymous people that are in virtually every line of work, lifestyle, etc.

I like Reddit because you get brutally honest takes contrasted by totally made-up posts. There are tons of onlookers here. For example:

Facebook: Mostly millennial+ demographics who congregate in Facebook groups. I scraped all my beta users for the first startup I ever founded, CLASHD, from beauty groups (there are groups down to the subgeo and specialty in beauty). 

Instagram/TikTok: Fashion, pop culture, creators. If you can find a creative way to scrape the followers of micro community pages that significantly overlap with your target audience, go for it. I’ve seen many accounts and brands start from scratch that follow other page’s existing followers and try to route them to their brand. 

Other good platforms: Snapchat and Twitch

BTW, I’ve tried all 3, and am happy to chat if you have questions.

Don’t overthink how you get involved. You can test and try all 3.

But, make sure you stay 80% on point and 20% edgy with what you say – we don’t want you to get fully cancelled before you’ve established yourself as an industry leader. 

The reality: haters are always going to hate. It’s totally fine if your brand has haters; that means you’re relevant. The internet runs on complaints / it’s part of the game.

I sift through tweets about Citizen’s brand all day, and sometimes the people who complain the loudest are actually just power users trying to get their voice heard for product changes. 

Now, you can decide how you want to scale out. Do you want to make content? Are you ready to start converting community members into customers? 

You ultimately want your position in the micro community to scale outward, beyond that, into the larger industry as a whole. Dominating the micro community is my favorite first step, and here’s how you can do that and then scale out to the industry.

Seeding your brand into micro communities is a growth hack I share with every early-stage founder who comes to me for advice. Usually, product development isn’t the issue they are looking to solve – it’s marketing. How can you bring your product to life in a way that wholeheartedly resonates, builds your customer list for you (thereby lowering your CAC), is true to your long-term vision, and makes a huge dent in the market?

It takes time. It takes someone who knows how not to sound like a robot online, can build positioning and messaging and voice that truly resonates with people, and is ultimately obsessed with the issue your product solves, so much so that they seek out involvement in micro communities as part of their obsession.

It’s easier to dominate your position in a micro community and scale out from there to the industry. It’s way cheaper, organically builds your brand, and teaches you the best lessons that you won’t fail at on the larger industry stage.

This week, I want you to try viewing the internet on the scale of micro communities. Whether it’s for your brand or hobby, seeding into a micro community and building out a strategy is a game-changer. You’ll find incredibly engaged people, who I find are often the best sounding boards for product feedback and development. 

BTW, is there a micro community you’ve seen online that is awesome? I looove seeing new ones and the businesses that bud from them. 

I hope you have a fantastic day off tomorrow and a great rest of your week until you hear from me on Sunday! 

Julia

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