Here are some channels we recommend, in no particular order
- Friends and Family
- Facebook Groups
- Forums
- Slack Groups
- People on the Street
1) Friends and Family
- Your friends and relatives will always be the easiest source of feedback. Posting on your personal social media sites is quite simple. Additionally, we've discovered that asking someone directly is incredibly successful because refusal rates are lower when people are asked.
- Sending messages to folks you haven't spoken to in a while is nothing to be afraid of; the worst they can say is no, and then you go on.
- Ask them to ask their friends and family if your friends and family aren't in your target market. Write a message that can be readily forwarded to another network's network, or urge people to like and repost your message.
- There's probably someone in your extended family who is ideal for your survey.
2) Facebook Groups
- Find Facebook Groups that are relevant to your survey by searching for them, then apply to join as many as you can.
- You may join communities for car owners, brand fans, grease monkeys, auto shows, etc., for instance, if your survey is about car care. On Facebook, you can research and discover a wide range of interests related to your subject.
- Community groups on Facebook are yet another excellent resource. Your city, your school, etc., could be one of these community groups.
- There may be car owners in even seemingly unrelated interest groups for vehicle upkeep. When you locate groups, pay attention to their regular communication style and submit a message in line with it.
- In some communities, for instance, you can immediately publish your survey request. In some cases, it may be necessary to first ask a more general question, get to know the participants, and only then bring up the survey.
3. Online Forums
- Another excellent place to identify users who are very active is online forums. There are lots of well-known forums that cover a variety of subjects, like Indie hackers, Quora, and Reddit.
- Using the example of automobile maintenance, you may locate pertinent subreddits, spaces, etc. on each of them that are linked to autos and upkeep. There are a lot of forums with specialised areas of interest.
- The more specific your search, the more creative you can be with various forum types. When I quickly search Google for automobile forums in Singapore, I come across sites like MyCarForum, the "Cars & Cars" section of Singapore Hardware Zone, the "Cars & Cars" section of Singapore Expats, etc.
- In all honesty, a lot of forum posting is about experimenting and discovering what works and what doesn't in that particular subreddit, space, thread, etc. The identical message may be posted on several different forums, and each would receive a different response because of the users and cultural differences among them.
- If there are members of your target demographic, Indie Hackers is a fantastic example of an active group from which you may get answers. If not, there are many of wonderful and helpful folks who would be delighted to assist you in spreading your message! Never hesitate to seek assistance.
4. Slack Groups
- Finding niche communities of people with similar professions, lifestyles, and sectors, such as freelancers, developers, and virtual workers, is easy with Slack groups. These organisations are typically built around two things: 1) exchanging comments or advice, and 2) simply bringing individuals together who are in similar circumstances.
- You can browse through the world's 1,000+ Slack Groups or conduct a more focused search. Finding groups related to your survey topic may be more difficult because Slack groups frequently focus on tech-related themes rather than general interest topics.
- For example, after a brief 30-second search, I was unable to locate any Slack groups about vehicles and car maintenance.
- The fact that the groups are less obvious than some of the other strategies does not imply that they do not exist.
- On the other hand, picking which of the hundreds of groups you want to join will be more difficult if you are surveying independent contractors. Once you've joined a group, take sure to identify yourself and engage with the other participants.
- Don't forget to explore every channel the group has and to sign up for as many as you think will be useful to you. Some groups even have channels specifically for surveys and comments! Look for the generalist communities if you can't locate any Slack groups that are specifically on the subject of your survey, such vehicles and car repair.
- The majority of communities will also have channels for their shared hobbies, so a freelancing community might have a #car-enthusiast channel. Numerous startup and entrepreneur communities exist, and they may be just as beneficial to you as joining organisations related to your name.
5. LinkedIn
- In fact, you might scoff and say, "These are the very folks I'm trying to avoid." Think again! Regardless of what they claim, there are still many people in your target who are lurking on LinkedIn.
- Don't discount LinkedIn as a potential recruiting source because it's one of the easiest places to become viral on. If you craft your post well, you can reach a large audience outside of your network.
- The good news is that you don't need a million views to generate interest in your survey and on LinkedIn. Before posting your survey, just test a few different things to see what gets you the most responses.
- For instance, we've discovered that nagging our network members to like our postings as soon as they go live is a simple way for us to increase the number of people who see them.
- There are a lot of unpaid, natural eyes on each post since it's not difficult to acquire between 1000 and 10,000 views.
- Additionally, when people scroll through Linkedin at work, they are typically bored, which increases their likelihood of taking your survey.
6. Twitter
- We've only recently begun playing with Twitter, so we won't write anything about it here. Having said that, we think Twitter is a great additional resource for recruiting.
7. People on the Street
- Most people will find this awkward, yet asking complete strangers can be a useful strategy for gathering feedback. The majority of the data from this strategy will be "qualitative" chats that you will subsequently turn into quantitative data.
- At first, it can be quite nerve-wracking, but after a few attempts, you start to get the feel of it. You can simply enjoy a snack in the foyer if you're using a coworking space, like we have for the previous few years.
- Ask passersby if they have a few minutes to chat; even if they may only be there for the snack, their opinions are still valuable.
- You'll need to venture outside if you're not in a coworking space. Talk to strangers you pass on the street, your ride-sharing drivers, the person sitting next to you on the bus, etc. if you just need general input.
- If you have a specific objective in mind, visit their sites and see if you can strike up a conversation with anyone; for instance, if you're aiming for auto repair, visit an auto body shop!
- Wherever you end up, try to keep the conversation brief and ask questions that are simple to answer; remember that you are intruding on other people's time and space.
