Social Media Collateral for Developer Content Marketing

July 28, 2021

Karl Hughes

5 min read

processes

TL;DR: Draft.dev provides social media collateral with every technical article, including platform-specific posts for Twitter/X and LinkedIn, subreddit suggestions with headlines, Hacker News submissions, and detailed promotional checklists. This solves two key challenges for developer tools companies: knowing where to post technical content (Reddit, Hacker News, Twitter/X) and how to talk about complex topics authentically. While SEO takes 6-12 months, social media can generate traffic faster when executed by subject matter experts who understand developer communities.

Most of the developer tools companies we work with generate the bulk of their traffic from two sources:

Search engines – By targeting the right keywords, you can systematically build a content machine that generates consistent traffic, but it typically takes 6-12 months to see results.
Social media – If you’ve built a large following of customers and fans already, you can leverage this audience to generate traffic faster but less predictably.

While the most successful companies we work with employ both strategies for each piece of content they publish, I realized that many of our clients were completely neglecting social media.

So, last month, we officially added social media collateral to our service offering. To learn more, book a call with me, or keep reading to get an overview of our service upgrade.

Social Media Marketing for Developers

I spoke to several clients over the past year about how they use social media to promote their content. While a few were effectively using it, the majority did very little to promote their content on social media.

When I dug into this, the most common objection I heard was, “We aren’t sure what will resonate with developers on social media, so we avoided it.” There are really two components to this objection, so let’s dig into this a bit more:

1. Where Do I Post This Content?

The first roadblock our clients had about promoting their blog posts and technical content on social media was that they weren’t sure where to post it.

Twitter? Our company account? Our developers’ accounts? Reddit? Facebook?

If you’ve been in marketing for long, you know that developer marketing is t ricky. They have their own niche communities like Reddit, Stack Overflow, and Hacker News that are rarely used by other demographics.

Additionally, some of these communities are rather insular.

Reddit remains a bit of a mystery for most, including most corporates looking to tap into what makes stuff go ‘viral’ on this network…What you get is a potpourri of the web’s most interesting, weird and controversial content. – Business Today

Still, Reddit and Hacker News are powerful traffic generators if you know how to use them. This is where having our industry expertise can help.

2. What Should We Say?

The second problem was that many of our clients weren’t sure how to talk about the topics we cover in a way that would be authentic and resonate with software developers.

Some of our clients don’t have the technical expertise to write social media content for these topics, and even those who do rarely have time to sit down and think about five or six different social updates for each post across multiple channels.

We also find that some of the pieces we write for clients are rather difficult to write social collateral for. If you’ve never used an API to build a Slack Bot, how would you talk about this kind of tutorial on social media? What snippets are worth extracting and sharing?

Again, having subject matter experts who can guide you is the key. If your developers can do it, great, but if they don’t have time, we’re here to help.

Our Offering: Social Media Collateral for Technical Content

To solve both of the above problems, we’re now including social media collateral in our service offering.

For each article that we write, Draft.dev will provide clients with:

Social media posts that you can schedule on your company Twitter and Linkedin accounts
Subreddit suggestions and headlines for Reddit
A Hacker News submission
A detailed promotional checklist

The idea here is that your non-technical marketing associates can use these updates to help get your content out there. While making an article go viral on Hacker News is not guaranteed, you have to plant the seed if you want any shot at your content taking off.

Does Social Media Work?

We’ve already seen good results using this strategy for our own content at Draft.dev. While Google search traffic is our largest traffic driver, Twitter and Reddit rank just behind it for our developer-focused content.

The truth is that social media can work for developer marketing, but like all forms of B2D (business-to-developer) marketing, you have to know your audience and be genuinely helpful in your approach. Having great content written by subject matter experts is a start, but we’ve spent years learning how to communicate with and grow developer audiences on social media.

Learn More

Having Draft.dev’s keyword research, technical blog posts, and social media collateral is a great way to kickstart or augment your technical content marketing efforts. To learn more, book a call with us today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which social media platforms work best for promoting developer content?

Twitter/X, Reddit, and Hacker News are the most effective platforms for developer content. LinkedIn works well for reaching technical decision-makers and CTOs. Each platform requires different approaches: Twitter/X favors quick insights and threads, Reddit demands genuine community participation without self-promotion, and Hacker News requires truly interesting, high-quality technical content to gain traction.

How long does it take to see results from social media versus SEO for technical content?

SEO typically takes 6-12 months to generate consistent traffic as content ranks and builds authority. Social media can generate traffic immediately but less predictably, with viral posts on Hacker News or Reddit potentially driving thousands of visitors in days. The most successful developer tools companies use both strategies simultaneously.

Why is developer marketing on social media so difficult?

Developer communities like Reddit and Hacker News are insular and quickly reject obvious marketing. Developers value technical expertise and authenticity over promotional content. Additionally, technical topics require subject matter expertise to communicate effectively, and many marketing teams lack the technical background to write compelling social posts about APIs, frameworks, or infrastructure tools.

Can non-technical marketers promote technical content on social media?

Yes, with proper guidance. Non-technical marketers can schedule and post content when provided with expert-written social collateral that includes platform-specific posts, subreddit suggestions, and promotional checklists. The key is having subject matter experts create the messaging while marketers handle distribution and scheduling.

What makes content go viral on Hacker News?

Hacker News favors genuinely interesting, high-quality technical content that provides real value to developers. Success requires technical depth, novel insights, and authentic expertise rather than marketing fluff. However, going viral is never guaranteed. Consistent participation and quality submissions increase your chances over time.

How do I avoid getting banned from Reddit when promoting content?

Follow the 90/10 rule: participate genuinely in communities 90% of the time and share your content 10% of the time. Choose relevant subreddits where your content adds value, avoid self-promotional language, and contribute to discussions beyond just posting links. Each subreddit has unique rules, so read and follow them carefully.