A Guide for Building in Public

For my new venture, I decided to try the "build in public" approach. I came across some great insights on the Build In Public Hub and put together this simple guide to help me stay on track.

The Mindset Behind Building in Public

Building in public is about sharing your journey—successes, failures, lessons, and all—with your audience while building your product or company. It’s a way to connect with people, attract like-minded individuals, and build relationships that can help you grow.

Here’s what this mindset is all about:

• Transparency: Share your progress honestly, including challenges and setbacks.
• Consistency: Regular updates help build trust and keep your audience engaged.
• Authenticity: Be real. Share the ups and the downs.
• Providing Value: Offer insights, lessons, and tips your audience can benefit from.
• Engagement: Interact with your followers. Create conversations and build a community.

Metrics to Track

To stay focused and improve, here are some metrics I plan to monitor daily and weekly:

• Content Creation:
  • Daily posts: Aim for 3–5 original tweets each day.
  • Interactions: Engage with 2–3 tweets from bigger accounts in my niche daily by replying or asking thoughtful questions.
  • Weekly threads: Post 1–2 in-depth threads that provide value to my audience.
• Engagement:
  • Track meaningful conversations (comments or replies that spark deeper discussions).
  • Monitor mentions: How often others mention me in their posts.
  • Direct messages: Count valuable DMs that lead to opportunities.
• Traffic and Conversions:
  • Website clicks: Keep an eye on traffic coming from social media to my site or product pages.
  • Sign-ups or sales: See how my activity translates into real results.

Tricks to Build in Public

Here are some strategies I’ll use to stay consistent and make an impact:

• Engage with Influencers: Leave thoughtful replies or questions on tweets from larger accounts in my niche.
• Repurpose Content: Turn top-performing tweets into threads or blog posts. Share the same updates across platforms when appropriate.
• Celebrate Others: Highlight customers, team members, or creators. Shoutouts and shared success stories build goodwill.
• Be Real: Share both wins and challenges. People connect with honesty.
• Use Visuals: Add screenshots, photos, or videos to make posts stand out.
• Offer Value: Share useful tips, how-to guides, and resources. Teach and inspire rather than just promote.
• Be Vulnerable: Show the human side of my work. Share personal experiences and lessons learned.
• Optimize My Profile: Make sure my bio clearly explains what I’m building. Use a professional profile picture and cover photo.

Tweet Ideas

To make posting easier, I wrote down some go-to tweet templates I can use:

1. Share a Quick Tip: "Quick tip for [niche]: [your tip]."
2. Post a Thought: "Just thinking... [your thought]. What do you think?"
3. Lessons Learned: "I learned the hard way that [lesson]. Now I [new approach]."
4. Ask a Question: "How do you handle [specific challenge]? Looking for insights!"
5. Share a Win: "Today, I [small achievement]. Progress feels great!"
6. Hot Take: "Unpopular opinion: [contrarian viewpoint]."
7. Make a Prediction: "In [time frame], I think we’ll see [trend]."
8. Debunk a Myth: "Contrary to popular belief, [myth] isn’t true because [reason]."
9. Show Behind-the-Scenes: "Here’s a sneak peek of what I’m working on: [screenshot]."
10. Celebrate Others: "Huge shoutout to [person] for [their achievement]. Inspired by your work!"
11. Share a Lesson: "Just learned about [topic]. Here’s what I found interesting: [insight]."
12. Teach a Process: "Here’s how I [achieved something] in [steps]: 🧵."
13. Highlight Customers: "Excited to see how [customer] is using [product]. Thank you for sharing!"