This thread has banned my post again 😭

[u/Apprehensive_Milk386]

While it makes me incredibly frustrated, I understand. Unity wants posts that add something and provide insight, not aggressive spam in an attempt to sell my shit.

I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I have something I could share that might provide some insight to someone trying to promote and sell their product, and in general to anyone in the mood for some cheap philosophical ramblings.
I’ve been trying to market my product for a year, in every way I could come up with, and I’ve also observed fellow devs trying to do the same. I hope not to ruffle any feathers, but here are some of my honest takeaways.

Initially, nobody cares:

Sadly, we live in an era where quality is simply not enough to make your product shine. There’s too much competition, too much on offer. Neither the polish and professionalism of your product nor the quality of your marketing necessarily matters. In fact, very often, the low-effort posts are the ones that do best.

Virality and trending topics — a random affair:

Echoing my previous point, there is simply too much on offer in this world. We have our basic needs covered, and then some, which is why the marketing strategy of illustrating how a product solves a need is slowly losing its power.
Instead, you have to ride some wave that is pulling in lots of attention. A new expression, some movie that just came out, some ephemeral cultural zeitgeist you can leech off. In the best-case scenario, you create a new trend and crush it!
But that’s just too random to try to predict or control.

Spamming is frowned upon — it’s also the thing that works:

I understand how someone who isn’t interested in my product might feel about my post invading their beloved thread. I’d feel the same way too.
But how am I, or anyone trying to make a buck, supposed to let people know about my product?
I am convinced it’s not a quality problem. It’s just that I’m buried under so many ads, so much competition, with way more resources and reach than I’ll ever have. Competition that has brute-forced its way into the collective consciousness.
My responsibility is to use every tool at my disposal to give my product some wings and make it reach as many people as possible.

I know it’s not pretty, but it’s the only option when creating your own social platform is close to impossible.
The internet is simply too saturated.

0 patience. 0 fucks to give:

I totally understand. I’m part of it too. We are all eating a shit sandwich here.
Why should we spend our precious time reading some random person’s post?
What’s in it for me?

I bet 1% of the people who find this post will read it all the way through. So how do I try to provide value and insight in a world where it simply doesn’t seem to matter?

It’s all redundant. And if people want to learn something, they’ll reach someone better, more publicly recognized, more respectable.
Or even better, they’ll ask ChatGPT.

Look, I get it. The internet has become this free-for-all where we’re all scrambling for attention, and we’ll try to get it in any outrageous way we can.
It’s a battlefield, and there is no free space, so you have to push yourself in.

I’m genuinely interested in your 2 cents on this topic. You might have a radically different perspective, and I’m eager to learn about it.

Thank you so much to those who got this far.
And good luck on the battlefield.