I’m not a mean person, really.
☝️You probably shouldn’t believe someone who says that.
You be the judge:
Long ago (eight years!) in a conference banquet hall far, far away… I gave a talk on API adoption: how to get devs to use your developer product.
Early on, I promised to tell the audience the most important action they can take to increase API adoption.
“You’ll want to get your notebooks out for this,” I said.
Then I paused.
People reached into bags. They grabbed conference swag pens and pads. Some even looked up from their laptops. When I had their attention, I flipped the slide.
There’s nothing quite like the sound of an entire audience being disappointed at the same time.
A few chuckles. And eventually nods, knowing I was right.
Not exactly helpful, but right. Now, when I’m asked how to promote developer content, I think about this snarky stage moment. And even though the answer is sort of similar, I try to be more helpful.
Here’s the thing: you may not have influence on your developer product, but you can impact the content you produce.
You know not to over-sell the product. Developers run away from unsubstantiated hype.
You know not to be overly promotional. Developers can sniff that out as inauthentic.
That still leaves the problem of getting more views to your content, which may send you searching for ways to amplify what you’ve published. But, much like the API adoption, your amplification will only work if your content is something developers want to read.
Even if you have a lot of experience with developer audiences, you know technical content strategy is an experiment… and it’s the selection of the experiments that will determine your success.
Rather than throwing darts in the dark, give yourself the best chance of success.
In other words, don’t waste effort getting more views for something with a low likelihood of resonating with developers.
I created the D.E.V. Content Framework to help marketing teams like yours better attract developer audiences. It’s my attempt to be more helpful than I was in that ballroom long ago.
If you think it might work for you, I’d love the chance to help you implement the framework.