Category: webinars

Developers are notoriously allergic to traditional marketing tactics. Their trust lies in genuine value, not flashy campaigns. One powerful way to provide that value is by building a community around your tool or field of expertise. But building an engaged community is hard – it’s a long-term effort demanding significant commitment and a well-defined strategy.

Last month, we tackled this challenge in our webinar, “Cultivating a Thriving Developer Community.” Joined by community champions like Rebecca Marshburn (Head of Community at Common Room), Ron Northcutt (Head of Developer Relations at Appsmith), and Tessa Kriesel (DevRel Leader & Coach), we explored the main ingredients for fostering a developer community that drives business success.

This blog post distills the webinar’s key insights and strategies for starting, building, and measuring your developer community’s success. 

What Is A Developer Community?

At its core, a developer community is a group of developers who share a common interest. This interest could be a specific programming language, a particular technology stack, or even just a general passion for software development. Engaged developers who find value in the community are more likely to become paying users of your product.

Ron Northcutt offered a broader perspective on developer communities. With a background in open-source, he sees a developer community as encompassing a wide range of audiences, including those who have simply heard about the product, those who use it occasionally, and those who are deeply engaged members. External channels like Reddit can be valuable tools for attracting developers to a more focused community platform.

Types Of Developer Communities

Now that we understand the core concept, let’s explore the various forms developer communities can take:

Internal Developer Communities

These communities exist within a single company and cater to two distinct audiences:

1. Internal Developers: These are the developers who build and maintain the company’s own products. A strong internal developer community, as Rebecca mentioned, is necessary for improving communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing within your organization.
2. Customers: These are the developers who use your product. An internal developer community can be a valuable space not only to share best practices, and troubleshoot issues, but also to get product feedback.

External Developer Communities

External developer communities are open to everyone and can be centered around a specific product, technology, or simply a shared interest in software development. It’s important to distinguish these communities from audiences on platforms like Reddit. As Tessa Kriesel pointed out, these platforms are more like channels for information sharing and discussion, not true communities that foster a sense of belonging and deeper connections.

Community of Practice vs. Community of Product

While the above categories provide a foundational understanding, developer communities can also be classified based on their focus:

• Community of Practice: These communities center around a shared field or practice (e.g., data management, mobile development). Members exchange best practices, troubleshoot challenges, and learn from each other’s experiences.
• Community of Product: These communities revolve around a specific product or tool. Users gather to learn its functionalities, share success stories, and get support from the product team or fellow users.

Many communities blend these approaches. This allows them to attract developers interested in the broader practice while also catering to those who use their specific product, which can be particularly beneficial as members can learn about the field and discover a valuable tool to enhance their work.

The Developer Journey & How They Reach Your Community

Imagine a developer on a quest to find the perfect tool for their project. Their journey likely starts with a broad search, then narrows down as they explore options and deepen their understanding. Your developer community can be a powerful destination on this journey, offering valuable resources, support, and connections.

But how do developers actually find their way to your community? To understand this, let’s explore the concept of community growth types and how they align with the developer journey.

First, we can think of two growth options: organic and intentional. 

1. Organic Community Growth: Imagine a developer stumbles upon your product on Reddit during their initial discovery phase. This exposure, while valuable, might not necessarily translate into them joining your dedicated community platform.
2. Cultivated Community Growth: By understanding the developer journey and the different stages (discovery, evaluation, learning, adopting), you can strategically guide developers toward your community. This cultivated approach can involve creating valuable content, engaging on relevant platforms like Reddit, and providing clear pathways for developers to find your community.

Then, we can map our growth method together with the developer or community stages, guiding developers through a series of steps within your community and offering targeted resources and experiences based on their current stage and needs.

Tessa Kriesel emphasized that during the discovery phase, external communities like Reddit might be a good fit. As developers progress through the stages, they can be nurtured towards your more focused community platform.

💡Read the book How to Build and Grow a Successful Developer Program to learn more about the developer journey map. 

Rebecca Marshburn offered a model with three community stages:

• Tertiary Community: This is the broadest stage, encompassing anyone who has heard about your product or could potentially benefit from it.
• Secondary Community: This stage includes developers who are interested in your content or resources, such as following you on social media or checking out your GitHub repository.
• Primary Community: This is your core community, where developers are actively engaged with your product and participate in discussions and collaborations.

Both perspectives emphasize the importance of understanding the stages developers go through and strategically guiding them toward your community at the most relevant points. Understanding the developer journey and strategically guiding them through the different stages can help you build a thriving community that benefits both developers and your business.

First Steps of Building a Community

Before you start considering building a developer community, there are two important foundation steps to consider:

1. Know Your People

As Rebecca emphasized, the cornerstone of any successful community is a deep understanding of your target audience. Regardless of the size of your initial community, take the time to truly understand their needs, motivations, and pain points.

Some of the key questions to consider are:

• What are their challenges? Identify the problems your developers face and how your product or service can help them overcome those obstacles.
• What kind of content do they value? Understanding their preferred learning styles and content formats will guide your content creation strategy.
• What makes them feel valued and appreciated? Recognize and acknowledge their contributions to foster a sense of belonging and encourage participation.

These evaluative questions will help you to:

• Develop targeted content and resources that address their specific needs and interests.
• Craft a welcoming and inclusive community experience that resonates with your target audience.
• Empower your developers to co-create valuable content through collaborations and knowledge sharing.

2. Align With Your Business Goals

Before embarking on community building, it’s essential to align with your internal stakeholders, as Tessa mentioned. Take a step back and consider the bigger picture: what are the overall business goals for your developer community?

• Get to know your stakeholders: Familiarize yourself with the needs and priorities of different departments, such as sales, marketing, customer success, and recruiting.
• Align with business objectives: Understand how your community can contribute to achieving broader company goals.
• Identify success metrics: Collaborate with your stakeholders to define measurable metrics for tracking the success of your developer community.

How To Measure Success?

Measuring the success of a developer community is probably the hardest aspect of any developer relations department. As Ron Northcutt highlighted, it’s challenging because DevRel efforts serve various stages of the developer lifecycle. You might create a blog post that a developer uses to solve a problem for free, or you might nurture a student who becomes a brand advocate years later. Both interactions contribute to the community’s value, but tracking their impact on the business can be difficult.

Here are some key tactics that can help you start measuring success:

Define Short-term and Long-term Goals

Rebecca offered a helpful framework for navigating this challenge by considering both short-term and long-term goals.

• Short-Term Goals: Focus on aligning with stakeholder needs.  Identify your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and develop strategies to attract them to your community. Metrics like community growth and engagement among relevant developer personas can indicate short-term success.
• Long-Term Goals:  Look beyond immediate conversions. Building a thriving community fosters brand loyalty and creates a pool of potential customers who are already familiar with your product’s value. Tracking how your community attracts industry influencers or future decision-makers demonstrates the long-term impact.

Find the Right Data & Tools

Imagine being a chef who can’t taste their own food. That’s what it can be like without data in DevRel. Tessa Kriesel highlighted the importance of data in gauging the effectiveness of your DevRel programs, but she also acknowledged the challenges of accessing the right data or using tools that collect and analyze relevant metrics effectively. 

The key metrics in building and growing a developer community that you should track are:

• Activity Tracking: Look for solutions that track user activity within your community platform. This data can reveal how developers are engaging with your content and resources, providing valuable insights into their interests and needs.
• User Journey Tracking: Understanding the complete user journey, from initial touchpoints to conversions, can help you attribute the impact of your community efforts. Tools that connect community activity with sales pipelines can demonstrate the value DevRel brings to the broader business.

Conclusion

Building a successful developer community hinges on three key pillars: a deep understanding of your audience, tailoring your approach to the developer journey stages, and continuously measuring impact.

As Ron Northcutt pointed out, the tech sales landscape has shifted. Contrary to the past decades, prospects now often conduct extensive research before even reaching out to ask a question. This means that capturing data during the early research phase is crucial for understanding what resonates with developers and identifying areas where your community content or resources might be lacking.

Prioritizing genuine value over marketing tactics remains the key takeaway in community building as well as developer marketing in general. This translates into more than just brand loyalty and fosters a powerful ecosystem that generates valuable leads for your business.

Ready to dive into more DevRel and Developer Marketing insights? Join our upcoming webinars for expert insights and live sessions packed with knowledge from industry leaders.

When someone mentions “hackathons”, images of caffeine-fueled developers in hoodies evoking the next big tech innovation might come to mind. But in reality, hackathons can be powerful tools for businesses in today’s developer-driven world. They bring together talented minds to collaborate, experiment, and create something awesome (not just in the Silicon Valley show sense!), often using your very own tools.

So, should your company host a hackathon? And if so, how do you make it a success?

Recently, we kicked off our new monthly webinar series at Draft.dev with a focus on hackathons. 

Our CEO, Karl Hughes, and Brandon Kessler, CEO of Devpost, dived deep into what makes hackathons tick, their benefits, and key strategies for organizing one. This blog post takes you through the essential questions you might have, like what hackathons are good for, how to plan them right, and more.

Why Hackathons Matter for Everyone

For developer marketing professionals with no technical background, organizing a hackathon might sound like a confusing, expensive event that feels more like a game than a serious business strategy. But the benefits go far beyond that surface.

For Participants

• Creative Fuel: Hackathons spark inspiration with new challenges and unexpected collaborations. It’s not just about coding; it’s about brainstorming and finding innovative solutions.
• Learning Opportunity: Devtools evolve quickly, and developers are lifelong learners. Hackathons provide a dedicated space to explore new technologies and upskill in a collaborative environment. This isn’t just for junior devs – seasoned professionals benefit too!
• Excitement Breeds Great Ideas: While blogs and technical content are valuable, hackathons offer a fun and engaging way to learn. Deadlines, prizes, collaboration, and networking add an exciting twist, motivating participants to build something truly incredible.

For Organizers

• Community Building: You tap into a pool of developers eager to build with your product. Brandon Kessler mentioned that they have seen a 5-35% conversion rate from registration to submission, showing a very strong ROI in terms of engaged user acquisition.
• Talent Magnet: Attract both college students seeking early career opportunities and experienced professionals looking to learn something new.

What are Hackathons Not Good For?

Regardless of the multiple benefits and reasons why both participants, as well as organizers, can benefit from hackathons, there are situations where organizing them might just not be right for your company. 

1. Cheap Procurement Disguised as Innovation:

If your sole goal is acquiring a finished product on the cheap, don’t frame it as a hackathon. Brandon Kessler aptly calls it “cheap procurement,” undermining the collaborative spirit and devaluing participants’ contributions.

2. Early-Stage Start-Ups with High Expectations:

Can early-stage start-ups host hackathons? Sure! But it’s important to manage expectations because you might not attract big companies to partner up with, or established developers just yet. Instead, focus on building community and engagement instead of immediate product solutions.

3. One-Shot Marketing Tactic:

Think beyond a single event and don’t view hackathons as a standalone marketing campaign. Integrate them into your ongoing developer outreach strategy. Use them to complement technical content, inspire your community, and foster long-term connections.

4. Hackathons as the Only Marketing Strategy:

Hackathons are powerful, but they’re not your entire developer marketing strategy. Think of them as an umbrella providing shade alongside other channels like tutorials, forums, and community events. Use them to drive engagement and support broader initiatives.

In essence, hackathons are catalysts for innovation, community building, and learning. By acknowledging their limitations and integrating them strategically, you can create win-win situations for both you and your developer community.

Ingredients for a Winning Hackathon

So, hackathons seem like a promising addition to your developer marketing strategy. Now, how do you build a truly successful one? Here are the four fundamental pillars Brandon pointed out:

1. Marketing & Promotion

This might seem obvious, but if developers don’t know about your event, it’s doomed to be a ghost town. While we’ll dig deeper into specific tactics in the below “Promoting Your Hackathon” section, promotion is a must-have ingredient for an impactful hackathon.

2. A Valuable Product

The competition itself is the heart of the hackathon, so make sure it has the “wow” factor.

Choose a challenge that leverages your product’s strengths and offers genuine value to participants. Consider real-world problems or opportunities to innovate with your tools.

3. Existing Tech Support

Imagine developers hitting a technical problem – frustration rising, motivation dwindling. To prevent this, ensure readily available, knowledgeable tech support. This could be internal developers, volunteers, or partners familiar with your tools.

4. Fair Prizes

Cash prizes are considered the standard, but it’s also a good idea to explore creative additions to cash prices which we’ll go more into detail in the “Incentives for Developers” section. 

Creative Challenges for Specific Products

While your product might seem like a “one-trick pony” at first glance, remember that creativity knows no bounds. Brandon mentioned the success they had with one of their clients Okta which can serve as an example:

Example – Authentication

• Build the most secure and user-friendly authentication experience for a specific user group (gamers, healthcare professionals, etc.).
• Integrate AI to personalize authentication based on user behavior or risk factors.

Check out Okta’s past hackathons and their case study on DevPost for inspiration. See how they broadened their authentication-focused challenges to encourage creative solutions.

Engaging Customers with Private Hackathons

Private hackathons with key accounts can also be a powerful tool for fostering engagement and showcasing your product’s potential. Your customers might have questions about your product’s suitability for specific scenarios. A hackathon allows them to experiment and discover new possibilities firsthand.

Also, consider real-time collaboration: Imagine showcasing how your database tool works for e-commerce through a live hackathon demonstration. This interactive experience can be far more impactful than traditional presentations.

Promoting a Hackathon

One of the easiest ways to promote your hackathon is to work with a company like Devpost to take the burden as they already have an existing community of developers which makes it easier to attract developers with matching skills to attend your hackathon. But if you have been assigned to promote your webinar on your own, here are some main tips for achieving success with your hackathon promotional plan. In short, Brandon recommends doing “Everything!” when it comes to the promotion.

• Tap into your community: Encourage developers to spread the word, participate, and mentor/judge.
• Partner strategically: Join forces with complementary products, universities, or developer organizations.
• Create a dedicated landing page with clear details and easy access.
• Spread the word online: Share engaging content on social media and consider targeted ads/press outreach.
• Engage and support participants: Keep them informed, foster a community, and offer technical assistance.

Motivating Developers Beyond Cash

While cash is a traditional prize, developers may find it more attractive if you can offer something they may usually not have access to. Here are some additional incentives you could consider:

Experiences & Access:

• Meeting inspiring figures: Arrange meetings with industry leaders or experts they admire.
• Opportunities for networking: Facilitate connections with peers or potential employers.
• Unique experiences: Offer tickets to tech conferences, events, or workshops.

Professional Development:

• Product credits: Provide access to your product or tools to enhance their skills.
• Personal branding support: Offer resources or workshops to amplify their online presence.
• Tools and subscriptions: Equip them with valuable tools to accelerate their work.

Tailoring prizes to your audience can also be a good idea. For example, consider the type of developers you’re trying to attract and their motivations. While junior developers might appreciate career development incentives, senior developers may find recognition and their personal brand awareness more important. 

Also, transparency is key, so communicate prize details and eligibility criteria clearly, and don’t forget to research local regulations for any specific prize restrictions or guidelines in the country of your organized hackathon.

Measuring Your Hackathon’s Impact

Attendance figures offer an overview of participation, but to understand your hackathon’s success you have to dig deeper. Success can also mean many things, so make sure you define what are your goals for the event. Is it amplifying brand awareness, gathering feedback, inspiring innovation, or perhaps even attracting talent?

Let’s take a look at some key metrics:

Engagement

• Project Submissions: Did participants actively participate by creating projects?
• Community Interaction: Did they engage in online forums, discussions, or social media groups?
• Technical Activity: Was there active development and code completion throughout the event?

Product Impact

• Direct Feedback: Did participants provide valuable feedback on your product or tools?
• Feature Adoption: Did any submitted projects showcase innovative uses of your product?
• Brand Awareness: Did the hackathon increase brand awareness and interest among developers?

Talent Acquisition

• Leads Generated: Did you connect with potential hires through the event?
• Applications Received: Did the hackathon attract qualified candidates for open positions?
• Hiring Success: Did you successfully hire talented developers through the hackathon?

Conclusion

So, are hackathons right for your company? While they offer exciting possibilities for innovation, community building, and learning, it’s crucial to approach them strategically and acknowledge their limitations. Hackathons are not about acquiring cheap solutions or short-term marketing gains but instead, a chance to build genuine value for participants.

Remember, successful hackathons go beyond caffeine-fueled coding sprints, building a vibrant community, and fostering genuine connections with developers. When planning a hackathon, it might be worth seeking help from platforms like Devpost which offer various packages to help you organize one. These packages can include essential features like project management, an online platform, and even marketing and promotion assistance.

Looking towards the future, advancements in AI are poised to streamline the entire experience, from logistics and team formation to project management and innovation cycles. As Brandon Kessler mentioned, “Every dev tool has now AI implemented, and AI is also helping to save much time, improving team building and project management side.” This means smoother operations, better collaboration, and ultimately, faster innovation.

Ready to dive into more DevRel and Developer Marketing insights? Join our upcoming webinars for expert insights and live sessions packed with knowledge from industry leaders.