Getting word out for community to grow

Question

I've recently finished making a social network. It's a platform for creators to meet and collaborate on their big ideas.

On a bunch of Q&A sites (some of the stack overflow sites included) I find all these posts asking how they can find people to work on projects with and if there's a site for that but I can barely reach out to them as these questions are quickly closed and I don't have any reputation on them.

Is there anything I could do that you think would work for getting my site off the ground?

Answer 1

Find the creators who's problem you are solving most acutely and reach out one on one to them, to try it out. You may have to hunt for their contact info.

If you can, offer other things they need to incentivize to participate. Money would be a primary thing, but exposure, finding specific people for them to work with (eg YOU recruiting their creative partners) etc.

Answer 2

It may seem a little strange, but consider making a social network account... for your social network! Facebook and Twitter accounts, for example, would allow people to instantly learn about your site, its uses, and how it works. The internet is full of help articles for getting one's website off the ground. It's crucial to remember that your site will probably be found by someone Googling it. Making your site easy to index by such a search engine is crucial. Beyond that, what you can do without paying a little money may be a bit limiting. You might consider advertising using an advertisement program via Google or Facebook.

Links: - http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/50-ways-to-get-your-site-noticed--net-15620 - Quite a few tips that cover most of the basics, including SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/80220 - Goes more in to detail about advertising