Ask HN: How would you get the word out about a new dating site?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2383160

5 13 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm having a lot of success with advertising for my new dating site, The Matching Game - http://www.thematchinggame.com - but am having a hard time figuring out other ways to get the word out. All of the articles I google just look like link bait.

So does anyone have any ideas about how to get the word out about a new, fun, free dating site? Mostly looking for press suggestions, but any ideas are welcome.

Thanks in advance.

irrationaljared6• 15 years ago

Here's a link to the site: http://www.thematchinggame.com

michaelpinto• 15 years ago

Advertise on Facebook — that's the one place where folks identify themselves as single in addition to indicating their interests. If you're looking for press find every romance and sex columnist you can find and pitch away...

ig13• 15 years ago

Indeed Facebook advertising rules prohibit you from advertising a dating site to someone who has a non-single status.

irrationaljared6• 15 years ago

I've experimented with Facebook a bit and it just seemed excessively expensive. I didn't try the CPC options, though, so may try those out.

ig13• 15 years ago

This is the best article I've read about getting press coverage:

http://mediastandardstrust.org/blog/fuel-to-the-fire/

But it's a pretty competitive market place out there, have you considered buying ads?

irrationaljared6• 15 years ago

Nice, fun story. Might have to try some of those strategies :)

karlclement• 15 years ago

Hello there,

Posting on Hacker News is a good start. But I would consider leveraging social networks to help spread the word. Here are a few options:

-You can integrate Facebook Connect or Twitter Signin to get users to link their accounts to their thematchinggame.com profile.

-Once connected, you can post tweets or status updates about their activity.

-You could also ask them to tweet or to like your website whenever they signup.

-You could also create a simple contest for an iPad 2, and users would need to invite the most friends possible to be eligible. Or you could ask them to like or tweet the contest.

Good luck!

triviatise2• 15 years ago

how much money do you have to spend? How many users are you trying to get? What is the right demographic (age range, interest etc)?

If it is fun, you might want to try to get hooked into universities. Pick one and just try to get some penetration. University students are single, have time and are more willing to experiment.

Your best bet is going through referrals. But if you can make a funny video on youtube you might be able to get traffic. My sisters friend created a music video for the nohate campaign and they got 30,000 views in a day because they had all the dancers, production people etc to tweet, facebook and share it.

irrationaljared6• 15 years ago

Yea, I'm thinking about the university route. I don't have a ton of money to spend (without making money through the site), so need to be pretty particular with advertising dollars. Trying be creative about other ways of getting the word out there.

triviatise2• 15 years ago

I just looked at it and I think it is a very cool idea!

irrationaljared6• 15 years ago

Thanks :)

Ask HN: How would you get the word out about a new dating site?

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