Top 18 'Platform-Piggybacking' Growth Hacks to start for entrepreneurs to gain traction without a pre-existing audience
You’ve built it. The product is polished, the service is refined, and you’re genuinely proud of what you’ve created. There’s just one problem: you’re launching to the sound of crickets. Building something great is only half the battle; getting it in front of the right people is the other, often harder, half. This is the "cold start" problem that paralyzes so many promising entrepreneurs.
The conventional wisdom says to start a blog, build a social media following, and grow an email list. While that's great long-term advice, it takes months, sometimes years, to bear fruit. You need traction now. So, how do you get your first 10, 100, or 1,000 users when you have no pre-existing audience to speak of? The answer isn't to build your own stage; it's to get on someone else's.
This is the art of 'Platform-Piggybacking'. It’s a scrappy, effective growth strategy focused on leveraging the communities, audiences, and infrastructure that other platforms have already built. Instead of shouting into the void, you find existing conversations and become a valuable part of them. Here are 18 platform-piggybacking growth hacks you can start using today to gain real traction.
1. Become a Legend in Niche Subreddits
Reddit is not just a single website; it's a massive collection of hyper-focused communities called subreddits. For any niche you can imagine, from r/saas for software founders to r/skincareaddiction for beauty enthusiasts, there's a subreddit filled with your ideal customers. Your goal is not to go in guns-blazing with promotional posts—you'll be banned in minutes.
The key is to play the long game by providing immense value first. Subscribe to relevant subreddits, read the rules, and become a helpful, active member. Answer questions, offer expert advice, and share insights. People will begin to recognize your username. Once you've built that credibility, you can mention your product or service when it’s genuinely relevant to solving someone's problem.
Pro-Tip: Use the 90/10 rule. 90% of your activity should be purely valuable contributions, and only 10% should be even remotely self-promotional. Your profile bio is also a great place for a soft plug.
2. Answer Questions on Quora and Stack Overflow
Quora and Stack Overflow are giant Q&A engines. Millions of people go there every day with specific problems they need to solve. This is your chance to be the one with the answer. Search for questions related to the problems your business solves and write the most comprehensive, helpful, and well-structured answers you can.
Don't just write a sentence or two. Go deep. Use formatting, add images, and provide real-world examples. At the end of your genuinely helpful answer, you can add a simple, non-salesy link back to your website or a relevant blog post for readers who want to learn more. This drives high-intent traffic and establishes you as an authority in your space.
Example: If you have a project management tool, find questions like "What's the best way to manage a remote team's workflow?" and write a detailed answer outlining a full strategy, subtly mentioning how your tool facilitates one of the steps.
3. Leverage LinkedIn Comments and Groups
LinkedIn is the ultimate professional piggybacking platform. Instead of just posting into the void of your own feed, focus your energy on where the conversations are already happening. Identify 5-10 key influencers or thought leaders in your industry and turn on notifications for their posts. When they post, be one of the first to leave a thoughtful, insightful comment that adds to the conversation.
This isn’t about saying "Great post!" It’s about adding your own perspective, a counter-argument, or a supporting data point. Your comment will be seen by that influencer's massive audience. Additionally, join active LinkedIn Groups related to your field. Participate in discussions and share your expertise to build a reputation that will have people clicking on your profile to see what you do.
4. Publish Natively on Medium
Medium has a massive, built-in audience of curious readers and a powerful recommendation algorithm. Instead of letting your blog posts sit on a website with zero traffic, republish them on Medium a week or two after they go live on your own site (using their import tool to handle the canonical link and avoid SEO penalties).
Focus on crafting compelling headlines and choosing the right "tags" to help Medium’s algorithm surface your content to interested readers. Getting curated by Medium's editors or published in a large publication like "The Startup" or "Better Marketing" can send thousands of new readers your way overnight, all without you having an existing follower base.
5. Be a Guest on Niche Podcasts
Podcasting is an incredibly intimate medium. Listeners develop a real sense of trust with the hosts and, by extension, their guests. Getting interviewed on a podcast in your niche gives you direct access to a highly engaged and relevant audience for 30-60 minutes.
Start by targeting smaller, niche podcasts where you have a better chance of being featured. Create a one-page PDF about yourself that clearly outlines who you are, what topics you can speak on, and what value you'd bring to their audience. Reach out to hosts with a personalized email, showing you’ve actually listened to their show and have a specific idea for an episode.
6. Launch on Product Hunt & BetaList
If you have a tech product, SaaS, or even a cool digital resource, launching on platforms like Product Hunt, BetaList, or Hacker News is non-negotiable. These are communities built specifically for discovering new things. A successful launch can drive tens of thousands of visitors, signups, and valuable feedback in a single day.
Success isn’t about just submitting your link at midnight. It’s about preparation. Engage with the community beforehand. Build relationships with established "hunters." Prepare your images, copy, and first comment. Most importantly, be present all day to answer questions and engage with the community. This is your chance to make a huge first impression.
7. Write Authoritative Guest Posts
Guest posting is a classic for a reason: it works. You get to borrow the audience and credibility of an established blog in your industry. Building authority is a cornerstone of the philosophy we champion here on the Goh Ling Yong blog, and guest posting is a direct path to achieving it.
Identify non-competing blogs that serve your target audience. Study their content and come up with three unique, high-value article ideas that would resonate with their readers. Send a concise, personalized pitch to the editor. In your post, link back to relevant content on your own site, and make sure your author bio has a compelling call-to-action to visit your website or download a free resource.
8. Create a Free Tool or Resource
People love free stuff, especially if it solves a real problem. Creating a simple, free tool or resource can be a powerful magnet for traffic and leads. This doesn’t have to be a complex piece of software. It could be a simple calculator, a checklist generator, a curated template library, or a comprehensive spreadsheet.
Once you’ve created it, you can submit it to directories, share it in relevant online communities (where useful tools are often welcomed), and use it as a "lead magnet." For example, HubSpot’s "Website Grader" has generated millions of leads for them over the years. Think about a small, painful problem in your industry and create the go-to free solution for it.
9. Build an Integration or Add-on
Where does your target audience already spend their time? Do they use Slack? Shopify? WordPress? Google Chrome? Instead of trying to pull them away from the platforms they love, meet them where they are by building an integration, plugin, or add-on.
When you create a Shopify App, a WordPress Plugin, or a Chrome Extension, you are tapping directly into a massive, built-in distribution channel. Your product becomes discoverable in their marketplaces, where millions of potential users are actively searching for solutions to their problems. This strategy puts your brand directly inside the workflow of your ideal customer.
10. Partner with Micro-Influencers
Forget paying thousands for a single post from a mega-influencer. The real value is in collaborating with micro-influencers (typically 5k-50k followers). They have smaller but far more engaged and trusting audiences. Their recommendation feels less like a paid ad and more like a genuine tip from a friend.
Reach out to micro-influencers in your niche and offer them free access to your product or service. Don't demand a post; instead, build a genuine relationship. If they love what you do, they will be happy to share it with their audience organically. You can also propose collaborative content, like an Instagram Live Q&A or a joint giveaway.
11. Host a Webinar with a Complementary Brand
Find another business that serves the same audience as you but isn't a direct competitor. For example, if you sell email marketing software, you could partner with a company that offers landing page software. Propose co-hosting a free educational webinar on a topic that’s valuable to both of your audiences, like "The Ultimate Guide to Converting Website Visitors into Subscribers."
Both of you promote the webinar to your respective (even if small) lists and social channels. You get exposure to their entire audience, and they get exposure to yours. It's a win-win that doubles your reach and provides genuine value to the community.
12. Get Listed in Niche Directories and Marketplaces
Whatever your industry, there are likely directories, review sites, and marketplaces where customers are actively looking for solutions. For software, this means getting listed on Capterra, G2, and GetApp. For local businesses, it’s Yelp and Google My Business. For e-commerce, it could be listing your products on Etsy or Amazon.
These platforms are high-intent search engines. The people visiting them are not just browsing; they are looking to make a purchase decision. Optimizing your profile with great copy, compelling images, and encouraging early customers to leave reviews can turn these directories into a consistent source of qualified leads.
13. Contribute to HARO (Help A Reporter Out)
HARO is a free service that connects journalists with expert sources. Three times a day, you get an email full of queries from reporters at publications ranging from small blogs to The New York Times. They are looking for quotes and insights on various topics.
Scan the emails for queries relevant to your expertise. When you find one, write a quick, concise, and highly valuable response. If a journalist uses your quote, you’ll get a mention and often a backlink from a high-authority media outlet. This provides incredible social proof, credibility, and a nice SEO boost. As an entrepreneur, this is one of the highest-leverage PR activities you can do.
14. Engage in Niche Facebook Groups
Just like Reddit, Facebook is home to thousands of active, niche groups. Find the communities where your ideal customers ask for advice, share their wins, and vent their frustrations. Join them and, once again, lead with value.
Become one of the most helpful people in the group. Answer questions, share your own experiences, and offer encouragement. Many groups have specific days for self-promotion (e.g., "Promo Wednesday"), which is the perfect time to share what you’re working on. Because you’ve already established yourself as a helpful member, your post will be received much more warmly than a random spammer's.
15. Create Viral-Worthy Twitter Threads
Twitter is a powerful engine for discovery. A well-crafted, high-value thread can reach tens of thousands of people in a matter of hours. The key is to take a complex topic and break it down into a series of simple, digestible, and actionable tweets.
Think about a topic you know inside and out. It could be "10 marketing mistakes I made so you don't have to" or "Here's my exact process for cold emailing." Hook the reader with a strong opening tweet, deliver immense value in the middle, and have a clear call-to-action in the final tweet (e.g., "If you enjoyed this, follow me for more" or "I wrote a full guide on this here: [link]").
16. Run a Giveaway with a Partner
Giveaways are a fast way to generate buzz and new followers. To make this a piggybacking strategy, partner with another brand that has an audience you want to reach. The prize should be a bundle of products or services from both of you, making it extra enticing.
The entry requirements are simple: participants must follow both of your accounts and perhaps tag a friend in the comments. This exposes your brand directly to every single person who enters from your partner's audience, effectively transferring some of their audience to you.
17. Sponsor a Niche Newsletter
Email newsletters are making a huge comeback. Many creators and curators in specific niches have built small but incredibly loyal audiences who read every single email they send. Sponsoring one of these newsletters can have a much higher ROI than a traditional ad.
Find newsletters that your target customers read. Reach out to the creator and ask about their sponsorship rates. They are often surprisingly affordable. Your "ad" shouldn't feel like an ad; it should be written in the same tone as the newsletter and offer genuine value, like a discount, a free trial, or a link to a helpful piece of content.
18. Repurpose Content for SlideShare and Pinterest
Don't let your content die after one post. Repurpose it for different platforms. For example, you can take the key points from a blog post and turn them into a beautifully designed presentation for SlideShare (which is owned by LinkedIn and gets a lot of professional traffic).
Similarly, you can create visually appealing infographics or checklists based on your content and post them on Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual search engine, and a single popular pin can drive traffic to your website for months or even years. This is about taking one piece of work and leveraging it across multiple platforms to maximize its reach.
Your Audience is Already Out There
The myth of the lone genius building an audience from scratch is just that—a myth. The smartest entrepreneurs don't build from zero; they build on top of what already exists. The feeling of having no audience is temporary if you are willing to be scrappy, creative, and, most importantly, generous with your value.
Stop waiting for people to find you. Go to the platforms where they already are, solve their problems, and become an indispensable part of their communities. Pick two or three of the hacks from this list and commit to executing them consistently for the next 30 days. The traction you gain might just surprise you.
Now, I want to hear from you. Which of these platform-piggybacking strategies are you most excited to try first? Share your pick in the comments below!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
Stay updated with the latest posts and insights by following on your favorite platform!