How to create engaging developer community content

Our experience as a SaaS-focused content-writing agency and owners of a vibrant technical writing community has taught us that a software company’s biggest differentiator and value proposition is their product community. This is why community-led growth is one of the hottest durable growth strategies in SaaS today.

Communities thrive on interaction and community content strategies. As a community manager or developer advocate, you have the uphill task of creating, curating, and sharing valuable content and maintaining a high level of engagement within the community.

Building and nurturing a developer community is difficult, but seeing your community grow and expand can be a rewarding experience. Creating an environment that fosters discussions, learning, new connections, innovative ideas, and gracefully stepping back to watch relationships flourish and product users grow can make all the hard work worthwhile.

Since engaging content is the lifeblood of any thriving online community, we will give you quick and actionable tips on creating compelling content tailored to your developer community.

This article is written with expert insights from William, the CEO of Hackmamba, based on the common questions received from community managers, developer advocates, and product managers.

1. Know your community members.

It’s obvious, but understanding your target audience is the golden rule of creating valuable content. It all starts by getting to know the people who make up your online community – their interests, challenges, and what keeps them ticking.

Who are your community members? Are they junior developers, seasoned professionals with years of experience, or somewhere in between? What tech stacks do they prefer?

Surveys, interviews, social media platform analytics, online forums, and feedback forms are all valuable tools for gathering information. By understanding these details, you can tailor your content to appeal to their specific level, write in a way that speaks directly to their persona, and anticipate the obstacles they may face.

Of course, you can’t possibly write for every occasion. There’s no shame in pointing your community towards existing content that perfectly addresses their need. Your goal should be providing value and building trust within your online community.

2. Identify their burning questions and common roadblocks.

Now that you thoroughly understand your community, it’s time to focus on their challenges and specific problems. Is there any question frequently appearing in forums or during support interactions? Catalog these issues and identify the ones that occur often. These are the pain points that need to be addressed with your content.

You may create a curated list of helpful resources or a dedicated FAQ section for less common issues. However, your developer community and product should work harmoniously to become a powerful feedback loop. This allows you to leverage the collective knowledge of your community to continuously improve your product while providing valuable resources and solutions directly tied to their needs.

Through this ongoing dialogue, you can identify emerging trends, prioritize features, and ensure your product remains relevant and on the cutting edge.

Ultimately, your content should revolve around the fundamental questions they’re asking, not hypothetical problems. This ensures your content addresses their needs and positions you as a trusted guide on their development journey.

3. Personalize the delivery (undervalued but powerful).

Remember the quote by Thomas Knoll that says, “You can’t manage a community; you empower it?” The key to maintaining a strong community is making the members feel like they own it. This can be achieved by active listening and ensuring their opinions are valued.

Once you’ve identified specific community members struggling with a particular issue, keep an eye on them while creating the content. When it’s ready to roll out, reach out to them directly. Let them know you’ve been working on a solution to the challenge they (and others) have faced, and offer them early access to the article, video, or resource.

Mentioning them and acknowledging the broader community’s experience with the problem personalizes the solution and builds a sense of community. It also subtly plants the seed that they, too, can contribute valuable insights to the community. This two-way exchange strengthens the community spirit and encourages future problem-solving collaborations.

4. Think beyond your community.

While your developer community is your primary audience, remember that others might face similar challenges. This could include folks in adjacent communities, users of similar tools, or even solo developers hustling away.

Strong SEO not only empowers your community but also expands its reach. You can increase your content’s discoverability by following SEO best practices – titles, headers, and strategically placed keywords that reflect the core problem. Think long-tail keywords that capture the specific nature of the issue, along with relevant short-tail terms for broader reach.

When you distribute your content, search engines can pick it up, guiding developers experiencing similar roadblocks to your doorstep. This subtly demonstrates your community’s value - a space where developers are heard, supported, and empowered.

Consider including a strategic link to your community within the content and a clear call to action (CTA) inviting them to join in. Community growth is achieved this way, and potential customers are created.

5. Improve content discoverability within your ecosystem.

SEO gets your content out there, but don’t forget about internal discoverability within your product and digital community. Ensure your content is easily accessible in critical locations – product documentation, website sections, pinned posts within the community, or a dedicated “Resources” channel for future reference.

Pro tip: Support content often ranks highly in search results. Think of Cloudinary – when you search for help, a support document frequently appears before the actual documentation. Leverage this by strategically linking your newly created content with relevant support pages.

By making your content readily available across these touchpoints, you empower your community members to find the solutions they need quickly and efficiently.

Indeed, strong developer communities can be a decisive advantage in the SaaS industry. They create loyal customers for a business and make it harder for competitors to gain a foothold, but building a vibrant community takes effort. Content is the fuel that keeps the fire burning. Without it, attracting members to your Slack or Discord channel can be challenging. What would you share? How would you spark conversation and keep them engaged?

Hackmamba helps you create content that resonates with your developer community. You can also create user-generated content in collaboration with our technical writing community. Let’s work together to build a thriving space where your developers can connect, learn, and grow.