Social media marketing landscape is always changing and navigating through it is becoming challenging. The journey of building SaaStr reflects that what once worked seamlessly now demands more effort as well as more creativity. The digital winds have shifted. It has made the path to effective free marketing steeper than ever.
SaaStr started as a humble blog. It was initially not even considered as a part of social media. However, the social aspect was crucial for scaling. The rise was through SEO, promotions, likes or upvotes. The dynamics of social media have evolved with years and probably it is not necessarily towards better. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) remains a valuable tool, but its effectiveness has waned. The top position of search result pages is increasingly being dominated by ads. The organic results are further being pushed down. Yes, SEO still drives traffic, but it is not the powerhouse as it was once considered.
Quora was once a significant traffic driver for SaaStr. It used to bring millions of views monthly. Now it has shifted away from tech topics and resulted in a substantial loss of readership. It has very well highlighted the volatility of relying on third-party platforms. Similarly, Twitter and LinkedIn caused a noticeable drop in traffic. Hence, it now becomes pointless to share links on these platforms.
Podcasts have seen a surge in popularity and quality lately, but it has evolved into a form of entertainment. Even though the SaaStr podcast is ranked top in tech category, its growth has flattened. Probably it has not embraced entertainment aspect fully. All these shifts require more effort to achieve the same level of engagement as before.
