This is the beginning of a series of post about what we can learn from the growth hacking strategy of what is now known as the biggest social media platforms on the internet today.

Introduction

Finding information on this topic hasn't been easy. But my hope is that we can learn from the success and failures of other platform and make SteemIt the success it deserve to be.

Now, there is some very interesting nugget of wisdom in this post and I hope people like @ned and @dan will consider them. Most of all, I am excited to see the discussions this topic will bring forward. I know there is a lot of smart people here!

What Did Pinterest Do Right?

The "Private Club" Effect

I know it sounds completely counter-intuitive but bear with me. Why would a platform that intend on world domination would want to make itself exclusive?

BECAUSE EARLY ADOPTERS ARE DRIVEN BY THREE MAIN MOTIVATIONS: INFORMATION, NOVELTY, AND STATUS

You have to consider that we are not at the stage of marketing to the whole world. We are after the "innovators" and the "early adopters". These group of people respond to very different emotional triggers than the masses. Scarcity is one of the best growth hacking strategy to increase the perceived value on a product or service.

Pinterest is the one that did this the best in my opinion. No one could get in unless they were invited.
As mentioned in the article How Pinterest Grew So Big So Quickly...

Unlike some of the other biggest sites on the Internet today, Pinterest did not launch with an immense amount of hype behind it. Instead, it was a homegrown program launched by some passionate thinkers who ultimately had to go back and incorporate some smart growth-hacking methods into the program once it had already been set free.

One of the most important ways Pinterest incorporated growth hacking into its marketing scheme is its signup process. In order to join Pinterest, users can't just visit the website and join. Instead, they have to request an invitation to the site, making it feel like an exclusive club to which you actually‚ want to belong.

People always want to be a part of something that they're not initially included in, right? After new users request an invitation, they receive one by email a few days later, making it feel like they have been approved for a special offer or accepted into an exclusive group.

This makes Pinterest seem like a privilege to use right off the bat, enhancing its reputation as a site that people covet. The invitation email uses strategic wording and content, as well, to help bolster its image, calling Pinterest a small community and offering rules about how to behave while there.

An Interest Survey

Another growth-hacking technique that Pinterest used was the interest survey.

Pinterest showed users a variety of images and asks which ones appeal to them. Based on a user responses, it follows some related and popular boards that match the users choices, automatically generating content and information that makes users feel like they are already part of a community and in turn, encourages them to explore the site further.

This idea of a follow button has already been brought up. But the idea of a survey combined with a custom feed at the beginning could really help the new user feel at home right off the beginning. This way it is not flooded with irrelevant post they don't care about.

Email Notification

The growth hackers behind Pinterest also took advantage of email in order to help it go viral. By enabling all notifications via email by default, it kept people engaged with what was going on in the "private club".

Conclusion

We can all learn from the success of Pinterest and the growth hacking they've used to "get over the hump". Please upvote if you believe this is valuable insights SteemIt can benefit from.