kostja94Install Community Forum
Pick your agent. Every command is ready to paste.
npx skills add kostja94/marketing-skills --skill community-forumThe open skills CLI detects your agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and 70+ more) and installs to the right folder. Add -g to install globally.
01
Install it
Run the command above, or upload the folder in Claude.
02
Ask naturally
Describe the task. Your agent loads community-forum when the request matches its description.
03
Name it if needed
If it does not trigger, say “use the community-forum skill”. In Codex, type $community-forum.
The skill itself
SKILL.md
Channels: Community & Forum Promotion
Guides forum promotion, community invitation, and vertical community marketing. Community-led growth (CLG) costs ~90% less than paid acquisition with ~3.2x higher customer LTV. Indie Hackers delivers ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%; HN and Reddit require sustained engagement. For cold start planning (first users, launch channels), see cold-start-strategy. For indie hacker strategy (first 100 users, Build in Public content framework, Indie Hackers tactics), see indie-hacker-strategy.
When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1-2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.
Initial Assessment
Project context: Read root {project}.md when present and load only the modules relevant to this task. Without Contextus, use available project material or user-provided facts and ask for missing information; do not create a parallel context system.
Identify:
- Goal: Leads, community growth, brand awareness
- Platform fit: Indie Hacker, HN, Reddit, Discord, vertical forums
- Timeline: One-time launch vs sustained (4-6 months for Indie Hackers)
Forum Types
| Platform | Audience | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Indie Hacker | Indie makers, founders | Sustained engagement; authentic journey posts; ~23% conversion vs PH 3% |
| Hacker News | Tech, startups | Show HN launch; ~1,300 posts/day; front page = luck + timing |
| Hackernoon | Dev, tech readers | Content distribution |
| Industry forums | Niche verticals | Discount codes for leads; search "[industry] forum"; post event/activity promotion; see discount-marketing-strategy for code strategy |
| Subreddit-specific | See reddit-posts; 90/10 rule; 29+ posts for traction | |
| Discourse (self-hosted forum) | Community-specific | Owned forum; full SEO/GEO control; see Discourse SEO section below |
Discourse (Self-Hosted Forum) SEO
If you run a Discourse forum (or similar self-hosted forum), SEO/GEO considerations differ from posting on third-party platforms:
| Practice | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Guest access | Allow anonymous reading for categories meant to attract traffic; login-only mode severely limits indexed pages |
| Topic structure | First post carries SEO weight; write clear titles and substantive opening posts; avoid fragmented short topics |
| Sitemap & robots | Discourse generates sitemaps automatically; monitor in GSC as a separate property (subdomain or subdirectory) |
| Content quality | Merge duplicates, mark resolved threads, surface FAQ topics—forum-level quality signals affect crawl and citation |
| GEO | Structured topic titles and well-formed opening posts are extractable by AI tools; forum format with timelines and accepted answers lends credibility |
| Subdomain vs subdirectory | Discourse recommends subdomain for operational reasons; search engines do not inherently favor either for ranking—choose based on infrastructure, not SEO alone |
Hacker News Launch
| Practice | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Title | "Show HN: [Product] - [specific problem solved]"; honest, no clickbait |
| Timing | Tue-Thu; peak US hours; avoid weekends, Mon, Fri |
| First comment | Invitation to engage; product status (beta/MVP); differentiated solution; try-it link |
| Assets | Live demo, GIFs, screenshots, 30-60s demo video |
| Expectation | Traffic spike, not sustained growth; partly luck-dependent |
Indie Hackers Best Practices
- Sustained engagement: 4–6 months; not a one-time launch
- Content: Authentic journey posts; product "sprinkled within"; avoid heavy promotion
- Result: ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%; organic traffic from authentic sharing
For full Indie Hackers tactics, Build in Public content framework (40/30/20/10), first 100 users → indie-hacker-strategy.
Community Invitation Tactics
| Channel | Method |
|---|---|
| Welcome email | Post-signup automation; 4x open, 5x CTR vs regular campaigns |
| Homepage CTA | Button, popup, banner; above-the-fold upgrade CTA |
| In-site placement | High-visibility areas; user-focused sections (e.g. dashboard, settings) |
| Banner | Homepage, carousel below hero |
| Registration emails | Success/confirmation email with community link |
| EDM campaign | Newsletter + banner, interview-for-membership |
| Discord | Post event/community info; founder engagement 2-3h/day |
| Vertical forums | Search "[industry] forum"; post event/activity promotion |
| Post-login form | In-app signup form shown after login; high-intent placement |
Welcome email best practices: One clear CTA per email; front-load value in subject; personalize (signup source, interests); link to best content, events; ask questions (~75% reply rate). Automated 2-4 email sequence.
Vertical Community Channels
| Principle | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Target | Find channels where target audience gathers |
| Niche over broad | Industry-specific subgroups; avoid mass posting |
| Caution | Mass posting risks removal; match community tone; choose wording carefully |
| Examples | Reddit subreddits, Discord servers, Quora, X, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, niche B2B communities |
| Regional | Large communities by locale—event/activity promotion; target vertical channels within each; see localization-strategy |
Community-led growth: Engage before promoting; build trust; contribute value first.
Natural Traffic (Complementary)
| Channel | Use |
|---|---|
| Hashtags | Social tag optimization |
| Facebook groups | Indirect referral |
| Giveaways | Attention and conversion |
Brand Basics (Encyclopedia, Q&A)
| Platform | Use |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | Global; neutral, cited content; brand credibility |
| Quora | Q&A; brand discussion, thought leadership, long-term SEO |
| Stack Overflow | Tech/dev; expertise signals, backlinks |
| Regional | Local encyclopedias and Q&A by locale; verified credentials; see localization-strategy |
Wikipedia: Neutral language, credible references, no promotional content. Regional platforms require verified credentials; prioritize local search share. Free and sustainable; supports long-term conversion while search habits persist.
Output Format
- Forum selection and approach (HN vs IH vs industry)
- Community invitation plan (welcome email, CTA, banner, EDM, Discord)
- Vertical channel targeting
- Content strategy (authentic vs promotional mix)
- Timeline (launch vs sustained)
Related Skills
- reddit-posts: Reddit post copy, subreddit rules
- cold-start-strategy: Cold start orchestrates Product Hunt, Reddit, Indie Hackers, directories; this skill handles forum/community tactics
- indie-hacker-strategy: Indie hacker first 100 users; Build in Public; Indie Hackers tactics; this skill = forum/community tactics; indie-hacker = strategy + context
- directory-submission: Product Hunt, Taaft; different from forum community
- affiliate-marketing: Communities as recruitment channel
- top-banner-generator, popup-generator: Homepage CTA, banner
- newsletter-signup-generator: EDM, welcome email
- localization-strategy: Regional markets (local platforms by locale)
Tips for Community Forum
- • Start a fresh session after installing so your agent picks up the new skill.
- • It is part of a pack with 40 skills. Install only the ones you need with --skill to keep triggers precise.
- • If two skills overlap, mention the one you want by name.
Questions about Community Forum
What does the Community Forum skill do?
When the user wants to promote via forums, communities, or invite users to join a community. Also use when the user mentions "forum promotion," "Indie Hacker," "Hacker News," "community growth," "Discord promotion," "vertical community," "brand encyclopedia," "Wikipedia," "Quora," "Reddit community," "community building," "forum marketing," or "community invite." For Reddit copy, use reddit-posts. For strategy, use integrated-marketing.
How do I install Community Forum?
Run "npx skills add kostja94/marketing-skills --skill community-forum" in your project. The skills CLI installs it for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and 70+ other agents. In Claude on the web, upload the skill folder as a ZIP under Customize > Skills.
Does Community Forum work in Cursor and Codex?
Yes. Community Forum uses the open SKILL.md format, so it works in Claude Code, Claude, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and other agents that support agent skills.
Is Community Forum free?
Community Forum is open source on GitHub under the MIT license. It is free to install; check the license before commercial use.
Who made Community Forum?
Community Forum is published by kostja94 in the kostja94/marketing-skills repository, together with 39 other skills.
