Hacker Noon - 📢 Engage Your Readers, newsletterest1

We love fall, but the last thing we want is for you to fall out of your writing habits! 😂 One of the best ways to create content that resonates is by directly asking your audience what they want to see. Today, we’ll explore how to analyze your content and gather feedback through surveys or social media polls.

1. Analyze Your HackerNoon Profile
To start your analysis, check out your most popular stories on your profile page. Look for patterns in topics, tags, and structure—did trending or tech developments influence their performance? See which tags you used and whether they're popular on HackerNoon - you can search them here to see the number of published stories and their average engagement. Also, consider how the format, style, or hook of your top pieces contributed to their success. This analysis will help you cogitate theories on what’s working (and what isn’t).

2. Reach Out to Your Subscribers
As a HackerNoon writer, you have exclusive access to your followers—readers who love your work enough to subscribe to your updates. You can view your followers on the stats page and download a CSV list with their emails, handles, and profile links.

By browsing their profiles, you can better understand your audience—whether they’re professionals, fellow writers, or tech enthusiasts—helping you tailor future content.

3. Craft a Compelling Email
After your research, reach out to your subscribers with a concise, engaging email. Introduce yourself, explain why you're contacting them, and ask what topics or formats they enjoy most, areas for improvement, and what they’d like to see more of. Keep it brief to encourage responses.

To sweeten the deal, consider offering a sneak peek of 2 or 3 upcoming stories you're planning to publish, and let your subscribers vote on their favorite.

Need an example? Use this email copy as inspiration:

Feel free to add your style and personality!

If you prefer to include your questions in a questionnaire format, there are plenty of tools available such as Google Forms, Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Microsoft Forms, Paperform, and others. Here’s a potential format you can use for your questionnaire:

4. Take It to Your Socials
The final step to gauge your audience’s interests is to take the conversation to social media. Choose the platform(s) where you have a strong following or where it makes the most sense to engage your audience about your writing. Then, start a poll. Ask your followers questions like:
- What’s your favorite story of yours?
- What topics are they most interested in reading?
- Have they read any of your stories? If not, give them compelling reasons to start.

Just like with your email outreach, you can share a short questionnaire and snippets of your upcoming stories. Be sure to highlight the best quotes to grab their attention.

Here’s an example of a poll HackerNoon ran to gauge our users’ interests:

Keep it simple and direct. The goal is to understand what topics resonate with your audience while also promoting yourself and your work 😉

Try these tips and share your insights with us 👇

Now, every published HackerNoon story is automatically shared on Threads and X, giving your content double the exposure across platforms. Each post includes your story's meta description, uses the first tag as a hashtag, and, if you provide it, tags your Threads/X handle. It's a great way to maximize your reach and gain more visibility with minimal effort!

Happy writing!
HackerNoon Team