🐙 How to build in virality into your product using ChatGPT

How Dropbox grew by 4.1 million users in 2 years

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Greet from the deep,

It's Ole from the AI Solopreneur here, the AI newsletter that's like a Tinder date with Elon Musk:

You never know what you're going to get, but you know it’s gonna be a unique experience.

Also, I love your feedback.

A few weeks back, you told me:

…so today, I’m bringing you a more uncommon, deeper use case of ChatGPT.

By the end of today’s email, you’ll know:

  • The power of built-in product virality

  • How to use ChatGPT to add virality to your products

  • 3 ways to build virality into your product

If you have a service, content, or software business, this will be helpful to you.

Let's dive into it! 🤿

From our partners

3 weeks ago, I went on a call with another AI creator.

He was spitting fire, dropping more Chatgpt hacks than I could handle…..

I furiously tried to write them down, afraid to lose them forever.

The result:

I was a worse listener than my deaf grandpa (while my notes still missed most essential points).

This is why AI note-taking tools like tl;dv are a lifesaver for me.

Let the AI do the work. Get transcripts and summaries faster than I can chug an iced coffee (I need around 3 seconds).

It also works in over 30 languages.

The power of built-in product virality

To make a product viral, you need to design it in a way that it generates:

a) Social shares

b) Referrals

…on autopilot.

Social shares are word-of-mouth on steroids:

You make your users share your product with their network.

Referrals are like the McDonald’s limited-edition Szechuan sauce of the business world.

They:

  • Bring in new customers

  • Lower your customer acquisition costs (CAC)

  • Create powerful word-of-mouth marketing

Just take a look at Dropbox:

They grew from 100,000 to 4.2 million users in 2 years just by bribing us with 500MB of additional storage for each friend we brought in.

(i’ve almost lost friends because of this…)

Oversimplified, you could say there are 2 types of virality:

Active virality: 99% of startups do this. Active virality means that your customers only share your product when prompted to do so in a marketing campaign.

Built-in virality: The holy grail of virality is when you design your product in such a way that it passively prompts users to share it. This is where you wanna be.

Problem is, most startups and solopreneurs don’t know how to make their products viral.

But there’s a simple cure to this…

Prompt: How to use ChatGPT to add virality to your products

This prompt comes up with ideas for viral elements that you can build into your product:

I am a solopreneur and am building a product that [WHAT IT DOES] for [TARGET CUSTOMER].

Brainstorm and develop three actionable ideas to incorporate viral elements into our product. These ideas should:

1) Encourage social sharing: Find creative ways to incentivize users to share your product on their social media platforms, spreading the word organically.

2) Gamify the experience: Introduce game-like elements into your product that engage and motivate users to invite their friends, creating a sense of friendly competition.

3) Foster user-generated content: Implement features that encourage users to create and share their own content related to your product, generating buzz and attracting new users.

Here’s what the prompt told me about making the AI Solopreneur newsletter a more viral product:

These suggestions are actually pretty cool…

If you want me to create an AI “egg hunt” in this newsletter, let me know with a reply!

3 Ways To Build In Virality Into Your Product

Share-to-unlock features

Share-to-Unlock features basically do this:

You offer your customer free access to exclusive functions or content in exchange for them sharing it with their network.

Examples:

  • Special newsletter for all your subs who’ve referred 1 person

  • Free usage credits for each customer your user brings in

Create public user-generated challenges and contests

If you’ve been on Twitter for a month or so, you’ve probably seen one of these screenshotted essays:

They’re from a cohort-based-course called Ship30For30.

For 30 days, the participants learn to write and form a massive accountability group where they post 1 essay per day on Twitter like this.

Today, there are over 35,000 essays like this on Twitter, driving traffic to the company…

If you have an education business, consider if you can make your participants share their progress online somehow.

Forge strategic partnerships

How do you create virality if you offer a high-ticket service?

By giving your clients free McDonald LEGENDARY LIMITED EDITION Szechuan Sau… 🤤

I mean through your network.

When you don’t have a product or course to drive virality for you, your virality comes from your reputation and network.

A few ways to do this:

  • Always overdeliver

  • Jump on 2-3 calls with people in your niche every week

  • Help people

3 WAYS TO BUILD VIRALITY INTO YOUR PRODUCT:

  • Share-to-unlock features

  • Create public user-generated challenges and contests

  • Forge strategic partnerships

Wrap up

WHAT YOU LEARNED TODAY

  • The importance of incorporating viral elements into your product

  • How to put viral elements into your product with ChatGPT

  • 3 ways to build in virality into your product and/or service

I'm in Budapest, eating way too much goulash and pickles.

This is my preparation for a post-AGI takeover world, where pickled vegetables are the only food available in my underground bunker.

Jokes, aside, I LOVE pickles.

Keep diving,

Ole

P.S. What’s your fav food? Let me know!

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