💡 Idea alert: create shareable ‘brag templates’ to boost signups

Hey there,

Welcome back to another edition of Bootstrapped Growth. 👋

‘Brag’ templates can be marketing magic! It’s content that is shared voluntarily by users, with the dual effect of improving their personal brand and celebrating your product.

Table of Contents

• 🚀 Strategy

• ⭐️ Extra Tips

• 🛠️ Resources

Thanks for reading. Let’s jump in!

🚀 3 Examples Of ‘Brag Templates’ In Action

1) Make Visual Trophies

Goodreads' (social book cataloguing platform) annual reading challenge generates a shareable end-of-year graphic template displaying books read, pages read, and favorite genres.

This book grid format is a visual ‘trophy case’ of literary accomplishments. It has become a natural driver of engagement as friends can see actual book titles versus simply numbers. Seeing friends' reading achievements inspires others to set their own goals and join Goodreads to track progress.

Takeaway ➡️ Use visual grids of accomplishments (e.g. book covers, completed courses, project thumbnails) to create content that users want to share as conversation starters.

2) Make Shareable Stories

‘Zombies, Run!’ (running app with audio stories) wraps runs as completed ‘missions’ in a playful zombie apocalypse narrative. Users can share mission completion graphics with a fun story context (e.g. Mission 47: Escaped 200 zombies, collected medical supplies, ran 5.2 miles). Users post mission completions because they're entertaining even to non-runners. This expands viral potential beyond core fitness audiences.

Takeaway ➡️ Frame achievements as shareable narratives versus displaying numbers only. This can make standard achievements feel special and worth sharing.

3) Purpose-Driven Achievements

Users can plant virtual trees which grow when they stay focused using the Forest (focus and productivity) app. Users get a shareable graphic showing their ‘forest’ of completed sessions and focus times. User achievement is linked to real trees planted through the app’s partnership with non-profit, Trees for the Future.

This brag template has a strong dual achievement: environmental impact and personal productivity. The message is ‘I’m making a difference while improving myself’.

Takeaway ➡️ Tie individual achievements to collective good. Users can show personal progress as well as social impact so that sharing feels purpose-driven rather than merely ego-driven.

⭐️ 4 steps for building a brag template system

Step 1: Identify ‘brag metrics’. This could be time saved, projects completed or messages sent, for Saas tools. Examples for learning platforms include courses completed, learning streaks and total hours.

Step 2: Design a template library including 5-7 variations. There should be templates for celebrating milestones, regular progress, achievements and one-off ‘surprise and delight’ (e.g. setting personal records).

Step 3: Automate delivery with strategic focus on timing and appropriate delivery channels. Consider in-app notifications, emails, push notifications and dedicated dashboard sections.

Step 4: Make sharing easy. This can include one-click downloads, direct social media share buttons, and fast copy-to-clipboard options.

🛠 Useful Resources

Try out Google’s free reading experiment Lumi, for academic articles. Useful features include clickable references and summary of main points.

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