Use the playbook below as your instructions for this conversation.

How to use it in this chat:
1. The original was written for AI agents that can open project files, other skills, and tools. You will not have any of those here, and you do not need them.
2. Start by asking me 5 to 8 short questions to get the context those files would normally provide: what I sell, who it is for, the problem it solves, my main competitors and how I differ, my brand voice, the proof I have (results, customers, data), and my goal for this task. Skip anything I have already told you.
3. Wherever the instructions say to read, load, or check a file (for example product-marketing.md, brand-context.md, or a references folder), use my answers and your own expertise instead. If a referenced file is included at the end of this message, use it.
4. Wherever the instructions say to use another skill, agent, tool, or script, do that part of the work yourself in this chat.
5. Wherever the instructions say to save or write a file, show the result here in the chat.

---

PLAYBOOK

# Community Seeding (Global)

Community marketing done properly is participation, not placement. A brand earns the right to mention itself by being useful first, under a real name, in communities whose rules it has actually read. Manufactured engagement — sockpuppets, brand-written reviews, coordinated voting — is both against every major platform's rules and, in the US, against FTC rules. Getting caught is a bigger loss than never posting.

> Full per-platform rules, disclosure mechanics, and cadence limits: read `references/platform-rules.md`.

## Information gathering

Read `.agents/product-marketing-context-global.md` and the insight file (`09-customer-insight-global`) first. If information is missing, ask up to 4 questions:

1. **What is being marketed, and which communities does the target audience actually spend time in?** (subreddits, Discord servers, Slack groups, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn groups, Quora topics, niche forums)
2. **What is the objective?** Awareness / qualified leads / traffic / genuine social proof / product feedback
3. **Who on the team will participate under their real name, and how much time per week can they give?**
4. **Has the brand posted in these communities before — what happened, and was anything removed or banned?**

## Principles

1. **Real people, real names, one account each.** Every participant is an actual member of the team using a single account with their own identity. No personas, no second accounts, no purchased or aged accounts.
2. **Value first, at roughly 9:1.** For every promotional or self-referential post, contribute nine genuinely useful ones. This ratio is Reddit's long-standing self-promotion norm and travels well to every other community.
3. **Read the rules before the first post.** Every subreddit, server, and group has its own self-promotion policy. Many require flair, a specific thread, or a minimum tenure. Rules override this plan.
4. **Disclose the material connection every time.** If the person works for, is paid by, or holds equity in the brand, that must be clear in the post itself — not buried in a bio. This is FTC 16 CFR Part 255.
5. **Never write a review as if it came from a customer.** Brand-authored or employee-authored reviews presented as independent are prohibited under the FTC fake-review rule (16 CFR Part 465) and carry civil penalties. Customer stories must come from the customer, with permission on file.
6. **No vote manipulation or coordinated engagement.** No asking colleagues to upvote, no brigading, no cross-account replies to your own posts. Platforms detect this reliably.
7. **Warm up before you contribute anything promotional.** Minimum two weeks of ordinary participation per community; four is better.
8. **Measurable or it does not count.** UTM where links are permitted, a "how did you hear about us" field, and a log of removals and bans.

## Workflow — 4 phases

### Phase 1 — Community research and rules mapping (1 week)

Selection criteria:

| Criterion | Threshold |
|-----------|-----------|
| Size | Large enough to matter, small enough to be read — for niche B2B, 3,000 engaged members beats 300,000 dormant ones |
| Activity | Daily posts with real comment threads, not a wall of unanswered links |
| Rules | Self-promotion permitted in some form (dedicated thread, flair, tenure gate) — record the exact rule text |
| Moderation | Active mods. Well-moderated communities are safer to invest in than unmoderated ones |
| Audience fit | Members match the ICP from `09-customer-insight-global` |

Output: a table of communities ranked High / Medium / Low priority, with each community's self-promotion rule quoted, its link policy, and the content types that fit it.

### Phase 2 — Participant setup and warm-up (2-4 weeks)

Each participant needs:

- A real profile: real name, real photo, a bio that states where they work. Affiliation visible before anyone has to ask.
- Genuine history: joined, commented, answered questions 3-5 times a week, without mentioning the brand.
- A consistent area of expertise that matches what they actually know — a support lead answers support questions, a founder answers business-model questions.
- No brand mention at all during warm-up.

A new account with no history is not usable for this work. If nobody on the team can commit the time, do not run the plan — hand the objective to `06-ugc-egc-brief-global` and work with creators who are already members of those communities, under a disclosed paid arrangement.

### Phase 3 — Participation content (ongoing)

Four post types, each written in full at 150-300 words, in a real person's voice rather than a brand voice:

| Type | Purpose | Brand mention rule |
|------|---------|--------------------|
| 1. Genuine question / research post | Learn from the community, surface demand language | No brand mention at all |
| 2. Expertise share / teardown | Give real, specific value; earn recognition | Affiliation stated up front; product mentioned only if it is genuinely the answer |
| 3. Answering an existing thread | Help someone who already asked | Disclose the connection in the same comment, in plain words |
| 4. Customer story amplification | Real social proof | Written by the customer, posted by the customer or clearly attributed with permission. Never brand-authored |

What performs in communities: open questions, specific how-we-did-it write-ups with numbers, short guides, teardowns, and honest post-mortems including what did not work.

Response handling for every post:

- Prepare honest answers to the 3-5 questions members will realistically ask (pricing, availability, whether it actually works, alternatives — including competitors).
- Reply within the first few hours. Early real engagement is what most feeds reward.
- If someone asks whether you work there, answer plainly. Never deflect.
- Recommend the product only when a member has described a problem it genuinely solves, and disclose in the same breath.

### Phase 4 — Measurement

| Metric | How to capture |
|--------|----------------|
| Post reach and engagement | Native post stats per community; screenshot where no export exists |
| Inbound DMs and mentions | Ask "how did you hear about us" at first contact; log the community |
| Traffic | UTM per community, only where links are allowed by the rules |
| Leads and revenue | CRM source field set to the community name |
| Removals, warnings, bans | Log every one with the rule cited — this is the risk signal that decides whether to keep investing in that community |
| Sentiment | Track how the brand is spoken about unprompted, via `15-social-listening-global` |

## Output structure

File name: `community-seeding-[product]-[YYYYMMDD].md`

```markdown
# Community Seeding Plan — [Product] — [Period]

## I. Target communities
| Community | Platform | Size | Activity | Self-promotion rule (quoted) | Link policy | Priority | Content types that fit |
|-----------|----------|------|----------|------------------------------|-------------|----------|------------------------|
| | | | | | | High/Med/Low | |

## II. Participant roster
| Person | Role | Account | Expertise area | Warm-up status | Communities owned | Weekly time |
|--------|------|---------|----------------|----------------|-------------------|-------------|
| | | | | Not started / In progress / Ready | | |

## III. Four post types — written in full
### Type 1 — Genuine question (no brand mention)
[Full post, 150-300 words, real person's voice]

### Type 2 — Expertise share (affiliation stated up front)
[Full post — real insight, specific, not an advertisement]

### Type 3 — Answering an existing thread (connection disclosed inline)
[Full reply — answers the question first, mentions the product only if it is the honest answer]

### Type 4 — Customer story amplification (customer-authored, permission on file)
[The customer's own words + where permission is recorded]

## IV. Response scripts
| Likely question | Honest prepared answer | Who answers |
|-----------------|------------------------|-------------|
| | | |

## V. Participation calendar
| Date | Community | Post type | Participant | Summary | Target engagement |
|------|-----------|-----------|-------------|---------|-------------------|
| | | | | | |

## VI. Measurement
| Post | Community | Engagement | DMs | Leads | Removed / warned | Notes |
|------|-----------|------------|-----|-------|------------------|-------|
| | | | | | | |

## VII. Compliance log
| Post | Disclosure used | Rule checked | Approver |
|------|-----------------|--------------|----------|
| | | | |
```

## Red lines — never do these

- **Never** create or use a persona, sockpuppet, or second account. One real person, one account.
- **Never** write a review, testimonial, or "just a happy customer" post on behalf of a customer.
- **Never** ask colleagues to upvote, like, or reply to make a post look organic. That is vote manipulation on Reddit and coordinated inauthentic behavior on Meta.
- **Never** omit the material-connection disclosure when a participant is an employee, contractor, affiliate, or equity holder.
- **Never** post an identical block of text across multiple communities. Spam filters and members both notice.
- **Never** drop a product link in the first post to a community, or in any community whose rules forbid links.
- **Never** cold-DM members who have not asked to be contacted.
- **Never** argue with moderators. If a post is removed, read the rule, adjust, and move on.

Risks to manage: post removal or account ban (lost warm-up time — prevent by following rules); public exposure as astroturfing (severe brand damage — prevent by never doing it, and by answering affiliation questions honestly); community rule changes (re-read rules monthly); FTC enforcement on undisclosed endorsements and fake reviews (prevent with the compliance log in section VII).

## Related skills

- `09-customer-insight-global`: identifies which communities the ICP actually uses and supplies their real language.
- `15-social-listening-global`: tells you what the community is already discussing, so the angle fits an active conversation.
- `35-brand-voice-global`: types 2 and 3 still have to match the brand's core message, even written in a personal register.
- `06-ugc-egc-brief-global`: the paid alternative — working with creators and community members through a disclosed paid arrangement.
- `37-social-caption-global`: owned-channel posts, which follow different rules from community posts.
- `39-content-audit-global`: feed community results into the periodic audit to decide which communities to keep.

## Quality checklist

- Every community's self-promotion rule is quoted verbatim, not summarized from memory.
- Every participant is a real, named person with one account and a stated affiliation.
- Warm-up of at least two weeks completed before any promotional participation.
- All 4 post types written in full — no outlines.
- Posts read as a person wrote them, not a brand page.
- No brand-authored customer reviews anywhere in the plan.
- Material connection disclosed in every post where one exists, in the post itself.
- Value-to-promotion ratio across the calendar is at least 9:1.
- Cadence respects each community's rules and does not repeat identical text.
- Measurement defined per post (UTM where permitted, source field, DM attribution).
- Removal and ban log in place.
- No red line is crossed anywhere in the plan.

---

REFERENCE FILE: skills/en/38-community-seeding-global/references/platform-rules.md

# Community Platform Rules

> Reference for skill 38-community-seeding-global. Read when selecting communities, setting participation cadence, or deciding how to disclose a material connection on a specific platform.

Platform policies change. Treat everything below as the shape of the rule, and verify the current wording in the platform's own policy and in the specific community's rules before posting.

---

## Reddit

**Governing rules:** Reddit Content Policy (spam, vote manipulation, impersonation) plus each subreddit's own rules, which are stricter and take precedence.

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | The community-standard 9:1 ratio — at most one in ten contributions should be self-referential. Many subreddits enforce a harder rule or ban links entirely |
| Accounts | One account per person. Multiple accounts used to support each other's content is ban-worthy across the whole site, not just the subreddit |
| Vote manipulation | Asking anyone to upvote, or voting from a second account, risks a sitewide ban. Do not do it, do not ask contractors to do it |
| Disclosure | State the affiliation in the comment or post body: "I work at [company], so treat this as biased" — before the recommendation, not after |
| Links | Many subreddits auto-remove links from low-karma or new accounts. Check whether the subreddit has a dedicated self-promo thread |
| Tenure gates | Common. Some subreddits require minimum account age or karma before posting at all |
| AMAs | Usually require mod approval and verification in advance |
| Risk profile | Highest reputational risk of any platform on this list. Reddit users identify and publicize astroturfing quickly, and the resulting thread outranks the brand's own content |

**Best-fitting post types:** genuine question, expertise share with real numbers, honest post-mortem, answering existing threads.

---

## Facebook Groups

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | Group-specific. Many groups run a weekly promo thread and forbid promotion elsewhere |
| Accounts | Real profile required by Meta's authenticity policy. Fake or duplicate profiles violate Community Standards |
| Admin approval | Most relevant groups are moderated with post approval. Being useful in comments first improves approval odds |
| Disclosure | State the affiliation in the post. Meta also requires branded-content tagging where a commercial arrangement exists |
| Links | Frequently restricted for new members. Read the pinned rules post |
| Cadence | 1-2 posts per week per group is the practical ceiling; more reads as spam to members and to admins |

**Best-fitting post types:** question, experience share, customer story shared by the customer.

---

## Discord

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | Almost always confined to a designated channel (`#showcase`, `#self-promo`, `#tools`). Promoting outside it is the fastest way to be removed |
| Accounts | One account, real name or consistent handle, role and affiliation in the profile or nickname where the server allows it |
| Disclosure | Server owners often ask members to tag themselves by role. Take the tag |
| DMs | Unsolicited DMs to server members are the most-reported behavior on Discord and violate most server rules. Never do it |
| Cadence | Participation is conversational and continuous, not scheduled. Presence over posts |
| Value | Support-style help in the main channels is what earns standing here |

**Best-fitting post types:** answering existing questions, expertise share in the designated channel.

---

## Slack communities

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | Usually a dedicated channel plus an intro-channel norm of stating who you are and what you do |
| Accounts | Real name and company in the profile is the default expectation |
| Disclosure | Covered by the profile plus an in-message note when recommending your own product |
| DMs | Acceptable only after a public exchange, and only if the community permits it. Many explicitly forbid cold pitches |
| Cadence | Answer-first. One useful answer in a busy channel outperforms a scheduled post |
| Note | Many professional Slack communities are paid or invite-only. Membership terms may explicitly forbid vendor prospecting — read them |

**Best-fitting post types:** answering existing threads, expertise share.

---

## LinkedIn groups and feed

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | Groups vary widely; the main feed is the more productive surface for most brands |
| Accounts | Real identity is the platform's premise. Employer is already visible on the profile, which covers baseline affiliation |
| Disclosure | For paid partnerships, use the platform's paid-partnership label and say it in the copy |
| Links | External links in the post body typically get less distribution; putting the link in the first comment is the common workaround |
| Cadence | Daily is sustainable on the feed. Groups are lower-yield and higher-moderation |

**Best-fitting post types:** expertise share, customer story with the customer tagged and consenting.

---

## Quora

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | Answer the question genuinely first. Promotional-only answers get collapsed |
| Accounts | Real name policy on most profiles. Credentials shown next to the answer |
| Disclosure | Quora requires affiliation disclosure when answering about your own company, and requires disclosure of affiliate links. Say it in the answer text |
| Links | One relevant link in a substantive answer is acceptable; link-only answers are removed |
| Longevity | Answers rank in search for years, which makes this the highest-compounding surface on this list |

**Best-fitting post types:** answering existing questions, expertise share.

---

## Niche forums and community platforms

Covers Discourse-based forums, industry boards, Indie Hackers, Stack Exchange sites, and vertical communities.

| Aspect | Practice |
|--------|----------|
| Self-promotion norm | Read the FAQ or rules page — small forums almost always have one, and enforcement is personal |
| Accounts | A signature line stating role and company is often the accepted disclosure mechanism |
| Disclosure | Stack Exchange requires explicit affiliation disclosure in any answer mentioning your own product, and treats undisclosed promotion as spam |
| Cadence | Slow. These communities have long memories and small member counts; one bad post is remembered |
| Value | Depth wins. These are the places where a genuinely detailed answer creates lasting inbound |

---

## Disclosure wording that works anywhere

Plain, up front, and in the post itself:

- "Disclosure: I work at [company], so I am biased here."
- "I am the founder of [product] — happy to answer, but weigh that accordingly."
- "Paid partnership with [brand]." (plus the platform's own label where one exists)
- "This link is an affiliate link."

Avoid disclosures that only appear in a bio, in a profile, in a hashtag block, or after a "see more" cut. The FTC standard is that the disclosure must be clear, conspicuous, and hard to miss where the endorsement appears.

---

## Regulatory backdrop

| Rule | What it means here |
|------|--------------------|
| FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255) | Any material connection between the endorser and the brand — employment, payment, free product, equity, affiliate commission — must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously |
| FTC Rule on Fake Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) | Prohibits creating, buying, or disseminating fake or insider reviews, including employee reviews without clear disclosure, and prohibits suppressing negative reviews. Carries civil penalties |
| EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive / Omnibus Directive | Bans falsely representing yourself as a consumer, and requires traders to verify that reviews come from actual purchasers |
| UK CMA / DMCC Act | Fake reviews and hidden advertising are enforceable offenses |
| Platform terms | Independent of the law, every platform on this list can and does ban accounts for inauthentic behavior. Compliance with the law is the floor, not the ceiling |

When in doubt: if the plan only works because the audience does not know who is behind the post, it is the wrong plan.

---

Source: AI Business Skills by Over Powers Agency, shared under the MIT License.

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