What is Slogging? - A New App by HackerNoon

Have you heard about Slogging? What about Slack Blogging? If you have been hiding under a rock, worry not. In this article, you'll find all the information you need to know about Slogging and how it can save your company's conversations and repurpose them for your company’s content marketing efforts.

Table of Contents:

• What does Slogging Mean?
• What is the New HackerNoon Slogging App?
• App Use Cases
• How to Install the App
• Slogging FAQs

What does Slogging Mean?

If you look up Slogging in a dictionary, you'll find definitions such as:

• a period of difficult or tiring effort
• to work diligently for long hours
• to progress with a slow, heavy pace
• to plod

HackerNoon is turning that definition on its head with a new app called Slogging. Short for Slack Blogging, Slogging makes it easier for teams to save their Slack conversations and repurpose them as blog posts. Slogging makes it easy for teams to collaborate on content, writing articles in a fraction of the time it’d take any one writer to create. 

Using Slack as a conversation platform, we collect valuable thread conversations and turn them into blog articles.  Most tech companies and startups only publish one blog post a week or less. Meanwhile, everyday tech companies have tons of high-quality discussions about topics that could shape the future of the internet. 

These discussions showcase your company's values and the incredible team you have onboard. Lots of useful content is being lost, and companies are not taking advantage of their know-how to propel their marketing efforts. 

A shame, right? Well, Slogging aims to fix this by elevating the conversations you're already having. The future of tech publishing revolves around transparency and distribution. To increase your rate of quality publishing, Slogging will enable you to curate and distribute your best organic internal discussions through HackerNoon’s large tech community, social media profiles, and content distribution network. 

What is the New Slogging App by HackerNoon?

The Slogging App works within Slack, which is a widely-used messaging platform where you can access different workspaces and distinct channels. Once inside a workspace, you can also message anyone directly and start or participate in thread conversations. Below, you can see how different workspaces will appear on your app and the general appearance of the Slack App once you choose one space.

With Slogging, anyone can start a conversation on a topic they find interesting: tech, gaming, programming, podcasts, space, technology, startups, movies, pop culture, you name it. The sky's the limit! In the next images, we'll show you how to start your first thread.

1) Pick the channel you find the most suitable for the topic you want to bring forth. 

2) Click the message box. Start typing. Select the green button to post your message immediately, or use the downward arrow to select a customize posting time.

3) Use the highlighted toolbar to edit your test. You can also add files, images, emojis and identify people on the thread.

4) You'll find your message posted in the areas highlighted, along with any replies to it. You can add your own reactions to messages and any attachments you deem necessary. Wait for replies, @ your team members or other users that may be interested in your discussion to get more responses. Once you think the conversation has reached its end, submit it for publication on HackerNoon.

5) To publish your thread conversation, click the 3 dotted button, which will open a drop-down menu. In there, you'll see a "Create draft Slogging" option. Once you select it, it will automatically create a draft on your Hacker Noon Editor and a notification on Slogging of the success of that operation. Remember, you'll need to be logged in HackerNoon to be able to do this. See what the Hacker Noon drafts page looks like below.

6) Open your draft and edit your text for better readability. You can add a lead image, tags, a meta description and submit your draft for review by clicking on "Story Settings". Don't forget our text formatting toolbar, which can help you highlight your text, include links, add citations, listings and much more. You may also reorder your text and edit your text after receiving HackerNoon editors review. Share the article preview link with your team before publishing.

7) Later, from 2 to 4 business days, our editors will review your tech conversation for publication in Hacker Noon, where your content will be distributed to our millions of monthly readers over 100,000 followers on social media.

Slogging App Use Cases

Slogging was built to repurpose insightful conversations as quality content. If you're a tech, gaming or digital junkie, our platform is perfect to have interesting discussions with like-minded individuals. If you're a company, Slogging can use the conversations you're already having with colleagues and make it accessible to anyone interested in your topic of debate. There are many uses for Slogging, from interviews and listicles to AMAs, getting help from the community, or simply engaging with other people.

How to Install the App in Your Own Slack Workspace

Hacker Noon invites communities and organisations with active Slacks to beta test Slogging. 

If you're looking into becoming part of it, reach out to our VP of Growth [email protected] or fill out this form. You'll then receive the Slogging Beta Testing Agreement to sign. 

Create a "Brand as Author" account on HackerNoon, add our Slogging team members to your Slack. 

Finally, from the link that we send you, add the Slogging app to one of your Slack's channels. 

Upon completing these steps, you can now start making engaging content by adding Slogging to every channel that has threads where you want to publish content. 

AMA channel or any channel where active discussions happen is a good place for Slogging. Consider creating a #slogging channel and inviting your community there, making it a channel to answer any support questions your community might have about Slogging.

Slogging FAQs

What are the benefits of Slogging?

There are so many! Let's start with what Hacker Noon offers you directly.

1. Official Slogging beta testing communities (including startups) get up to 50 bonus Brand-As-Author (BAA) publishing credits in the first year of using Slogging on Hacker Noon. Any Slogging article that your community creates, and publishes as BAA on Hacker Noon, will be completely free up that 100 post limit, which is nearly 2 BAA articles per week averaged over the year. Each BAA article on Hacker Noon usually costs $199, or $100 in bulk, so that is more than $10,000 in publishing credits for you and your community.

2. We also offer complementary cross-promotion. Because we are launching Slogging, and you are early adopters, your brand name and logo will feature in our press releases, news wires, and even on slogging.com in the partners’ section. This is great exposure for you and your brand! 

3. Slogging articles will be getting a lot of love on Hacker Noon.  Slogging content will be eligible for the coveted "top story" spot on the Hacker Noon home page, as well as distributed via specific Slogging newsletters and updates to our subscribers. 

There are other benefits for you and your community, too:

1. Increased activity and participation in your Slack channels
2. Increased public awareness about your community or your business via the promotion of your Slack channel content
3. Increased signups for your slack!

To take advantage of the opportunity for increased signups we suggest putting a link to your Slack community signup form as a call to action (CTA) at the bottom of your Slogging articles published on HackerNoon. You can do this via the dashboard on your Hacker Noon profile.

How do I (as an individual) start making Slogging content for Hacker Noon?

You can create a Slogging article all by yourself, or collaborating with your community! We suggest you start a thread asking an idea, or posting an unusual opinion, and invite input from your fellow Sloggers! Alternatively, you can invite someone (like a guest, your CEO or devs) for a formal AMA.

What sort of account do I create on Hacker Noon to publish my content?

If you are using Slogging as a community, we recommend a Brand As Author Account. Or if you are using it for interviews, a personal account could work best.

You can only connect one Hacker Noon account to each Slack account, but if you have more than one Slack admin, then you can assign different publishing roles to different Hacker Noon accounts.

Find more information about Slogging on our FAQs page: https://www.notion.so/hackernoon/Slogging-FAQ-5b39e8dbf4aa49c7ba5e27f7662b3a56

Reviews from Early Slogging Adopters

What a fun 48 hours the Slogging AMA is. Being asked questions about your business and purpose by a bunch of interested individuals who don’t know your brand yet is a great way to understand a) what people are interested in b) how much you resonate with others and c) check you have clarity on your vision and mission and d) gain visibility. I highly recommend others go through this great experience. 

Bridget Greenwood, Founder @The Bigger Pie

My first interaction with Slogging was Does Love Exist? I remember thinking what a great way to capture a conversation. So when Limarc asked the Den team if we wanted to participate in a Slogging AMA we immediately said, YES! We expected more procedural questions but were pleasantly surprised to discuss the more philosophical drivers that led to the creation of Den. Thank you for having us. We had a great time and really appreciate everyone who participated.

Amanda Prelich, Founder @Den.Social

Final Thoughts

Slogging represents a new way of experimenting and using conversations, utilizing everyday discussions as vehicles to produce valuable content. Whether you're a tech company or a curious individual with a lot to say, why not share your thought on a platform interested in your unique views?  It is a great way of mixing fun banter with brand awareness as it diffuses your brand and voice through readers and online platforms. Reach out to us if you have any queries or need a friend.