How HeyGen got its users

Build one clip that proves itself without narration. HeyGen's was a Video Translate output: the same face, the same lip movements, a language the speaker does not speak, cut next to the original. No UI capture, no logo card, no voiceover explaining what you are about to see. The whole piece is the raw output. Test it muted before posting: if a stranger needs a caption to work out what changed, you have a demo, not a format. Rebuild until the output alone carries it.

done whenMute your best clip and show it to someone outside the project for three seconds. If they cannot say what the product just did, you are still shipping a demo.

Stop posting to a calendar and answer instead. @HeyGenLabs on X replies inside strangers' threads with that person's own video, rendered: "Here's your translated video" plus the link and one line naming lip-sync and voice cloning. The asker gets a personal artifact, their followers see the proof in context. Your rhythm becomes a queue, not a schedule: every request you can fill in under an hour, you fill in public, in their thread, not in your own feed.

done whenCount the replies you sent this week that contained a finished output built from the other person's own material, not a link to your site. Under five, there is no loop yet.

Make the free tier the poster network. heygen.com/pricing gives the free plan three videos a month, one minute long, and puts watermark removal in the paid tiers, so the users who pay nothing are the ones publishing marked clips on TikTok and Reels. Set your own free cap at one finished, publishable piece rather than a trial that expires before anything ships. That mark on the output is the whole ad budget.

done whenOpen your own free plan and ask whether it produces one thing a user would post publicly. A trial that expires before anything ships buys you no distribution.

Give people occasions, not a product. heygen.com/tool lists dozens of one-job free tools, each on its own page: AI birthday video maker, make a photo sing, Ghibli art video generator, AI Santa video generator. One input, one output, one reason a normal person makes and posts a clip today. Pick three moments your product already fits, build a page per moment, and let the occasion do the asking instead of your copy.

done whenList the occasions in the last month where someone would post your output without being asked. If you cannot name three, the tool has no reason to be used today.

Hand the format over, then publish the handoff. HeyGen's TikTok posts close with "Go try out Avatar IV and tag us in your creations", community.heygen.com runs a Creator showcase board, and heygen.com/geniverse/ambassador-program takes rolling applications paid in features across their blog, social and newsletter plus event invites, not cash. Name the exact feature to try, name the tag, then repost what comes back.

done whenCheck your last ten posts for one that names a specific feature and asks for a tagged reply. If every post is broadcast, nothing comes back for you to repost.