Step 3: Mine Online Communities for Pain Points

Goal: Discover specific problems and questions your audience is actively discussing but not finding good answers to

1. Set up systematic Reddit monitoring:

   • Visit each subreddit from your Step 1 list
   • Sort posts by "Top" and select "This Week" to see the most engaging recent content
   • Look for posts with high upvotes but few comments (indicates unmet need)
   • Search within each subreddit using terms like "help," "struggling," "can't figure out," "need advice"
   • Expected result: 10+ highly-engaged posts revealing common problems

2. Use Reddit's advanced search techniques:

   • In each subreddit, search for question words: "how," "why," "what," "when," "where" _{reddit search}
   • Filter by posts from the last 3 months to find recent pain points
   • Look for posts starting with "DAE" (Does Anyone Else) or "Am I the only one" _{dae search}
   • Check posts with titles containing "unpopular opinion" or "controversial" _{opinion search}
   • Expected result: A list of recurring questions and frustrations

3. Mine Quora for underserved questions:

   • Search Quora for your trending topics from Step 2 _{quora search}
   • Sort answers by "Most Recent" to find questions with few or poor-quality answers
   • Look for questions with 100+ followers but only 1-2 answers
   • Note questions where the top answer has low upvotes or seems incomplete
   • Expected result: 15+ questions with high interest but inadequate answers

4. Analyze Facebook group discussions:

   • Join 3-5 Facebook groups related to your niche
   • Look for posts with lots of comments but no clear resolution
   • Search group posts for phrases like "still confused," "doesn't work," "tried everything"
   • Note recurring topics that generate heated debates or confusion
   • Expected result: Common pain points that create ongoing discussions

5. Monitor Discord and Slack communities:

   • Join relevant Discord servers or Slack workspaces in your niche
   • Look for frequently asked questions in help channels
   • Note topics that moderators have to answer repeatedly
   • Check pinned messages - these often address common problems
   • Expected result: Real-time insights into immediate user frustrations

6. Document pain point patterns:

   • Create a new tab in your spreadsheet called "Pain Points"
   • Add columns: "Problem," "Community Source," "Frequency," "Current Solutions," "Gap Identified"
   • Rate each pain point's severity from 1-10 based on engagement and frustration level
   • Group similar problems together to identify major themes
   • Expected result: A categorized database of audience pain points

If communities seem too quiet: Look for larger, more general communities in your niche area
If you can't find pain points: Search for "beginner" or "newbie" posts - these often reveal knowledge gaps
If problems seem too basic: Remember that "obvious" problems to experts are often the biggest pain points for audiences

You'll know you're done when: You have a comprehensive list of real problems people are actively discussing

• You've identified 20+ specific pain points from Reddit discussions
• You have 15+ underserved questions from Quora with high follower counts
• You've documented recurring problems from Facebook groups
• Your pain points spreadsheet has clear patterns and themes
• You can see gaps where existing solutions are incomplete or outdated

Ready for next step? Now you'll analyze existing content to find topics where you can create significantly better resources than what's currently available.