Devrel: All You Need To Know.
DevRel is short for Developer Relations and like the name, it entails a relationship that a company has with the developers that use its products.
Developer relations, also referred to as Developer Advocacy has been described as the technical aspect of PR. They help to improve the relationship between developers and developer tool companies by educating developers on the product, creating contents, building a community where they can interact, help each other, and improve their experience of the product.
The marketing strategy here is to use developers to reach other developers.
IMPORTANCE OF DEVREL
Certain products are built with developers in mind but when marketed, it is done without the target market in the picture. Devrel came to bridge that gap. There's no better person to market a product to developers than someone that understands their needs and can communicate their pain points to the company as well, hence, the need for a devrel.
SHOULD EVERY COMPANY HIRE A DEVREL?
From the description given so far, it is only wise to have companies that offer developer centric products to have a devrel on the team.
If you have products that will be useful to developers and you want them to try their hands on it, then you will need a devrel to build a relationship with the developers and use your products.
Also, if you are looking to expand and have competent developers join your team, it will be easier to reach out to the community that has been built by the devrel to employ one.
AS A STARTUP, DO I NEED A DEVREL?
We have established that if you have a product that is directed to developers, then you need a devrel in your organization. Even much so if you are just starting out. Your devrel is your company's evangelist. They talk about the amazing products you are building, how it will benefit developers and the need for them to start consuming said products.
Microsoft, AWS, Apple, SendGrid, X, Google, Facebook, Twilio and other tech companies started investing in this long before it became a thing. They have developed a strong relationship with developers so the loyalty has been built with them.
TYPES OF DEVREL
Community - The Community Builder
Content - The Educator
The Product - Handled by the Developer Experience Engineer
DevRel Community Builder
This is a devrel whose major role is on building and maintaining developer communities on platforms such as Slack, Discord etc. They ensure that members of the community (in this case, developers) are duly attended to. Their questions are answered, organize webinars, livestream sessions or other activities are held to ensure that value is constantly reeled out to them by the company. This type of devrel focuses majorly on community.
DevRel Content Creator
This devrel seeks to promote and educate developers about the products of the company through writing or speaking formats. These contents can be blog posts, how-to videos, speaking at events, documentations, tweets, podcasts and others.
Developer Experience Engineer
This devrel owns the developer experience of the product. They actively listen to users and learn of their difficulties or ease using a product and goes ahead to make improvement by creating documentations, guides, videos and other materials that will help improve the user experience of that product.