How to create developer content that actually gets read

Avoid these mistakes when creating content for developers.

Developer marketing isn’t just about pushing products—it’s about building trust, fostering community, and providing real value to developers. And at the core of it all? Content.

Developers demand substance: They want clear documentation, insightful blogs, practical tutorials, and technical deep dives. So, how do developer marketers create, distribute, and optimize content that resonates with devs?

Let’s break it down.

6 strategies for building trust with developers through content

1. Create and execute a content strategy

Developer marketing isn’t about throwing content into the void and hoping for the best. A well-planned content strategy ensures that every piece—whether it’s a tutorial, case study, or social media post—has a purpose.

A great developer content strategy answers:

• What problems are developers facing, and how can we help?
• What formats do they prefer? (Docs, newsletters, videos, diagrams)
• Where do they consume content? (X, Bluesky, Discord, YouTube, Stack Overflow… maybe LinkedIn?)

Example: If your audience prefers deep technical guides over thought leadership pieces, your strategy should focus on technical blogs, showcasing code contributions, and facilitating hands-on workshops.

Read more: 10 reasons developers hate marketing

2. Oversee content production across channels

Developer marketing isn’t just about writing blog posts—it’s about creating content where developers actually hang out.

Side note: Elena Verna argues in her latest newsletter that “company blogs are no longer worth the investment!” A big takeaway here is that how content is shared is constantly changing, so if you’re in the content marketing game, you need to stay up-to-date and be willing to evolve too.

Back to creating content where developers hang out… that includes:

📖 Website docs and blogs: Clear, well-structured guides that provide value by addressing real developer problems.

📱 Social: Engaging posts that highlight community projects, product updates, and memes (yes, memes are much beloved).

🎥 Videos and webinars: Walkthroughs, live coding sessions, and AMAs.

💬 Forums and community spaces: Active participation in discussions on platforms like Discord, Reddit, and Stack Overflow.

Example: A developer might first hear about your product from a social post, explore it through an article, and then dive into docs or GitHub. Each touchpoint needs to be valuable.

Read more: A proven content strategy that connects with developers

3. Analyze content performance & optimize for engagement

Gut feelings don’t cut it in developer marketing. We have to track and analyze how content performs, iterate, and improve.

Key metrics to track:

📊 Engagement: Are developers commenting, sharing, or bookmarking?

📈 Traffic sources: Are they coming from Google, X, Reddit, or Hacker News?

📚 Time on page: Are they actually reading your content or bouncing after five seconds?

💬 Community feedback: What are they asking for? What’s resonating?

Example: If social content on Kubernetes debugging gets more traffic than AI agents, it’s a clear sign to double down on hands-on, problem-solving content.

4. Maintain consistent brand messaging

Developers don’t like being “marketed to,” but that doesn’t mean branding doesn’t matter. A consistent voice and message across all content builds credibility.

Good developer branding means:

• Clarity: No jargon, just useful information.
• Authenticity: Speak like a developer, not like a sales pitch.
• Consistency: Your blog, GitHub, and documentation should all align in messaging, naming conventions, and style.
  • For tone, I like to choose slight variations across channels (like the blog versus social accounts) that I keep consistent within the channel to keep things creative.

Example: I think developers appreciate that your technical documentation and blogs may be more direct and focused while your social accounts are more fun and humorous.

Read more: 5 key roles social media plays in developer engagement

5. Manage content calendars & workflows

Developer content needs timing and coordination. Whether it’s launching a new feature, running a hackathon, or publishing a big case study, a structured content calendar helps keep things aligned.

A strong content workflow:

📅 Plans content ahead of time (but leaves room for spontaneity)

🛠️ Aligns with product updates, community events, and industry trends

🤝 Involves engineers, developer advocates, and marketing teams

Example: If your engineering team is shipping a big API update, your content plan should include blog posts, newsletters, tutorials, docs updates, and social posts—all timed with the release.

6. Optimize content for search engines (Without sacrificing quality)

SEO for developer content is a delicate balance. You want to rank high on Google, but developers will see right through keyword-stuffed content… but wait, AI has entered the chat.

SEO is changing thanks to AI. And, as Elena Verna argues, you should be focusing your SEO strategy on something AI can’t provide: “real, user-driven, authentic content… and, its not going to come from you, your content team, or a bunch of freelance copywriters. It’s going to need to come from your users.”

As the editorial manager for Red Hat’s owned site Opensource.com for 10 years, I saw that baby grow from a few 100 reads a day to 23 million a month. I can say Elena’s right.

A solid SEO strategy for developer marketing includes:

🔍 Targeting real developer search queries. (E.g., “How to set up CI/CD with GitHub Actions”)

🔗 Structuring content for readability. (Clear headings, bullet points, code snippets)

📜 Writing for people first, search engines second.

🥸 Mixing in user-generated content (UGC).

Example: A blog post on “Best practices for secure API authentication” should be highly detailed, genuinely useful, and naturally optimized—not just a fluff piece stuffed with “API security” 50 times.

Final thoughts

Developer marketing is content-driven, community-focused, and value-first. It’s not about selling—it’s about helping developers solve problems, learn new skills, and discover tools that make their lives easier.

When done right, great content doesn’t just market your product—it builds trust, sparks conversations, and creates long-term advocates.

More from We Love Open Source

• 10 reasons developers hate marketing
• A proven content strategy that connects with developers
• 5 key roles social media plays in developer engagement
• Why AI won’t replace developers
• What is OpenTelemetry?

This article is adapted from “The Art and Science of Developer Marketing: How Content Strategy Drives Engagement” by Jen Wike Huger, and is republished with permission from the author.