How to Promote a Telegram Bot: 9 Ways to Get Your First 100 Users
Most Telegram bots fail for a boring reason: nobody finds them. Building the bot is the easy part. This guide covers nine practical ways to get your first 100 users, how to tell which ones work, and the mistakes that get bots banned from groups.
- Fix the first 60 seconds of the experience before you promote anything.
- Use deep links so you know which channel each user came from.
- Be useful in communities instead of posting links. Spam gets you removed.
- Track return visits, not just sign-ups: retention tells you if the bot is worth promoting.
Think in a funnel
Every bot loses people at each step between discovering it and sharing it. Promotion only pays off if the steps after discovery work, so know where your drop-off is before you spend effort on traffic.
9 ways to get your first 100 users
1. Nail the first 60 seconds
Before promoting, press Start on your own bot as a stranger would. Does the welcome message say what the bot does and what to tap next? Can a new user get a result within a minute? A confusing first screen wastes every visitor you work to bring in.
2. Write a clear name and description
Your name and the description shown before Start are your landing page. Lead with the outcome ("Convert voice notes to text") rather than the technology ("AI-powered multi-modal assistant").
3. List it in a bot directory
People actively browse and search directories for bots, and a listing gives you a permanent, indexable page that search engines can find. Submit your bot to Kiver: paste your t.me link, choose a category and your bot gets a public page with votes and a shareable URL.
4. Use deep links to track sources
A link like t.me/yourbot?start=reddit passes a start parameter to your bot. Give every channel its own parameter (letters, numbers, underscores and hyphens, up to 64 characters) and log it, so you can see which source brings users who actually stay.
5. Be helpful in communities
Find groups and forums where people ask for what your bot does. Answer questions properly first, mention the bot only where it is genuinely the answer, and read each group's rules. Dropping links is the fastest way to get banned.
6. Build a channel for updates
A small public channel gives you somewhere to announce features, share tips and collect feedback, and it lets users follow you without having to open the bot.
7. Add sharing to the product
Let users share a result, a referral link or a "send to a friend" button. If your bot supports inline mode, using it in any chat shows the bot to everyone in that conversation.
8. Publish useful content
Write the guide your target user is searching for: a tutorial, a comparison, a template. Content brings steady, free traffic over time and builds trust before anyone opens the bot.
9. Try paid ads only after retention is healthy
Telegram has its own ad platform, but paying to send people into a leaky funnel just wastes money. Run ads once users come back and your cost per returning user makes sense.
What to measure
- Start rate: of people who open the chat, how many press Start?
- Activation: how many get a first useful result?
- Return rate: how many come back the next day and the next week?
- Source quality: which deep-link source produces users who return?
Mistakes that hurt growth
- Spamming links in groups, which gets the bot and you reported.
- Buying fake users. They never return and make your numbers useless.
- Sending too many broadcast messages, which makes users block the bot.
- Promoting before the bot is reliable. Downtime on launch day is hard to recover from.
Next steps
Put your bot where people browse for bots. Launch it on Kiver, then look at how other makers present theirs in the bot directory. New to building? Start with how to create a Telegram bot, and if you want to earn from it, read how to make money on Telegram.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my first users for a Telegram bot?
Polish the first-run experience, list the bot in a directory like Kiver, answer questions in relevant communities, and share deep links so you can see which source works.
What is a Telegram deep link?
A link in the form t.me/yourbot?start=parameter. When someone opens it and presses Start, your bot receives the parameter, which you can use to track the source of each user.
Can I buy users for my Telegram bot?
You can, but purchased users rarely return or pay, and they distort your metrics. Real, relevant users from communities and directories are worth far more.
How long does it take to get 100 users?
It depends on your niche and effort. Bots that solve a specific problem and are listed where people search tend to reach their first 100 users much faster than general-purpose bots.
Should I use Telegram Ads to promote my bot?
Only after your bot retains users. Ads send traffic fast, but if the first-run experience is weak you pay for visitors who leave.
