Limiting myself to 20 posts on Reddit using 2 unique accounts (10 posts each) during the 3rd quarter of 2012, I set out to prove the value in understanding how and why things trend online. Content marketing is sweet…
Going into this experiment, I knew the demographics and ‘understood’ the trendy Reddit Audience (been avid Redditor for couple years). I made note of the underlying content theme/emotional hooks.
July 2012
Title: Found this on my windshield today. Good people rule.
Content theme/hooks: Good Samaritans. Randomness. Funny imagery. Related to similar experiences for most people.
(The note was actually real - I sensed it would trend and fit well into my content philosophy so I used it for one of my 20 posts)
2049 karma
12,197 up votes
10,148 down votes
369 comments
970 point top comment
657,306 image views
September 2012
Title: 15 years ago my mom made me take “glamour shots”. She sent me this today.
Content theme/hooks: Everyone had/knows of bad glamour shots. Picture is provocative. Controversy.
1539 karma
7,995 up votes
6,456 down votes
244 comments
219 point top comment
547,267 image views
Title: Photographer snuck this gem into my cousins wedding album.
Content theme/hook: Nicholas Cage always trends if included in witty way on Reddit (wrapping your own picture frame around a proven trend) Puzzling/Wheres Waldo factor. Funny humor. Douche factor.
982 karma
5,172 up votes
4,190 down votes
282 comments
196 point top comment
344,597 image views
(back to back front page posts in 24 hours)
Title: My friend won’t approach cliff edges because he says the risk isn’t worth it. This is how he looks over, every time.
Content/theme hooks: Fear of heights. Related to friend. Made fun of friend. Death.
2722 karma
39,763 up votes
37,041 down votes
3275 comments
2,401 point top comment
1,169,296 image views
#1 post on all of Reddit
Overall stats for quarter from Reddit experiment:
Top performing post (cliff edge) was #1 all of Reddit for 6 hours
4/20 posts made front page of Reddit
20% success rate (posts that hit front page)
65,127 total upvotes
57,835 total down votes
4,170 comments
2,718,466 image views
Total time spent on project (aside from taking pictures): about 20 minutes to post images/witty titles.
I calculated a less than 0.1% chance of posts (content) making the front page of Reddit. 1/1000 chance. (Not sure if my calculations are spot on - it is probably even tougher than that)
Odds of reaching the front page dramatically increase if you understand how and why content trends. The post with most engagement touched on the fear of heights. The picture wasn’t necessarily earth shattering, but the title and sense/emotion conveyed spurred a lot of interaction.
Overall, pretty happy with the results. 50% content, 40% title and 10% timing makes a successful post. (obviously for breaking news/trending events timing is everything - my focus was on content that could be leveraged at any time)
Here are the 2 Reddit accounts used:
ZackBigDog
Gladiator_Kitty
Update: Front page of Hacker News and Featured on BetaBeat. Wooo
Update 11/27/12: Apparently Reddit mods didn’t like the fact that I gave away so much insight… can’t post anymore from those two accounts. lol
