How did I get 1,000,000 views in 7 hours?
Scribbled by: @stvmcg
How did I get 1 million views and 2,000 unique visitors to Slingbot in 7 hours?
Yesterday I executed a growth hack I have been developing for about a week linking Imgur and Reddit closely and opening up a firehose of traffic to our startups site.
After starting the experiment within 7 hours we:
1. Drove a total of 2,000 unique visitors to Slingbot.co
2. Obtained 5,000 karma points on my Reddit account
3. Imgur reputation of 3,841
4. 1,000,000+ views (800k from 3 of 10 total memes)
Data backing this post:
My account after the growth hack.
Meme #1 views: 290,713
Meme #2 views: 370,340
Meme #3 views: 157,368
Slingbot’s real time Google Analytics at the peak.
How did I do this?
simple.
I didn’t promote.
The main concept behind this hack is to NOT promote your startup directly. Use your link as a signature.
You will not succeed if you come across as “pitchy” or “salesy.”
People on Reddit and Imgur are like me, they don’t want to be sold to constantly and just want a laugh, or a knowledge dump.
Lets do this.
Chunk #1
Find 10 memes.
This is the hardest part, mainly because it is one of the only parts of this process that you CAN control. Luck and timing play a large part in this process but people will go to your site if you do everything in the correct order. (while not pitching product)
I chose 10 memes that had been sent to me in the past (via text at least 4 months ago) that originated FROM previous posts on Reddit and Imgur. This is called a repost. (if you haven’t heard that before) You can also find past posts by searching through Reddit and Imgur’s galleries.
Many Redditors and Imgur users frown upon reposts in the community but also many enjoy seeing similar memes pop up time to time.
Chunk #2
Upload onto Imgur.
Background: Imgur is THE photo and Gif sharing platform that has taken over more than 56% of images shared on Reddit.
There is a community within Imgur that is very active and will help with sharing your memes, starting a buzz, and adding credibility before you take on the beast known as Reddit.
Upload your image. Description is everything. Summon your inner “psychotic clown.”
At the end of each description “sign” the description with a link to the site you are promoting.
Note The title and the description are related and have nothing to do with my startup. Again, DO NOT PROMOTE YOUR STARTUP.
Now, share your image to the Imgur community.
This is KEY. Share to the Imgur community before you share to Reddit to build your Imgur reputation (credibility) before Redditors come in to tear you apart. (they will)
Chunk #3
Share to Reddit.
Scientist have studied the phenomena of Reddit and many can’t figure it out. (I am not a scientist, you don’t have to be) This makes Reddit one of the most powerful sources online to plant your startups inbound marketing seeds.
The description of your meme on Reddit is just as important as the description on Imgur. THE TWO DESCRIPTIONS MUST BE DIFFERENT. Link the two based on the content of the meme you chose.
The description on Reddit must be related to the meme BUT when the viewer sees the meme, the title has to create some kind of humor. (this was done in the “funny” subreddit)
Look at descriptions as if you are telling a joke. You have the intro, and the punchline. Think of Reddit as the intro, and Imgur as the punchline.
Making your description on Reddit a funny compliment to your Imgur description will get 10x the upvotes. (upvotes are Redditors way of saying I like this.)
My descriptions:
Meme #1
Reddit: Keep it classy
Imgur: Miracles happen.
Meme #2
Reddit: Props Bro
Imgur: Nice Bro
Meme #3
Reddit: When I’m on a date.
Imgur: First year of a relationship
DO NOT MENTION YOUR STARTUP ON REDDIT.
This growth hack worked for us under the “funny” subreddit. This process can work for you as well, if you make your memes funny, and your descriptions even funnier. (eyes on your description are important because they are where your link is)
I uploaded 23 images on Imgur, and only chose 10 to share to Reddit. Make sure you use at least 10 for this experiment. Reddit and Imgur have “time limits” on you when you can start uploading images to make sure you are not spamming.
Be patient and wait 15 minutes between each of your uploads onto imgur.
Reddit has time limits as well, but both sites are alike in that when you start building a better reputation, you can start cranking images out as soon as you can say SLINGBOT! (shameless plug there)
With a karma ranking of over 5,000, I can upload images with limited time constraints. This helps you upload more memes and continue to drive STEADY large amounts of traffic to your site.
Moral of this hack, build your reputation on both sites so you can keep the snowball rolling.
After a while, you will be posting images constantly with your link signature promoting organic sharing, and traffic using the Imgur and Reddit firehose.
Thanks for sharing,
@TheSteveMcGarry
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