✴️ How I'm Making... #4

Personally, I prefer to consume content over audio. Even when I read, I listen to the corresponding audiobook at 2x speed because it helps me retain information. So here’s an audio version of me reading the newsletter, just in case you’re the same way 🙂 

📈 Going Viral - What it took.

Last week, I went viral on Reddit - and made some reviews of people’s companies (link).

A few lessons from my first experience going viral:

• Give, give, give, to get.

• Attention fades rapidly.

• When people want what you’ve got, they will let you know.

What happened?

I’d been grappling with paid ads for a while. First, I tried challenges. I got some good lead costs, but every single one of them (!!) no-showed. Since my goal with the leads was to speak to founders I decided to switch my tactics.

I had an idea, something I’d been toying around with for a while. Instead of spending money on ads, I wanted to try giving it away by buying whatever people were building. For this to work, I would need a platform where you gained immediate access to large amounts of attention.

I chose Reddit. If you’ve ever tried the platform - as soon as you start to talk even a little bit about yourself, you’ll find the downvotes rolling in. Nothing like anonymous little aliens to keep you humble in this world.

Nevertheless, I wrote a simple post, posted it in two forums, and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up to over 400 notifications from about 470 comments (now over 800). What the hell happened?

Why It Worked

People are not stupid. They can tell when you're trying to sell them something. So far in my Reddit journey, I’d been trying to ‘trick’ people into something I wanted them to do. This was the first time that I let go. I had nothing clever up my sleeve. The offer simply aligned three things:

1. What I was willing to give (My $600 ad-spend)

2. The outcome I wanted (Content and engagement with founders)

3. What other people wanted (Sale, engagement, a considerate review of what they were working on)

Once those three aligned, the attention and engagement flowed. Here are the steps to replicate what I did.

• Think about who you want to engage

• Write out what you’re willing to give to them

• Think about the overlap between what you want to get and what they want

What I Did Right

As soon as I saw those responses, I felt like the clock was ticking. I responded quickly to as many comments as I could, to show that I was actually engaging with the commenters.

Next, I decided to give as much information as I could about what I was doing - using “edit” statements to tell people what I was working on and how they could keep track.

Finally, I kept my projects out of the way - I wasn’t trying to funnel attention into anything external from this project. If people liked the video reviews I posted on my Youtube channel, they could subscribe. But there was no CTA.

• Responded quickly

• Documented progress (google sheets link)

• Kept my agenda out of the picture (people are very good at sniffing out BS)

What I Did Wrong

The first post went out to a 1.7M person forum, the second went out to a 3.6M forum. The larger forum got about 50% of the comments. This might have something to do with the highlighted part below.

It could be that just by asking for something in return, the engagement rate dropped by 1/4. Or maybe r/entrepreneur has a lower engagement rate in general than r/startups.

I will have to test this with next month’s posting.

The Outcome

• 3 new members to my community group

• 8 new subscribers to YouTube

• 2 interviews lined up for Youtube channel

• An important lesson on virality

🎁 Small gift for you…

Come join us at our community group! As an early joiner, your membership will be free for life. Apply for exclusive earlybird access below! 💪

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I record all my calls. It just makes life so much easier when you can look back at any call and know what was said. It’s also a great way to generate content.

Fathom is the best free tool I’ve found. Unlimited free recordings + transcripts!

Check it out here.

What’s Next?

I have a few more conversations lined up with potential members. But now that the community is more alive, I will be focusing on making the group as valuable as possible for members. This includes adding in courses, reaching out to VCs for Q&As, and more.

That’s all for now!

I hope you have a great week - take chances. Try the things that feel improbable! They might be just the thing that works.

Cheers,

Ben

Founder: GOM Venture Club

GOM Venture Club | X | Youtube