The last day of 2014 was WILD. I blogged a post complaining about my year-end stats. They were identical to 2013’s. By 8:00 AM, I had 200 views. I thought the title, “I Predict More Stories About Boobs in 2015,” reeled them in. Nope. Someone shared an old post on Reddit and it went viral!
Singing Happy Birthday Could Be Risky Business – $10,000 Worth, blew up. Why? That post is two years old.
I scrolled down to referrers and Reddit was at the top of the list. Reddit? I’ve never gotten a view from Reddit. When I refreshed my blog, I had over 1000 views! I freaked out and updated the post inviting new readers to my “Home” page.
From there it went to 5000 views an hour for about seven hours and then it tapered off.
You probably can’t see the computer screen with all your eye rolling. “Good for you Susie. Who freakin’ cares.”
Before you click away, read on… You want to go viral, right?
What goes up must come down. I knew the views wouldn’t last.
There are up and down arrow buttons next to the Reddit post. It becomes popular when readers click the “up” button. After the post makes it to the “Front” page, readers who already “read it” hit the “down” button. This makes room for new content. Pretty clever, right?
Do you see how Tsukamori rewrote the title to get people interested?
By midnight, I had almost doubled my entire year’s views. At 11:59 they were 47,232 for one day! Instead of the 49,000 I had complained about, my year totaled 96,504. Ironic or what? There were another 4,800 on January 1st.
The party is over and I’m back to my average views per hour.
You know, I’m all about over-sharing. This is how to go viral in 2015!
1. Create a Reddit account.
2. Add a Reddit share button alongside Facebook and Twitter.
3. Once in a while, write a post that is controversial and informative or funny. While researching the history of birthdays, I found the info about Time-Warner owning the rights to the song.
4. Someone surfing the web may find your post interesting enough to throw into the Reddit vortex, or better yet, a blogging friend could share it. Your title and first 55 words are critical to search engines.
5. I believe in Karma. The more you share, the more likely others will share your posts. The next time you learn something or crack up laughing at a funny blog post, share it on Reddit. There are many categories to choose from.
Note: In the Today I Learned category, the post has to be at least two months old.
Bloggers are blocked for spamming their own posts on that site. I know since I’ve attempted to spam my blog in every Reddit category!
You may be thinking, “I shouldn’t care about stats.” I posted my year in review on Facebook and Gabby Abby said:
I care about numbers. If I didn’t, I’d write in a private journal. Even though most of the views yesterday were hits, readers were introduced to my name and my blog. All exposure is good in the world of publishing.
Tsukamori shared my post on Reddit and on his blog, Awesome Facts. We can take a lesson from him. Why stop at Twitter and Facebook?
Life is so ironic. I’m done complaining. You never know what’s in your future. Maybe this will be your year to go viral!
Happy New Year, Wild Riders!
Have you ever shared a post on Reddit?
Congrats! That is so awesome! And thanks for the tips 🙂
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Thanks! It was more than unexpected given my last post! Ha! You never know. This could be your year! 🙂
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Reddit is a crazy world all right. (Always good to have a thick skin and be able to laugh.)
Congrats on the spike and hope it’s only the first of many. That definitely would put you where you want to be!( and congrats on catching someone’s eye …it’s the right place at the right time and the right person noticing.)
New year’s on a wild ride already!
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It is always wild, but that day was insane! There is always a lot of luck involved that’s for sure. Thanks so much! I hope you get a day of Wildness in 2015!
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That’s way to complicated for me… I’ll stick to Susie’s Parties, a great place to find babes.
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p.s and some pretty good writers.
p.p.s. don’t miss seeing ‘St. Vincent’ with Bill Murray, Naomi Watts (like you’ve never seen her) and Mellisa McCarthy at the top of their game.
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Cool! I will check it out the movie!
I am still learning about Reddit. Next party is January 14th!
Happy New Year, Ted!
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Congrats!
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Thanks Gibber! It was a very WILD day!
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Here’s to many more wild days. 😉
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Thanks! Maybe you’ll have one too! 🙂
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I hope not. 😀
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96,000+ duuuuuude I knew you could top your stats from last year. Maybe if you combine boobs and Happy Birthday you’ll break the Internet 🙂
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I splattered coffee all over my computer screen when I saw your comment this morning! 🙂
I’ll have to try that combo!
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Congratulations! That is an awesome number of visits. I know virtually nothing about Reddit but I’ve heard that a ‘reddit-lanche’ can bury your stats counter for a day or so if it goes viral on the site. Very cool. And wild!
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Thanks Matthew! I’ll try to spread the Reddit love. I’m still learning about how to use it!
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Ok Susie let’s see if you get more Reddit hits when I start sharing them from next week! Bizarrely GFB gets a few thousand hits a year from Reddit. Lovely people!
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You have amazing followers! I never quite understood how to use the site, but I’m getting there.
Happy New Year, Ginger/Jim!
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Reddit is random it seems to me. Too nerdy by half. Best wishes for 2015
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I don’t really “get it” yet. Best Wishes to you and the Fightback Family!
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Wow, wow, wow! This is great! I don’t even know what Reddit is. I’ m so old.
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I don’t think it has to do with age. I know more about social media than many young whipper snappers!!!!
Thanks Peg! When I get back to normal I’ll try sending yours and others into the Reddit vortex!
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How did everything go? Hope you have some truly fabulous pain killers.
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Sounds pretty awesome, indeed. I am sooo far behind with all forms of social media. Redditt is unfamiliar territory, but obviously worth the time. I’ll have to figure out how to fit this one in, too!
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I checked the What I Learned category again and they look down on self-promotion. It’s all about sending others into cyberspace and then getting lucky with reciprocation. I’ve been out of it since I blogged this, (knee surgery), but will dive in when I get up and around!
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Good post about Reddit. I’ve just started to wet my wrinkled feet there and it’s friggin’ confusing…
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It is! The most important thing is to promote other blogs. I tried posting mine so many times and they were never accepted. They look down on spamming. The best thing to do is let bloggers know that you shared their blog and maybe they’ll reciprocate.
I need to get over there again. I was just getting into it and then I had surgery on Jan. 5th!
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Nice article on going viral! I had to laugh about your attempts to spam Reddit, and could relate so much. I feel so out of place in Reddit, that I’m sure ia would be voted, “Worse Attempt to Spam Reddit for 2014”. I discovered Reddit only because someone posted our web site for tshirts and we had our largest two weeks ever. This guy in Sweden that bought one coached me (and warned) on Reddit, but….. And, don’t forget Imgur! What in the world is IMGUR? Ha ha ha! Just another Reddit world. Moral of the story? I was working too much to be in touch with social media. This is a sincere comment and post, so I won’t spam your blog. Thanks for info! Jim
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Thanks Jim!
It was so crazy and ironic after complaining about views. I don’t think I acquired any followers, but at least they became acquainted with my blog.
I was a major spammer and would have to post friend’s urls for a full year before completing my penance. Apparently, we can spam with our own blog 5-10% of the time, but it is frowned upon. That’s amazing about your T-shirts. One post on Reddit is all it takes.
I was hoping the guy who shared my Happy Birthday post would see my interview with the voice of Siri. The fact that she’s real blew me away!
By the way, I searched IMGUR. They are the most viral images on Reddit.
I hope you go viral again!
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