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The Magic Formula Behind Going Viral On Reddit

Have you ever wondered why a photo of a cat or video of a dancing baby goes viral on the internet for no apparent reason? You may be at work, on Facebook, or talking with a friend when someone drops the line, “Hey, you gotta see this video.” Next thing you know, you and everyone you know are stopped dead in their tracks to watch its magnificent glory, only to leave you moments later wondering what just happened.

That kind of video is everywhere. No matter how hard you try, you can’t escape it. If you are like me, you may assume that these videos blow up by accident. That there is no magic formula for producing “viral” content.

Brian Swichkow, Adweek’s “reddit marketing expert,” thinks otherwise.

Brian built his business, Ghost Influence, an online community driving 7 million pageviews a day on Reddit, by cracking the formula behind how viral happens. His community, composed of people like you and me, is able to go into any market in any niche and make content go “viral.” According to Scott Stratten, the president of Un-Marketing, a “viral” moment happens when you achieve a “greater reach than your own. Viral isn’t a number, viral is simply going farther than you can reach.”

Some of his past wins include: making a girl on Tinder world-famous by generating 25 million impressions to her profile picture in 72 hours, creating an online app where users register to receive the most “absurd email to give in a bar”, generating 11,000 pageviews and 564 signups in the first 30 minutes, and building his ex-fiancé’s dog a YouTube channel with 6,800 subscribers and 3.8M views.

I caught up with Brian on this week’s podcast episode here, where he shares all of the details on how viral happens:

Brian’s journey started in 2013 when he decided to run eerily targeted facebook ads to prank his roommate… for three weeks. Every few days his roommate would log in and see an ad revealing intimate details that only someone like a girlfriend or his roommate would know. After his roommate was understandable super freaked out, Brian ran one last ad saying, “Ever feel like your roommate is creating Facebook ads targeted to a niche of just you?”

Notably one of the best pranks ever. After sharing the story with people, Brian decided to write this article as his first blog post to document the whole thing and posted it to Reddit. Seventy-two hours later it had garnered 450,000 views.

Not only was it a great story but it was also great content. Brian carefully dissected piece by piece how he did it so, if you are a marketer, like me, you could learn about Facebook ads from reading what he did, while being super entertained.

When I asked Brian his secret, he shared, “the key is to execute something unnecessarily well. You have to be committed to the joke or whatever you are doing. When I launched my ex-fiance’s dog’s YouTube channel, I never broke character once. Every time someone would comment I would respond only as the dog. When you do this, people pay attention and that is what makes you stand out.”

Since launching the facebook prank article Brian has become obsessed with learning how Reddit works and how viral happens. He has found that “the key is to better understand what communities deem to be of value and how you can be the one to create or deliver that to them. It’s a bit like language immersion. By breaking down the structure of the platform and the psychology of the message in an accessible manner you will quickly become fluent.”

Want Brian’s formula for making viral happen? Here’s how:

Step 1: Curate or Create Valuable Content

Reddit is a community platform where people follow topics that anyone can relate to. Unlike brand platforms like Facebook or Twitter, where someone subscribes to see all of your content, on Reddit if you don’t add relevant value to the conversation happening in the community (aka subreddit) you won’t get any traction.

Step 2: Speak The Native Language

Reddit is composed of over 9,000 communities (called ‘subreddits’) with each subreddit having its own dialect inside the community. Think about talking to people on the East coast versus the South. If you don’t say words like “soda or pop” you will seem like an outsider and create a barrier.

Step 3: Give Before You Receive

Think about Reddit like a relationship. You need to nurture it and let it grow before you ask for favor after favor. On Reddit before you share a post, make sure you are commenting, sharing your opinion, and adding value to the community before expecting something back in return.

Step 4: Don’t Do A Hit & Run

The most traction on Reddit comes from engaging in the comments and discussion happening after you post. It would be a tragedy to get the entire formula right, post in the right subreddit with the right language and then not engage with the people talking about it. You will leave thousands of potential views and traction on the table.

Step 5: Enjoy Your Rewards

Collect the traffic rewards from following the above framework that you can use over and over again to blow up content time and again.

If you want to win a free 1 hour consulting session with Brian ($1000 value) listen to the podcast for details. Then enter to win here. Brian has made this offer exclusively to Unconventional Life readers and listeners.

February 28, 2018
How One Cofounder Launched AcroYoga And Why She Walked Away From Her Global Success
“The moment where you accidentally start a global movement at 1 a.m. in a San Francisco loft.” That’s what you’ll hear when Jenny Sauer-Klein tells you how she cofounded AcroYoga back in 2003.

Jenny met her cofounder Jason Nemer, an elite gymnast with an extensive background in circus training, at a party and instantly bonded over their shared passion of movement. She was only 25 and at the time, and taught yoga and circus arts at after-school programs in Oakland, CA. Less than a month later, the pair launched AcroYoga.

AcroYoga is a dynamic practice that fuses acrobatics with yoga and healing arts. It involves carefully synchronized movements between partners and cultivates trust, connection and playfulness. Practitioners span across six continents, totalling in the millions worldwide.

(I recently interviewed Jenny for my podcast, Unconventional Life. Listen to Jenny’s podcast episode here.):

When you ask Jenny about the beginning of AcroYoga, she’ll tell you that she never expected it to turn into a global movement and business. The first few years weren’t easy. As Jenny shares,“It wasn’t an intellectual discovery. It was a very active, in the world, making money as we went discovery of exploring what this thing is.”

And, she didn’t go all in at first. She kept side jobs and maintained steady cash flow until she was mentally ready. For her, it was a process to see, feel, and believe that a movement was possible and that she had to be the one to usher it into the world.

Flash forward to 2012.
The risk paid off. From the outside it seemed like Jenny had made it. AcroYoga had spread to several continents, hundreds of teachers had been certified in the practice, and practitioners were numbering in the hundreds of thousands. But from the inside perspective, Jenny wasn’t happy.

She found herself tired of the lifestyle, constant travel, and the work it took to catalyze communities around the world and then coming home only to feel really alone. She would wonder, “Where are the people who aren’t my students? Who are just my friends?” She then realized she wanted more. She wanted to build a life with someone and to get the essence of AcroYoga (“trust, connection, playfulness”) out to a different group of people, like those in companies and organizations.

When Jenny realized she wasn’t 100% committed to her business, like she had been before, she knew in order for AcroYoga to stay healthy and the community and the company to thrive, she had to walk away.

To let go of her role and status, her identity that was wrapped into everything she had built, proved to be the hardest decision she’s had to make. And in the process of selling her half of the business to her co-founder, she learned to trust she could leverage all the connections, life experiences, and what she had discovered over the last 10 years into something new.

What she realized was, “To see something through a complete life cycle—from ideation, to birth, to growth, to sustaining, and then to let it go… is incredibly powerful and empowering as a businessperson. I feel like I have so much more to offer, and it’s given me immense freedom in terms of not being identified with the form that is coming through me.”

Jenny has shown that belief to be true over and over again in her latest work, Play on Purpose, which helps new teams to accelerate creativity and collaboration through playful games and exercises. This initiative lets her provide strategic learning and development to companies and organizations, in playful, embodied engaging ways, proving that training doesn’t have to be dry and boring to be truly effective.

Jenny’s story is instructive for millennials who worry that their early success may box them in for the future. The takeaways?
1. If you can do it once, you can do it again. As an entrepreneur, you get to make it up as you go along.
2. Don’t be attached to the form of expression that is coming through you. Finding “your thing” requires experimentation, tweaking and tuning the dial, playing with the knobs of happiness, and not being afraid to make adjustments, even if that means letting go. Sometimes that sweet spot will last for 10 years or sometimes it will be a few months before it is time to adjust again.
3. Your creations never dies, it just transmutes and transforms into the next thing. You never lose the life experience that you gained from trying something, or the connections you make, all of that stays with you and you leverage that into the next, and the next, and the next project. Just go for it
4. Trust your own creative well, it will never run dry. Find the balance between offering and listening. Putting something out and not only paying attention to how it is received but also how you feel in the doing of it. You will feel it when it is right, trust in that feeling and let it guide you in your decision making.
If you want to win a free copy of Jenny’s course “Rock Your Workshop” ($500 value) that takes you through the process of designing interactive events in 7 days listen to the podcast for details. Then enter to win here. Jenny has made this offer exclusively to Unconventional Life readers and listeners.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com.
February 28, 2018
How One Millennial Started The ‘Facebook Of Cannabis’ And Got Invited To Richard Branson’s Island

It’s not every day that Richard Branson invites you to his private island.

Especially after you were almost kicked out of an emerging tech competition for promoting your new “Facebook of Cannabis.” When cannabis companies weren’t even allowed in part of the competition.

Meet Isaac Dietrich and Stewart Fortier, two mid-20-something entrepreneurs that set out to change the world through tech–one pot smoker at a time. The pair met in high school and rejoined after Fortier finished college, where he majored in economics and religious studies. Dietrich skipped college while honing his skills on political campaigns, such as Virginia state Senator Jeff McWaters and Congressman Scott Rigell, and tech startups in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area.

One night in April 2013 Dietrich was smoking in a friend’ apartment and and thought to himself, “What if we could create a safe space to post photos of ourselves right now?

A few weeks later, Dietrich shared the idea with Fortier, who had been teaching himself software development on the side. The two began working on the project in their spare time at night and on weekends. Eventually, Dietrich convinced him to leave his prestigious job in Washington D.C. to go all-in.

Thus, MassRoots was born. MassRoots is a social network to share cannabis-related photos, stories, and articles. With over 725,000 active users on their app since they launched in 2013, MassRoots is the world’s largest and fastest-growing community for cannabis enthusiasts.

Listen to Fortier’s podcast episode:

Their startup boasts a handful of private backers, such as Doug Leighton, one of the cannabis industry’s most active investors, and Shmuel Tennenhaus, former VP of Marketing at Big Fish Games accreditation in top news publications, and aims to be the first cannabis technology stock traded on the Nasdaq.

If you ask Dietrich and Stewart Fortier, they’re creating a movement.

Sir Richard Branson also seems to think so. Here’s how it happened.

Last month, MassRoots was announced a top 10 finalist in the Extreme Tech Challenge. This competition, which awards innovation and big ideas, grants the top three startups an opportunity to pitch to Branson himself and other exclusive investors at Branson’s own private Necker Island. MassRoots secured a top 10 spot and was invited to Vegas to pitch at Consumer Electronic Show (CES).

Hearing a cannabis company made the top 10, several event sponsors like Dell Computers went into an uproar. Dell said in a statement to Bloomberg, “Our goal with programs like this is to provide computers to influencers who create positive impact through technology. In this instance, we declined to participate because one of the companies in the contest did not meet our criteria.”

Soon after hearing the news Dietrich received a call from one of the event organizers. Dietrich retells: “I had no idea what was going to happen next, and if we were going to be allowed to present at CES because of it.”

However, the Extreme Tech Challenge refused to give into the regressive thinking of sponsors like Dell and allowed MassRoots to compete. After all the companies presented, the judges announced the Top 3 and MassRoots didn’t make the cut.

Insert Branson.

Moments later a video appeared of Sir Richard Branson himself, inviting all the top 10 companies to stop by Necker Island and meet him personally. “Be prepared to kite-surf and jump off my favorite cliff,” said the billionaire. Both Dietrich and Fortier were speechless. In one moment they thought it was all over. In the next, an opportunity of a lifetime. This is what five minutes in the life of a millennial entrepreneur looks like.

Their story teaches us three principles to follow when paving your own non-traditional path to success:

1. You are the exception to the rule, always

Even though Dietrich and Fortier didn’t make it into the top three, they still got the coveted invite to Necker Island and became the only cannabis company to present on the main stage of CES… ever. When you believe in yourself, and what you are doing, other people will get on board. The lesson? Doors will open where they were once closed

2. Success in 2016 is not linear

Traditional definitions of success used to come only after taking the right steps, in the right order. Go to college; get a degree; get a good job; have a good life. For Dietrich and Fortier, success came when they took the “wrong” steps in the “wrong” order — like entering a tech competition that prohibited their industry in the semi-finals. The lesson? Be daring. Break rules.

3. Your biggest supporter may not be your first

Create a vision, embody that vision, and allow it to evolve. If you find fundamental disagreements with one of your backers like how Dell did with MassRoots, that’s a good sign. It means you now have the space to bring on another supporter than can fully get behind you and your vision like Branson. The lesson? The right people will find you. Those that are not in alignment with you or your vision will naturally remove themselves. You don’t need 100 fans you just need one.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

February 28, 2018
Unconventional Life: How Millennials Succeed On Their Own Terms

Millennials aren’t interested in mastering just one skill or one career. Ask a young person what they do for a living and it will sound something like….at the moment…I code, I blog, I freelance, I work at a startup, I want to make a difference. Millennials are chameleons. Constantly changing shapes while looking to add more skills, knowledge, and enhance to their repertoire.

That said, it’s no surprise that Global Industry Analystshas valued the online learning and course industry at over $107 billion as of last year. That’s because almost anything you want to learn can be found online, and that’s where millennials are turning.

The era of 30-year-long career paths with one or two companies has come and gone. Two years is the median average a millennial spends in the same job according to a Payscale Report. And for good reason, too: there are a million and one ways to make money today, while doing work that is purpose-driven and what you love. New careers are being invented every minute. Like the emerging tech scene in the cannabis industry or YouTubers taking home an annual seven-figures.

The path to success is no longer linear and, now, you can create literally anything you want and be paid for it.For me, that reality became clear in 2011.

It was my senior year of college at the University of Colorado Boulder. I had just launched my first online business, selling feather hair extensions to salons I would get from a fly fishing shop. The idea came out of a just-for-fun project of dying and fastening long rooster feathers in my hair. Soon, others began asking for them. People loved it and so did I, so I decided to put my passion project online. But I didn’t know where it would go. I had no experience. No idea how to build a website, how to get customers, how to set up a merchant account, etc. So I did what any millennial in my situation would do: I googled it.

Several days, over 20+ hours, and a few false starts later… I was live. It took exactly 8 hours to make the first sale and I couldn’t believe it. In the following months, it took off. Feathers became “the summer fashion trend in 2011” for women across the U.S. and then Canada, Europe, and Australia. I couldn’t keep inventory in stock.

Even my dad, who didn’t believe me when I first said I wasn’t getting a job after graduating, eventually came around. He knew I was blazing my own path and that I couldn’t go back.

It was the start of my non-traditional journey. And that is what this blog is dedicated to. It’s where I’m going to share the stories of other millennials, like myself, following their own non-traditional paths. The route that is, in my opinion, becoming more common and more rewarding every day.

No longer will my generation do the “right things” like getting good grades, getting into a good college, and getting a steady job be the sole path. Finding our path requires more and shows that a new model for success is emerging. Innovative thinking, creativity, problem solving, and belief in yourself are foundations of this new paradigm.

Every week, through this blog and my podcast “Unconventional Life,” you will hear new examples that model where millennials are finding and pursuing their distinct passions. My hope is that you will hear stories like theirs and my own, and know that you are not alone.

This blog and podcast is for you: if you have an idea, a passion, a dream that you want to create. Even if you are just beginning or haven’t started yet. This is your resource to take the next step.

Welcome to the family.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

February 28, 2018
7 Unmistakable Signs You’ve Got An Entrepreneurial Mind
It’s true—entrepreneurship isn’t cut out for everyone.

It requires a rare kind of tenacity and independence, a willingness to initiate and persevere through doubt and uncertainty.

While entrepreneurship will test you, it can also be incredibly rewarding. I’ve experienced my own journey as my single most powerful interface for personal growth.

If you’re considering entrepreneurship and you think you’ve got what it takes, I’ve created a list of seven traits that you can be sure will serve you well in this fast-paced environment.

To help me create the list, I consulted fellow entrepreneur Adam Rivietz, the co-founder and CSO of world-leading influencer marketing firm #Paid. #Paid connects top influencers with top brands including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Audi, Airbnb, and Visa using an artificial intelligence algorithm. Its database empowers over 15k influencers across 105 different countries to monetize their content and communities.

On the latest episode of my podcast Unconventional Life, Rivietz opens up about what’s made him personally successful. Read on for our list of seven unmistakable signs you’ve got an entrepreneurial mind to see if entrepreneurship could be for you.
1. Your Gears Began Spinning Early. One common denominator of nearly every successful entrepreneur I’ve spoken to is that the gears of their “business mind” began spinning at a very young age. Designer eyewear brand Ellison founder Aristotle Loumis launched a “chores” business at age ten where he agreed to do his friends’ chores three times a week for $7 a visit. Word for this too-good-to-be-true service quickly spread beyond his circle of friends and soon, he had enough clients to make $500 a week. “My family didn’t have the most growing up but we prided ourselves on the fact that we worked so hard,” he says.
2. You Know How To Spot Trends. Entrepreneurs are constantly taking the pulse of their surroundings and looking for ways to satisfy rising demands. I remember in the summer of 2011 I noticed a wave of girls in my area wearing feathers in their hair. I decided to buy thousands of dollars worth of hair feathers from the fly fishing shops in my area to sell to salons online. Within weeks, my gut instinct turned out ot be right; all of the fly fishing shops in the midwest were out of stock of feathers and I suddenly had a five-figure business on my hands.
3. You Think On A Big Scale. Where a “rational” or “practical” mind might seek to avoid risk and play on a more manageable scale, the entrepreneurial mind sees grand potential. Case in point—Rivietz’ model for #Paid was tested on just one influencer before he expanded his service to tens of thousands. His first client was a girl he knew from high school who amassed 75k followers in a year. “We reached out to her and said, ‘we want to be your talent agency, let us help you.’ When we got her paid we said ok, our idea is validated now let’s find more influencers. We reached out to 700 more influencers on Instagram who had an email in their bio and within one week 500 of them said they were interested,” Rivietz reflects.
4. You Surround Yourself With Motivators. In the famous words of Tim Ferriss, “You are the average of the five people you most associate with.” Successful entrepreneurs know that having negative influences in your life can powerfully detract from your vision. Rivietz says, “You want to surround yourself with tailwinds, not headwinds. When a plane flies, it can cut a lot of time if it happens to get tailwinds that push it in the right direction forward. Headwinds make the plane take longer to get to its destination. Surround yourself with tailwinds—people who are gonna support you and motivate you—and you’ll reach your goal quicker.”
5. You Know How To Leverage Relationships. The average consumer is four times more likely to buy a product when referred by a friend. Great entrepreneurs live by this principle and are able to leverage the power of social networks to sell their products. Zuckerberg’s Facebook spread like wildfire because it let its users take care of its referrals. Likewise, Rivietz’ #paid monetizes the relationship between influencer marketers and their audiences.
6. You’re A Rapid Executioner. One of the skills I emphasize at my business accelerator programs for entrepreneurs is that of rapid execution. You wouldn’t believe how many people wait an extraneous amount of time to get in action around the things they want to create. The mark of a true entrepreneur is that they’re willing to say “yes, our doors are open for business,” far sooner than most would. This doesn’t mean they’re brash; on the contrary, they’re calculating the opportunity cost of waiting too long. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve whipped up a sales page on a night’s notice; that’s because entrepreneurs follow the 80/20 principle and seize the day.
7. You’re A Visionary. Entrepreneurs are experts at dreaming up ways to make things more efficient. Where others see limitations, they see possibility. Jobs’ famous iPod innovation with its “1,000 songs in your pocket” struck 2001 by surprise. According to entrepreneur Zach Benson, being a visionary means having conviction that you can make what you desire a reality. “Lifestyle by design is real,” he says. “I work with hundreds of influencers on Instagram. People are actually living these lives even though what you see on Instagram seems impossible. I always dreamt of living this lifestyle… Fast forward today I have made it into a reality.”
Enjoyed this post? Check out more of my tools to create a life by your own design.
February 2, 2018