Tapping Reddit as a Fountain Irresistible Content

Creating irresistible content.  It is the greatest challenge of anyone seeking to share a message.  But I’ve got a strategy for tapping an infinite well of irresistible content.  And it is easier than you think.

I am a professional communicator, leading a non-profit.  Every single week, I have to create 3000+ words of original, meaningful content and deliver it in a way that motivates and inspires my team and brings them back for more.  I can’t just go for informative. I am shooting for nothing less than irresistible.

The first rule of creating irresistible content is this question: “Why should people care?”  Why should your target audience care about your message?  Why should they spare the time and attention? Why should they prioritize your content over similar offerings?  If people don’t care, they don’t click.  (Or more probably tap.  But the alliteration is catchy!)

If they care, they are engaged.  If they care, they come back. So, how do we make them care?

We can’t.  You can’t manipulate someone into caring.  And if you could, you shouldn’t. Manipulation always blows up on you in the end. To foster long-lasting organic engagement you need to find out what people already care about.  Find the point of felt need and speak to it.  These are the points where people wish for some better outcome or experience.  For example, a person might feel the need for greater confidence in awkward social situations. (Me. Totally me.)

Speaking to the place of felt need is the core of the most irresistible communication.  Felt needs are the point of engagement. So what we really need is a way to tap into the felt needs of our target audience.  We need a way to discover what they care about. A way to know their struggles. A way to know what they have tried, and what they haven’t.  A way to become the answer to the questions they are already asking.

In other words, creating irresistible content is about FINDING the subject, FEELING the struggle, and FORMING the solution.  FINDING, FEELING, FORMING.  I love me some alliteration.

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you: Reddit.

Yes, that Reddit.  You’ve probably landed there.  At present, it is the fifth most popular website in the US.  It outranks giants like Twitter, eBay, Instagram, and Netflix.  The average visitor to Reddit spends 33% more time on the site than the average visitor to Youtube spends watching ridiculous cat videos, Vine compilations (rest in peace), and the like.  Nothing else in the top 30 comes close to the daily time spent. There is no denying it, Reddit is engaging.

Reddit is essentially a collection of communities that form around interests.  The individual communities are called Subreddits.  Users post pictures and content related to the topic and comment on posts.  The platform’s system of upvotes and downvotes give you an idea about what kinds of information people in the groups find most relevant.

There are nearly 1.2 million different Subreddits and growing! Some are dedicated to subjects as broad as cooking or board games.  But some are oddly specific or obscure, such as a community that jokingly advocates for the rights of toasters.  The point is, there is almost certainly a Subreddit discussing topics related to your content.  Or maybe hundreds. If you want to FIND a subject your target audience cares about, FEEL the struggle they experience, and FORM a solution to the questions they are already asking, Reddit is the right place!

Essentially, you are crowd-sourcing irresistible content ideas from the very group you want to reach with your message.  And because the threads of conversation are ongoing, Reddit is a potentially limitless and perpetually fresh source of inspiration.

So what are you still doing here?  Get on over to Reddit and search for Subreddits that are relevant to your message and your target audience!  FIND the subjects they are already talking about. FEEL the struggles and needs they experience relative to those subjects.  FORM a solution to the felt need, presenting your message as the answer. Let Reddit be your inspiration!

Just remember, if you are going to use any actual content from Reddit, make sure to follow Reddit’s rules and give credit where credit is due!

Now, go FIND, FEEL, and FORM some irresistible content!