A marketer found a great LinkedIn article buried with 5,000 views.

He spent 20 minutes posting it to Reddit with added context and engaging in comments.

Result: 20,000 additional views—a 493% traffic increase for content he didn't even create.

So, what's the point?

Sometimes curating and amplifying beats creating from scratch.

📍 What It Is

The Strategic Curation Method: Finding valuable content that's underperforming, identifying the perfect Reddit community for it, adding your unique perspective through a text post, and investing 20-30 minutes engaging in the discussion that follows.

🎯 Why It Works

  • Leverage others' expertise - You don't need to be the expert, just the connector

  • Text posts outperform link posts - Adding context and perspective beats dropping bare links

  • Small engagement = massive reach - 50 engaged users can drive 20,000+ views

  • Comment engagement feeds the algorithm - Active discussions push posts higher

  • Native language matters - Speaking each subreddit's dialect avoids rejection

  • Curation is faster than creation - 20 minutes of strategic posting beats days of content creation

Reddit is a community platform, not a brand platform.

People don't follow you—they follow topics.

Give them relevant value and they'll reward you with traffic.

⚙️ How It Works

Step 1: Find Valuable Content Worth Amplifying

  1. Look for high-quality, underperforming content - LinkedIn articles, blog posts, YouTube videos that deserve more attention.

    Not viral hits—look for hidden gems with unique perspectives that haven't found their audience yet.

  2. Evaluate through Reddit's lens - Is this actually valuable to a specific community, or just interesting to you?
    Reddit users smell self-serving content from miles away.
    The bar is high: "write a holiday card so sentimental that it makes every living relative cry tears of joy" level of value.

Step 2: Research the Perfect Subreddit

  1. Don't assume—verify - Instead of guessing r/business or r/marketing would work, search Reddit for related topics.
    What's already been discussed? Which subreddits engaged with similar content?

  2. Study the subreddit's recent top posts - Look at what's currently "hot" (trending).
    What topics resonate? What don't?
    Each subreddit has its own culture and expectations.

  3. Match content to community values - In this case, r/drama (dedicated to "any incident blown entirely out of proportion") was perfect for an article about startup irony.
    The content matched their entertainment preferences, not just their industry interests.

Step 3: Speak the Native Language

  1. Analyze successful post titles in that subreddit - Each community has different title conventions. Some love clickbait (r/aww), others hate it (r/drama).
    Look at the top 10 posts and identify patterns.

  2. Avoid generic corporate speak - Phrases like "thought leadership" or "game-changing insights" get destroyed.
    Use the vocabulary and tone the community already speaks.

  3. Test your title against recent top posts - Does yours feel like it belongs, or does it scream "outsider trying to market something"?

Step 4: Add Value Through Text Posts

  1. Choose text posts over link posts - Text posts take users to Reddit comments with your added context. Link posts go straight to the article. Text posts allow you to:

    • Provide your perspective

    • Summarize key points

    • Frame why this matters to the community

    • Guide the discussion

  2. Write a summary that adds something new - Don't just regurgitate the article. Add context, your take, relevant news coverage, or framing that makes it more relevant to that specific community.

Step 5: Engage in Comments (Critical 20-30 Minutes)

  1. Stay active for the first 20-30 minutes minimum - This isn't "post and ghost." The first respondents guide the conversation, and your engagement signals to Reddit's algorithm that this post is valuable.

  2. Respond thoughtfully to comments - Add depth, answer questions, acknowledge different perspectives. You're not defending the content—you're facilitating discussion.

  3. Think of it like conversation, not broadcasting - "Reddit conversations are like giving oral sex—if you start the process, it's rude not to stay and finish."

Pro Tips:

  • 86% upvote rate is excellent (this post hit 86%)

  • Small engagement numbers (50 people voting/commenting) can drive massive traffic (20K views)

  • First 4-5 comments often determine if a post trends or dies

  • Text posts with added context consistently outperform bare links

  • Each subreddit has "shared memories" (inside jokes, references)—learn them

The Mindset Shift: Stop thinking "how do I get MY content seen" and start thinking "how can I connect great content with the right audience?"

You become a valuable curator, not a desperate self-promoter.

🏆 Real Example

Marketer: Brian Swichkow
Content: Brian Solis's LinkedIn article about Peeple app controversy

The Setup:

  • Brian Solis (Principal Analyst at Altimeter Group) wrote about the irony of Peeple co-founder asking how to "prevent people from posting comments" on a human-rating app

  • Article had ~5,000 views (decent, but not viral)

  • Unique perspective worth amplifying

The Strategy:

  1. Searched Reddit for "Peeple" to find where it was being discussed

  2. Found r/drama had discussed the startup but missed the irony angle

  3. Analyzed r/drama's voice - clear, descriptive titles (no clickbait)

  4. Created text post with title: "Founder of 'Yelp for Humans' (Peeple) asks Facebook how to prevent people from commenting"

  5. Added context in the post body with summary and perspective

  6. Engaged actively in comments for 20-30 minutes

Results:

  • 42 total votes (36 upvotes, 6 downvotes = 86% upvote rate)

  • 30 points total (Reddit's ranking system)

  • 10 comments with 4 from Brian, accumulating 79 points

  • ~50 people directly engaged with the post

  • 20,000 additional views on Brian Solis's article

  • 493% traffic increase from baseline

  • 20 minutes of work total (excluding research)

The Math:

  • Solis's average LinkedIn post: 5,075 views

  • This article after Reddit: 25,035 views

  • Increase: 19,960 views from one strategic Reddit post

Key insights:

  1. Small engaged community (50 people) drove massive visibility (20K views)

  2. Text post with context outperformed what a bare link would have achieved

  3. Right subreddit + right framing + active engagement = algorithm boost

  4. Curating someone else's content still drives traffic (people click through)

  5. 20 minutes of strategic work > days of content creation

What made it work:

  • Perfect content-community match (r/drama loves ironic controversy)

  • Native language in title (clear, descriptive, not clickbait)

  • Added value through text post summary

  • Active comment engagement guided discussion

  • Timing and relevance (posted while topic was still current)

💡 Your Turn Find one high-quality article in your niche with under 10K views. Identify the perfect subreddit for it and post with your added perspective. Reply with what you learned—best result gets featured Friday!

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