AMAs are consistently among the most popular posts on reddit. Celebrities, experts and interesting people from around the world log on to reddit every day to offer themselves up for questions from the reddit community. Most AMAs serve as marketing opportunities and are used to promote and event, project, or media release.
In March, we helped podcaster Jen Briney plan and execute a reddit AMA. The AMA turned out to be a huge success and we are profiling the entire process here so you can replicate it for yourself or a client.
How to spot a good reddit AMA client
The first step to holding a successful reddit AMA is finding the right client. The best candidates for an AMA are people that can offer value to the reddit community in one or more of the following ways:
1. Notoriety – A celebrity or high-demand person can offer value to the reddit community simply by showing up and answering questions. AMAs can be a very revealing and intimate Q&A and the reddit community appreciates celebrities that play ball.
2. Expertise – Experts and highly-accomplished individuals need not be known to have a successful AMA. Sharing a high-level of expertise with the reddit community is a valuable offering.
3. Extraordinary experiences – Anyone that has experienced a uniquely tragic or improbable event can offer value by opening up about that event to the reddit community. These AMAs are often very interesting because the reddit community is good at asking unique and probing questions.
Why Jen Briney was a great reddit AMA candidate
Jen Briney has a small audience for her podcast (The Congressional Dish) and she is not a celebrity by any means. However, Jen was able to offer value by sharing her expertise. She reads hundreds of congressional bills every year and researches them to connect the dots between lobbyists, corporations, and politicians. This expertise made her uniquely qualified and a very interesting to the reddit community.
Preparing for Jen’s reddit AMA
A top AMA requires preparation and a commitment from the AMA candidate to learn the reddit platform. Although Jen had little reddit experience prior to her AMA, she was committed to learning the platform so she could avoid making beginner mistakes. A live AMA walk-through was conducted a few days before the real AMA to ensure Jen was comfortable with the platform.
We also planned ample time for Jen to answer questions during the AMA. Many AMAs fail to reach their full potential because the AMA candidate can only commit 30 minutes or 1 hour of their time. Jen planned for a total of 4 hours of time to dedicate to answering questions.
Jen’s Flawless AMA Execution
No matter how good a candidate is and how well you plan for an AMA, it all comes down to execution. Many celebrity AMAs have flopped because the AMA candidate provided poor responses or only answered a limited number of questions.
Jen’s execution of her AMA was near flawless. She answered questions for over 10 hours. Yes, 10 Hours. Not only did she answer a ton of questions, Jen provided well-thought responses that encouraged further engagement. Also, all of the Top questions were answered by Jen, avoiding the cardinal mistake of not responding to highly upvoted questions.
Results of getting an AMA to the frontpage of reddit
Jen’s AMA was so well received that it made it to the front page of reddit. This is a rare feat for a non-celebrity and it proved to have a dramatic impact on increasing Jen’s audience. Here are the outcomes from Jen’s AMA:
- The AMA submission had a total score of over 5,000 (95% upvoted) and had over 3,000 comments.
- The AMA was the 4th most popular AMA submission in the past month.
- Jen netted over 800 new Twitter followers, a 60% increase.
- CongressionalDish.com was flooded with traffic on the day of the AMA, with over 15,000 visits. Her previous record for traffic in a single day was 250 visits.
- Her latest podcast episode has over 20,000 downloads. Previous record was 3,000 downloads.
- Jen received almost $1,000 in one-time donations and signed up 12 new paid subscribers. These numbers are typically what she receives in an entire month.
TL;DR
AMAs are a great way to contribute value to the reddit community and promote something to the reddit community. Good AMA candidates include those who are well-known, experts in a specific field, or have extraordinary experiences. Every successful AMA requires a commitment to proper planning and execution. Jen Briney had unique expertise, prepared for her AMA, contributed tons of value with her answers, and had great results that took her podcast, The Congressional Dish, to the next level.
