Reddit Playbook for Content Virality

PLUS: Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce Wedding (PR Case Study)

Reddit Playbook for Content Virality

Wonsulting is a career consulting platform that reached a large audience by reusing content that already went viral.

The founder, Jerry Lee, found proven posts on Reddit and built experiments around them. One key source was Angelina Lee’s Reddit post, "This resume got me an interview!" on /r/recruitinghell, which went viral. It concluded that FAANG companies and notable universities make it easy to get an interview.

Jerry Lee noticed that bold and humorous job application experiments attracted massive attention, so he built experiments that used the original post as inspiration while adding his own twist.

Repurposing Content for Maximum Impact

Jerry Lee repurposed someone else's Reddit post into a YouTube video and a Twitter thread for his AI resume builder, ResumAI, using his own twists.

Experiment 1: I Applied to 100 Jobs as Kismma D. Nhuhts (YouTube Video)

This experiment tested whether recruiters actually read resumes. For the test, the creator built a fake resume using his own resume builder, chose the unusual name "Kismma D. Nhuhts," and included many fake descriptions and jokes.

The resume targeted Product Manager roles and listed top-tier companies like Google, Amazon, Instagram, and even Stanford University. It also featured absurd bullet points and achievements, such as a fictitious project named "Amazon Dating."

The resume was used to apply to 100 Product Manager jobs in the US, with each application taking only about one minute. Before launching the full experiment, a recruiter reviewed the resume. She initially approved it after scanning it for 5 seconds but then expressed shock when she read the ridiculous details.

Kismma D. Nhuhts Resume

The results showed that the resume received a surprisingly high number of interview requests. In the first week, the campaign generated 36 replies—6 interviews and 30 rejections—with notable interest from companies like Reddit, MongoDB, and Robinhood. The experiment confirmed that recruiters often focus on major elements of a resume, such as company names, job titles, and bullet points, rather than reading every detail.

It also highlighted that brand name recognition plays a strong role in landing interviews. The test proved that a simple, structured resume template can work well, even when the content is intentionally absurd.

Experiment 2: Here's what I've learned about Resumes (Twitter Thread)

This experiment got him 16.2 million views.

Kismma D. Nhuhts Twitter Thread

He essentially repurposed 2 of his own videos—"Exposing Recruiters w/ Hidden Eye Tracker" (1,073,103 views) & I Applied to 100 Jobs as Kismma D. Nhuhts (160,062 views)—into the Twitter thread.

Across these experiments, the campaign brought over 16.3 million views in total. Wonsulting’s approach of reusing proven content with fresh experiments not only drove significant engagement but also boosted the adoption of their resume builder tool, ResumAI.

Subreddits focused on resumes, such as /r/recruitinghell and /r/resumes, offer plenty of content fodder that makes these experiments replicable.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

Hack for ads and social hooks too.

Humans need relevancy. And what better way to speak relevancy in fewest words than mentioning the year. Adding just the year increases conversion rates (proof).

2/

Most paid ads that are unprofitable don't use these things (graph at the end of the tweet):

  1. Funnel (59.9%)

  2. Multiple Payment Options (58.2%)

  3. Email Drip For Non-Buyers (47.9%)

  4. Multi-Step Checkout (42.5%)

  5. Copy Optimized For A Specific Persona (35.6%)

  6. Remarketing For Abandoned Cart (33.4%)

  7. Use Of Video (26.8%)

  8. Long/Descriptive Landing Page (21.5%)

  9. Use Of Influencers On Landing Page (17.7%)

Do all these 9 things and you'll increase your chances to make the ads profitable.

Note: The numbers aren't in order of effectiveness, but just that those are the most common elements in the most profitable paid ads.

3/

You would stop using these products when you realize how companies use psychological tactics to increase retention. There's a reason Marc Zuckerberg's kids aren't allowed to use Instagram. The same was true for Steve Jobs kids. Jobs didn't let them use an iPhone.

The creators of these products know its a potent drug.

One important lesson is Netflix changed the auto-play from 10 seconds to 5 seconds only after they had trained their viewers to expect an autoplay.

This is exactly how change happens slowly. In India, most people don't have the habit of paying for digital goods online so all the big services like Spotify, Kuku FM, and others are trying to get them to pay something. Once the habit is formed, then they can increase the payment. Currently it is extremely cheap to train the masses into paying something for digital products.

Rabbit Holes

What’d ya think of today’s newsletter? Hit ‘reply’ and let me know.

Do me a favor and share it in your company's Slack #marketing channel.

First time? Subscribe.

Follow me on X.

More Startup Spells 🪄

  1. How Tweetscrape Built a $5K MRR SaaS Business in 120 Days (LINK)

  2. Underground SEO Hustle (buying backlinks to Reddit posts) (LINK)

  3. Pity Marketing on TikTok skyrocketed this app on App Store (LINK)

  4. Sabrina Ramanov's Perfect SaaS Retention Strategy (LINK)

Reply

or to participate.