β¨ volume 6 -- πππ How to Go Viral Overnight in 2020
Marketing lessons about virality, meme & cult culture, and more from It Is What It Is πππ and Stepchickens success
Many social networks we know of today capitalized on existing networks of the built world. Facebook was built around an academic institution, the college. LinkedIn, the workplace. Snapchat, the βhigh schoolβ, and so on.Β
In the last two decades, as global internet usage quintupled, from <1bn total users, to over 4bn, internet fluency followed suit. Creativity moved from presenting our most refined and polished selves, to our most creative selves, and anything staged became undesirable while joking, trolling, and being βrealβ built follower momentum. Through this cycle, meme-ing, the language of internet humor, grew tremendously.
A meme is a digitally-native language, not confined by the limitations of our built world. Its reach is indefinite, and anyone who knows the language has a voice. The last decade of memes have evolved from its base state, recycling funny images with captions to virtually any forum on the internet. In the last few months, memes cycles have accelerated and have evolved to become cult-like in following, gaining incredible momentum in record time.Β
Today, we analyze the latest cult-memes: πππ and Stepchickens, teasing out their growth strategies to better understand how to βhackβ virality.
Before we begin β a shoutout to this postβs co-author and my friend, @dominickmalzone!
Case Study: βπππ It Is What It Isβ
βIt is what it isβ -- what we thought it would be vs what it really is
On the evening of June 25th, 2020, essentially over the course of a few hours, a group of Twitter techies decided to start a meme around the recently-hip emoji βπππβ and the slogan βit is what it isβ. What started off as an in group joke, the meme stirred the interests of thousands, and within 24 hours, πππ.fm became an internet sensation.
Soon after its launch βscreenshots of the appβ littered throughout Twitter, alluding to a product launch competing with the likes of Clubhouse and Snapchat. This was, in fact, a meme. There is no such app.Β
For those who doubted it β they literally spelled it out for us in their codebase.
Forbes, Business Insider, and major news platforms have since speculated what it could be. But little over a day post-launch, over 600K tweets, and 20k+ email signups later, πππ issued its statement.Β
βWeβve done pretty well for a non-existent product. πππ.fm was the top product of the day on Product Hunt (Theranos who?). The website accumulated 20,000 email signups and thousands of tweets sharing the link. We were covered in The Independent and Forbes. We got shoutouts from Josh Constine and Brianne Kimmel. Some folks on Reddit puzzled over who we were. Andrew Chen of Andreessen Horowitz, Shannon Purser of Stranger Things, and Elon Musk may have subtweeted us? The @itiseyemoutheye Twitter and accounts of our teammates were inundated with invite requests. Most importantly, we raised over $60,000 in donations from people who hoped to get special treatment within our fabled waitlist. An anonymous donor has agreed to match the first $50,000 and we would love to work with anyone else who wants to match. Please DM us!
In a strange way, this sort of became an anti-statement against what weβd all seen on tech Twitter. Weβre a diverse, ragtag group of young technologists tired of the status quo tech industry, and thought that we could make the industry think a bit more about its actions. Despite calls-to-action like that βItβs Time to Buildβ essay weβve all read, most of the industry (from product teams to VC) still stays obsessed with exclusive social apps that regularly ignore β or even silence β real needs faced by marginalized people all over the world, and exclude these folks from the building process. As an industry, we need to do better.β
Outside of building internet awareness and a pool of impressive donations to organizations that support Black lives, the movement highlights the importance of building diversity in tech, addressing the βreal needs faced by marginalized people all over the worldβ.Β
You can support by buying merch here: https://shop.itiswhatitis.fm/. All proceeds are donated to organizations that support Black lives. If it still is password-protected, the latest password is βBlackLivesMATTERβ
πππ, we, the citizens of the internet, are proud of you.
Explaining the Meme: βIt Is What It IsβΒ
For those who are unfamiliar with meme culture, hereβs an explanation for where this trend comes from. Thereβs two parts to this meme, which is the beauty of internet fluency when it comes to truly appreciating πππ βit is what it isβ.Β
The visual component of πππ is a relatively niche trend for your average internet user. According to Josh Constine, πππ started first on YouTube. According to Urban Dictionary, it is a βcollection of emojis commonly used to express surprise, shock, anger, or disgustβ.Β
The corresponding slogan is a different meme. βIt is what it isβ originates from a recently popular TikTok trend where when something mundane, slightly disappointing, but not surprising happens, the default response become βit is what it isβ.Β
Combined, this captures the spirit that βshit happens, butβ¦β (and I canβt refrain myself from saying it here) β... it is what it isβ. Another popular meme that captures this zeitgeist is βit really do be like that sometimesβ. Now that could be inspo for your next viral post.
πππ Growth Tactics:
πππ grew bigger than anyone anticipated in 24 hours. With an inherently viral growth loop in place, the meme took off and Twitter retweeted, commented, and engaged with the concept like wildfire. The team βhackedβ virality in the following steps:
Phase I: Know Your βCustomerβ
πππ started off in a group chat, and members changed their Twitter handles as part of a βmemeβ. In VC/Tech Twitter, changing handles have recently become normalized as a representation of who the individual is, and what they currently stand for.Β
Initially, there was no organized call to action, but inadvertently over the course of a single afternoon, a powerful community was built. Friends of friends who noticed the πππ-handles started appending the emojis to their own as well. Those quickest to do so were added to an exclusive group chat, where they were encouraged to keep the momentum going. This was the ground 0: a niche community with tremendous engagement. A βcultβ of sorts.Β
Hours later, members within πππ bought a domain and officiated the trend with its own landing page, a quirky neon site with the slogan βit is what it isβ bouncing across the screen. Simultaneously, screenshots of a potential βappβ, similar to the likes of Clubhouse (a VC Twitter darling) started to surface. Playing off of Twitter VCβs propensity to give emails to anyone to hear about any new deal, the landing page boasted one feature: βgive us ur infoβ.Β
Twitter exploded. Was this the next big consumer app? A chance to get into Clubhouse 2.0? No one really knew. Anyone who asked was told, βit is what it isβ. In retrospect, it truly βwas what it was.β Through the semblance of a new product launch, πππ captured the attention of thousands overnight.Β
Phase II: Continued Engagement Through Cult-fluencingΒ
As the uncertainty of what the βappβ was grew, πππ deployed the following strategies to βhackβ viral adoption:
Once opt-ed in on the landing page, βusersβ were prompted to share the meme on Twitter for βspecial treatmentβ and encouraged to update their handles to include βπππβ
The mass adoption of πππ on handles created a visual demonstration of βsolidarityβ for those involved in the movementΒ
Initial tweets sharing/retweeting the landing page gained instant virality. They were regarded as potential βlottery ticketsβ to gain access to the exclusive βapp.β Soon after, exclusive βinvitesβ followed suit. β3 invites left. Retweet to be one of themβ-type posts raked in massive engagement
A cult-like demonstration, where certain members would reply spam any πππ-related tweets with the phrase βit is what it isβ, creating social value to the exclusivity and being βin the knowβΒ
The combination of these growth strategies created the sensational βit is what it isβ meme overnight (literally).
Case Study: βStepchickensβ
βRise up Stepchickensβ
πππ might have been the latest quirky meme-movement to have gained cult-like internet virality, but it certainly was not the first. Just a few weeks prior to πππ, an app called βStepchickensβ was released and instantly shot to the top of the iOS App Store. But before it clocked in over 100,000 downloads, it started out as just a TikTok profile. Melissa Ong (@chunkysdead), who recently left her job at Google, had been creating quirky, funny (sometimes inappropriately so) videos in her spare time. As her following grew, she coined her following a βcultβ and ran a poll in the comments section of her video to name it. And thus, the βStep chickens cultβ was born.
In less than a week, βStepchickensβ littered across the web. They built an app, a crude video editing tool which was a re-skin of an existing product. Few days after launch, the Stepchickens app hit over 100,000 downloads and reached the app storesβ top 10 top social media apps.
Stepchickens Growth Tactics:Β
Why and how did this Stepchickens cult and iOS app grow so quickly?
Phase I: Set up for Success
Melissa had a passionate following, which she formally βunionizedβ when she released a video announcing the cult name, Stepchickens, and requested her βStepchickensβ change their profile pictures to her face. Within 24 hours, thousands of followers participated in the βmovementβ, and for days, Melissaβs picture was the face of TikTok.Β
This started a snowball effect. People who saw this cryptic, and honestly bizarre profile picture all over TikTok were confused. It even piqued the interest of major publications like the NYT. The Stepchickens cult spread like wildfire.
As the community grew, Stepchickens introduced a video editing & communities app. Once again, it reached virality almost instantly. Within days, it shot through the App Store ranking, landing among the top 10 top social media apps, a spot usually reserved for the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and large social media behemoths of the sort. But instead of true social innovation, the app instead appears to be re-skinning of the app developer, Blink Labsβ original app, Misfits (shown below).
The Stepchickens app is a meme -- but itβs unlike any weβve seen through the traditional channels of photo, video, or audio clips. With Pornhub inspired branding, quirky messaging, and Melissaβs face plastered throughout a (honestly glitchy), reskinned app, itβs a meme-app.Β
Phase II: Add Fuel to the FireΒ
As a former user experience designer for Google, who accidentally went viral, itβs quite impressive how far Melissa has grown the meme-movement. The Stepchickens growth plan was not a one-time hit, and Melissa continued to explore additional channels to fuel community engagement and build her cult following. Some of her other notable growth tactics:
Spreading and creating more confusion by flippantly responding to reaction videos from outsiders seeing the newly adopted, βquirkyβ headshots take over profiles. This solidified the value of being in the βin groupβ and being in the knowΒ Β
Using the platform-native duet feature on TikTok to reach audiences outside of her initial platformΒ
Directly having a call to action (to troll) by establishing leadership in her cult-like following by asking her Stepchickens to boost her profile in a TikTok Star Ranker aiming for spot number "6969β
Understanding the platform algorithm and prompting her following to spread the message on the most viewed videos by βdominating the comment sectionβ of the βfor youβ page (home/discover page on TikTok)
Gamifying cult engagement with βwar zonesβ, which she describes as overwhelming a specific video with commentsΒ
For βstumbled-uponβ virality, Melissaβs tactics are quite impressive and can be summarized through this video compilation. Itβs absolute genius.Β
Summary: Key Takeaways and Commonalities
It wouldnβt be a post from The Learnerβs Handbook if you donβt leave with some high level key takeaways. Clearly thereβs no universal formula for these viral trends. But hereβs what we do know:
Understanding cultural trends: Have a pulse on the latest happenings on your launch platform. Do a #vibecheck
The team behind πππ have been active members of the Twitter tech community for years and knew their VC / tech audience far in advanceΒ
The creator of Stepchickens had spent months on the TikTok Platform, understanding the culture of FOMO and Gen Z groupthink which fueled her cult-following and success
Launching in niche internet communities where involvement & being βin the knowβ is a social currency
By nature of VC and early tech Twitter, being βin the knowβ and being βexclusiveβ are highly coveted traits. Virtue signaling remains unchecked in this community and πππ capitalized on everyoneβs desire to take part in claiming social currency
TikTok users like to be a part of new & upcoming trends. Those earliest to popular trends signal being βin the knowβ, and are often rewarded with more engagement. Stepchickens provided the perfect opportunity to jump into an early and obscure trend. It also allowed Stepchickens to be a part one of the first cult-followings on TikTok
Designing a growth loop & making it obvious: Incentivize cult-like followers to momentarily take over the social platformΒ
πππ flooded Twitter as users signed up on the landing page which promised βspecial treatmentβ and promoted πππ on their profiles. This created a visual takeover of πππ-faces across Twitter feeds for hours on end, generating more engagement and interest in wider communitiesΒ
βStepchickensβ with comments on almost every TikTok video, paired with the notorious neon blue profile picture, piqued curiosity, and created the massive movement we discussed aboveΒ
Honestly, if you got this far, it is 3am and weβre exhausted. Show us some love. Like, comment, and subscribe for more.Β
In the next post, weβll do a deep dive on two companies who have built real businesses utilizing these growth hacks. We will analyze the long-term sustainability of virality and its impact on product launch strategies going forward. Subscribe so you donβt miss it!