Essential remix tips: 9GAG shares 5 elements of a winning remix
Essential remix tips: 9GAG shares 5 elements of a winning remix
March 23, 2023
Results
In 2 months, 9GAG achieved:
- 850M+ reels plays*
- 48% increase in plays from previous months**
- Best performing 9GAG remix reel**
*19 September - 19 November 2022 on Instagram, according to data from CrowdTangle and Meta.
**Compared to the previous two months (Results provided by the partner).
Results are not identically repeatable and generally expected individual results will differ.
9GAG is one of the largest meme communities on the internet. This leader of meme culture uses its significant following on Instagram (58M+ followers) and Facebook (41M+ followers ) to help amplify humorous UGC content.
In late 2022, the team set out to deploy a Reels-focused content strategy across Facebook and Instagram. The revised strategy was a hit, securing 850M+ Reels plays in just 60 days.
Meta caught up with the team at 9GAG to capture some highlights and learnings as they focused on Reels.
New format, new inspo
"We changed from posting (a range of) video formats to focusing on Reels, publishing more than 130 Reels over a 60 day period,” said Karen Cheng, Head of Social, 9GAG.
9GAG’s move towards short form video opened up a whole new creative opportunity for the team and their collaborators. Traditionally, 9GAG offered followers memes in image format, or longer form video content.
As a shorter format, Reels generated a new stream of content, providing fresh laughs and insights for 9GAG fans. “Reels has helped us discover new talents to work on collabs or sponsored opportunities, we’re also coming up with more of our own ideas." said Karen.
Experimenting with different content types
9GAG followers are, primarily, an international mix of Gen Z and Millennials. When curating the content mix, the team uses audience insights specific to this demographic to identify which memes are likely to be popular.
“With 9GAG’s international audience, it’s essential we choose topics that resonate across cultures, gender and backgrounds. Language also plays a role in curation - memes with no text or simple language are preferred.” said Karen.
During the 60 day focus on Reels, the team experimented with different content types. These included:
- Remix challenges - try your hand at this remix challenge that’s seen 13.7M+ plays
- AR filters - 9GAG fans embraced this AR filter, generating 8.9M plays
- Interactive stickers - this retro poll got fans interacting with 3.1M impressions
- Cultural moments - this reel celebrated Black Cat Day with 6.6M plays
- Remake parodies - this Cantonese remake parody achieved 5M+ plays
- Drawing - check out this illustration with 2.9M plays
- Interviews - watch this interview Reel with 2.9M+ plays
- Evergreen content -awkward conversations never get old, neither does this Reel with 6.6M+ plays
Short-form videos always performed well for our audience. When Reels launched, it perfectly fit our video strategy. We started publishing Reels for two months and saw higher average video views and impressions.
—Karen Cheng, Head of Social, 9GAG
Creating viral moments with creator's content
Inspired by the participatory nature of Reels, the team created a fun remix reel challenge, using creator's video as the source of the remix.
9GAG launched a Finger Trick Remix Challenge, the video went viral and became one of the brand’s best performing Remix Reels with 13.7M+ plays
5 elements of a successful remix challenge.
Karen noted these elements contributed towards its success:
- Low effort challenge. Anyone, anywhere could participate in this remix - the low barrier to entry meant more fans were willing to participate.
- It looks easy, but… The Finger Trick Remix Challenge looks easy but it’s truly challenging! This made the challenge engaging.
- No faces, no rehearsals. This remix didn't require any preparation - no need to practice or even show your face.
- Clear call to action. The simplicity of the call to action meant there was no confusion about what to remix.
- Fun fails. The ease of filming, combined with the fun of failing, meant the remix could be shared no matter the outcome.
New to Remix? Check out this step-by-step guide.
With Reels, we get to collaborate with new creators who are passionate about Reels and discover new content types that work for our audience. We also started to create our own Reels and brought our ideas to life. We see Reels as the major video format on Instagram now.
—Karen Cheng, Head of Social, 9GAG
