Overnight success is hard to replicate and even harder to analyse. If I asked you to guess the impact of a software engineer’s fun side-project for a word game-loving friend, you’d likely presume little. Especially as the project received no marketing whatsoever.
Yet every publication now talks about Wordle, and over 300,000 daily users have been recorded. So how on earth does this happen?
We rubbed our heads together and put our marketing prowess to good use. Learn how Wordle succeeded where countless others failed and the lessons your business can learn below with Wildfire Marketing.
What is Wordle?
Wordle is like Boggle meets Battleship with a flair of hangman. Users access the web app and are presented with six rows of 5 squares and a keyboard. The goal is simple, guess the word in six tries. When a letter is in the word, but currently in the wrong place, it lights up yellow. When it’s in the right place, it lights up green. Six green letters are needed for a win. Simple enough, but don’t get cocky. After just six failed tries, you’re locked out of the game for the rest of the day.
It’s as addictive as it sounds! But with its simple premise, minimalistic design and complete lack of advertising, it seems like it’d be little more than a little project tucked away on page 10 of Google. So how did we get here?
How did Wordle Succeed?
Much like other viral successes of its ilk, the virality of Wordle may seem random. However, look past the sudden trend, and you can see the building blocks of success on full display.
The reasons behind Wordle’s success have been in front of us all along. We’ve been just one grey letter away. Meet Wordle’s creator, Josh Wardle.
Who is Wardle?
Wardle, better known as “powerlanguage”, is a software engineer for the social platform Reddit. Whilst his Follower list may only be 5,000 strong – Wardle is a bonafide prodigy of interactive content marketing. Before Wordle, Wardle had already created two incredibly successful pieces of web content.
Wardle’s Past Successes
Wardle is the sole creator of Reddit’s renowned April fool’s experiments. The first was “the button“, – which user’s clicked to keep a timer from dropping to zero and earned a new colour for their username based on the time they pressed. If the timer drops to zero, the game is over.
This simple idea lasted two months and developed a fanatic fanbase.
Then came “r/place“, where users got to place one pixel on a massive shared canvas every 20 minutes. This simple concept led to collaborative art, wars and what Gizmodo called a “testament to the internet’s ability to collaborate”.
In Conclusion
The secret to Wardle’s success is straightforward. Wardle’s Wordle stands atop the winner’s circle after leaping numerous hurdles. Wardle understands that the trick to virality is to keep trying, refining concepts to their purest and most effective form. With just a button or a word game, you can set the internet ablaze. The key to success is to try, refine and try again. Marketing gives you the best chance for success by increasing your visibility. Still, a good concept is sure to succeed if you just try!
We hope this guide has given you a unique insight into the keys to Wordle’s success and philosophy to carry your business forward within 2022. If you want to give your business the best chance at virality and visibility this year, trust Wildfire Marketing. Contact the number one SEO Agency in Leeds today.