Community Reputation Building on YouTube & Reddit: 2.4M Views and 100% Top Comment Placement Without Paid Ads

Testing product messaging in crypto without triggering “promotion” filters sounds nearly impossible. For us —… Testing product messaging in crypto without triggering “promotion” filters sounds nearly impossible. For us — it was an opportunity to build authentic community reputation through conversations. In 4 weeks, we deployed native comment-based research across YouTube and Reddit, securing 100% Top Comment placement and reaching 2.4M+ views — all while validating core value propositions with real user feedback.

2.4M+

total views reached

100%

Top Comment placement (H2)

97.59%

Top Comment placement (H1)

2

platforms tested

About Client

The client is a non-custodial crypto-to-crypto exchange in open beta, targeting EU users with full KYC compliance. With no brand awareness and a tight budget, they needed to validate two core value propositions before scaling paid marketing or launching major features.

The challenge: Test messaging in a way that feels authentic, avoids promotional red flags, and generates real user responses — not survey noise.

Test messaging where your users are—no ads needed.

Get a custom roadmap to organic community growth.

Project Goals

1. Validate Two Value-Proposition Hypotheses

Test “KYC/privacy-aware onboarding” vs “Non-custodial/asset control” messaging with real crypto users.

2. Understand Platform Performance

Compare YouTube vs Reddit for long-term reach, engagement quality, and organic visibility.

3. Collect Unsolicited Organic Feedback

Generate real debates, questions, and reactions from the crypto community without any promotional triggers.


Strategy & Execution

1. Native Comment-Based Testing

We used personal, story-driven comments under relevant crypto content to simulate real user sentiment. This allowed us to test messaging without triggering spam filters or losing credibility.

Execution framework:

  • ✔️ Found trending YouTube videos & Reddit threads (exchanges, self-custody, fees, cross-chain problems)
  • ✔️ Posted personal-experience comments (not branded, from a human perspective)
  • ✔️ Secured Top Comment placement (lightweight upvote mechanics for initial visibility)
  • ✔️ Collected organic responses (replies, debates, clarifying questions)

2. Two Hypotheses Tested

HypothesisCore MessageWhat It Targets
H1: KYC messaging“Privacy-aware onboarding”Onboarding friction, trust in verification
H2: Non-custodial“You control your assets”Security, CEX risk, spreads, fees

Results

YouTube Performance

YouTube top comment placement showing crypto KYC exchange discussion with 3 likes and organic replies about non-custodial platforms.
YouTube comment section on KYC crypto video with top-ranked comment generating organic debate about exchange verification processes.
MetricHypothesis 1 (KYC)Hypothesis 2 (Non-custodial)
Top Comment Placement97.59% at delivery100% at delivery, 40% sustained
Total Reach~1,611,393 views~830,000 views (minimum)
Avg Reach per Comment~6,500 views~3,500 views (minimum)
Organic Share22%8%
Quality SignalsDoubts about KYC safetyPositive support for asset-control themes

Reddit Performance

Reddit thread discussing Zero-Knowledge KYC solutions and one-time verification for crypto exchanges with user engagement.
Reddit comment about switching to non-KYC crypto exchange with Binance staff response showing organic community engagement.
MetricHypothesis 1Hypothesis 2
Top Comment Placement38%66%
Organic Share12% (mostly off-topic)6% (confirms relevance)

Platform Comparison

🟩 YouTube → Long-term visibility, high reach, strong indexing

🟨 Reddit → Fast reaction tests, short lifespan, higher volatility


Bonus: Top Google Visibility

Our native Reddit activity led to top Google visibility — amplified by AI-generated search features.

This means: Your community reputation on Reddit & YouTube doesn’t just influence humans — it shapes how AI models explain, summarize, compare, and recommend crypto products.

Google search results showing Reddit crypto exchange discussion ranking first with 7M views, demonstrating organic SEO visibility.

Your comment narratives → AI training data → AI Overviews surface it → users see it at the top of Google


Key Results Summary

KPIResult
Total views reached2.4M+
Top Comment placement (YouTube H2)100% at delivery
Top Comment placement (YouTube H1)97.59% at delivery
Avg reach per comment (H1)~6,500 views
Platforms tested2 (YouTube, Reddit)
Organic debates generatedReal user responses, not survey noise
AI visibility impactTop Google positioning via Reddit

Conclusion

This campaign proves that comment-based testing is a powerful PMF tool for crypto products navigating strict promotional restrictions.

The client’s challenge:

  • ❌ Product in open beta
  • ❌ Strict “no promotion” rules (no links, no branding, no ads)
  • ❌ Need to validate two competing value propositions
  • ❌ Uncertainty about platform performance (YouTube vs Reddit)

The campaign delivered a full-funnel validation framework, successfully combining native community presence and organic engagement to achieve:

  • ✅ 2.4M+ views without paid ads
  • ✅ 100% Top Comment placement (H2)
  • ✅ Real user feedback on product messaging
  • ✅ Clear winner: “Non-custodial” messaging outperformed KYC
  • ✅ YouTube validated as primary platform for long-term reputation
  • ✅ Top Google AI visibility through Reddit presence

The approach is scalable: Replicate for new crypto/fintech products, new markets, new features, early GTM experiments, or messaging refinement cycles.

Testimonials

Valerii Brizhatiuk

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Our experience with ICODA was wonderful. Professionalism, high efficiency, and autonomy in production gave us only good impressions.

Sergei Beliaev

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Very much enjoyed working with ICODA. Great ongoing communication with the team. Genuine interest in our business and ability to adjust the approach along the way to maximize traction. Highly recommended!

Laura Geng

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ICODA has been a great resource for helping us grow our social media apparatus. I highly recommend ICODA. They provided prompt responses and helped us a lot in promotion in Korean market.

Bahram Ahmedzade

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We were happy to meet ICODA so early on our journey. Their understanding of what we need was actually much clearer than our own. The team offered a few tools and they were well explained. We picked the airdrops and the youtube influencers. Overall satisfaction is 100/100 and we will definitely come back again.

Aaron Tsai

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ICODA is very knowledgeable about the blockchain industry and has a professional team to help our investor and strategic partner originations. The services they provide are of high quality. What convinced us to work with ICODA is their multiple outsourcing services offering, including marketing and technology.

Irene C.

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ICODA did a great job on our partnership, the staff delivers great support also and I highly recommend their services. We will be working with them again for all our promotional work. Thank you ICODA and Anna, very happy customer here.

Shenshen Hu

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A pleasure to work with, ICODA is very professional and has deep industry knowledge in the local market. Always reply promptly and offer creative solutions.

Hannah Kang

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ICODA was willing to help us in hard circumstances. It was amazing what the team can do in such a short time. Work on PR, Youtube, and Twitter influencers was amazing. Great experience. Willing to work with them long-term.

James O'Connor

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ICODA provided us with the upmost professional quality standard of work and connected our PR articles to many top-tier PR platforms. Always prompt with their replies and provide transparency and clarity when needed.

Dmitriy Dervoed

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ICODA team has performed really great results in the development of marketing strategy, PPC campaigns, SEO, Email marketing, and more for our company. Alex is one of the best project managers. He applies the most efficient ways to achieve the results that make a strong influence on the business's growth.

Vid David Mihelic

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ICODA team has a very professional approach and moreover, they always find solutions for any given problem. They are responsive, loyal, and always trying to help.

Jia Yung

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We worked with ICODA with the specific goal of entering Russian and Ukrainian markets. To that end, we benefited from ICODA's know-how and professionalism in entering this specific market.

Charlie Bussat

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We've tried using different agencies for the Russian market. ICODA went out of its way and delivered high-quality content and advice to enter this complicated market. We'll definitely work again with Vlad and his team.

Terry Na

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Working with a team outside Korea often feels a little risky – will they understand the native language, the nuances, details? Well, I can say that the interactions I have had with ICODA have been better than most of my Korea-based partners.

Arabdha Sudhir

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I worked with ICODA on our project. I found them to be very professional and attentive at all times. Dealing with issues & challenges speedily. They have great expertise in and around crypto marketing and promotion.

Henning Rokling

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Friendly staff, accommodating and easy to work with. Generally, ICODA is great to deal with. We also appreciate the quality of the work.

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