What could come out of businesses using one of the world’s most popular websites? Over recent years, Reddit social media marketing has seen a notable surge in interest. Indeed, possessing the skills to effectively run a Reddit social media marketing campaign has become a valuable asset for employers.
Reddit Social Media Marketing
This guide moves step-by-step through the basics of conducting successful marketing campaigns on Reddit. It explains the jargon used by Reddit’s users (Redditors) and the way the website was designed.
It’s important to determine what type of service the business needs from Reddit and how it can maximise the business or brand’s exposure amongst its target audience.
Reddit social media marketing can help companies increase their direct sales whilst improving their lead conversion counts. It enables budding start-ups and entrepreneurs to keep up with marketing trends, whilst receiving useful and constructive criticism.
Please note: Reddit is strict about its rules and codes of ethics, and in order to flourish within the Reddit community, users have to follow these rules or else they won’t be tolerated.
What is Reddit?
Reddit is an American website which describes itself as the ‘front page of the internet’. It specialises in social news aggregation, content rating and conducting web discussions. The website works with an ‘upvote’ and ‘downvote’ system which determines what content is viral and what isn’t.
Reddit members can post multimedia, external links, text posts and more: fellow Redditors can then vote the content up or down.
Reddit’s CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a post: “The overwhelming majority of content on Reddit comes from wonderful, creative, funny, smart, and silly communities… There is also a dark side, communities whose purpose is reprehensible, and we don’t have any obligation to support them.”
All relevant posts are put together under one, user-created umbrella known as a ‘subreddit’. For instance, there is a subreddit for each topic: science, news, music, art, or photography. Reddit is recognised for having strong moderation on its content; guaranteeing it is a safe, beneficial medium to share information.
In order to get a good glimpse on how Redditors operate, it never hurts to check out helpful subreddits such as r/AMA, r/funny and r/todayILearned to understand the type of humour required to fit into the site’s community.
Reddit Marketing
Reddit is the perfect platform for getting a deep look into what society is thinking. It’s the origin of lots of stories and a convenient outlet for businesses to understand what their target audience needs most.
As explained by Lauren Orsini in How To Host A Reddit AMA: “Reddit’s huge community is the perfect hype machine for promoting a new movie, a product release, or a lagging political campaign.”
Yet, users are only willing to do so under their own conditions – Redditors might be open for ranting about a product or a service, but they won’t tolerate advertising or conducting fake publicity for it.
As said by the co-founder of Reddit himself, Alexis Ohanian, “Pitch tip: Speak confidently about your product, but be able to admit when you need more information and get it to the people you’re pitching quickly after the meeting.”
Reddit Social Media Marketing and Interactions
When compared to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Reddit social media marketing would seem out of place. According to Betabeat in 2013, multinational corporations such as McDonald’s started sharing their branded content on Reddit masquerading as independent users of the website.
However, Reddit’s communication policy is solemnly based on organic content and not self-promotion.
Redditors are more complex than any other ordinary social media user. They value privacy and care for interacting with genuine content solely. Further proof of being privacy conscious, the audience seldom use their real names, instead opting for aliases.
For example, the subreddit ‘Reddit Marketing’ alone has got over 161K subscribers. The /r/marketing section was created by and for marketing professionals who seek advice and have questions regarding the industry. Reddit does not only focus on digital means of advertising and marketing: it also focuses on traditional advertising, including print and TV.
Moreover, industry professionals take into account Redditors’ ideas and methodologies for conducting analytics, enhancing SEO and content as well as strategising for public relations.
The Design and the Jargon
Reddit has no shame in promoting themselves as the platform for intellectuals. So, the website’s design and commonly agreed on language surely follow. As previously mentioned, Reddit is comprised of tens of thousands of communities or “subreddits.”
Let’s assume there’s a subreddit for vintage cars (e.g. /r/vintagecars) – there probably is – where Redditors share the Internet’s best vintage car pictures, GIFs, or videos. The same would go for any given subject, be it the Premier League, U.S. Politics, or HBO’s Game of Thrones fan theories.
New-coming Redditors might find the platform a bit confusing. One should note that the homepage is where are the top trending posts are on the site. Users can sort out the trending posts by recency, controversy level, and more.
Unlike other news aggregation outlets, Reddit doesn’t force newbies to verify their emails upon registering.
The new users would want to do that themselves to build up their ‘Karma’, Reddit’s own measure of counting each user’s comments and post links. This comprehensive guide will discuss the importance of Karma and how users can increase it.
For instance, Redditors use “OP” short for the original poster, when people are commenting on the user who posted the submission. Also, “NSFW” meaning “Not Safe for Work” or in other words, that the post contains explicit content.
Reddit Internet Marketing
Reddit’s well-established variety of marketing and social media Subreddits connects industry professionals all over the world. It creates an extremely active community that is helpful and responsive to others’ questions and ideas. It’s important that Reddit surfers narrow down their searches in order to get the best results possible on the site. Among the most popular Subreddits for marketers include:
Lots of marketers agree that Reddit is the perfect tool to generate excellent social media marketing that will resonate with users and ultimately result in further brand exposure and conversions as well. According to this comprehensive article, these five points will enable brands to conduct successful social marketing strategies with little or no chance of becoming spam.
Firstly, companies should focus on the type of content they generate, and prioritise the kind that can generate more comments and more upvotes.
Second of all, the length of the title matters. Yes, that’s true. Whenever a user is sharing an article, an image or even a video, the length of the title makes a difference.
Next, mixing between the post types is essential. It’s important to mind the type of content used and how they perform posted one after another. For instance, if a Redditor only posts text-only pieces it would be very dull – it is the same with video-only content.
Fourth, working on driving conversations is crucial. It’s the most organic, enthusiastic way to execute good marketing without having a “big brother” tone that will only drive redditors away.
Finally, successful companies know when and where to approach topics – maintaining relevance is essential to any brand’s social media activity.
Who Is Reddit For?
Reddit is a revolutionary sharing site; attracting various segments around the world who are mostly bound by being well-educated. According to Ignite (2011), the main Redditors are predominantly male, aging between 35 and 44 years old. Males from 25 to 34 years old are second dominant.
As per data, their income levels are around £19,000 to £38,000 yearly. The numbers of Redditors from the U.S. (San Francisco, Seattle) and Canada (mainly Toronto) constitute the overwhelming majority of the site’s user base.
Reddit is an information buffet. People around the world use it to tell personal stories that have happened to them, hoping to inspire and motivate readers to overcome their life challenges. Also, it gathers data from various educational sites along with constructive discussion groups that promote critical thinking.
The Target Audience: Redditors
Users report finding the most unusual facts and stories told about historical events, health development or political movements. Aside from sharing tales and seeking marketing advice from professionals, users love Reddit’s photography, music, food, fitness and arts-related content.
Tech-geeks also enjoy ranting about video games (console and MMORPGs), gadgets, programming, smartphones and apps. The site also cultivates good talks around self-help tips as well as international politics.
No matter what users are looking for, they will most certainly find a subreddit that caters to them. And even if not, users are always welcome to create their own subreddits and invite other interested users to participate in it.
Reddit Social Media Marketing: How Do Businesses Use It?
Businesses, especially small ones, commit to Reddit early on in order to establish a reputable name for their brands. Since the site, and ultimately, its target audience, doesn’t like to waste time or chase hare-brained content – Reddit social media marketing offers the perfect platform to make a brand shine.
The golden rule for using Reddit social media marketing perfectly is to understand that the site puts the community first, at all times. Redditors, on the other hand, appreciate being spoken to by individuals, not brands.
So, businesses might need to adjust their strategy for this site before applying the same methods used on other social media platforms.
A great tip is to try and bring value, authenticity, and most of all credibility to the posts created. Users are very active on Reddit. They love frequent posters, respect valid arguments and truly want to share opinions with others in a civil manner.
As said by Sprout Social, “Remember your followers are likely following hundreds or even thousands of other people. If you’re not publishing new content as often as the other accounts out there, it’s easy to get lost and forgotten.”
Following this guide, here are a few examples of how business can use Reddit to promote their work:
Number One: Using Paid Ads
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, brands don’t have to spend tireless hours on determining the demographics of their target audience. Instead, they only select the subreddits that correspond with the business’ nature.
Number Two: Paying Attention to the Subreddit r/deals
Direct sales? Yes, please! Reddit offers it as good as they come. Inside the subreddit r/deals, businesses can easily promote for their products, services, or ideas to potential customers.
Why is this method a success? Simply put, since start-ups and brands are placing their ads and deals in the right section, interested people will follow. No need to use misleading or confusing sales tactics to lure the audience in.
Number Three, Adding Customer Service through Reddit
Using Reddit as an extension of your customer service outlet allows business owners to cultivate their relationship with their consumers by being attentive, responsive to questions and complaints, and providing solutions to their problems.
Number Four, Avoid Cliche Sales Techniques
As previously stated, Reddit social media marketing doesn’t encourage self-promotion in any way. However, the silver lining is that people can endorse their businesses if they help promote the community they are in. In other words, using creative advertising methods can actually impress the Redditor population.
Users won’t mind reading thorough posts or in-depth stories, as long as they are meaningful and helpful in the area they’re interested in. So, don’t be afraid to go for comprehensive, creative content when addressing Redditors.
Number Five, Compose a Great Ask Me Anything (AMA)
AMAs are hip. They make users realise brands care about them. Regardless of how big or small businesses are, the successful ones should always prioritise leaving a good impression on their target audience in r/AMA.
Number Six, Curating Viral Content
Aside from preparing the typical introductory content to promote the business, one needs to put in mind the importance of crafting viral posts; videos, GIFs, images, infographics, and articles that will keep the audience interested for a long period of time.
To guarantee the best exposure for this type of content, make sure to customise them based on the subreddits you want to put them in. Double-check that the posts are tapping the right audience.
Images are perhaps the most engaging type of posts. Indeed, Seconding Sprout Social said: “The most evident example of the power of images for social media are sites like Instagram and Pinterest, which are primarily driven by images. In fact, Instagram has the most engagement of any social media channel.
“It’s not a coincidence that both Instagram and Pinterest were able to gain a lot of traction and see more success than other failed social networks.”
Number Seven, Finding Good Collaborators
There comes a point in each business’s life where they can no longer create and monitor everything themselves. They need experts to help. Looking for great candidates inside the appropriate subreddits can save lots of time. Websites like Freelancers.com, LinkedIn, and Upwork can also be of great assistance.
Number Eight, Keeping Up with Market Trends
Unless on rare occasions, information and opinions hit Reddit before they surface on any other social media outlet. The site gives brands the chance to connect directly with consumers, receiving feedback that can help them improve their business.
Moreover, dedicating countless hours for marketing research before coming up with a convenient brand or content strategy can sometimes be hectic. Checking Reddit social media marketing trends, on the other hand, can reduce the time spent on research.
Number Nine, Engaging in Subreddit Contests
Locate the subreddit that would best benefit the brand. Discuss the possibility of conducting a contest with the moderator. To help the circulation of words – or posts – create contests that include free giveaways. That way, the contest will more likely grab their attention.
Since this equation includes communication and getting the approval of moderators, the best way is to offer them an incentive for their cooperation, too.
Number Ten, Having a Calendar
Treat the followers with a comprehensive calendar that includes details of upcoming events, deals, offers and basically anything that will get the audience super hyped. The perks of having a calendar are endless.
They allow businesses to cope with the mechanism of Reddit users; responding to their needs and not falling behind other brands. Also, it enables users to engage more with the brand and interact with its content.
What Are Reddit Points?
Reddit points are the scoresheet of each user: it’s called ‘karma score’. The points are divided into two: link-posting karma and commenting karma. Redditors gain karma each time their links or comments are upvoted by other users.
However, if a user’s content gets downvoted below zero, they lose karma. A user’s score is always visible to other Redditors at the top of a person’s sidebar in their profile page.
Karma is used to evaluate the site’s users and show a record of their accomplishments. It basically highlights the member’s contribution to Reddit. If either types of Karmas are high – comments or posts – it means that this user has put up some popular, hence, upvoted, content.
In addition to their prestigious benefit, some subreddits require a minimum karma score to post in or sometimes before allowed to join certain private subreddits. All in all, karma is Reddit’s currency. Having good karma scores is essential to browse freely on Reddit and access the really good content.
Posting things that users deem valuable and interesting. Do not shoot off-topic and expect Redditors to fly upvotes. The audience will happily interact with the content that they see funny or engaging.
2. Being Rude Is a No-No
Stay clear of being rude, or abusive. Redditors and Reddit moderators do not tolerate bullying or insulting any one in any form. Attempting to be rude in order to gain attraction will fail miserably. A common mistake the new Reddit users make is aiming for good karma from the get-go. Remember this is not a pool for competition.
3. Understanding the Difference
As mentioned, there is “post karma” and “comment karma.” the former is the bonus users get when publishing a viral external link or a text-only post. On the other hand, comment karma is the reward for receiving various comments on a published text post, video, or link.
4. Leaving Smart Comments
Visit massive subreddits and try to leave comments on the most popular posts. This ensures that many users will see the comment.
5. Commenting on New Posts
Commenting on new posts in general will also give users great visibility. Always aspire for challenging comments that would intrigue other Redditors to interact.
Pay respects to the site’s code of ethics, also known as “Reddiquette.” Remaining civil, and only leaving constructive criticism will eliminate the chances of getting downvotes.
6. Doing Research Before Posting
Redditors love reading through well-prepared posts and valid points of view. Even if users do not appreciate the time put into these posts right away, they will definitely recognise the credibility of the user.
7. Avoiding Destructive Comments
Every user on any social media platform receives a couple of destructive comments every once in awhile – Reddit isno exception to that rule. The best way to approach this kind of feedback is to ignore it. Getting into arguments, even with a valid response, will only cause trouble. Plus, it’s likely to receive downvotes from other users.
8. Using Karma Bombs
As advised by WikiHow, users should take advantage of karma bombs. Posting a reply on a potentially “hit” comment will likely result in massive karma explosion on that reply – due to its proximity to the top comment. This little trick is also valid on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
It goes to show how proximity can improve exposure if used correctly. One should be mindful about the comment he or she chooses to reply to as this tactic could backfire just as easy as it can work.
Reddit Social Media Marketing: Is It Free?
Yes, Reddit is free of charge. Users can easily register and immediately start posting content, commenting, upvoting and downvoting. After gaining enough karma, redditors can make up their own subreddits.
How Reddit Makes Money
Advertising on Reddit
Ads on Reddit have been activated since 2009. Now, users can either advertise via managed or self-serve ads. The price for managed ads starts at £23,000 while the self-serve ones cost around £4. More details here in the site’s Pricing and Billing.
The platform relies on a second price auction-based system; the winning advertisers pay one cent higher than the highest bidder. That’s why Reddit social media marketing is such a huge success.
However, company owners have a few concerns. Reddit is a user-pleasing outlet. It doesn’t require email validation upon registration, and it doesn’t track users’ data, a tool that websites like Facebook and Instagram rely on to make lucrative ad sales.
It seems that Reddit has to balance between keeping the advertisers and the users happy to increase its ad sales. In addition to that, the fact that Reddit’s pages are self-moderated gives users great freedom but also gives companies lots of fears.
What Is Reddit Premium?
Reddit Premium is the site’s subscription program. This premium experience is ads-free, offers lots of user benefits including monthly coins and access to the r/lounge community. It costs $5.99 per month.
What Are Coins?
Coins can be used to reward posts and comments. It’s Reddit’s exclusive lingo for showing appreciation to a fellow Redditor. The community shared: “As a thank you to our Premium members, you’ll get a special one-time bonus of 1,000 Coins just for joining, and thereafter earn 700 every month. Use your Coins to award extraordinary contributions to Reddit.”
Key Benefits of Reddit Social Media Marketing
There are numerous ways in which businesses can take advantage of Reddit social media marketing. Reddit is pretty comprehensive, and more different than any other social media platform.
According to The Content Factory: “That diversity should also help you out a bit, as it can often give you a good idea of what’s popular with the demographic you’re trying to market to. Before we pitch an article on a subject, our first stop is often Reddit.”
But before that, companies have to understand that there are two types of posts on the site. The first one being posts that redirect to another third-party website, while the second is posts that remain inside Reddit. Successful brands try to blend between both types and build a strategy that maximises the use of both kinds.
What makes Reddit super special is its transparency. Companies can easily witness their posts’ impact on the users.
Dream Grow noted a couple of rules that users should keep in order to stay on Reddit’s good side:
Do not copy and paste comments on several subreddits.
Avoid pursuing self-promotion and post content that solely refers to one website.
Do not beg for upvotes or comments.
Keep the Reddiquette going.
No sharing of private info.
The Final Commandments of Reddit Social Media Marketing
The revolutionary website, much like everything else, has a good and a bad side. As this guide has extensively discussed, Reddit is the perfect platform for businesses to extend their reach among their target audiences, improve their statistics, get in touch with their consumers by getting to hear their opinions, responding to their needs, and taking their comments and complaints into consideration.
The Good Side
While lots of sites rant about how companies can use Reddit to their advantage, the only confirmed method is a cycle of trial and error until each business can come up with a strategy that is tailored to their needs.
Having realised the importance of the website, many shifted to become Reddit digital marketers or have hired Reddit marketing agencies to carry out this detailed job and help them customise their creative strategies.
Reddit is truly the Internet’s information buffet. Establishing a good marketing channel on the website can provide businesses with hands-on data that will definitely set them apart from their competitors.
Due to the fact that Reddit is user-oriented rather than brand-oriented like Facebook and Instagram, businesses are not allowed to directly spam users’ feeds or conduct rigid series of posts or campaigns in order to increase their exposure on the website.
Therefore, brands start improving the innovation and quality of their marketing techniques. In another sense, Reddit social media marketing enables businesses to cultivate better marketing efforts which ultimately create a healthy competition between brands.
The Not So Good Part
Individual users and businesses trying to improve their image by using Reddit social media marketing cannot follow haphazard paths. Reddit is one of those communities who take pride in their system.
The only way Redditors can get ahead is by respecting the codes of ethics, working on increasing their points (Karma, as priorly explained in this article) to gain more visibility among users and also increase credibility.
The sole way to get ahead and flourish among the hip Redditor community is by adhering to its rules and trying to take advantage of them to generate impressive digital marketing messages that appeal to them.
Depending on the type of business, users might need to subscribe to Reddit’s premium service to access its key benefits.
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Reddit is an American website which describes itself as the ‘front page of the internet’. It specialises in social news aggregation, content rating and conducting web discussions. The website works with an ‘upvote’ and ‘downvote’ system which determines what content is viral and what isn’t.
Reddit members can post multimedia, external links, text posts and more: fellow Redditors can then vote the content up or down.
Reddit’s CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said in a post: “The overwhelming majority of content on Reddit comes from wonderful, creative, funny, smart, and silly communities… There is also a dark side, communities whose purpose is reprehensible, and we don’t have any obligation to support them.”
All relevant posts are put together under one, user-created umbrella known as a ‘subreddit’. For instance, there is a subreddit for each topic: science, news, music, art, or photography. Reddit is recognised for having strong moderation on its content; guaranteeing it is a safe, beneficial medium to share information.
In order to get a good glimpse on how Redditors operate, it never hurts to check out helpful subreddits such as r/AMA, r/funny and r/todayILearned to understand the type of humour required to fit into the site’s community.
Businesses, especially small ones, commit to Reddit early on in order to establish a reputable name for their brands. Since the site, and ultimately, its target audience, doesn’t like to waste time or chase hare-brained content – Reddit social media marketing offers the perfect platform to make a brand shine.
The golden rule for using Reddit social media marketing perfectly is to understand that the site puts the community first, at all times. Redditors, on the other hand, appreciate being spoken to by individuals, not brands.
So, businesses might need to adjust their strategy for this site before applying the same methods used on other social media platforms.
A great tip is to try and bring value, authenticity, and most of all credibility to the posts created. Users are very active on Reddit. They love frequent posters, respect valid arguments and truly want to share opinions with others in a civil manner.
As said by Sprout Social, “Remember your followers are likely following hundreds or even thousands of other people. If you’re not publishing new content as often as the other accounts out there, it’s easy to get lost and forgotten.”
Following this guide, here are a few examples of how business can use Reddit to promote their work:
Reddit points are the scoresheet of each user: it’s called ‘karma score’. The points are divided into two: link-posting karma and commenting karma. Redditors gain karma each time their links or comments are upvoted by other users.
However, if a user’s content gets downvoted below zero, they lose karma. A user’s score is always visible to other Redditors at the top of a person’s sidebar in their profile page.
Karma is used to evaluate the site’s users and show a record of their accomplishments. It basically highlights the member’s contribution to Reddit. If either types of Karmas are high – comments or posts – it means that this user has put up some popular, hence, upvoted, content.
In addition to their prestigious benefit, some subreddits require a minimum karma score to post in or sometimes before allowed to join certain private subreddits. All in all, karma is Reddit’s currency. Having good karma scores is essential to browse freely on Reddit and access the really good content.
Yes, Reddit is free of charge. Users can easily register and immediately start posting content, commenting, upvoting and downvoting. After gaining enough karma, redditors can make up their own subreddits.
