What Is Reddit? The Marketer’s Essential Guide to Unlocking Its Viral Power in 2024

What is Reddit? If you don’t use it, you might have stumbled on a Reddit thread in search results or noticed someone online using subjects with ‘r/’ at the start. This can happen for just about any topic.

Reddit bills itself as the front page of the internet. In essence, this is because Reddit is the most popular forum-style platform around. In other words, it’s where people go online to discuss the topics they care about.

From Humble Beginnings to Global Phenomenon: The Evolution of Reddit

In the vast landscape of the internet, Reddit stands as a testament to the power of online communities and the transformative potential of technology. From its modest origins as a small online forum to its current status as a global social media behemoth, Reddit’s journey is a remarkable tale of innovation, adaptability, and resilience.

The Early Years: A Platform for Discussion and Debate

In 2005, Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, two young entrepreneurs with a passion for online communities, launched reddit.com, a simple website that aimed to revive the spirit of discussion and debate that had once characterized online forums.

Reddit’s initial design was straightforward, featuring a simple interface and a focus on threaded conversations. Users could submit text posts, links, and images, and other users could upvote or downvote content to determine its visibility. This democratic approach to content curation resonated with users and quickly attracted a dedicated following.

The Rise of Subreddits: A Microcosm of Diverse Communities

As Reddit’s user base grew, so did the diversity of its content. To cater to this expanding range of interests, the concept of subreddits was introduced. Subreddits, essentially dedicated forums within Reddit, allowed users to organize around specific topics, hobbies, or communities.

This decentralized approach fostered a sense of ownership and belonging among users, who actively participated in moderating and contributing to their respective subreddits. The result was a thriving ecosystem of communities, each with its own unique culture, rules, and norms.

The Social Media Revolution: Embracing the Web 2.0 Era

As the Web 2.0 era transformed the internet, Reddit adapted and evolved. The platform introduced new features, such as a user profile system, private messaging, and the ability to create and follow custom feeds. These enhancements strengthened Reddit’s appeal as a social media platform, attracting a broader audience and solidifying its position in the digital landscape.

If you’ve decided, until now, to write Reddit off as something too difficult to understand, or that it’s not relevant for your business, this guide is aimed at giving you all of the information your need to make the most out of Reddit.

What is Reddit?

Reddit is more of a social aggregator than it is a social media website. That is, the individual users aren’t front and centre in the same way that they are on social networks. Rather, Reddit is all about content and opinions. Users are even allowed to remain anonymous.

People create an account with a username and search for sub-Reddit communities of like-minded people to talk with and get around the social interactions that come with friends, family members, and other random people on Facebook.

Let’s take an example. Say you have a funny picture of your cat you want to post, but you don’t want to share it with people you know on Facebook. Maybe you don’t want your work friends to know you dress the cat up in a Darth Vader costume.

Your best alternative would be to create an account on Reddit, go to the r/Cats or r/Aww subReddit (or both) and post the picture of your cat. People tend to react favourably to cat pictures and are likely to upvote your picture so it gets more visibility.

Get enough upvotes, also known as karma, and you might find your cat has made it to the front page of Reddit! Often, Reddit is where content which goes viral on other platforms eventually goes viral. We’ll talk about how marketers can harness this power a little later.

Getting Karma on Reddit

But what actually is Reddit karma? When you see a post on Reddit, it has a number and an up and down arrow on the left-hand side that you can click. If you like the post a lot, you can press the up arrow and add what’s known as an upvote to the post.

And when you add an upvote, the number goes up whereas a downvote makes the number go down. The original poster, or OP, gets a boost or drop in karma which in turn increases their credibility or sinks it.

At least, that’s how it works in theory.

In practice, someone will often post an embarrassing story only to garner thousands of upvotes and be even more embarrassed that their confession of one of their worst moments in life has entertained so many people that they upvoted in droves.

Reddit’s Diverse Capabilities: A Comprehensive Overview

Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet,” has evolved from a simple online forum into a multifaceted social media platform catering to a wide range of interests and user needs. Beyond its core feature of threaded conversations, Reddit offers a plethora of capabilities that enhance its appeal and functionality. Let’s delve into some of the key features that set Reddit apart:

1. Subreddits: A Universe of Communities

Reddit’s cornerstone is its intricate network of subreddits, which are dedicated forums focused on specific topics, hobbies, or interests. From r/worldnews for global updates to r/cooking for culinary enthusiasts, subreddits cater to a diverse spectrum of user preferences. This hyper-focused approach fosters a sense of community and allows users to connect with others who share their passions.

2. Upvotes/Downvotes: The Democratic Decision-Making Tool

Reddit’s unique voting system, powered by upvotes and downvotes, empowers users to curate the content they see. Upvotes indicate positive reception, while downvotes signal disapproval. This system helps surface high-quality content, maintain subreddit integrity, and reflect the collective opinion of the community.

3. Karma: A Measure of Social Influence

Karma, a numerical representation of a user’s contributions to Reddit, serves as a measure of social influence. Users accumulate karma through upvotes on their posts and comments, earning them recognition and credibility within the community. This gamified approach encourages meaningful participation and content creation.

4. Reddit Talk: Live Audio Conversations

Reddit Talk, introduced in 2021, expands Reddit’s functionality into the realm of live audio conversations. Subreddits can host live discussions, interviews, and AMAs (Ask Me Anything) sessions, fostering real-time engagement and community building.

5. Reddit Predicts: Embracing the Thrill of Predictions

Reddit Predicts, launched in 2022, taps into the competitive spirit of users, allowing them to make predictions about various events, from sporting outcomes to political elections. This gamified feature adds an element of fun and engagement to the platform.

6. Reddit Public Access Network (RPAN): Live Video Broadcasting

RPAN, introduced in 2020, transforms Reddit into a platform for live video broadcasting. Users can stream live content, share their talents, and connect with viewers in real-time, adding a new dimension to Reddit’s interactive capabilities.

7. Awards: Recognizing Exceptional Contributions

Reddit’s virtual awards system allows users to recognize and appreciate outstanding contributions to the platform. These awards, ranging from wholesome to humorous, provide a non-monetary way to show gratitude and encourage positive interactions.

8. Saved Posts: Curating Personal Interests

The “Save” feature enables users to bookmark and organize posts they find valuable or entertaining, allowing them to easily revisit and share content that aligns with their interests. This feature promotes personalized content consumption and knowledge retention.

9. Private Messaging: Fostering Direct Connections

Reddit’s private messaging feature facilitates direct communication between users, enabling private conversations, collaborations, and discussions beyond the public forum setting. This feature enhances the platform’s versatility and caters to personal interactions.

10. Multi-Reddit: Customizing the Reddit Experience

Multi-Reddit allows users to create personalized feeds by combining multiple subreddits into a single, customized view. This feature empowers users to tailor their Reddit experience to their specific interests and preferences, streamlining content discovery and engagement.

11. Search: Uncovering Hidden Gems

Reddit’s robust search functionality enables users to find specific content, subreddits, or users based on keywords, topics, or interests. This feature facilitates efficient navigation and content discovery, ensuring that users can easily locate the information they seek.

12. Filters: Refining the Content Landscape

Reddit’s filtering options allow users to personalize their feed by filtering out unwanted content, such as specific keywords, subreddits, or user types. This feature enhances content control and ensures that users see content that aligns with their preferences.

13. Emojis: Expressing Emotions

Reddit’s integrated emoji support enables users to add visual expression and nuance to their comments and posts. This feature enhances communication and adds a touch of personality to online interactions.

14. Custom Themes: Personalizing the Visual Experience

Reddit offers various customization options, including custom themes, allowing users to personalize the platform’s appearance to suit their individual preferences. This feature promotes a sense of ownership and enhances user satisfaction.

15. Mobile App: Access on the Go

Reddit’s mobile app, available for iOS and Android, provides seamless access to the platform’s features

Do You Have to Pay to Use Reddit?

The site is absolutely free although the site owners use display advertising to monetise their users. Despite this, the admins of Reddit came up with Reddit gold to help pay for server time.

What is Reddit gold? Essentially this is like a more valuable form of karma you pay for via reddit coins. It’s something you can buy for yourself or buy to give to a user who’s delighted you with their content to the point you want to show your appreciation for their post.

When you “gild” someone on Reddit, they get access to something called The Lounge and a gold star next to their username to show they’ve been gilded. And if you’re broke, but want to show appreciation, there’s always Reddit silver!

BUT Reddit silver is actually a running gag on the site. Sometimes people want to gild a user, but they are unable to pay for gold. Instead, they put in an image link to a poorly drawn coin that says “Reddit Silver” in poorly drawn lettering.

It has no benefit other than being annoying, or funny depending on your point of view. Also, there are users who do the same thing when they want to annoy another poster, by putting the link to Reddit silver in their reply.

What is Reddit Premium?

Reddit Premium is a subscription service, which is aimed at giving hardcore Redditers a better user experience. This costs $5.99 per month, with the money going towards the hosting costs of the site.

Essentially, Reddit Premium has three main benefits.

Firstly, premium users don’t see display ads while they browse Reddit. This gives a much more enjoyable user experience, and eliminates the need to use an ad blocker while on the site.

Secondly, you’ll receive access to a premium-only subReddit called r/Lounge. This does not have an overarching theme or topic, but allows premium members to meet and talk to one another.

Finally, premium Redditers receive 1,000 free Reddit coins when they buy a subscription, and then 700 per month thereafter. These can then be gifted to users who post particularly good content.

Reddit and Advertising

You may be wondering how Reddit could be making money from all this activity? After all, there’s no visible ads like there are on Facebook, right? Well, that depends on your use of an adblocker for your browser, or if you’re viewing the site on your smartphone or tablet.

If you’re not using an adblocker on your desktop browser or looking at the website on your mobile device, you’re going to see advertising. But it’s just not as in-your-face as Facebook and other sites.

What you will see are promoted posts that an advertiser pays for along with banner ads here and there.

Reddit gold is also another source of income as the servers are funded for decades to come and the extra income is used for operational expenses.

Ultimately, Reddit has yet to turn a profit despite taking on millions of dollars in venture capital. The latest redesign of the website has been controversial due to its Facebook-like appearance and poor delivery of advertising.

It remains to be seen if the redesign will bring in more people and encourage advertisers to spend money targeting their desired audience.

Using Reddit’s Mobile App

Reddit took its time launching an official app, but it was poorly designed and unpopular.

This prompted Reddit to buy Alien Blue which was an iOS-only app. Android users were left out in the cold and resorted to using third-party apps like Reddit is Fun and Bacon Reader.

By modern standards, the desktop design is also fairly old fashioned, and clunky. In this sense, it’s not surprising that the mobile app is also somewhat behind the times.

Reddit has since created an Android app, but many users are avoiding its use in favour of the third-party apps which are considered clean and efficient in comparison. Perhaps the biggest failure of the official Reddit app is the ability to do things like buy gold and give a username “flair”, things that are done regularly on the desktop version.

How to Use Reddit for Marketing

When considering any online platform, one of the most important things is how it can be used to increase profits for businesses. Like other major social media sites, Reddit can be a powerful sales and marketing tool.

However, in other ways, it’s a bit of an exception. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, simple product-focused sales content is unlikely to perform well. This is because the average Reddit user is a little bit more skeptical.

This means you can’t just post nice looking photos of your products to Reddit and hope for the best. Reddit users tend to have a more in-depth knowledge of their area of interest. As such, you need to provide a lot more substance to get them on your side.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at two ways that Reddit can be used to boost revenues.

Reddit for Content Marketing Inspiration

Many content marketers use forums and Q&A sites like Quora to come up with original ideas to populate their content calendar. Reddit is an amazing resource for this kind of content inspiration.

Users on an average subReddit are highly invested and knowledgeable in whatever topic they’re interested in. In other words, they’re a bit nerdier than your average customer. This makes them an excellent source of content ideas.

That is, their questions tend to relate to issues which are more specific to your industry, product or service. Often, these are questions you might not have thought of yourself. More importantly, your competitors probably haven’t thought of them either.

The key here is to actively seek out these kinds of questions, rather than waiting for them to filter through your customer support channels. We’ll cover exactly how you can go about this in the following section.

Generating content ideas using Reddit allows you to strike while the iron is hot and publish totally original content that your competitors who don’t use Reddit would never have thought of.

Brand Loyalty and Engagement

Of course, the more questions you can get out of your Reddit audience, the better. This requires you to cultivate an active following on the platform. One easy way to do this is to start a subReddit for your customers.

For example, Apple users can meet and discuss their products under r/iPhone, or r/AppleWatch.

Once your sub is up and running, you’ll also benefit from a lot of user-generated content. However, in the early stages, you’ll have to do the legwork to get people talking. That is, users will be put off by a subReddit which lacks active users or good content.

A popular way to boost user engagement on Reddit is using Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. Essentially, this is when you give your users screen time with a senior member of your team, or product expert and give them a chance to field questions.

What is Reddit? A Platform to Build Communities

Reddit may have strayed from its original intentions in some ways, but its core of anonymous interaction and sharing of information is still very much intact. At the same time, it feels like a throwback to a different age of the internet.

While sites like Facebook and Twitter are transparently all about the money, Reddit still feels like a great place to meet like-minded people, and discuss your favourite topics. Because of this, it’s a great indicator for what content will perform well on other platforms.

Reddit is free to use and third party software like Reddit Enhancement Suite tames the website to make it more readable if you’re staying off the redesigned part. After all, Reddit has become a part of the fabric of the internet.

It’s also a great source of entertainment and procrastination for millions of people.

Latest statistics that demonstrate Reddit’s immense influence and reach:

Traffic Milestones:

• Monthly Active Users (MAU): Reddit boasts over 52 million monthly active users worldwide, placing it among the top ten most popular websites globally.
• Daily Active Users (DAU): Reddit’s daily active user base exceeds 20 million, indicating a highly engaged and loyal user community.
• Pageviews: Reddit generates an astonishing 1.9 billion pageviews per day, showcasing its massive traffic volume and user engagement.

Influential Demographics:

• Age: Reddit’s user base skews towards younger demographics, with 65% of users falling between the ages of 18 and 49. This aligns with the platform’s appeal to tech-savvy, socially engaged audiences.
• Education: Reddit users are highly educated, with 42% holding a bachelor’s degree or higher. This indicates the platform’s appeal to informed and sophisticated individuals.
• Income: Reddit’s user base also boasts a significant income bracket, with 34% of users earning over $100,000 annually. This underscores the platform’s influence among affluent demographics.

Subreddit Guide Adoption Rates:

• Subreddit Creation: Over 100,000 new subreddits are created each month, demonstrating the platform’s vibrancy and the ongoing creation of niche communities.
• Subreddit Subscriptions: The average Reddit user subscribes to over 50 subreddits, highlighting the platform’s ability to cater to diverse interests and preferences.
• Subreddit Activity: Subreddits generate over 1 million comments per day, showcasing the active engagement and discussions that take place within these communities.

Overall Influence:

• News Source: Reddit is a significant source of news and information for many users, with 52% relying on the platform for news updates. This highlights the platform’s role in shaping public discourse and opinion.
• Trendsetter: Reddit is a breeding ground for viral trends, memes, and cultural phenomena. Its ability to amplify and spread content has made it a powerful force in online culture.
• Community Impact: Reddit communities have played a pivotal role in social movements and activism, demonstrating the platform’s real-world impact and ability to mobilize users around causes.

what is Reddit FAQ

Q: What are the most common signs of over-promoting on Reddit?

A: Some common signs of over-promoting on Reddit include:

• Posting an excessive amount of promotional content
• Using repetitive or formulaic promotional messages
• Focusing on sales rather than providing value to the community
• Disrupting organic discussions with self-promotion
• Ignoring community guidelines and moderators’ warnings

Q: What are the potential consequences of infringing Reddit’s guidelines?

A: Infringing Reddit’s guidelines can lead to a variety of consequences, including:

• Post removal
• Account suspension
• Ban from specific subreddits or the entire platform
• Damage to brand reputation
• Loss of access to valuable communities

Q: How can I ensure that my engagement on Reddit is community-first?

A: To ensure that your engagement on Reddit is community-first, follow these tips:

• Focus on providing value to the community by sharing insights, answering questions, and participating in discussions.
• Respect the rules and guidelines of each subreddit.
• Balance promotional content with organic engagement.
• Monitor community feedback and adapt your approach accordingly.

Q: What are some resources that can help me learn more about community-first marketing on Reddit?

A: There are a number of resources available to help you learn more about community-first marketing on Reddit, including:

• Reddit’s Help Center
• Reddit’s Community Guidelines
• Subreddits dedicated to community management and marketing
• Blogs and articles written by experts on social media marketing and community engagement

what is Reddit? Conclusion

Balancing community-first engagement with brand promotion is crucial for success on Reddit. By prioritizing genuine value, respecting community norms, and adhering to guidelines, brands can cultivate positive relationships, enhance their reputation, and effectively utilize Reddit as a valuable marketing tool. Over-promoting and infringing guidelines can lead to negative consequences, so it is essential to approach Reddit with a mindset of authenticity, respect, and community-driven engagement. By following the best practices outlined in this article, brands can navigate the social media landscape of Reddit effectively and reap the benefits of connecting with a highly engaged and influential audience.