Reddit Marketing: How to Create a Strategy That Will Get Results [2024]

Reddit is a popular social media site with over 200 million monthly users. It has been called “the front page of the internet” because it organizes content from all the most popular websites, and many people visit that social media platform every day to stay up-to-date on news or just have fun. This article will teach you how to make your company stand out in this huge crowd by creating a marketing strategy that will get results!

Here’s an overview of the article:

• Find or create a subreddit for your niche
• Research what the users are posting
• Post content to your subreddit
• Cross-post on other subreddits in the same niche
• Create an account with Reddit Ads
• Conclusion

First off, some key Reddit statistics:

• 70% of Reddit Video Views Come From Mobile (foundationinc.co)
• More Than 50% Of The Content In Top Subreddits Are Links (foundationinc.co)
• Reddit Has Seen a 38% Growth Rate for Video (foundationinc.co)
• Reddit is the 15th most used social media platform (oberlo.com)

Remember that Reddit is different from other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. They’re not the same type of website and they don’t operate in the same way. Be aware of this when writing your strategies and post ideas because it may be difficult to get results if you apply methods from another platform to Reddit marketing – your efforts could even go unnoticed.

How can Brand24 help with Reddit marketing?

Within the Brand24 tool, you can fully monitor all mentions of your company on Reddit. This is a valuable way to stay in touch with what’s going on with your product, company, and community. It also allows you to create a media strategy that will get results by identifying any sentiment changes in the conversations about your company in real-time.

If you want to know how Brand24 can help with marketing on Reddit specifically, we have a few strategies for you:

• Find keywords that are related to your business and watch them grow or shrink
• Monitor comments about your company over time
• See the top influencers for each subreddit and how they interact with other users and posts
• Track daily Reddit activity for all of these metrics and more!

What are Reddit users like?

Reddit users are a very diverse group of people from around the world. They share numerous interests, which is why there are many subreddits for whatever you’re into.

Some people may be looking to unwind when they get home from work and want to read some stories before going to bed, while others might be in a hurry and only have a few minutes’ worths of short gaming videos to watch or articles about cryptocurrency!

Reddit users are conscious and aware of the world around them. They are constantly looking for new information, and they are very engaged with the content that is on the site. This makes Reddit a great platform for marketing your company.

Daniel Chan, CTO of Marketplace Fairness, nicely summarised what posting on Reddit should look like:

“Make sure your posts are high-quality and relevant. Reddit is a community of people who are passionate about specific topics, so it’s important to make sure that your posts are relevant to the subreddit you are posting in. Otherwise, you may lose users’ attention and end up with negative feedback. Use humor and engaging images to make your posts stand out. Posts that are funny or include engaging images are more likely to get attention on Reddit. You can also use GIFs to add some extra flair to your posts.

Take advantage of the commenting feature to start conversations with users. Commenting on other users’ posts is a great way to start conversations and get feedback. You can also use this opportunity to answer any questions that users may have. Be sure to monitor your comments and respond to any questions or criticisms. It’s important to be responsive as it shows that you care about your users and that you’re open to feedback.”

Mia Naumoska, the CMO of Chanty threw in her two cents as well:

“Reddit is by far the trickiest social media platform for marketing, which is why many businesses avoid it at all costs. Redditors deeply dislike seeing advertisements and marketing posts on their feeds.”

How to use Reddit for marketing?

Create an account

While that might be obvious, it’s worth mentioning — the first step is to create an account. For that, head on over to the Reddit homepage.

Username

When it comes to creating a Reddit account for your business, you want to make sure that you use a variation of your company name as your username. This will make it easier for people to find you and follow your brand. You also want to make sure that you create a personal account that is professional and represents your business well. As a business owner, you wouldn’t like to come across as disreputable.

Find or create a subreddit for your niche

When it comes to social media marketing on Reddit, finding or creating a subreddit for your niche is important. This is because subreddits are online communities of people who are interested in a specific topic. 

By posting content to a subreddit that is relevant to your business, you can reach a large audience of people who are interested in what you have to offer. In addition, by cross-posting content on other subreddits in the same niche, you can reach even more people who might be interested in what you have to say.

Creating an account and posting content on relevant subreddits is a great way to start building relationships with potential customers and increase traffic to your website.

Victoria Mendoza of Mediapeanut, notes the importance of the right subreddits. She remarks,

“For a growing business, it is always a challenge to get content out to a specific audience who are focused on a particular niche. And then there comes Reddit which has some of the most engaged users on specific topics that is not something you would often see when marketing on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

With over 140,000 niche communities on Reddit, it is a goldmine for a business wanting to target audiences with similar interests and values as the brand being promoted. Simply search on Reddit using keywords you want to target and it will display posts and communities that are relevant to your search. When you find the Reddit communities that are aligned with your brand, you get to have data to further engage your target market or audience and even introduce your brand with them.”

Research what the Reddit community is posting

For the most part, everyone on Reddit is anonymous – they use strings of letters to represent themselves instead of their name or email address. There are many different subreddits where users discuss topics that are related to pop culture, breaking news, current affairs, and things like video games, movies, arts, and music. It’s important to research what the other users are posting so you can create a strategy that will get results.

One way that the strategy for your marketing campaign may differ from someone else’s would be in how often you post about your product or service. You could post more often than them if you think your audience will like this better. 

However, if you’re worried about spamming people, then this might not be the best idea for your particular marketing campaign.

While considering what the other users are posting to get ideas, don’t take things too literally and post about your product or service exactly how they did. You should bring creative elements into your strategy that will help you stand out from the competition. 

Such creative elements can include a video that tells people why they need your product or service instead of just writing up a lot of text in an article. People often use YouTube videos when they want something explained to them in simple terms instead of reading a large block of text.

Post content to your subreddit 

Now that you’ve found your Reddit niche and what type of content you want to publish, it’s time to develop it.

Top Reddit Posts Are Under 120 Characters

In order to get the most engagement on Reddit, it’s best to keep your posts short and to the point. This is because Reddit users are more likely to read shorter posts, and they’re also more likely to share them if they like what they’ve read.

If you can’t fit all of your information into a short post, then you can always include a link to a longer article or page on your website. This will allow your readers to get more information if they’re interested, therefore visiting your website.

Another reason why top Reddit posts are under 120 characters is that people are often busy and don’t have time to read long posts. When people see a post that looks long, they may not bother reading it and will just move on to something else. It’s much better to keep things short and sweet so people don’t miss out on seeing the great content that you’ve made for them.

Posts With Questions Receive The Most Comments

On Reddit, posts that receive the most comments are those that ask questions. There are two reasons for this – the first is that people are drawn to answering questions. People love to do things because it gives them a sense of accomplishment to know that you’re helping someone else out. The second reason is that people just enjoy learning about other people’s opinions because it makes them feel involved in the conversation.

The best way to get more comments on your post is by asking a question, however, this isn’t always possible since not every type of post can ask a question. If you can’t ask a question, then one way you can make your post interactive is by making sure there are several good discussion points within the text that could spark debates. This will get people talking and engaged in your post, which is what you want.

In order to make sure that your post receives the most comments, be sure to research what the other users are posting so you can ask questions or include discussion points that haven’t been talked about before. This will help you to stand out from the competition and will also keep people interested in reading your posts.

Posts Without Questions Receive More Upvotes

Reddit users like novelty and they don’t want to do too much mental work to figure out why a post is interesting. This means that posts without questions usually do much better in terms of upvotes.

Now, depending on what you need, you should choose each type of post accordingly.

The team at Mediapeanut has supplied us with some data as well,

“We surveyed 3192 businesses that utilize Reddit for content marketing and found various insights:

• Question based posts performed the absolute best as far as comments – This format proved to be the strongest conversation starter for our audience of social media marketers. 
• According to our survey answers, Marketers that utilized a question type post on reddit saw 1.8x more comments compared to non-question based reddit posts. However, purely informational formatted posts on reddit generated significantly more upvotes than other formats.
• Posts titles with 65-75 words consistently had more upvotes than those with more or less.”

Here are some other tips to ensure that your content corresponds with your audience:

Be authentic

When you’re marketing on Reddit, it’s essential to be authentic. If people can tell that you’re just trying to sell them something, they’ll lose trust in you and probably won’t buy anything from you. Instead, be honest and upfront about what you’re offering. Let people know what you’re selling and why they should buy it.

Still, getting trust within the Reddit community is not an easy task. You can’t just come over and start selling stuff without proper introductions. It takes some time to get the Reddit users acquainted with you as a person. For this reason, there should be just that behind your account – a person, not a company.

Impressing them with properly themed and cleverly executed marketing schemes would do you good. Remember that Redditors are a savvy bunch, so think outside the box on this one. Don’t blindly follow social media trends.

Laura Jimenez of iShine365, added: “If you overtly try and self promote then you’re going to hit a wall and more than likely get kicked off Reddit. Influencer marketing and relationships are key to being successful on Reddit. Engage with the site to develop a following. You should be doing this on all social networks, it’s just harder to spam on Reddit. Create a following by engaging the community and becoming active. People will follow.”

Be helpful

In addition to being authentic, you should also be helpful on Reddit. When people ask for advice or recommendations, be sure to offer your help. Share your knowledge and expertise with others, and they’ll appreciate it. Plus, being helpful will make you look like a credible source of information, which can lead to more sales in the long run.

Be involved

Finally, be involved on Reddit. Subscribe to relevant subreddits, comment on posts, and share content from other users. The more involved you are, the more people will get to know you and trust you.

Listen to feedback and analyse the comments

The most important thing in marketing on Reddit is that you listen to feedback to your campaign. You need to analyze the comments that you receive and understand why people are commenting on certain things. If you do this, then there is a higher chance of being successful in your marketing campaign. It will also mean that if something goes wrong with the marketing, the public might be able to give some tips on how to fix it!

Comments can also give you an idea of how your content was perceived. Ask yourself some questions when reading the comments:

• What do the positive comments say about the campaign?
• How does this compare with negative comments?
• Can you identify any patterns in your data, for example, are there lots of comments but few upvotes or vice versa?
• Can you spot any common complaints?
• Do these complaints line up with issues mentioned in the negative comments, or vice versa?
• In what way are they similar or different from each other?

If a lot of people have disagreements about a specific aspect of your campaign, then it might be worth reviewing this part to see why there is such a difference in opinion.

The same goes for if there is just one complaint that keeps coming up. You should try and understand why this was so important for certain people to mention.

If you can answer these questions, then that will give you a good basis to build on. If it is very difficult to analyze the data, then try using the software. Sentiment analysis and media monitoring can often help with large volumes of text.

Julian Goldie, CEO of Goldie Agency, reminds us of the importance of acting quick:

“Most Reddit users visit the site for real-time experience, and largely respond to comments offering proven solutions. This is where you identify comment threads that may provide you the opportunity to take part in a discussion and resolve such queries presenting your product as the best solution.”

Target the right audience

When it comes to marketing on Reddit, it’s important to target the right audience. If you try to target everyone, you’ll end up reaching no one. You need to identify your target market and create a strategy that will appeal to them.

One of the best ways to identify your target market is to look at your current customers. Who are they? What do they like? What do they want? Once you have a better understanding of your target market, you can start creating content that will appeal to them.

Daniel Veiga, a seasoned growth specialist, denotes the importance of targeting:

“You can increase exposure at no cost by being interactive on whichever subreddit seems most relevant for you. Search for Reddit threads that mention companies in direct competition with yours and try to engage them in the thread by shining up their content or offering an alternative perspective when needed, without being too salesy.”

Create engaging content

Another important thing to keep in mind when marketing on Reddit is to make sure your content is relevant. If you’re not relevant, people will quickly lose interest in what you’re promoting and your campaign will fail.

However, you don’t want to only promote content to your audience. If they go to Reddit and see everything you’re doing is advertising is relevant, they’ll realize they’ve been targeted. Instead, use delicate, albeit easily detectable, promotion within your highly engaging, creative posts. If the post is valuable, Reddit users won’t mind the ads.

You should also try posting various types of content on the platform since it’s better for engagement if people are seeing a variety of posts from you rather than just one or two types of posts. 

The more data points someone gets about what kind of business you are across multiple channels, the more likely they are to trust your brand because there appears to be consistency across different touchpoints with your company.

Post consistently

If you want to be successful when marketing on Reddit, it’s important to post consistently. If you’re not posting often, people will lose interest in what you’re doing and your campaign will fail.

In order to make sure you’re able to post regularly, it’s a good idea to create a content calendar. This will help you stay organized and make sure you’re able to post content on a regular basis.

When creating your content calendar, make sure you include different types of content. This will help keep things interesting for your audience and ensure they continue to engage with your posts.

Sojy SN, a content marketer at Stan Ventures also remarks about being consistent:

“Don’t just post one article in like two weeks, CONSISTENCY is key to achieving a great engagement rate on your content and building a community.

You need to be consistent in providing informative insights to the people on your niche, which will build an authentic Reddit presence, and from there, you can be sure of increased traffic.”

Make use of the share button

Reddit has an obvious, though fairly underused and underappreciated feature, the share button. Using that, you can cross-post your Reddit content to other social media channels where it will get a higher reach and more engagement.

This is a great way to ensure your content is seen by a larger audience and helps you grow your brand on Reddit.

In order to make the most of this feature, make sure you’re using high-quality images and videos in your posts. This will help them stand out when they’re shared on other social media sites.

Optimize for SEO

Like any other website, if you want to be successful when marketing on Reddit, you need to optimize your content for SEO. This means including keywords in your titles and descriptions so that people can find your content when they’re searching for related terms. Quite often, Reddit posts rank high on various Google queries, especially when it comes to questions, which is quite similar to Quora.

Not a bad search term to rank for if you ask me. If they have done it, you can do it too with a great post. I’m more than sure, though, that they weren’t making this post with Google Search in mind. Using a few tricks, you can increase the chances of ranking your Reddit post high.

First, always include a link in the author box. This makes it easy for people to find more information and allows you to gain traffic from Reddit users that like your content and want to read more about the subject.

Reddit users will also click on images and videos if they’re included in your post. Make sure you optimize them for SEO as well. This means including keywords in the filename of these items and within their alt text tags. You can use keyword research tools such as SEMrush or AnswerthePublic to help you determine which terms will be most effective when optimizing these files.

Another way to increase search engine results is by making use of Reddit’s subreddits feature. If someone is looking for topics related to your business, make sure you participate in those subreddits as much as possible. This will help you rank well for those terms and gain access to a new audience that may not have otherwise been exposed to your brand.

You can also reuse your Reddit post as a blog post or vice versa. Of course, it has to be rewritten to match the style of your site and to avoid duplicate content.

It’s also worth mentioning that you should make sure that your posts are not cannibalising one another. This means ranking for the same keywords as they might be harming each other’s rankings. It’s much better to have one post in the top 3 than two posts in the lower part of the top 10. The first three posts have an exponentially higher click-through rate. According to Backlinko, the top 3 generates three-quarters of all the clicks.

Here’s a great example of a properly conducted Reddit self promotion campaign by Uniqlo.

Know the rules

Reddit has particular rules about what is allowed on their platform and things that aren’t allowed. If you want to be successful when marketing on Reddit, it’s important not to break these rules because doing so can get your account banned or may result in a significant drop in traffic to your website from Reddit users.

In order to help you avoid this type of situation, make sure you’re familiar with the site’s rules before launching any campaigns there. You can find a link to their content policy here.

This also includes following Reddit’s etiquette guidelines. For example, don’t just post links to your website or blog and call it a day. Be sure to participate in the discussions that are taking place on the site and contribute value to them. This will help you build relationships with other Reddit users and increase the chances that they’ll engage with your content.

Now, these are just the general rules. Specific subreddits have specific rules, like, for example, r/DataIsBeautiful:

Cross-post on other subreddits in the same niche

When marketing on Reddit, it’s important to think about your target audience and where they are most likely to be active. If you’re targeting people who are interested in a specific topic, it makes sense to create content in subreddits that are related to that topic.

This will help you reach more people who are interested in what you have to say, and it will also help you build relationships with other members of the Reddit community. You can compare it to posting on different social media platforms.

Research what subreddits your target audience hangs out on

One of the best ways to learn more about your target audience is to research the subreddits they are most likely to hang out on. By doing this, you’ll be able to get a better understanding of the kinds of topics they are interested in, and you’ll also be able to see what kind of content is popular in those subreddits. This information can help you create a strategy that will resonate with your Reddit audience and get results.

To research which subreddits your target audience hangs out on, you can use the search bar on Reddit or use a tool like Subreddit Finder. This tool allows you to search for specific keywords and see which subreddits are related to that keyword.

Pay attention to your karma!

One of the most important aspects of marketing on Reddit is having a positive reputation. Whenever you post something on Reddit, you’ll get either upvotes or downvotes — it’s true that these don’t necessarily reflect whether or not your content is good, but they do affect how others see your content. 

If you have a negative reputation as a poster, other users will be less inclined to take to heart anything you write. In contrast, if you manage to develop a good reputation as a poster with valuable information, people will be much more likely to check out what you have to say and lend their support.

In order for this to happen, start by looking at your karma balance.

The more operative and helpful you are on Reddit, the more your posts will be upvoted.

One way to become more cooperative is to take the time to read other users’ posts and respond to them in a thoughtful way. You can also contribute to discussions by adding new insights or perspectives. In this way, you’ll not only be helping others on Reddit, but you’ll also be building up your reputation as a valuable member of the community.

Farzad Rashidi, Co-Founder of Respona, mentions karma and engagement.

“Discussions are a good way to see what is going on in your niche. When someone is asking a question, others can jump in with an answer. It’s a great way to learn conversations people are having. When you add value to conversations, you get karma points. Karma points are a way for Reddit to rate the value of that person to the community. It’s a way to build a rapport with people.”

Conduct an AMA

Conducting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit can be a great way to promote your brand and interact directly with potential customers. By asking questions, you’ll be able to learn more about what interests them and how they would like to see your product developed – this information is extremely valuable for marketing purposes. 

You will also have the chance to create a deeper connection with real people who are interested in the same things as you are, which is always good for business.

Of course, an AMA has to be personal. You can’t just post about your company and have the Redditors ask you questions. They don’t care about your product all that much.

Still, if you manage to produce a successful AMA, you’ll be able to get your name out there to thousands of people in just about a day. Provided your story is interesting, Redditors will be more than keen on asking you questions.

Here’s an example of AMA with a clothing designer:

Apart from over 1,000 upvotes, the post has almost 300 comments. That is a really well-written intro to a post, and, as you can see, the person also posted a link to their website, getting thousands of eyes on it.

Even something as simple and mundane as plumbing can be a massive hit:

This doesn’t come without risk, though. A poor AMA session might be a PR nightmare for you and your business.

5,500 comments. But, Jose Canseco didn’t really care about the AMA and only answered 50 questions. Talk about failure.

Use Reddit advertising

Reddit Ads work in a similar fashion to traditional social media platforms like Facebook advertising or just about any other paid social media strategy.

When marketing on Reddit, it’s important to create an account with Reddit’s paid ads. This will allow you to specifically target the people who are most likely to be interested in your product. You can also use Reddit Ads to create Promoted Posts, which will give you even more exposure.

Additionally, by creating an account with Reddit Ads, you’ll be able to see detailed reports on how your campaigns are doing. This information is invaluable for optimizing your marketing efforts.

A detailed guide on how to set up Reddit Ads can be found here.

Target ads by interest, location, and demographics 

Write about why and how you should Target Reddit ads by interest, location, and demographics.

Targeting ads by interest, location, and demographics is one of the most important aspects to take into consideration when creating a Reddit marketing strategy for your company. When you go into the Reddit Ads portal, you’ll have the option to target users with interests related to your industry, location, and demographic information. This will allow you to reach more people who are likely to be interested in what your company has to offer.

One thing that can make or break an ad on Reddit is its thumbnail image. It’s the first thing people see when they go onto the site so it’s important that it captures their attention and draws them in. If it doesn’t, people will scroll right past without even seeing what it’s about.

Set up campaign goals and manage bids 

When you’re setting up your Reddit Ads campaign, it’s important to set up campaign goals and manage your bids. This will help ensure that you’re getting the most out of your marketing efforts.

Campaign goals can include things like increasing website traffic, generating leads, or selling products/services. Once you’ve set your goals, you’ll need to create ads that are in line with them. This means that your ad copy, images, and targeting should all be aligned with each other.

When you’re managing your bids on Reddit Ads, it’s important to consider what you want to achieve with your campaign. If you’re looking to generate website traffic, you’ll want to set a higher bid price than if you’re looking to generate leads.

Keep in mind, however, that you don’t want to spend too much on your ads if they’re not generating the results you want. Try experimenting with different bid prices to find the sweet spot that works best for your business.

Monitor performance of ads over time to increase engagement rates and conversion rates

In order to do this, it’s important to be able to track the performance of your ads over time. This will allow you to see which ads are working and which aren’t. Also by monitoring your ad performance, you’ll be able to see when a particular campaign is becoming less effective and stop it before more money is wasted.

Additionally, by tracking how your ads perform over time, you’re going to get a better idea of what type of things work best for your business. For example, if one of your campaigns is performing well but another isn’t, you’ll know that targeting users based on interests might work better than location-based targeting for your product/service.

Start Reddit monitoring to track your marketing efforts

Reddit platform is a social media network with over 200 million monthly active users.  It’s also one of the most popular social media sites on the internet, ranking at #5 for traffic behind Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Wikipedia. As such it can be an extremely effective marketing channel to advertise your company or product if you have the right Reddit marketing strategy.

With Brand24 or similar media monitoring tools you can track mentions across different subreddits. How will you use Reddit monitoring is up to you, but the possibilities are endless.

Want to get started with Reddit marketing but don’t know where to start? Brand24 has all the tools you need.

Get your Brand24 for a free trial now!

FAQ

How much does it cost to sell on Reddit?

The minimum ad spend is $5 a day. Reddit itself does not have a built-in marketplace for selling products, so there is no direct cost associated with selling on the platform. However, you can use Reddit to promote your products or services, which could involve running paid advertisements through Reddit Ads. The cost of running ads on Reddit varies based on factors such as targeting, bid amount, and campaign duration.

Is Reddit a good platform for marketing?

Reddit can be a good platform for marketing if approached with the right strategy. It is essential to understand the Reddit community, engage genuinely with users, and provide value through content. Blatant self-promotion is generally frowned upon, so focusing on building relationships and providing valuable information is key to successful marketing on Reddit. Using a media monitoring tool like Brand24 can help you track your brand’s presence on Reddit and identify opportunities for engagement and promotion

Can you use Reddit for market research?

Yes, Reddit can be an excellent platform for market research. The platform hosts numerous niche communities (subreddits) where users discuss various topics, providing valuable insights into customer preferences, opinions, and trends. By participating in relevant subreddits or analyzing the discussions media monitoring, you can gather useful information to inform your marketing strategies and product development.