Not many people are talking about marketing on Reddit. There’s a misconception that Reddit is full of trolls and haters, and not worth the time.

On the other side of the coin, the platform has over 430 million monthly active users, curates its members by their interests, and has one of the most vocal and engaged user bases of any platform on the internet.

The first half of this article will make the case that Reddit is a valuable marketing channel. The second half of the article will provide an overview on how to use the platform for marketing as effectively as possible.

Why Use Reddit For Marketing?

Incredible Organic Reach
Niche Targeting
Customers Look To Reddit When Making Purchasing Decisions

Reddit Has Incredible Organic Reach

It’s significantly easier to get your content in front of Reddit users than it is to get your content in front of those on Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram.

I’ll elaborate on why this is the case later in the article, but for now, take in the example below.

I spent 2.5 hours putting together a visually appealing carousel post for Linkedin. After a few days, it had a little over 400 impressions.

I took the images from the post and posted them to Twitter as a thread.

The post performed slightly better on Twitter than Linkedin, coming in at just over 800 impressions.

Then, I quickly summarized the information from the carousel slides, and threw together a post to share with the r/entrepreneur subreddit.

The Reddit post outperformed both Linkedin and Twitter by orders of magnitude. It came in at 104,000 impressions and had 61 shares.

Reddit Provides Niche Targeting

A Reddit user’s feed isn’t populated with posts from friends, family, and influencers. Instead, it consists of live, trending discussions from their favorite subreddits.

Subreddits are communities within Reddit that focus on specific topics and allow users to engage in conversations with others who share their interests.

For example,

r/entrepreneur [2.1M members] is a community for business owners to share successes, ask for feedback on strategies, discuss online tools, and talk about anything else related to entrepreneurship.

r/freelancewriters [118K members] is a place by and for freelance writers of all kinds to discuss and share every facet of freelance writing.

r/dogs [2.5M members] is for dog owners of all levels of knowledge, skill, and experience to discuss all topics related to dogs.

Redditors can scroll through the feed/timeline, or they can enter various subreddits to consume content surrounding one specific topic.

This enables businesses to reach their target market with laser-like precision. Though, businesses must be cautious - overly promotional content will not be well-received.

💡Note: For content that is geared towards promotion, Reddit Ads are an option worth looking into.

Customers Look To Reddit When Making Purchasing Decisions

Reddit and Ypulse published a survey that found that 70% of U.S. Redditors say, ‘Reddit is my go-to place to learn more about products and brands.’

That statistic is hard to believe, but that’s only until you realize how many people append “Reddit” to their Google searches, effectively telling the search engine Reddit is their preferred source of information.

In the month of March alone, 12,100 potential customers turned to Reddit to help them decide whether or not ChatGPT Plus is worth purchasing.

Your business may not garner 12,100 Reddit-appended Google searches a month, but wouldn’t you like your brand to show up in the conversation when prospects turn to Reddit to identify the leaders in your industry?

By marketing on Reddit, not only will you show up, you’ll get to participate in the discussion.

How To Market Your Business On Reddit

Spend a significant amount of time on the platform first

TikTok has its own trends, you wouldn’t post a family photo at the waterpark on Linkedin, and certain types of Tweets tend to do better than others; every social media platform has its own culture and Reddit is no exception.

In fact, the culture on Reddit takes a little longer to pick up on than the culture on other social media platforms, largely because it can vary from subreddit to subreddit. You may find posting links is perfectly ok in one community, but will get you banned from another.

As a rule of thumb, spend at least a few days ‘lurking’ on any particular subreddit before you attempt to use it for marketing purposes.

Before posting to a new subreddit, read the community rules

Spending a few days lurking should give you a gut feel for the type of discussion that takes place on a particular subreddit, but make sure to check out the community rules to avoid any blatant violations before posting.

Every subreddit will have its rules published at the top of the community page if you’re on mobile, and on the side of the page if you’re on a desktop.

Post content that will spark conversation

Posts that open the door to conversation perform better than posts that strictly teach or lesson or provide information.

Redditos are an active bunch, write something for people to engage with!

Be humble

Some platforms on the internet praise guru-styled content, which claims to have everything all figured out. On Reddit, these types of posts tend to get demolished.

Redditors value authenticity and humility. It’s better to share how a framework, tool, or strategy worked in one case than it is to claim that the framework/tool will work for everyone (even if you’re absolutely convinced it will 😉).

Respond To Comments And Questions

On Reddit, social media strategy meets product marketing. If you’re there to spread the word about your product or service, you might as well engage with the community to gain valuable information about both your product and your target market’s needs.

Responding to comments and questions is a also great way to show that your brand is caring and engaged.

Avoid Aggressive Self-Promotion

Here’s the catch-22, to promote your brand effectively on Reddit, you have to minimize how aggressively you promote your brand.

More often than not, links to your blog post, and CTA’s claiming “more info on my website,” are distasteful. If someone asks for more information, you can usually provide it, but outright promotion is looked down upon.

There are things you can do, however, to attract customers to your business, that are well within the rules and culture on the Reddit platform.

A few effective ways to promote your business on Reddit include:

A branded profile picture and username - most Reddit users do not have profile pictures, so having your logo as your profile picture will not only inform Redditors you’re speaking as a business but also help your posts and comments stand out.

Write up Reddit posts providing information about your business and pin them to the top of your profile - if you say something that someone finds interesting or valuable, there’s a good chance they’ll click on your profile (an even higher chance if it stands out due to a branded profile picture and username). Pinning posts at the top of your profile is a great way to introduce them to your business after they’ve clicked onto your page.
Use your profile’s bio strategically - Reddit makes it easy to link to your website and other social media platforms in your bio. Make sure to include them along with your business’s elevator pitch.

Advertising on Reddit?

Linkedin ads are notoriously expensive, and depending on the niche, Instagram and Tiktok ads can be highly competitive as well. Is there an opportunity to gain an edge using Reddit Ads? Maybe.

Read about whether Reddit Ads are worth trying, and follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn to see weekly content about marketing (organic and paid) on Reddit.

Reddit for Content Marketing – Why (and how) You Should Use It