Do’s & Don’ts of Marketing on Reddit

By Hammad Akbar

Finding a place to market your website? Every platform seems either costly or complex. Right?

But you know what?

There’s a secret sauce. It’s Reddit.

Reddit is the self-proclaimed “front page of the Internet” because you can learn about almost all internet-related news on Reddit. You can also now run your marketing campaigns through Reddit Promotion.

Reddit draws has 234 million unique visitors and 8 billion monthly page views a month. It’s the ninth largest website in the U.S. and has thousands of distinctive communities organized around practically every conceivable topic. It’s the largest, most influential and most engaged community/platform/website on the entire Internet.

So why not break the news about your product launch on Reddit?

But first let me offer some do’s and don’ts about how to get the best marketing results on Reddit.

Reddit is a simple yet tricky platform that calls for a proper strategy without any haphazard marketing techniques.

The Do’s of Marketing on Reddit:

1.      Understand the Forum:

First of all, get your hands around the platform. Reddit provides a forum where its users submit links on a variety of topics, like lifestyle, fashion, education, gaming, IT and what not.

Reddit users rate links through upvotes and downvotes. A link with more upvotes rises to the top of the page, which automatically gives it more attention and viewership.

But getting on the top at Reddit is not an easy task.

Reddit doesn’t operate like all other social media platforms where you’ll keep getting ‘likes’ and comments regardless of the level of interest people have in your posts.

On Reddit, you will post your link once and only on a single group which handles your niche, called a ‘subreddit, for a set time limit.

This means that you can’t just post whenever you want.

Because people can downvote you, making a bad name for you.

You can check all the Reddit FAQs to know more about Reddit.

2. Have Catchy Titles for Everything You Share

You see, Reddit has a user interface that looks like a website from old times. So the only factor through which the reader will click on your article is its title. Create interesting titles to attract users to your link.

 

Your title should be:

• Interesting
• Different
• Valuable
• Trending

3.      Have Quality Content

Reddit doesn’t work like Twitter where you can share anything and everything.

Reddit demands your best content. It requires quality content which really offers some sort of value to the reader. You can’t get away with just making a post out of “10 Tweets about the Upcoming Presidential Election.”

If you are planning to run a marketing campaign in any subreddit in the future, you’ve got to first build an active presence and make a credible name. Share inspiring stuff and get good upvotes to gain recognition.

Here are some categories that work best on Reddit:

• Personal stories
• Educational Posts
• Photography
• Food
• Comics
• Music
• Games
• Science
• Technology
• Politics

4. Join Subreddits

Subreddits are the groups on Reddit on which people share content related to various niches. Each group handles one particular topic of interest.

But keep one thing in mind: These are not random groups. These are groups with some real talk. And you just can’t share anything random or irrelevant. Sharing of links and marketing campaigns are also done on these subreddits.

The subreddits need to have a certain number of pageviews in order to run a marketing campaign. You can also check the number of users in subreddit before joining it.

Some of the most popular subreddits at Reddit are:

• Today I Learned– This subreddit is about daily learning. People share their daily experiences or the new things they learn. One post on this subreddit was “TIL about Adam Rainer, the only person in recorded history ever to have been both a dwarf and a giant.”

• Ask Reddit– Here, you can ask various questions and the relevant people will answer. One example is: What is the correct answer to “what is your greatest weakness” in a job interview?

• I AM A– This is about unique professions and situations. You can tell people who you are and what you do. We get to see some really cool stuff in this subreddit.

5.      Find your Audience

Finding the relevant audience is another task. It’s important to find a subreddit that has the audience you need. It’s a three step process:

• Find a suitable subreddit
• Check the pageviews
• Check the number of members. A small but relevant audience will be more helpful and relevant for any campaign.

6.      Set up a Campaign

Here’s the most important point.

Setting up a marketing campaign at Reddit is the motive behind all of the checkpoints that I have mentioned above. Reddit allows you to run ads but not to self-promote your brand.

Just click on ‘Create an ad’ and then you are good to go with all the editing and imagery.

You will run these campaigns on the relevant subreddits. And this was the reason you had to build a good credibility among other Redditors.

7.      Sharing Maximum Links

People spend hours on Reddit. They’re always finding relevant content. Interesting photos, strange facts, latest news, mind-blowing innovations get the best response.

Continue to interact, share links and upvote other relevant links. Make useful comments on other posts so that people can see that you are really interested in that particular niche.

8. Downvote and Move on at times of Anger:

The “front page of internet” is not a simple platform. Keeping a good reputation here is difficult.

Reddit doesn’t have a professional or a light culture like LinkedIn or Twitter. Reddit has a very open and free culture — a ‘freedom–of-speech’ kind of culture where people can say anything they want and nobody would kick them out of the conversation.

You will get to see some love-it-or-loathe-it kind of responses and you will have to tolerate them.

The only strategy is to downvote negative comments and move on. Getting into arguments will lead nowhere. People will downvote your comments and your reputation may suffer. So be patient and act smart.

9. Learn about Reddiquette:

Learn the rules of Reddit. It’s a free world, but you can’t afford to say just anything. Be careful to follow Reddiquette.

The Don’ts while Marketing on Reddit:

1. Lying

Lying is a huge crime on Reddit. If you lie, some Redditors will check every claim you make.

2. Misrepresenting Yourself

Those who behave openly and honestly are considered to be the cream of Reddit. Don’t lie about who you are and what you do or your credibility will get downgraded with downvotes and your reputation will go down the drain.

3. . Raising Upvotes through Fake Accounts:

Do not try to create fake accounts to upvote your own link like people do on other social media platforms. Reddit has a robust system which manages its upvotes/downvotes. This system catches most all fake activities.

4. Excessive Self-Promotion

Self-promotion is a bad idea when it comes to Reddit. Redditors hate self-promotion. Joining Reddit and sharing your links and posts from the very first day is a bad idea.And don’t think that you can market yourself in a hidden way and Redditors won’t notice. They can detect self-promotion almost immediately.

First, establish your name and reputation by upvoting relevant articles, making comments and being active. Then share others’ posts. Then you promote your own content or website. Running a campaign would be a good idea as well. Seek a ratio of 5:1 to 10:1 of non-promotional to self-promotional links. That’s what Redditors prefer.

Conclusion: Reddit is a great platform to communicate, make a good name and market your website among the right people. Even if you don’t need to market anything, it’s still a valuable platform for learning about current happenings.