Reddit is a great way to market your brand. You may or may not have come across it at some point, but its communities are quite active and are definitely one of the more engaged ones. More than 150 million people visit Reddit every month, which means that the platform offers a lot of space for advertising.
It also differs quite a bit from how advertising on Facebook and Instagram works. If you want an extra channel to widen your reach, you should use the platform Reddit can provide. Check out these tips to help maximize your reach and generate more traffic for your site.
1. Become a Redditor
Naturally, to take advantage of what Reddit offers, you need to invest time and effort just like in any other social media account. Especially if you plan on using it for marketing purposes, become active in relevant subreddits and engage with its members.
Of course, this means that the first thing you do after creating your account is find the subreddits that topically link to your line of business. Read posts, comment, and react to comments.
2. Work on your Reddit karma
Focus on boosting your karma from the moment you create the account. This is primarily done by getting upvotes. Do what other Redditors do: post amusing pictures, memes, jokes, news, and comment. Keep it interesting, and relevant, and keep up with the trends.
You can also get some karma from the FreeKarma subreddit, which was made specifically to help users get their karma ball rolling. Don’t just beg for it, though. Instead, post something funny or interesting. You can also try out commenting on others’ posts in AskReddit.
3. Comment on trending submissions
One of the best ways to get some upvotes and karma is to find the top posts on specific subreddits, which are usually on the front page. Simply sort the posts by Hot or Top, and comment on the ones you’d like. Either post your original comment or chime in on another user’s comment to get a discussion going. You can also just engage in an ongoing conversation.
Don’t spam or post a comment unless it’s relevant and of some value. That’s a surefire way to achieve the opposite because you might get some downvotes.
4. Be mindful of the rules
Rules are different for every subreddit, so before you post or comment on something, check out the rules that pertain to the subreddit. They’re located in the sidebar – the right column, that is. Of course, respect the general Reddit rules as well. Some are pretty stern with their rules, so follow them to avoid getting warnings or being banned.
5. Ask for permission
If you intend on using Reddit for marketing purposes, first, you need to get a green flag from the relevant subreddit’s admins. The administrators have to okay your advertisement to confirm the nature of your ad and that it follows their rules.
Some subreddits don’t allow advertising at all or just aggressive advertising. Try to create ads that the users can easily engage with and carry a certain value. For example, describe a problem and present the solution to it.
6. Create several accounts
Create a few accounts to help promote your brand even further. You can also create a subreddit specific to your line of business and kick off some talks with other accounts to get things going. However, Reddit pays extra attention to users that corroborate for advertising purposes and might limit or shut them down entirely if they take note of them.
7. Don’t upvote your posts from your other accounts
Reddit can be quite stern with advertising, so if admins become aware that you are using your other accounts to boost your ads by upvoting them, all of your accounts can get blocked instantly. This is especially true for low-karma accounts. So, don’t bother with this strategy; instead, focus on getting upvoted by actual users.
8. Pay attention to the quality of your posts
Double-check if your post is coherent and void of grammar or spelling mistakes. You can use grammar engines to help you on that front. Also, capitalizing letters might get some extra attention, but it’s always bad.
No one wants to see posts that look like someone’s Caps Lock key broke. It’s also an etiquette thing where it’s plain rude to use all capital letters in comments, titles, or the body of the post.
Conclusion
There are some rules you must be mindful of if you intend to use Reddit for marketing purposes. Advertising on Reddit is not the easiest thing, but if you manage to use its engaged community, it can bode well for your traffic. Just follow these tips, and it should all work out.