Some people find marketing on Reddit very outdated and obsolete, yet where Facebook and Instagram are today’s traditional marketing channels, Reddit has the nature of being unconventional amongst them. Reddit can be a great viral channel to cheaply amplify your brand and fill the top of the funnel.
Reddit has a huge user base, top posts on Reddit are written under 120 characters of words, that means more information in a limited amount of time. People post their questions and ideas and they get comments in return, a documented survey done by the team of Foundation INC has found out that the posts on Reddit with questions have received more number of comments and the posts which did not have any questions associated with them received maximum upvotes. Reddit works very similarly to Quora and the Marketing technique is also somewhat similar.
As we were discussing in the Quora Marketing section that you can attach links to the answers and you should always incorporate links in the sentences of your answer, the same can be done with Reddit Marketing too, rather these external links will drive your reader to the website you want them to visit. See the numbers listed in the graph
Reddit can be considered as one of the most efficient and huge Social Media platform which is used very less or is underutilized by the Digital Marketers. We have the experience of seeing very narrow niched users and marketers working on the Reddit platform for the advertising of products and services, so it is a good chance to take advantage of the platform.
First, let’s understand Reddit as a platform
Just like Instagrammers and Twitteratis, people on Reddit are known as Redditors. Reddit is known for its Social News spreading nature and it is best used in that industry by Redditors. Just like Quora, there are forums created on Reddit, and the member of these forums post consistently on the platform.
The other users are then shown the content and asked to post an Upvote if they liked the content, or Downvote if they didn’t. The posts with maximum engagement and Upvote will stay in the top position.
As we just said that Reddit has a lot of groups/forums, it has given easy names for better classification of the forums, better known as Communities. Reddit considers itself as the first page of the internet, as written in their link. For example, r/politics discussed political stuff around the globe, r/technews will concentrate on the news about various technologies in and around, and so on. And since it has a mechanism of giving upvote and downvote to the content, you will be able to better research what people are liking and what are they refraining from. Reddit even creates a platform that functions to conduct discussions, debate on a particular topic, they respond to the questions, etc.
When you post valuable content, it becomes easier for the Redditors to give you upvotes and engage with your content which will then bring you a loyal customer base. We have seen that on Reddit people are very specific with what community they join and engage, so keeping that in mind you can design your Reddit Marketing Strategy.
How can you Market on Reddit?
There are a lot of ways by which you can successfully create a brand image on Reddit and Market to the Redditors, we have packaged a few for you;
Associate yourself with a Community
Reddit is all about communities and groups, so you need to associate yourself with a community and engage with the users there. Be specific with which community you choose to join, if your posted content does not feel relevant to the people there, they will stop engaging with your content and the rank will then go down.
Post consistently
When you join a group, the communities are all about giving and taking, so you should always have an ideology of giving out relevant information, adding value to the lives of Redditors. Rather than promoting your brand, business, product, or service, solve their queries, make their life easier, and as a marketer you very well know, how can you do that.
While these standards are all-inclusive (generally) over Reddit as a platform, you need to understand that every user has a community of their own and are involved in them, immersed in them, they require quality content, give it to them. Slowly, steadily, you will see people redirecting to your website and getting converted as loyal customers.
Make your style
People are looking for humor, value, education, etc. you can know your style and post consistently according to what you like and what kind of target audience you are looking for.
Productivity of Subreddits
There are a few situations where the subreddit you’re keen on is altogether too focused on or maybe too much targeted one. Like/r/videoediting . There’s very little activity going on in there, however/r/technews, /r/photography, and /r/news issues are emphatically flooding with entries. So you need to find a good option and use it according to your preference.
Understanding Reddit Marketing:
Community-Driven Platform: Reddit is organized into thousands of niche communities (subreddits) where users discuss various topics.
Authentic Engagement: Successful Reddit marketing prioritizes authentic engagement and adds value to the community.
Diverse Audiences: Reddit attracts users with diverse interests, making it suitable for a wide range of industries.
Content Variety: Reddit marketing can involve sharing text posts, images, videos, and links to external content.
Principles of Reddit Marketing:
Community Integration: Engage with the Reddit community genuinely and avoid overtly promotional content.
Transparency: Be transparent about your affiliation and intentions when participating in discussions.
Value Sharing: Share content that provides value, educates, entertains, or sparks meaningful conversations.
Consistency: Consistency in engagement and content sharing is crucial for building trust and a following.
Advantages of Reddit Marketing:
Targeted Audience: You can reach highly targeted audiences based on specific subreddit interests.
Brand Awareness: Effective Reddit marketing can boost brand visibility and recognition.
Market Research: Reddit offers insights into user sentiment and opinions that can inform business decisions.
Traffic and Conversions: Well-received content can drive traffic to websites and lead to conversions.
Challenges of Reddit Marketing:
Community Sensitivity: Reddit communities are sensitive to spam and overt marketing, which can lead to backlash.
Moderation Policies: Each subreddit has its rules and moderation policies that must be followed.
Time-Consuming: Building a positive presence on Reddit takes time and consistent effort.
Negative Feedback: Negative comments or downvotes can affect brand reputation.
When to Use Reddit Marketing:
Niche Markets: When targeting niche markets with specific interests.
Community Engagement: To engage with potential customers or users in discussions related to your industry.
Content Sharing: To share informative or entertaining content that aligns with subreddit interests.
Brand Building: As part of a long-term brand-building strategy to establish credibility and trust.
What to Expect from Using Reddit Marketing:
Engagement: Expect to engage in conversations and build relationships with Reddit’s user base.
Brand Visibility: Effective marketing can increase brand visibility within target communities.
Traffic: Well-received content can drive traffic to your website or landing pages.
User Feedback: Prepare to receive user feedback, both positive and negative.
Long-Term Impact of Reddit Marketing:
Brand Authority: Consistent and valuable engagement can establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
Community Trust: Building trust within Reddit communities can lead to long-term brand loyalty.
Market Insights: Reddit marketing can provide valuable insights into user opinions and market trends.
Content Strategy: Success on Reddit can inform your broader content marketingstrategy.
Key Highlights of Reddit Marketing:
Unconventional Nature of Reddit: While platforms like Facebook and Instagram are considered traditional marketing channels, Reddit stands out as unconventional. It has a unique and engaged user base that can be leveraged for brand promotion.
Viral Potential: Reddit has a massive user base and can be a cost-effective way to amplify brand exposure. Its content structure allows for quick and concise communication, making it suitable for capturing attention and conveying messages effectively.
Information in Limited Space: Posts on Reddit often use fewer than 120 characters, necessitating concise and impactful messaging. This challenges marketers to convey more information in a shorter amount of time.
Engagement Through Questions: Posts with questions tend to receive more comments, enhancing engagement. This aligns with a survey indicating that question-based posts attract comments, while those lacking questions tend to receive more upvotes.
Similarities to Quora: Reddit’s functionality shares similarities with Quora. Just as links can be attached to answers in Quora, they can be incorporated into sentences in Reddit posts to direct readers to relevant websites.
Underutilized Platform: Despite its potential, Reddit remains underutilized by many digital marketers. This presents an opportunity to tap into a large and engaged user base that caters to specific niches.
Understanding Reddit: Reddit is a social news platform with a community-driven structure. Users are referred to as “Redditors.” The platform is organized into communities or forums known as “subreddits,” each focusing on specific topics.
Upvote and Downvote System: Reddit’s engagement mechanism involves upvoting and downvoting content. Posts with higher engagement and upvotes rise to the top, giving marketers insight into what resonates with the audience.
Reddit Communities: Subreddits are dedicated to particular topics, allowing for focused discussions. Marketers should choose relevant communities to engage with and contribute valuable content.
Creating a Brand Image: To market effectively on Reddit, marketers should engage with the community and provide valuable information. Solving users’ queries and adding value builds a positive brand image.
Consistent Posting: Consistency is key on Reddit. Regularly contributing relevant and valuable content helps establish credibility and fosters a loyal audience.
Developing a Style: Redditors seek humor, education, and value. Marketers should tailor their content style to align with their target audience and objectives.
Subreddit Productivity: Subreddits vary in activity and focus. Marketers should assess the activity and relevance of a subreddit before engaging to ensure maximum impact.
Conversion Strategy: Over time, valuable content can lead to website traffic and conversions. Building a loyal customer base involves consistent contribution and engagement.
Individualized Approach: Redditors are deeply involved in their communities. Marketers must adapt their strategies to each subreddit’s unique culture and preferences.
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a strategy where the marketing and sales departments come together to create personalized buying experiences for high-value accounts. Account-based marketing is a business-to-business (B2B) approach in which marketing and sales teams work together to target high-value accounts and turn them into customers.
Ad Ops – also known as Digital Ad Operations – refers to systems and processes that support digital advertisements’ delivery and management. The concept describes any process that helps a marketing team manage, run, or optimize ad campaigns, making them an integrating part of the business operations.
Venture capitalist, Dave McClure, coined the acronym AARRR which is a simplified model that enables to understand what metrics and channels to look at, at each stage for the users’ path toward becoming customers and referrers of a brand.
Affinity marketing involves a partnership between two or more businesses to sell more products. Note that this is a mutually beneficial arrangement where one brand can extend its reach and enhance its credibility in association with the other.
As the name suggests, ambush marketing raises awareness for brands at events in a covert and unexpected fashion. Ambush marketing takes many forms, one common element, the brand advertising their products or services has not paid for the right to do so. Thus, the business doing the ambushing attempts to capitalize on the efforts made by the business sponsoring the event.
Affiliate marketing describes the process whereby an affiliate earns a commission for selling the products of another person or company. Here, the affiliate is simply an individual who is motivated to promote a particular product through incentivization. The business whose product is being promoted will gain in terms of sales and marketing from affiliates.
The bullseye framework is a simple method that enables you to prioritize the marketing channels that will make your company gain traction. The main logic of the bullseye framework is to find the marketing channels that work and prioritize them.
Brand building is the set of activities that help companies to build an identity that can be recognized by its audience. Thus, it works as a mechanism of identification through core values that signal trust and that help build long-term relationships between the brand and its key stakeholders.
According to inbound marketing platform HubSpot, brand dilution occurs “when a company’s brand equity diminishes due to an unsuccessful brand extension, which is a new product the company develops in an industry that they don’t have any market share in.” Brand dilution, therefore, occurs when a brand decreases in value after the company releases a product that does not align with its vision, mission, or skillset.
The brand essence wheel is a templated approach businesses can use to better understand their brand. The brand essence wheel has obvious implications for external brand strategy. However, it is equally important in simplifying brand strategy for employees without a strong marketing background. Although many variations of the brand essence wheel exist, a comprehensive wheel incorporates information from five categories: attributes, benefits, values, personality, brand essence.
The brand equity is the premium that a customer is willing to pay for a product that has all the objective characteristics of existing alternatives, thus, making it different in terms of perception. The premium on seemingly equal products and quality is attributable to its brand equity.
Brand positioning is about creating a mental real estate in the mind of the target market. If successful, brand positioning allows a business to gain a competitive advantage. And it also works as a switching cost in favor of the brand. Consumers recognizing a brand might be less prone to switch to another brand.
Business storytelling is a critical part of developing a business model. Indeed, the way you frame the story of your organization will influence its brand in the long-term. That’s because your brand story is tied to your brand identity, and it enables people to identify with a company.
Content marketing is one of the most powerful commercial activities which focuses on leveraging content production (text, audio, video, or other formats) to attract a targeted audience. Content marketing focuses on building a strong brand, but also to convert part of that targeted audience into potential customers.
One of the first mentions of customer lifetime value was in the 1988 book Database Marketing: Strategy and Implementation written by Robert Shaw and Merlin Stone. Customer lifetime value (CLV) represents the value of a customer to a company over a period of time. It represents a critical business metric, especially for SaaS or recurring revenue-based businesses.
Customer segmentation is a marketing method that divides the customers in sub-groups, that share similar characteristics. Thus, product, marketing and engineering teams can center the strategy from go-to-market to product development and communication around each sub-group. Customer segments can be broken down is several ways, such as demographics, geography, psychographics and more.
Developer marketing encompasses tactics designed to grow awareness and adopt software tools, solutions, and SaaS platforms. Developer marketing has become the standard among software companies with a platform component, where developers can build applications on top of the core software or open software. Therefore, engaging developer communities has become a key element of marketing for many digital businesses.
A digital channel is a marketing channel, part of a distribution strategy, helping an organization to reach its potential customers via electronic means. There are several digital marketing channels, usually divided into organic and paid channels. Some organic channels are SEO, SMO, email marketing. And some paid channels comprise SEM, SMM, and display advertising.
Field marketing is a general term that encompasses face-to-face marketing activities carried out in the field. These activities may include street promotions, conferences, sales, and various forms of experiential marketing. Field marketing, therefore, refers to any marketing activity that is performed in the field.
interaction with a brand until they become a paid customer and beyond.
Funnel marketing is modeled after the marketing funnel, a concept that tells the company how it should market to consumers based on their position in the funnel itself. The notion of a customer embarking on a journey when interacting with a brand was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898.
Funnel marketing typically considers three stages of a non-linear marketing funnel. These are top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU). Particular marketing strategies at each stage are adapted to the level of familiarity the consumer has with a brand.
A go-to-market strategy represents how companies market their new products to reach target customers in a scalable and repeatable way. It starts with how new products/services get developed to how these organizations target potential customers (via sales and marketing models) to enable their value proposition to be delivered to create a competitive advantage.
The term “greenwashing” was first coined by environmentalist Jay Westerveld in 1986 at a time when most consumers received their news from television, radio, and print media. Some companies took advantage of limited public access to information by portraying themselves as environmental stewards – even when their actions proved otherwise. Greenwashing is a deceptive marketing practice where a company makes unsubstantiated claims about an environmentally-friendly product or service.
Grassroots marketing involves a brand creating highly targeted content for a particular niche or audience. When an organization engages in grassroots marketing, it focuses on a small group of people with the hope that its marketing message is shared with a progressively larger audience.
Growth marketing is a process of rapid experimentation, which in a way has to be “scientific” by keeping in mind that it is used by startups to grow, quickly. Thus, the “scientific” here is not meant in the academic sense. Growth marketing is expected to unlock growth, quickly and with an often limited budget.
Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that seeks to utilize low-cost and sometimes unconventional tactics that are high impact. First coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book of the same title, guerrilla marketing works best on existing customers who are familiar with a brand or product and its particular characteristics.
Hunger marketing is a marketing strategy focused on manipulating consumer emotions. By bringing products to market with an attractive price point and restricted supply, consumers have a stronger desire to make a purchase.
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is an approach used by businesses to coordinate and brand their communication strategies. Integrated marketing communication takes separate marketing functions and combines them into one, interconnected approach with a core brand message that is consistent across various channels. These encompass owned, earned, and paid media. Integrated marketing communication has been used to great effect by companies such as Snapchat, Snickers, and Domino’s.
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy designed to attract customers to a brand with content and experiences that they derive value from. Inbound marketing utilizes blogs, events, SEO, and social media to create brand awareness and attract targeted consumers. By attracting or “drawing in” a targeted audience, inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing which actively pushes a brand onto consumers who may have no interest in what is being offered.
Integrated marketing describes the process of delivering consistent and relevant content to a target audience across all marketing channels. It is a cohesive, unified, and immersive marketing strategy that is cost-effective and relies on brand identity and storytelling to amplify the brand to a wider and wider audience.
The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.
Marketing myopia is the nearsighted focus on selling goods and services at the expense of consumer needs. Marketing myopia was coined by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt in 1960. Originally, Levitt described the concept in the context of organizations in high-growth industries that become complacent in their belief that such industries never fail.
Marketing personas give businesses a general overview of key segments of their target audience and how these segments interact with their brand. Marketing personas are based on the data of an ideal, fictional customer whose characteristics, needs, and motivations are representative of a broader market segment.
Meme marketing is any marketing strategy that uses memes to promote a brand. The term “meme” itself was popularized by author Richard Dawkins over 50 years later in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In the book, Dawkins described how ideas evolved and were shared across different cultures. The internet has enabled this exchange to occur at an exponential rate, with the first modern memes emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Microtargeting is a marketing strategy that utilizes consumer demographic data to identify the interests of a very specific group of individuals. Like most marketing strategies, the goal of microtargeting is to positively influence consumer behavior.
Multichannel marketing executes a marketing strategy across multiple platforms to reach as many consumers as possible. Here, a platform may refer to product packaging, word-of-mouth advertising, mobile apps, email, websites, or promotional events, and all the other channels that can help amplify the brand to reach as many consumers as possible.
Multi-level marketing (MLM), otherwise known as network or referral marketing, is a strategy in which businesses sell their products through person-to-person sales. When consumers join MLM programs, they act as distributors. Distributors make money by selling the product directly to other consumers. They earn a small percentage of sales from those that they recruit to do the same – often referred to as their “downline”.
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of the ability of a product or service to attract word-of-mouth advertising. NPS is a crucial part of any marketing strategy since attracting and then retaining customers means they are more likely to recommend a business to others.
Neuromarketing information is collected by measuring brain activity related to specific brain functions using sophisticated and expensive technology such as MRI machines. Some businesses also choose to make inferences of neurological responses by analyzing biometric and heart-rate data.
Neuromarketing is the domain of large companies with similarly large budgets or subsidies. These include Frito-Lay, Google, and The Weather Channel.
Newsjacking as a marketing strategy was popularised by David Meerman Scott in his book Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage. Newsjacking describes the practice of aligning a brand with a current event to generate media attention and increase brand exposure.
A microniche is a subset of potential customers within a niche. In the era of dominating digital super-platforms, identifying a microniche can kick off the strategy of digital businesses to prevent competition against large platforms. As the microniche becomes a niche, then a market, scale becomes an option.
We can define pull and push marketing from the perspective of the target audience or customers. In push marketing, as the name suggests, you’re promoting a product so that consumers can see it. In a pull strategy, consumers might look for your product or service drawn by its brand.
Real-time marketing is as exactly as it sounds. It involves in-the-moment marketing to customers across any channel based on how that customer is interacting with the brand.
Relationship marketing involves businesses and their brands forming long-term relationships with customers. The focus of relationship marketing is to increase customer loyalty and engagement through high-quality products and services. It differs from short-term processes focused solely on customer acquisition and individual sales.
Reverse marketing describes any marketing strategy that encourages consumers to seek out a product or company on their own. This approach differs from a traditional marketing strategy where marketers seek out the consumer.
Remarketing involves the creation of personalized and targeted ads for consumers who have already visited a company’s website. The process works in this way: as users visit a brand’s website, they are tagged with cookies that follow the users, and as they land on advertising platforms where retargeting is an option (like social media platforms) they get served ads based on their navigation.
Sensory marketing describes any marketing campaign designed to appeal to the five human senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are enabling marketers to design fun, interactive, and immersive sensory marketing brand experiences. Long term, businesses must develop sensory marketing campaigns that are relevant and effective in eCommerce.
Services marketing originated as a separate field of study during the 1980s. Researchers realized that the unique characteristics of services required different marketing strategies to those used in the promotion of physical goods. Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing that promotes the intangible benefits delivered by a company to create customer value.
Sustainable marketing describes how a business will invest in social and environmental initiatives as part of its marketing strategy. Also known as green marketing, it is often used to counteract public criticism around wastage, misleading advertising, and poor quality or unsafe products.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a marketing strategy skewed toward offering a great experience to existing customers and incentivizing them to share it with other potential customers. That is one of the most effective forms of marketing as it enables a company to gain traction based on existing customers’ referrals. When repeat customers become a key enabler for the brand this is one of the best organic and sustainable growth marketing strategies.
360 marketing is a marketing campaign that utilizes all available mediums, channels, and consumer touchpoints. 360 marketing requires the business to maintain a consistent presence across multiple online and offline channels. This ensures it does not miss potentially lucrative customer segments. By its very nature, 360 marketing describes any number of different marketing strategies. However, a broad and holistic marketing strategy should incorporate a website, SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, public relations, in-store relations, and traditional forms of advertising such as television.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
