How To Use Reddit For Marketing 101

With more than two billion monthly visitors and over 73 million daily users, Reddit is a force to be reckoned with. But how can digital marketers leverage all this power to promote their brands?

In our guide on how to use Reddit for marketing, we will cover everything you need to know to use the platform to increase mentions, rank higher on search engines, engage with active online communities, and much more.

Why Use Reddit For Marketing?

If you're not using Reddit for marketing, you're missing out on big opportunities. Here are some statistics that show why promoting on Reddit is essential for businesses in any niche:

• 90% of users trust Reddit for market research: This means Redditors actually trust product recommendations and buy the products they find on the platform.
• Reddit is the fifth most visible domain on Google: That's why having a link or mention to your product on a popular subreddit can noticeably improve your brand's SEO.
• It's also one of the websites most cited by AI models: In addition to helping you rank higher on Google, Reddit mentions can improve your AI search visibility.
• It has one of the Internet's most active and diverse communities: Even though 46% of American Reddit users are aged 19-29, the platform has members of all ages and is one of the most gender-balanced online communities (51% female and 49% male).
• Reddit's return on ad spend (ROAS) outperforms most social platforms: This means Reddit is also effective for ads, not just organic marketing strategies.

In short, you should market on Reddit because millions of people use it for product research, it is one of the highest-authority domains on traditional and AI search engines, it allows you to reach users of all demographics, and it is great for ads.

As we'll see, there are many ways of using Reddit for marketing. However, the most common Reddit marketing method involves self-promoting by publishing posts and comments with links or product mentions on popular threads.

How to Self-Promote on Reddit

Self-promotion is the quintessential Reddit marketing strategy and, at its core, is a simple process:

1. Start by identifying popular subreddits related to your niche.
2. Create posts and comments with a link or brand mention.
3. Publish your content on Reddit.

Marketers love Reddit self-promotion because it's an organic process (meaning you can get results at no financial cost), allows for direct communication with potential clients, and can significantly improve SEO and GEO rankings. But there's a problem:

While posting on Reddit is easy, ensuring your promotional content is not removed can be tough.

Self-promoting on Reddit is an art form because the Reddit community hates spamming. Reddit mods tend to remove all self-promotional content that doesn't add value, meaning self-promoting is not as easy as writing an ad for your product and posting it on the platform.

One of the main guidelines of Reddit's self-promotion rules states that, for every 10% of promotional content, 90% should be non-promotional. This applies both to the published content (i.e., the branded post or comment) and to the activity of the Reddit account posting such content.

To summarize:

• If your post is merely promotional, it will be removed.
• If you use your Reddit accounts just for publishing promotional content, your content will be removed.

All things considered, it's no wonder so many people complain about not being able to self-promote on Reddit. However, self-promotion is possible if you understand Reddit's unique culture and play it smart.

Here's what you should do to make sure your content doesn't get removed by Reddit mods:

• Participate on Reddit: If mods believe your account is legit, they will hesitate to remove your content; if you're only using it to promote your brand, they will quickly flag you as a spammer.
• Generate value: When your posts are useful and add value, subtly promoting your brand, you'll have a much better shot. Sharing unique, high-authority content, such as research and case studies, is even better.
• Leverage high-karma accounts: If you post through a high-karma Reddit account, your posts will most likely be perceived as genuine.

For more advanced insights on how to self-promote on Reddit, check our article on the best Reddit marketing strategies.

Additional Reddit Marketing Opportunities

Self-promotion is not the only way of using Reddit for marketing. Marketers and business owners of all niches can explore the platform's power in other ways, such as:

Monitoring Brand Mentions

If there's a website where users speak their mind, that's Reddit. So, why not use the platform to see how people perceive your brand? By monitoring brand mentions on Reddit, you harness brand sentiment and engage directly with users who have shared opinions on your products or services.

To monitor brand mentions on Reddit, you can either use a social listening tool, research on your own, or a combination of the two. Here are some helpful tips:

• Search for your brand on Reddit: Do it regularly (daily or weekly) and use the filters to find new, hot, and trending threads.
• Set alerts: You can use tools like Google Alerts to set automatic notifications and know instantly when your brand is mentioned on Reddit.
• Follow important subreddits: Collect the most relevant subreddits related to your niche and follow them to track brand mentions.

In addition to allowing you to diagnose your brand's sentiment, monitoring results on Reddit is great to get an idea of how your competitors have been performing on the platform.

Using Reddit Ads

Ads are costly, but they're still one of the most profitable online marketing strategies. The overall effectiveness of online ads is beyond doubt, and Reddit is particularly great for this purpose.

Studies show that users are 44% more likely to trust brands with Reddit ads. Due to its niche subreddits, the platform is also uniquely advantageous for leveraging targeted ads and reaching the right people.

Successful examples of Reddit ad campaigns abound, but the most iconic is probably Audi's "Think Faster" campaign. The car manufacturer's strategy, based on creating hyper-customised content for popular subreddits, increased Audi's brand favorability by 35%.

Engaging with the Reddit Community

Reddit is the best social platform for brands to engage with potential customers.

Imagine that you run a bathroom supplier store and want to promote your new product - a bidet. It's hard to begin to think about how to reach your potential customers (i.e., people interested in bidets) on Instagram or TikTok. On Reddit, there's literally a subreddit dedicated to bidets!

This means that, even if you're not self-promoting on bidet subreddits, you can easily reach out to users interested in bidets and learn about what they like and don't like about your product.

Sharing Exclusive Offers

We mentioned before that no-value promotional posts are quickly removed by Reddit's mods. However, if your promotional post contains a unique offer (such as an exclusive discount code just for Redditors), you can contour the issue.

While your post is technically promotional, it also adds value by including a free discount, tool, or tutorial that many users may want. Chances of being flagged by mods? Pretty slim.

Self-Promoting on Proper Subreddits

Self-promotion is snubbed on most subreddits, but some were actually designed for this purpose. Popular examples include:

• r/SideProject: Where you can freely share your side project (i.e., your business) with fellow Redditors;
• r/IMadeThis: Where you can share anything that you have made (like your brand).

If you look hard enough, you can even find self-promotion subreddits related to your niche. Self-promotion is allowed, for example, on r/TestMyApp (perfect for app developers) and r/ebooks (ideal for writers).

Are You Getting Nowhere With Reddit Marketing?

Using Reddit for marketing is almost mandatory nowadays, especially as AI optimization becomes more important (remember that Reddit is among the most cited websites on AI models). Unfortunately, Reddit marketing can also be challenging, as you're expected to outsmart one of the most passionate and savvy communities on the Internet.

If your previous Reddit marketing efforts have been fruitless or you feel like the task is too daunting, considering a professional Reddit marketing agency may be a good idea. Agencies like Red-Engage can build a reputation for your brand on Reddit and deliver results in 45 days or less.

While professional marketing services come at a cost, they can be extremely beneficial for your brand, helping you:

• Save time to focus on other details of your business;
• Avoid the steep learning curve of Reddit marketing (bypassing common mistakes made by beginners);
• Get support from experts who already know how Reddit works;
• Set ambitious goals - and fulfil them.