Are you looking to grow your B2B marketing efforts outside of the traditional social media platforms? You may want to consider Reddit when you think of your next big marketing campaign.
Did you know that more people visit Reddit than Instagram, LinkedIn, eBay, Netflix, and Twitter?
Additionally, it’s a community of like-minded individuals who care about a diversified array of topics. How do you get them to care about what you have to say and your product or service? Keep reading!
This article explains what Reddit is, how to use it in your B2B marketing, some best practices, what not to do on Reddit, and how you can increase your reach on the platform.
What is Reddit?
With over 1.7 billion visits a month, Reddit is a website powerhouse, so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the most popular platforms. It combines a forum with social news, a social network, and web content of all forms into one platform. Let’s get into some of the basics:
- Redditors – registered users who can post content.
- Sub-forums / communities – there are over 130,000 active sub-forums and communities (active means they receive at least five comments a day).
- Subreddits – micro-communities within Reddit based on specific topics (any topic, literally). These over 2.6 million micro-communities each have their own posts, etiquette, rules, and subscribers. The rules for each subreddit are available in the right-hand sidebar. Posts (posted by users) are open to receive down- (↓) or upvotes (↑) by the Reddit community. Posts can contain text, images, links, and videos. The posts with the most upvotes are featured on the front page. Redditors can follow selected subreddits by category relevant to their interests and control which content they see on their front page.
- Karma score – your reputation on Reddit. The more you post and comment, the more your score goes up. You also gain some points when you give or receive awards (still in the experimental stages). Don’t focus on getting more points though, focus on being a good person and contributing positively to the Reddit community.
- AskReddit/ “Ask me Anything” (AMA) – some of the most popular subreddits.
- Snoo – Reddit’s mascot alien.
The idea that posts can be down- or upvoted ensures that interesting content makes its way to the top while uninteresting content doesn’t. This system has made Reddit the birthplace of some of the internet’s most memorable memes and viral sensations. It aims to create a sense of belonging and value as part of a community. In the rare instance that a subreddit doesn’t exist, you can create one. Creating one becomes extremely useful for B2B marketing as well.
How to Use Reddit in B2B Marketing
Redditors spend 12% more time in the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey than users on other platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat). Additionally, Redditors decide on purchases nine times faster, spend 15% more money, and are 13% more likely to share positive messages about a brand (both online and offline) in comparison to other platforms.
Considering these numbers, if you’re thinking about marketing on Reddit, your marketing strategy will have to be very different than on LinkedIn, for example. Because of its differences, Reddit is unique from other social media sites. While users on other sites are concerned with themselves and their own presence, Redditors are focused on what’s going on in the world and their communities and are incredibly interactive. However, you must first understand the basics of this platform and its user base to understand how to leverage its features.
One of the first steps you should take is participating in a subreddit and engaging with the Reddit community to understand your target audience and what they care about. Pro tip: Redditors aren’t generally too tolerant of content that includes brand promotion or is too promotional and won’t hesitate to flag it as spam. They also may call you out or vent about your poor marketing tactics or brand experience in subreddits. Consider creating your own subreddit for a high-value marketing channel or using Reddit ads instead. More on ads in a bit.
Being a community with a diversified user base, Reddit allows your business to flourish in the following areas, and not only:
- Topic generation – great if used on deep-dive posts to uncover “question keywords”
- Off-page SEO – great for sharing high-quality content to communities with similar interests
- AMAs – participate in these live Q&As as you grow your audience and answer questions from Redditors.
Follow these tactics for your B2B marketing campaign:
- Find your target subreddit(s) – similar to finding your target audience, consider finding the right subreddits for your business. To zero in on a few good ones, simply browse Reddit, look at some of the best subreddits, all while considering the following questions:
- Are there any specific keywords that relate to or shape your digital marketing strategy, and can you find connections between the subreddit and your business’ products or brand?
- How large is the audience? Remember that it’s easier to start out and establish your brand’s presence in a smaller subreddit. Move to a larger audience subreddit once you’ve become comfortable with communication, as bigger ones generate more traffic.
- Does your subreddit of choice generate enough engagement?
- Increase your Karma – as you already know, Karma means more upvotes on either your posts or comments (you can find someone’s Karma points on their user profile). This directly correlates to your level of positive participation on the platform. As your Karma increases, so does your influence on the site. Someone with better Karma, therefore, has more visible posts, gains the trust of other Redditors, and increases their reach. Remember, though, you can also lose points if you receive too many downvotes. To grow your Karma on Reddit, consider the following steps:
- Subscribe to the subreddits you will actively contribute to and participate in.
- Share quality posts without being too promotional, and comment on other Redditors’ posts regularly. Reply to comments on your posts too.
- Head to r/AskReddit to answer or ask pertinent questions.
- Post links to content that your target audience finds relevant to generate conversation. This includes other people’s posts or links to their websites or blogs.
- Create a branded subreddit – once you’ve established a strong presence in your community, racked up some solid Karma points, and made a name for yourself, it’s time to create a branded subreddit. This will give your prospective and current customers a chance to interact with you and each other. Promote your subreddit on different platforms to get the word out. Consider offering customer service on your subreddit; hold exclusive Q&As (AMAs) and share useful content like a blog explaining the benefits of a particular product.
Best Practices & What NOT to do on Reddit
To ensure you’re using the platform correctly for marketing, follow these best practices:
- Get to know the rules – which you can also find here, and remember that each subreddit has its own set of rules. These include keeping communities free of harassment and threats, respecting someone’s privacy, and not engaging in spamming or subscriber fraud. Violating any of the general or individual subreddit rules can result in your posts getting removed or you getting kicked out of a group.
- Be a community member first – remember that it takes time to earn trust on the platform, so spend some time commenting on relevant posts and submitting content. Additionally, become familiar with the platform before you start posting, so you don’t irritate other Redditors. Don’t forget to rack up good Karma points.
- Be useful – your B2B will have an easy time on the platform if you join relevant groups already talking about your core topics. Remember to be engaging and helpful, and avoid self-promotion at all costs, including sales pitches or upvoting schemes.
- Don’t repost content – one of the worst things you can do on Reddit is repost content. Redditors frown upon this. Be original; ensure your content is exclusive, funny, reliable, and trendy.
- Find the best times to post – a majority of Redditors reside in the States, so the best times to post are weekends and Mondays between the hours of 6 am and noon.
How to Increase Your Reach with Reddit
Advertising on Reddit is an excellent way to get noticed and discovered. You’re able to buy ad space on the platform to promote what you offer. Reddit offers two main ad types:
- Promoted post ads are available to advertisers from Reddit’s self-serve ad platform, and they appear organically, the same way regular user-posted content appears, with the added “promoted” tag.
- Display ads are available to advertisers through Reddit’s managed advertiser program and are similar to online display ads. Geared towards larger advertisers with a budget of a minimum $10,000 quarterly spend, you must contact the Reddit sales team to get started.
Additionally, the platform offers clients the options to keep their ads away from certain communities or keywords and to disable comments on their ads.
Moreover, Reddit’s ad platform gives you the option to choose a campaign objective, including brand awareness and reach, conversions, or driving installs for your app. Additionally, you can segment campaign targeting and define your targeting criteria based on location, interest, and communities, making Reddit one of advertising’s best-kept secrets.
> If you’re creating a self-serve ad campaign, you can select ad details such as your platform, target audience, scheduling details, and budget. After selecting these details, you’ll need to submit a payment before your ad runs. Reddit will approve or deny your ad, a decision that takes one business day. If it’s approved, you’re ready to reach your audience with a targeted ad!
Alongside ads, the following types of content work best to increase your reach:
- Blog content – captivating blog content will grab the attention of your communities.
- Text-based posts – share ideas, even if there aren’t graphics attached to them. Redditors enjoy having meaningful conversations or friendly and constructive arguments about diverse topics. You may choose to share blog-like content as a text-based post instead of linking to your blog or site (like on Facebook or LinkedIn).
- AMAs – you may filter by topics like nonprofit, SEO, content marketing, politics, etc., to find interesting content and join communities to ask or answer questions. Remember, you can also hold exclusive AMAs under a branded subreddit.
- News and essential information – although up-to-the-minute news isn’t possible for every brand, the platform is amazing for publishers. You may also choose to share thoughts and insights from industry leaders, announce a future launch or product change, or link to an original report or research (by you or someone else).
- Target keywords or look for people talking about your brand – chime in with something useful when monitoring for target keywords and relevant topics. See if anyone is talking about your brand; are they happy with their purchase (current customers), are they deciding between your and other brands (prospective customers)? You can always gauge the situation at this point and show interested Redditors that you’re involved in their buyer decision and that you’re available to make their experience a better one.
Conclusion
Reddit plays an essential role in driving customer communications and successful business decisions within different communities. Ensure you’re always following the rules, find your niche, act for the betterment of the community at large, and one of the best tools for reaching devoted, highly-engaged audiences is at your fingertips. Redditors won’t hesitate to tell you what they think, so use that candor to your advantage. How will you increase your Karma?
As soon as you have Reddit nailed down, read about how to leverage LinkedIn groups to your advantage!