How to use Reddit for marketing

Reddit isn’t just a website that is used for viral content and AMAs. In fact, it can also be used for marketers. After all, Reddit is one of the most popular websites, with over 1.2 billion people visiting the site every month. It makes sense that it is an attractive option for social media advertisers. However, you’ll need to know how to do it right, or else your effort to advertise on Reddit won’t pay off.

Here’s what you need to know to get your business started with marketing on Reddit.

How Reddit works

The first thing you need to know is how the website actually works. Fortunately, the concept is fairly simple, and the website is user-friendly, so it doesn’t take too long to figure out how to use.

Reddit revolves around user-generated content. This content is then voted up or down, with those that are popular appearing on the front page of the website. There is the main Reddit page, as well as subreddits, which are on various different topics. Because of the amount of content that is published daily, it can be difficult to make your post stand out. If users make it to the front page of Reddit, they can expect to receive a huge increase in traffic and followers.

Who uses Reddit

To decide whether Reddit is an appropriate website for your business to use, it’s helpful to know who Reddit’s users are.

About 71 percent of Reddit’s users are male, with 59 percent between the ages of 18 and 29. The users also have a preference for digital use, with 47 percent of users stating they are online almost constantly. This is a substantially higher number than the 21 percent of U.S adults who report being online almost constantly. Furthermore, 47 percent state they are liberal, with only 13 percent reporting they are conservative.  

Types of Reddit ads

There are numerous types of ads you can choose from when advertising on Reddit. These include:

• Display ad: This is a traditional banner ad. These are generally reserved for companies with a big advertising budget, as prices start at $30,000. The display ads include a personalised analytics report and access to an analytics manager.
• Promoted post: These will look like user generated content, but will include a blue flag next to it, with a light blue background, to make it obvious it’s paid. The two types of promoted posts are:
  • Link ad: this is an ad with a link to your external website.
  • Text ad: this includes an internal link which will direct users to another page on Reddit. This page can include a longer description of your website, product or services.

How can you advertise on Reddit?

There are a few steps you need to follow if you want to advertise on Reddit.

1. Set up a campaign

To be able to create an ad, you will first need to create a Reddit account.

Once you have signed up, you will be able to create your ad. You’ll need to come up with a headline, as well as have a thumbnail image and a mobile card view image. You can also choose the name of your campaign, which is only viewable to you and not general public users.

2. Decide on an audience

You will need to decide who you’re trying to target with your Reddit marketing campaign. You can choose your audience by defining the following:

• Interests
• Locations
• Subreddits
• Target platforms (desktop or mobile web)
• Mobile devices
• Advanced time of day targeting

You can even ensure your ad won’t appear for certain keywords or subreddits by using negative targeting. This means you can be rest assured that your ad won’t appear in areas you don’t want to be associated with and know your target audience won’t be visiting.

3. Choose a budget

Reddit’s ad budget works by charging per thousand impressions. Reddit allows you to set a maximum daily budget or a total campaign budget. So make sure you set your budget as something that you’re willing to pay.

Once you are happy with the ad, you can submit it to Reddit for approval. The approval will normally take around 24 hours, and then your ad will be live.

Before you write off Reddit as being just a place where people go to chat, consider your audience and whether or not you could actually benefit from marketing on Reddit.