How To Use REDDIT As A Marketing Tool
Have you ever noticed how some people know about the awesome content available on the internet before anyone else?
Here comes Reddit: the front page of the internet. It is a virtual community website based on the variety of topics. It is a combo of a web forum and networking site.
Reddit is a very popular discussion website. You would have already heard about it or perhaps using it.
Do you wonder what does it mean? Actually, it is a wordplay of 'read it' as Reddit. Whenever you see important information you would say, I have already read it on Reddit.
It looks like a cluttered website having random posts, links and information which seems confusing. It does not seem attractive to a new user but once you start spending some time on it, you would realize that it is very resourceful.
People use Reddit for the following two reasons:
1. To explore the best information available on internet related to their particular interest 2. To promote their content, information or website online.
Reddit has 51 million users and it is one of the top 150 websites in the world.
Indeed, it is getting very popular. But what makes it so useful engaging?
The Internet is flooded with information. Reddit rank the information as per the user's response. It contains the best of information and content available on internet rated by users and not search engine algorithms.
When you search anything on the web it is confusing as there is a huge information available. But on Reddit, you will find the information which is the most useful as per other users.
You can say it is a highly customized, easy and engaging newspaper in which you can participate in the discussion too.
You can see the information about everything interesting going on. You can choose the information from the subsections like best, hot, new, controversial etc from the communities you have subscribed.
Some Important Terms Related to Reddit
Redditors:
These are the active Reddit member who read posts and rank it on the basis of votes.
Sub-reddit: It is the community around a specific topic or interest. It is identified by a specific URL.
Upvote/Downvote:
Upvotes are the positive feedback and downvotes are the negative feedback of the redditors. If the redditors like your post, they upvote it which will increase its rank and if your post is not liked by users they will downvote it, which will decrease your rank.
The ranking system of Reddit:
Reddit seems to have the best content related to particular topic. But how is that possible to rank the content as per its usefulness? The ranking system of Reddit is based on upvotes and downvotes by the redditors. So the rank of the content depends solely upon its quality and likeliness by the users.
Now let us understand what steps you can follow to use Reddit as a marketing tool and increase your online traffic.
1. Sign Up :
Although signing up on Reddit is not necessary to use it, but we would suggest you sign up for it. Especially if you are using it to increase traffic to your website. If you wish to leverage Reddit completely, you need to sign up for that. It will allow you to vote, comment and share your own content. It is an easy process. you just have to use a username and password and there you go.
2. Choose a proper username:
Choose your username carefully as it can not be changed later. if you are promoting a company, choosing a username containing that company's name can be a drawback for you. People will think that your sole purpose is the promotion of your company. It will affect your image as a user. So, to increase traffic, we would suggest you choose a genuine username which lets you approach your target audience.
3. Focus on building a community:
The first step to leverage Reddit for marketing is to build a community. This is a time-consuming process where you have to be patient. if you just start with posting links and aggressively promoting your company, you would be torn apart in no time. Remember, Reddit is made of community. so first you have to gain the trust of users so your initial step after signup is to participate and interact. Reddit is all about building a community. This way you earn comment karma and link karma which will develop a positive reputation in the minds of Redditors.
4. Say No To URL Shorteners:
When you post something with a link, post the whole link. URL shorteners do not work here. Redditors are educated and tech-savvy people. You can not trick them anyway. so being genuine would be more fruitful here.
5. Content is the King:
Like every online platform, attractive and quality content is what makes difference. A huge number of people using Reddit are in search of information. Redditors like the information which is unique, interesting, emotional and informative. So focus on delivering quality content more than anything.
6. Find Out The Target Subreddit:
Finding out the proper subreddit is an extremely important step. Reddit has so many topics. You think of anything and it will be on Reddit. Most of the categories overlap e. g. , business, strategy, marketing, digital marketing, online marketing, social media marketing. Suppose I want to submit a post related to social media marketing strategy, it will be fit for all the above subreddits.
if you choose business, it would be too general. it will have a higher number of successful posts so my post will less likely to rank well. if you choose very specific subreddits like social media marketing itself, the chances of getting ranked are high but so will be the number of users and hence upvotes. So I should choose digital media marketing which is not too general and not too specific.
7. Choose An Attractive Title:
Your next step is to find an engaging and interesting title for your post. Now this is very important. Think of the kind of titles people will get attracted to. Ask yourself. What kind of title will you click on that specific subreddit?
Your post will not be clicked unless you have a persuasive title. You can use the search bar for reference. Observe which articles are upvoted and downvoted then decide a proper title.
8. Say No To Affiliate Links:
Do not add affiliate links to your post unless your content is too good. If it is the case adding affiliate links would be fine but if not then the tech-savvy users of Reddit will instantly downvote your posts. Affiliate links give a bad impression to the users.
Now you know that Reddit is a great tool to know about the coolest stuff on the internet and it can help to increase traffic to your website too.
When you start browsing initially you will find it confusing and weird. You will be overwhelmed with so much messy information. The best way to understand anything is to explore it. Browse your favorite subreddits and start participating.
It is a community of 51 million tech-savvy users. So, it is not supposed to be a tool for core marketing purpose. It is not marketing friendly. Still, you can get traffic if you use it carefully with patience. Driving traffic from Reddit will take some time.
