According to Alexa, Reddit has officially surpassed Facebook as the third most-visited site in the United States, behind Google (#1) and YouTube (#2). Facebook dropped to #4, and Amazon dropped to #5.
Reddit is a social platform that works by aggregating content that users post. A user can post a photo, text, or a link to another site, and the community can ‘upvote’ and ‘downvote,’ as well as comment and engage on each post. However, unlike traditional social media platforms, Reddit users generally value the anonymity they get with their usernames and accounts, with most users choosing to stay anonymous rather than use the platform to connect with known family and friends.
What does this mean for marketers on Reddit, a site known to loathe any form of promotion or blatant marketing? It’s complicated. The Reddit community has historically been very vocal about their distaste for ads on the site. But what they hate more is when brands attempt to self-promote by faking interest in topics and posts.
So how can brands find value in this community? By creating a profile and curating content that adds value to users’ feeds, rather than posting pushy promotional content. They should not spam the site or post product links; otherwise, the Reddit mods will ban the brand, assuming the Reddit community doesn’t downvote the brand to oblivion first.
Instead, brands should interact with audiences of relevant subreddits, post articles that provide value to their target consumers, and engage in discussions with other Redditors. And most importantly, the brand should not be fake. Basically, the brand should be a ‘Redditor,’ while remaining true to its own voice.
Ready to get running on Reddit? Ring our bell.