Our latest blog post, have you reddit?

Forums have long been on the internet discussing a wide range of topics from the best social media platform to the latest news stories. They have created a place where people feel safe enough to discuss their opinions and ask questions creating a sense of community.

The numbers of people using forums is rising, with more than 430 million monthly active users (in 2019) on Reddit alone, thus proving to be a valuable place for you to find a captive audience.

How Does Reddit Work?

Well, users generally sign up as and when they have a desire to ask something on a specific topic. This can range from technical questions, opinions on films and tv shows to hot topics such as colour therapy. Pretty much whatever you want to know, you are most likely to find numerous comments and answers already on Reddit, if not, you simply start a new captivating thread.

In much the same way that you can like posts and leave comments on  Facebook and Youtube, users can easily voice their opinions quickly  by way of upvoting or downvoting. What’s different here is that the algorithms are based on these actions, so the more downvotes a post or comment receives the more the algorithm sees this as unhelpful content and actually moves this further and further down the thread.  It is important to be aware of this, especially if you’re thinking of using Reddit as a way to market yourself or your business. Keep it positive!

How Do Forums Help With Marketing?

Depending on the services and products you offer, the type of questions you can expect your audience to ask may differ greatly. For example, if you sell video games then your audience is likely to be asking questions about which game is better, or technical support, and so on. Once you can predict the kind of questions that are going to be asked, you can start to think about how you could  best answer these to maximise your  marketing opportunities.  This could be through the creation of a wonderful blog post or by simply posting an answer in direct response.

One thing to be aware of is that Reddit isn’t like other social media platforms you may be familiar with. Communities on forums are looking for posts that offer a quick solution and are relevant to their queries.  If your post fails to offer this, it’s most likely going to be downvoted and lost in the thread. This is something that  happened to the unfortunate EA,  they quickly became famous, not for their great solutions, but for being the most downvoted post in reddit history.

Forums also provide an abundance of feedback , which can be extremely useful as it allows you to see whether your target audience likes your products/services and what changes or improvements could be made. This gives you the opportunity to take  these suggestions onboard and make changes where you, and your audience, see fit, showing that you are a client focused, forward thinking, caring business. In turn, leading to upvoting, reaching a wider audience and improving your marketing. Sounds easy, right?

How To Integrate Reddit Into Your Marketing Strategy

One function which may prove useful is the ability to promote your posts. This is similar to most social media channels. For example, Facebook uses the boost function so that your post is more visible, although unfortunately, like a lot of things in this life, it isn’t free! Promoting your post on Reddit increases the chances of it being seen by members of the community as it appears at the top of the thread. Just like on Facebook,  you can tell a post is promoted on Reddit by way of an icon and the word “Promoted”. It is worth noting that it is clear to the reader that these promoted posts have been paid for and the post didn’t get to the top of the thread through upvoting alone.

Here’s a look at a promoted post on Reddit:

An alternative to promoted posts is to create an “Ask me anything” thread where you can encourage your audience to ask you questions, similar to the feature on Instagram stories. This is a great way to get information out about your business and answer common questions. This style of marketing tends to  get more coverage if  it is a VIP from the company (or a celebrity if you are lucky enough to have one working for you of course) because it gives people the opportunity to speak to the heart of your business, where day to day, this may not be possible.

There are definitely benefits to using forums such as Reddit for marketing your business. No matter how big or small your business may be, here lays an opportunity to expand your marketing potential and grow your target audience further.  Will you be a Reddit convert?

If this blog has got you thinking about other ways you can advertise your products/services contact us today to find out how we can tailor your marketing strategy to drive the results you want.