Reddit Communities: How to Find and Engage with Them

Since the beginning of time, humans have formed groups. In our digital era, such groups are sites of loyalty and trust. As a marketer, you cannot ignore the benefits of digital communities.  

There are many popular online community platforms. For example, you must already be familiar with Facebook and Discord.

Another platform you need to consider is Reddit. It is home to many thriving Reddit communities. It is among the top ten visited websites in the world, according to statistics from 2023. In April, almost five billion people visited Reddit.

Let us explore how this social media platform works, and the best ways to engage Reddit communities.

1. Understanding and Identifying Subreddits

Reddit is divided into subreddits. A subreddit is a community within Reddit organized around specific topics or interests. Research shows that there are approximately 3.4 million active subreddits on Reddit.

Some popular subreddits are:

• r/Gaming, for discussing video games.
• r/AskReddit, for questions related to Reddit, and general topics.
• r/Technology, for news and views about technology.

Subreddits are helpful for marketers to identify relevant audiences. For example, r/Web3 is a subreddit dedicated to Web3 technology and news. Others are r/NFT and r/CryptoCurrency.

Digital marketers will find valuable tips on subreddits such as  r/SEO, r/SocialMedia, and r/Linkbuilding.

2. Navigating and Participating in Subreddit Communities

Reddit’s search function is a good starting point to discover subreddits relevant to your interests.

Once you join a subreddit, here are some tips on how to get the best from it.  

• You can filter posts by popularity, recency, and timeframes. This step will give you an indication of the type of content the subreddit is interested in.
• Make sure to read the comments on posts that you find interesting. These reveal the expectations of users.
• Some subreddits have a FAQ section for you to understand specific rules and policies.

 Now, here are some pointers for participating in subreddits.

• Always respect the decisions of the moderator.
• Contribute meaningful and relevant content. Reply to stimulating posts.
• Engage in ongoing discussions.
• Use Reddit’s upvote and downvote buttons to show your like or dislike of posts and comments.
• Be mindful of privacy and safety.

3. Building Trust and Credibility in Reddit Communities

In Reddit communities, there is nothing more important than trust and credibility. These are a few recommendations to keep in mind.

• Post content that is reliable, with links to sources whenever possible.
• Be regular and consistent, and the community will look forward to your posts.
• Engage in genuine discussions without heightened emotions.
• Your posts should be relevant to the interests of the subreddit.

4. Following Best Practices for Reddit Engagement

With these basic principles, you can increase your chances of attracting attention and enhancing engagement.

• Ask questions. Redditors love sharing their opinions.
• Marketers who share exclusive content get more engagement.
• Do not use Reddit only for brand promotion. Include other posts that are of interest to the category.
• Actively participate in Reddit threads. Ideally, you should not use the forum for top-down communication.
• Posts with videos, photographs, and other images tend to get more engagement on Reddit.

5. Using AMA Events and Other Features in Reddit Communities

Ask Me Anything events, known as AMAs, are a popular feature of many subreddits. Marketers use them for brand launches, generating interest, and sharing new information.

A typical marketing AMA features an influencer or other senior company official. It is a Q&A session conducted live. Community members are free to ask questions on specific topics, and these queries are promptly answered by the host.

The best AMAs are frank, fun, and forthright. Those who ask questions are treated with respect.

Some other Reddit features that marketers can use are:

• Reddit coins and awards for recognizing valuable posts and comments.
• Reddit Premium is a monthly membership program that gives you deeper access to the site.

6. Leveraging Subreddit Advertising to Attract Your Target Audience

The benefit of paid advertising on a subreddit is that you can zero in on your target audience.

Want to launch a range of sports shoes? Advertise on a subreddit called RunningShoeGeeks. Want to promote a new art NFT? There’s a subreddit for that, too.

Here are a few more tips.

• Make sure the subreddit is aligned with your offering.
• Be clear about the goal of the campaign.
• Include a specific call to action.

 Reddit offers marketers access to campaign metrics. You can use these to track results and make the necessary adjustments.

Two Successful Reddit Marketing Campaigns

Adobe

Adobe reached out to Reddit community members to partner with them in creating videos and images as Photoshop layers. These were used in the advertising campaign. This campaign was a form of consumer-generated content that won hearts and minds.

Audi

Audi hosted what they called “the world’s fastest AMA”. This was a series of live videos featuring celebrities such as Elizabeth Banks and Adam Scott. They had to answer questions while being driven around a track at high speeds.

Reddit communities are busy and thriving sites. Once you find a relevant subreddit, make sure to first understand the types of posts that are popular. Then, you can go ahead and build trust and credibility by following the best practices outlines above.

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