When it comes to social media Reddit often gets put in the same category as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. However, Reddit is very different when you actually start comparing them to the other platforms: the site, functionality and users (with a total of 234 million) are all different. There is no comparable forum site like Reddit when it comes to popularity with 8 billion page views per month, this makes Reddit the 7th most popular website.
Furthermore, Reddit is not only used as a good source of information, or to just kill time, but also as a tool for growing online businesses. We have looked at some of the methods used by companies to have a greater presence on Reddit, therefore making their business grow. Here are some things that you should know in order to get started.
- Don’t use your name or personal information, instead use a pen name (a fake name). Although anonymity is usually something people discourage on Reddit it is welcomed. Reddit has algorithms that check posting history, comments and other elements, this is to determine the authenticity of the post.
- To create an account all you need to do is come up with a name and password.
- When you first login to your account you will automatically be subscribed to subreddits, which you can unsubscribe from if you do not like the content.
- Subreddits are sections of Reddit where you can find more related information. For example, if you are looking to grow your business you might want to check out “r/smallbusiness”.
- Reddit awards its users “Karma points”, this is to keep the comments clean and helpful, since people can create multiple account to spam. Low karma points will reduce the amount of attention they receive.
- The sole reason Reddit is so popular is because there’s a lot of high quality content, which users find interesting to share, thus making the site more and more popular.
How to Use Reddit for Business
Using the anonymity feature on Reddit to promote or your company/product will not work. Furthermore, it will probably lose you half the potential clients, but there are countermeasures you make. Here are the top 10 ways to boost your business on Reddit:
Paid Ads
Paying for advertisements is the best way to go in any business, because you can generate so many new leads. In addition, advertising on Reddit is 100% safe and easy, unlike other platforms (like Facebook) you don’t have to spend hours figuring out which ads will work. To target a specific audience or niche all you have to do is set up an ad in the appropriate subreddit, but have in mind that the ads are based on CPM.
A great quote by Thomas Branson who works at SuperiorPapers, “It’s better to make a few people really happy than to make a lot of people semi-happy.” Meaning the leads you will make from Reddit are not going to make everyone happy, but the few that purchase your product will be.
Pay Attention to r/deals Subreddit
It doesn’t get much easier than this when it comes to promoting your service. The r/deals subreddit is made for business owners to promote their products, which is a great way to start on this platform. Not only that but you don’t have to persuade them to buy, they are already looking to spend their money. Not too long ago Ikea used this method to attract buyers, which went completely viral.
Provide Additional Customer Service on Reddit
Although you should already have great customer service on your web page, you can also use Reddit as another platform to help your clients. You can use Reddit to answer questions, provide top quality help, and comment on relatable posts.
Arielle Dya who works as an e-commerce manager for Uniqlo used Reddit to answer customer questions and the results were incredible. 64% of the sales made came from Reddit, just by being active on the site providing customer support.
Talk About Your Business in a Different Manner
We already said how promoting your business can drive away potential clients, but if you do it correctly you can turn the tables. The best way is to give back to the Reddit users, give out helpful information or even give free traits of your product.
People have been doing this for years and it has made their business grow exponentially. The best way to do it is give out a free product, thus it will get more shares making it go viral. You must focus on the customer’s issues, that way you know what they want and then you can offer your product. In addition, you can send them to your website, where you may have other offers waiting for them.
Organize an AMA
AMA (Ask Me Anything) is a brilliant way to give an insight about your business. No business is too big or too small to use this feature, almost every clever business owner is using it from corporate giants to small start-ups.
A good example of this is Peter Dinklage, who is now a famous actor, used AMA to answer questions regarding the series “Game Of Thrones”. You may now know Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, he used the system to raise money for an indie film, which you can do too to raise money for your business.
Curate viral content
You can use other ways to grow your business and grab user’s attention just by using content like memes, gifs, infographics, images and videos. They have to be relevant to your niche, otherwise you will get bad votes, which will lead to your posts not ranking high. In addition, you can find all the content you want to curate inside of subreddits, because Reddit has so many different pages with tons of content.
A good way of doing this is going into the multi-subreddits and looking at the top tabs. There you can find evergreen content and top performing posts. You can study the best performing posts to see what they’re doing right, which you can then copy yourself. Also, check out the rising tab on the front page, use it to help grow your business.
Find Collaborators
When you start getting more traffic to your site and your business gets bigger you won’t be able to keep up with everything. A great way to tackle this problem is by hiring a virtual assistant, which you can find easily on various freelance websites. In addition, you could even find them on Reddit, but going on freelance sites is a faster process.
To hire a virtual assistant you’ll need to make an account on one of the following sites: Upwork, Freelancer or Fivver. These are the best freelancing sites in the industry, plus they are very reliable. The reason why is they get paid once the task has been completed, which is a great feature as you will not get scammed.
Get Feedback and Keep a Lookout for Market Trends
Reddit gives you more opportunities to get in touch with followers and customers, which can help you get valuable feedback. Furthermore, you don’t have to spend countless hours looking for the next viral story, instead all you have to do is see what the Redditors are talking about. Check out the business subreddits to get more info on the matter.
Start a Subreddit Contest
First, check with the moderators if you are allowed to do a subreddit contest, because if you don’t there is a chance of getting banned. However, most subreddits allow it, since you are giving away free stuff. This is a good marketing strategy, as more and more people will want to get your offer. Plus, your post will rank higher than the others, which means more shares.
Set Up a Calendar
Keep your fan base informed, because it can lead to more sales. Set Up a calendar that will tell your audience about the upcoming deals, events, discounts and offers. Many businesses are doing this to maintain a good viewership since most users on Reddit login daily. Also, this keeps you relevant, since these posts are more likely to get upvotes, which means your posts rank higher.
Conclusion
Reddit is a powerful tool for any business looking to expand their viewership. Now you know how to market yourself correctly and you should start implementing the strategies immediately. Your target audience is there you just have to figure out how to connect with them.
