“Transparency may be the most disruptive and far-reaching innovation to come out of social media.” – Paul Gillin

The chances are high that you know considerably less about Reddit than other social media hubs like Facebook or Twitter. But with a ranking as one of the top ten most popular sites on the internet, it’s time to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

Here’s a rundown of the basics compiled by Craig Smith who admits to a fair amount of digging to come up with info on this non-public company that’s not as “talked about” as other leading platforms.

  • Launch date: June 2005 in Medford, MA
  • Founder: Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian
  • Reddit users worldwide: 330 million
  • US. users: 26.4 million

Statista chimes in, noting these figures, in the millions, for combined desktop and mobile visits to Reddit.com earlier this year:

  •  February – 1460
  •  March – 1597
  •  April – 1557

Impressive numbers indeed, making Reddit worthy of further investigation to be sure.

Consider this statement from Sherwin Su, Associate Director for Social at Essence,  “Reddit is one of advertising’s best-kept secrets. At the core of their platform is a highly passionate and engaged group of users who are influential, authentic, and disruptive across the internet.”

Keywords in Su’s reflection, as noted on Reddit’s site, are passionate and engaged. As has been proven time and again, engagement is the magic potion all social media marketing efforts must have if those marketing efforts are to be effective. And passion is often the glue that connects users to businesses, causes, and each other with strong and binding ties.

Further proof Reddit has something unique, more, and different to offer comes from platform reporter Kerry Flynn, who advises, the “2018 Comscore data shows that 17 percent of Reddit users don’t use Facebook; 28 percent don’t use Twitter; 33 percent don’t use Instagram; 43 percent don’t use Snapchat.”

Now, that is intriguing — a platform appealing to the non-traditional social media consumer.

Upfront Challenges

It’s doubtful anyone will label Reddit easy, simple, or “a breeze” to use. Expect a learning curve that will take time to navigate.

“The site can seem intimidating, even too random for a cohesive advertising strategy. Plus, since its primary purpose is to expose viewers to the top-trending content of the moment, Reddit users are notoriously anti-marketing,” states Caroline Forsey.

But because the potential advantages proved too worthy of an opportunity to pass up, a HubSpot team implemented a strategy to discover for themselves how promising advertising on Reddit could prove to be. Forsey details their experience here.

Target Your Audience

The key to using Reddit effectively lies in finding your target audience. Types of targeting include location, interests, device, time of day, and “subreddits,” which are forum categories dedicated to specific topics or categories.

“If you’re experienced with PPC marketing, many of the ways you can target audiences with Reddit advertising will already be familiar to you,” suggests Joe Martinez. “Reddit advertisers have the option to target users who either have recently interacted with certain subreddits or are currently subscribed to a subreddit. It’s pretty easy to search for subreddits related to your business to see if any options show up by searching under the “Target Specific Communities” option.”

Martinez offers insights on the finer points of this crucial element in his article “How to Target Your Best Audience with Reddit Advertising.”  

Because Reddit is working to lure performance-obsessed advertisers, watch for new tools that will make the platform more appealing for businesses seeking to profit from Reddit’s massive user base.

Martinez concludes with this advice. “Reddit advertising isn’t going to work for every brand out there. But with that much traffic, it’s worth trying. You’re going to have to dig into the targeting options yourself to see if your target audience could potentially be on the platform. The good news is that many of the Reddit targeting options are going to be familiar to an experienced PPC marketer. Just remember the subtle differences in how the targeting options work for Reddit advertising so your campaigns can launch with the best foot forward.”

Additional resources

For more information, check out these resources, compiled by Iris Hearn.

Available on the Reddit site—

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