If you know anything about Reddit, you know that it is NOT a place to advertise your business. Believe me, subreddit admins will make you knock it off if you show up on forums just to plug your business.
You may not be able to use the typical “Sign up today!” or “Buy now!” rhetoric that can pass on Google Ads and social media ads. However, you can take the time to produce thoughtful insights and commentary on subreddits related to your industry as a means of building up your audience.
Let’s explore how.
1. Find the appropriate subreddits that actually care about what you have to offer.
This may seem really obvious, but it can actually be a little trickier than you might think. I have a business selling cat products online, so I wanted to figure out how to get plugged in with cat communities. I figure any old cat lover would be the right target, but what I learned is that since my business mission is to help educate cat owners on how to get the best products for their cats, I really needed to focus not simply on cat owners, but on cat owners who are looking for solutions to their cat problems.
2. DON’T talk about your business, and DON’T constantly link to your site.
This may seem counterintuitive, but when you remember that reddit is not a place for advertising, this makes a little more sense. When interacting in a reddit forum on behalf of your business, it’s important to stay in touch with your humanity and relate to these people as an individual rather than staying too focused on selling your products or services.
The people you respect most in your own life are people that you probably know very well personally. Think of your brand from that perspective. Your relationship with your audience is not all about you. It’s good to remember to be human so that you seem real and accessible.
3. DO leverage your expertise to help these people out.
There will be opportunities to link to your website, but they should occur naturally. As I mentioned for my cat shop, we realized we have the best opportunity to plug our business in a natural way by joining cat advice and Q&A forums, rather than forums full of cat memes.
Example:
We found a natural place to link to a product on our site without explicitly saying, “buy from my website!” or “our shop has all the best things!” The comment was completely selfless and focused on reaching a solution for the individual.
This is the way to build awareness of your brand on Reddit. Show that you are a true authority on the subject matter by offering up helpful comments and occasional links to the most useful content on your site. Not every comment you make on reddit needs to link to your website – in fact, you should avoid that, as it might start to become suspicious.
When it comes down to it, this should actually be fun because it gives you the opportunity to geek out over what you sell. This is an outlet for your passion. Enjoy it!
