How-To Guide: Content Marketing on Reddit

Content Marketing on Reddit

Those who spend way too much time on the internet have probably at least heard of, if not come across, Reddit. And if you’ve never encountered the site before, YouTuber CGP Grey explains Reddit in a pretty comprehensive way:

“If Google is where you go to search for things, then Reddit is where you go to search for what people have found.”

Of course, when it comes social media, Reddit can’t be compared to the likes of big leaguers Facebook and Twitter. In fact, Alexa’s 2019 statistics have shown Reddit currently ranked #19 in the world, with most of its traffic from the US, UK and Canada.

Reddit’s Potential for Content Marketers

Ask marketers and some may tell you to avoid Reddit at all cost! In spite of this, there have been the few gutsy ones who decided to bite the bullet and take their businesses to Reddit. For some of these brands, such as Nissan and Ford, marketing on Reddit has worked wonders and has gotten them phenomenal success.

Why Content Marketers Should Care

If a few success stories might not be enough to give you marketers the confidence to go against conventional wisdom, these statistics just might:

1. The Influx of Visitors Daily

Reddit gets approximately 231 million unique visitors a month. Majority of Redditors come from the US and Canada, and these are usually educated, middle-class working adults aged 33-45.

This is great if you’re looking for more trustworthy sources from the industry, or if you’re looking to network with the right people.

What’s more, the average Redditor spends an average of 85 minutes on the site, which means more opportunities for engagement for you.

2. A Sea of Insightful Information

Another name you may have heard Reddit go by is ‘The Front Page of the Internet’. Why, you may ask? The site earned this title from the fact that many content creators have gotten inspiration from trending Reddits to make good content.

ShivarWeb even goes further to say that Reddit is ‘the most influential social news aggregator in the world’.

In our opinion, the most fascinating feature that Reddit has would have to be the threads ‘IAma’ or ‘AMA’, which stands for ‘Ask Me Anything’. Anyone could start an ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread and leave themselves subject to the curiosity of the Redditors. Even US President Barack Obama conducted his own AMA on Reddit 6 years ago.

AMAs are excellent to check out if you are looking for life tips, bizarre stories or exclusive reveals from famous people.

3. The Thousands of Niche Communities

One of the biggest draws of Reddit would have to be the thousands of communities centered around a specific topic.

Known as ‘subreddits’, these communities are available for those passionate about the topic to subscribe to. Subscribers can contribute to the group by posting relevant links or dropping comments on other posts. You can even leave votes on posts you feel are important and should be seen by others.

With about 850,000 subreddits currently in existence, of which about 11,500 are active, it’s highly unlikely for you to not find one tailored to your interest. If you can’t find what you are looking for, maybe it’s time for you to start one!

What Does This Mean for Marketers in Singapore?

Source: r/singapore via Reddit

Presently, the Singapore Reddit has about 171,000 ‘Reddiporeans’ since it started out in 2008.

To some, this might seem like a decent number. However, it should be noted that this isn’t representative of the actual number of Singaporeans on Reddit, which could be even less than what’s assumed. Moreover, the 171,000 doesn’t really mean much when you compare the Singapore thread’s top post to Reddit’s all-time top post.

Let’s take a look at a model similar to Reddit that works and appeals much more to Singaporeans –HardwareZone.

Although it’s primarily an IT hub featuring gadgets, the part of the site that Singaporeans tend to flock to is the forums. The forum section has categories such as ‘Special Events’, ‘Academic Interests’, and ‘Lifestyle’, and these sections are further split into sub-forums, where anyone with an account can start a new thread.

Perhaps it is the product-centric nature of HardwareZone that makes marketing on its forums work. That aside, and with the exception of features like voting and karma points on Reddit, the two forum platforms work the same way.

If that is the case, why is marketing to Singaporeans on the latter more effective than the prior? When you think about it, Reddit does have the potential to be a successful platform in Singapore for brands to market themselves, if not more because of its additional features.

How Content Marketing on Reddit Could Work in Singapore

1. Promote your Reddit posts on multiple platforms

In order for Reddit to work for marketers in Singapore, what needs to be done first is to boost awareness and get more traffic onto the site.

Instead of posting a link onto Reddit as you normally would, try the opposite. Share your Reddit post link on your other social media platforms with a larger following, and encourage them to join the discussion on Reddit.

This will not only alert others that you are conducting a discussion, it will introduce the site to followers who never even knew of Reddit’s existence.

2. Keep it real and be a Redditor

No one likes being bombarded with ads, or approached by retailers on the street who always (annoyingly) try to sell you something. The same goes for Redditors. If you’re used to the hard-sell method, you are not going to survive on Reddit unless you chuck all that out of the window.

It’s important to remember that most Redditors are just regular people looking for a place to share opinions about things that they love. This is the “authentic” approach that Eric Bandholz took when he took his E-commerce startup Beardbrand to Reddit. Today, Beardbrand’s Reddit marketing is making them a whopping $120,000 a month, far more than Facebook and Twitter ever did.

Eric made sure that each post he made was not only adding value to the thread, but also relatable to his subreddit community. Even his Reddit post about how Beardbrand rose to success was in no way him gloating. Instead, in his post, Eric was humble and personable, which his followers in the subreddit appreciated and praised him for.

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Right now, Reddit might still be taboo for many marketers unwilling to take the plunge. However, nothing is done without planning. Take your time to fully study and understand Reddit’s site before putting your brand out there on the various threads.

Reddit is still generally untouched when it comes to content marketing, so don’t wait for everyone else to catch up; Seize the opportunity while you can!

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Tell Your Story with Content.co

As risky as marketing on Reddit may be, it could really help your brand soar to greater heights if executed with the right strategy and approach.

Here at Content.co, we connect you with the best content creators to deliver content that rises above the noise. Find out more about how Content.co can help you with your marketing efforts here or e-mail enquiry@content.co for more information.