Link sharing networks like Reddit are powerful traffic drivers for any type of content. Using link sharing tactics like this can benefit marketers in any field at little to no cost. Although Reddit does not have nearly the same number of active users every day as Facebook, the people that are there to engage with content in very specific interest areas which makes targeting your niche a breeze.
It’s important to have a strong understanding about the Reddit community and how they use the platform before you jump into launching ad campaigns. First and foremost, if you aren’t using this as a research tool you are missing out on a great opportunity to learn about some of the most passionate members of your niche.
Since Reddit is a niche platform, there is a limited user base. That makes it a powerful resource for identifying characteristics of your niche because it’s where some of the most enthusiastic opinion leaders of your niche hang out. These are the potential customers who are most likely to buy something related to a given interest so any successful product must appeal this this segment if it’s going to take off within the ‘masses’ of your niche. Take time to see what Subreddits your niche may be interacting with to get an idea of the things they like or debate about.
It’s also important to understand the role that anonymity plays. As a user, all of your posting history is public. If you are going on as a marketer and only posting links that are spammy in nature, you are more likely to have your content removed by moderators. Since the other users are also behind this anonymity cloak, they will be much quicker to troll any posts that feel like spam and probably down-vote your content. To drive traffic for free it’s important to become genuinely involved with your niche so that you appear as a fan of the topic and not an advertiser.
Reddit’s self-serve advertising features are limited compared to that of Facebook, Google, Pinterest and others but that doesn’t mean it’s ineffective. For small budgets (under $30k), you can only use link and text ads that display at the top of Subreddits or on their main pages. Visit reddit.com/advertising to get started.[caption id="attachment_5927" align="alignright" width="261"]
Design: Your ads can be a link or text (similar to organic posts on Reddit). You will be required to submit a square thumbnail and a large image for mobile. Fortunately, this wide image is in the same dimension as the image used for a link post on Facebook. You will also need to add a title to your ad – you can use a similar convention for creating your title as you would for ad copy on Facebook.
Targeting: There are a few ways of targeting ads on Reddit.
‘Interests’ will deliver to users who have shown that interest on any pages they visit. ‘Collections’ will deliver your ads on Subreddits that fall under broad categories.
‘Subreddits’ will allow you to select specific Subreddits which you would like your ad to appear on. Additionally, you have the ability to target specific countries, and mobile or desktop devices.
Budget, price and schedule: Lastly you will select your budget, pricing, and schedule for your campaign. Unlike other ad platforms, there is no way to optimize your ads to users most likely to complete a specific action. Instead, you will manually select a cost per thousand you would like to pay, an overall budget, and a length of time in which you would like to spend that budget. You will not be charged additionally for clicks or any actions made by users.
Since there is no delivery optimization on Reddit, it’s likely that you will see lower conversion rates from this traffic than your typical advertising. That’s okay though because advertising here can be significantly cheaper. Whether you are using Reddit for free or paid traffic, you will always have the opportunity to capture this audience via retargeting on another network like Facebook. This can also be an effective way to get more traffic on your page to generate custom audiences with your pixel data.
Use a different account for your ads: Don’t use the same account for your ads and your organic posts on Reddit. Since users can see anything you share, it’s best to keep these personas separate.
Split Your Campaigns and Test: You should be using a similar strategy for segmenting your ads and testing various targeting options. If targeting Subreddits, use a single Subreddit per campaign as you discover what works best. Same with interests and collections.
Utilize UTM codes: Reddit’s advertising reporting shows very limited data so you will need to make sure you follow best practices when utilizing UTM codes. We recommend using a unique variable for every campaign so you know exactly how each campaign is performing.
Have you been advertising your campaigns on Reddit? Let us know about your results it in the comments below!
