Benefits and Limitations of Advertising on Reddit
Reddit Statistics for Marketers
There’s a constant debate as to whether Reddit is a social media website or a public forum: regardless of this, the platform has around 1.2 billion monthly active users
This is twice the number of users who log into X (formerly Twitter) every month
Reddit has more than 100,000 active subreddits, which are communities surrounding different topics, big and small, such as entertainment, geography, or a band
Reddit’s biggest subreddits by number of subscribers are r/funny (58 million), r/AskReddit (45 million), r/gaming (40 million) and r/aww (35 million)
Reddit mobile app users spend more than half their time viewing and participating in the comments on specific posts, and just 25% of their time scrolling the main Reddit feed
Reddit’s Demographics
44% of Reddit users are aged between 18 and 29, with another 31% aged between 31 and 49. 14% of Reddit users are aged over 50.
If you’re a Reddit user yourself, you likely won’t be surprised to hear about the platform’s large gender gap - only 35% of Reddit’s users are women. This is around the same amount as X, which is the other social media platform with far more male users than any other gender.
Despite the assertion that all Reddit users are from the US, Americans in fact make up less than half of all Reddit users. However, the US has - by far - the most users from a single country, with 572 million. The next biggest user base is located in India, which has almost 10 times fewer users, at 59 million. The UK and Canada also have user bases above 50 million, but Reddit is also popular in countries such as Brazil, Philippines and Australia.
A survey of US Reddit users found that 72% use Reddit for entertainment purposes, whilst 43% use the platform to get news. At odds with popular social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, only 5% of Reddit users say they use the app to keep in touch with friends and family - though if you consider the platform to be a forum, this isn’t surprising!
Reddit’s Key Marketing Features
Reddit is a very unique platform for businesses to use for marketing. The format of the website, where interactions are focused around topics and communities instead of individual users, means marketers can target their messaging to highly relevant audiences. There’s no set way to reach success as a business on Reddit, but there are some things you can try which could bring a lot of engagement.
Reddit Ads
Reddit offers a variety of advertising options, including promoted posts, display ads, and sponsored content. Marketers can target their ads based on factors such as subreddit, interests, demographics, and location.
AMA Sessions
AMA stands for Ask Me Anything, and these sessions allow businesses to host live Q&A sessions with the community. This provides an opportunity for brands to directly engage with users and build rapport; a lot of Reddit users have genuine interest in the subreddits they’re involved in and will often ask insightful questions. The transparency provided by a business’ representative in an AMA is incredibly valuable.
Community Engagement
One of Reddit's key features is its emphasis on community engagement. Marketers can participate in discussions, answer questions, and provide valuable insights to establish credibility and build relationships with users. Showing a genuine interest or providing actual valuable information, instead of hard (or even soft) selling, goes down a lot better with Reddit users. Save the hard sells for Linkedin and Google Ads!
Analytics
Like other advertising platforms, Reddit provides analytics tools that allow marketers to track the performance of their campaigns, including metrics such as impressions, clicks, engagement, and conversions. This data can help marketers optimise their strategies for better results.
Limitations of Marketing on Reddit
Need for authenticity
Reddit communities can easily identify marketing efforts that come across as inauthentic or intrusive, and the impact of this can be massive. Redditors use the website to consume media they are interested in, and often don’t appreciate a business’ crude attempts at coming in to a sub and hard selling. At best, these posts will be completely ignored or simply downvoted, but at worst, missteps like this can quickly lead to backlash and will actively damage a brand's reputation.
Strict Subreddit Rules
Reddit has strict rules and guidelines regarding self-promotion and advertising, and individual subreddits even moreso. Failure to adhere to these rules can result in posts being removed, accounts being banned, or communities becoming hostile towards marketers. There are also many other rules which must be adhered to, such as particular formatting of posts, required information, or banned questions or topics. These are all in place to enhance the experience of the platform’s users.
Difficulty in measuring ROI
Whilst Reddit Ads provide the expected analytics, it’s nearly impossible to accurately measure the tangible impact of your organic marketing efforts when posting or commenting in subreddits. Metrics such as engagement and brand sentiment are important, but they may not directly translate into sales or conversions.
Ad Blockers
Reddit users tend to be more tech-savvy than on other platforms, and so many use ad blockers or are at least adept at recognising, avoiding and ignoring sponsored content. This can make it challenging for marketers to reach their target audience effectively.
UNBXD is a Creative Digital Agency which specialises in social media marketing using platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram to create exciting, innovative solutions for breakthrough brands. We are experts in supporting brands to outline clear objectives, develop strong communication strategies and create unique content which truly engages their audience