Affiliate marketing is an extensive, multifaceted sphere with its tentacles snatching every social media platform available: approaches evolve, but so do the people who spot an ad at first glance without even reading the whole post promoting a service or a product. There dozens of thousands of articles revealing Secrets of Facebook, and even more techniques taming Instagram or any other source of choice, but not many of them are dedicated to a frequently overlooked site going by the name of Reddit, whose CEO has recently slammed Microsoft’s AI bots for using the data without paying.
General Info
Reddit is often mistakenly considered to be a site where gamers discuss the latest BG3 patches and mods adjusted to the original game. Well, it might be true, but only in part: while the subreddits related to BG3, Elden Ring, and Dragon Age are indeed plentiful, the platform cannot be limited to heated discussions about debuffs caused by the hag’s horrendous operation. Quite on the contrary, Reddit provides an impressive number of potential customers and a plethora of communities to work with.
Reddit is an American social network that combines all sorts of things: news aggregation, content rating, and a forum. Registered users, known as Redditors, submit content in various formats: some provide links, others write text posts, and there are also people who create videos. All types of content can be voted up or down by other members of the community, also called subreddit. The post that gains more upvotes emerges at the top of the subreddit, and if the number of such upvotes surpasses a certain mark, it may ultimately appear on the front page of the site.
As of June 2024, Reddit is the 6th most-visited website in the world. According to recent findings, almost 50% of the website traffic comes from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom at 7.4%, Canada at 7.3%, and Australia at 4%.
As the traffic comes from Tier-1 countries, you can quickly draw up a list of characteristics that pertain to these nations: sophisticated technological infrastructure, elevated purchasing power, and, of course, advanced economy. The target audience in these countries is characterized by higher expectations for ad content and consists of highly educated and tech-savvy people with high, stable incomes.
Step 1. Find Relevant Subreddits
Reddit, at a very conservative estimate, is a huge hub for people trying to find answers, exchange secrets, and express opinions: there are thousands of subreddits, that is, communities dedicated to various topics that may or may not cover the interests you expect to see in your niche.
That’s why you should clearly understand your goals, comprehend your target audience, and envision their desires and needs: this is the only way to identify the subreddits where you can discover ways to maximize your campaign and improve performance.
Obviously, your main objective is to connect with relevant users who will respond to your call and react to the advertising campaign you are initiating. Your first step is the search bar: type the keywords and gauge the results, starting with the more general communities: they tend to contain sidebar links to more specific subreddits.
Say, you’re a crypto enthusiast. Your first destination is certainly a big enough subreddit called r/CryptoCurrency with 8.3M members.
Depending on the community, you may find related links on the sidebar. For this particular niche, the tab’s called “Our Network”, and, for instance, for the Fitness vertical, it is “Related Subreddits”. Click them to breeze through other communities and make your choice.
If you are a little intimidated by the process, and the thought itself inculcates fear in you, relax: in a couple of hours, you’ll nail it and unearth the perfect options sniffing the air just once. Well, metaphorically speaking.
Step 2. Engage with the Community
Immediate promotion will inflict immediate comeuppance in the form of a downvote or a swift ban, so put effort into communication with other members of the subreddits you’re participating in: contribute regularly, share advice, tell Redditors about your personal experiences, answer questions, and don’t be shy to ask if there’s something you’d like to know: by doing so, you can better understand the rules of the platform, create a general portrait of the people hanging out there, and establish a positive reputation that will help you promote your goods and services.
Are you a little lost? Let us guide you further.
- Participate in Theme Days. Most Reddit communities host specific niche-related events, where you can expose your expertise, show your genuine enthusiasm, and connect with other members of the subreddit.
- Arrange r/AskMeAnything sessions. Make the experience more personal: by letting people communicate with you and ask questions, you forge a unique connection and build trust in the users you are talking to. Another unexpected perk is that you portray yourself as a gifted specialist who can explain the reasons for this or that phenomenon in your niche or attract new users with equal success. Use this opportunity as an analytic tool: define the audience’s pain points, preferences, and concerns.
- Gain Karma. As a notorious song goes, Karma’s a bitch, I should’ve known better, and this lyric suits the idea: it is not a mere number you can ignore. Once you log in, you swear in a contribution: a cat picture, a dog picture, a helpful comment, a lovely joke, a piece of advice, a word of encouragement, pep talk... The upvotes you get boost your content that may eventually appear on the front page — and increase trust in the people who see your recommendations.
Step 3. Play by the Rules
Even though you should stand out from the crowd to attract attention of the general public and your target audience alike, you are expected to play by the rules established within the subreddit and all over the platform. Still, there are a few tricks that remain: you don’t want to bend the rules and get your account banned, but you can use safe tips to unleash your promoting potential.
Avoid Spam & Self-Promotion
It has been said that Redditos gather together to have fun, essentially. They exchange opinions, share advice, and, in effect, any call-to-action you’d use in a blog or on a landing page would look incongruous and ill-placed. After all, you don’t meet your friends in real life, greeting them with a loud, “Shop NOW! Get a 10% discount with my IAMTHEBEST promo code!” That’s a social courtesy you should not neglect if you don’t want to get a warning from the moderators.
Keep that in mind when you’re mapping out your campaign: prioritize the equilibrium between promotional and non-promotional content, but increase the number of non-promotional contributions to maintain a connection with other members of the community.
Cite Sources
Credibility is not a mere name in a world full of fraud: as you’ve started your Reddit journey to build trust and amplify new connections with your potential customers, be transparent and provide reliable information that can be checked and referred to in case of an argument.
You may have already established your image among your peers and the more sources you can name, the better expertise you demonstrate. Look, there’s a trend mentioned here (insert your link). Hey, here’s a new development—an article there (link.) Have you heard of the recent updates? That’s where (link!) I’ve read about this. According to N (link!), Bitcoin is reported to grow in another month. Amazon representative claims (link!) that additional regulations will be initiated to eliminate the possibility of online fraud. And so forth. Besides, you can find surprising nuggets: people who read the article you are referring to might discover more interesting facts and provide their observations based on trustworthy statistics and sources. By the way, if the information you share does not seem authentic or the source you’re alluding to looks dubious, you will get the Unreliable Source badge.
Visualize It
If you aren’t a linguist with a long tenure under your belt, a full page of text might exhaust you, even if you developed a passion for reading. Most people won’t waste too much time plowing through the highly intricate and exciting narrative you are so eager to present. Make things simple and steal the limelight by implementing a funny photo of a cat, a fascinating landscape, a hilarious GIF, or a brief video that complements your affiliate message. Give people a respite: let them enjoy your content, not suffer through it; add infographics, charts, and graphs. Make your message digestible, so people won’t have to chew it several times before swallowing.
Add a Compelling Title
Your main focus is to make people click on your post, but it’s hard to stand out from the crowd in a crowd that big. In reality, on Reddit, all usual marketing strategies apply: depending on your personal preferences and observations, you can choose the option that fits best. For example, you can play with emotions and bludgeon people to initiate a conversation by cheering them up. Or by exploiting their fear of missing out. Or by piquing their curiosity so much that they feel an unbearable urge to click on your post.
Curiosity may be piqued in a thousand different ways, but the best one is... a simple question. On this platform, questions don’t look suspicious and can even be considered an invitation to take part in a discussion, and that’s exactly what you need at this point. If you add a few keywords in your title, your campaign will boost in no time — but again, it requires expertise and attention.
And Don’t Forget the Tags
A Reddit flair — a phenomenon ordinary people call a tag — can elevate your experience on the forum and categorize the content you’re posting there. Or the content other people post and share: the principle doesn’t change from platform to platform, it is the name that transforms beyond recognition. These tags — flairs — are often required by the subreddit, and you can choose the most appropriate one from a drop-down drawer menu. Select the flair that most resonates with the nature of your query or post: as it increases the visibility, reaches the most relevant subreddits, and captures target audiences, you should understand what exactly you are dealing with and what outcome you are hoping for.
Reddit Ads
Paid social advertising is a common miracle nowadays, and Reddit, an impressive database of people with diverse interests and preferences, couldn’t miss the opportunity. Reddit Ads are another form of promotion: this platform allows business owners to target ads to specific communities, locations, demographics, and interests, providing a boost in visibility and organic traffic directed to your blog posts and affiliate offers.
The idea behind the tool isn’t an innovation in affiliate marketing: as usual, businesses create sponsored posts, which are displayed to Redditors who match the targeting criteria previously set by the advertiser. When users see such a post, they can interact with it the way they normally do with other non-sponsored posts: it can be upvoted, downvoted, or commented on. The upvotes and downvotes can affect the visibility of the post — again, just the way it happens with non-sponsored content.
But these users, the power of the tool, can become a serious disadvantage in your impeccable campaign aimed at lead and sales generation and brand awareness. Some people may be particularly sensitive to the ads and find them unjustly intrusive, and others may decide that your advertising does not fit the culture of the platform and ruins the mood. So you should weigh all the pros and cons before resorting to Reddit Ads and putting the feature into action.
Wrapping Up
Reddit is a valuable resource for affiliates seeking new opportunities, target audiences, and connections: even though the regulations are quite strict, this platform still remains one of the most lucrative options on the market that can provide everything you have been dreaming of — professionally speaking. Don’t lag behind: our guide has provided you the tips to conquer the network, so it’s your cue to map out a new Reddit-tailored campaign!
