A heaven for a content creator, Reddit is one of the best digital tools available to star on ‘the front page of the internet’, literally. If tagged with appropriate interest based subreddits, a marketeer can easily draw attention, drive traffic to home website and hit the right cord with the desired target audience effectively. Sounds easy? But there’s a catch. Unlike other social platforms, the foundation of Reddit lies in seeking information and not socializing at large. It is proclaimed as a coveted group by its users and hence the crowd here is appreciative of self-less work but highly unforgiving of self-promotion. Winning the admiration is an uphill task and more so is retaining it. A slight error on your part and you are ousted!
Related Articles
With the exception of revealing spoilers for game of thrones, how do you make your work viral amidst people who love anything but the concept of spamming and viral? Here are the seven deadly sins you absolutely need to steer away from to uphold the ‘reddiquettes’!
Lusting for upvotes: Users often stoop to requests for upvotes and create bots requesting information from a particular link to their website. Credibility needs to be earned here and misrepresentation will only lead you down the pit hole of failure
Greed for PR: Reddit as a marketing channel is very averse to companies implanting a review thread for its market launches. Microsoft suffered a similar backlash for posting on Xbox 1 release. A deliberate prank or bad timing, it garnered them unwanted negative PR
Gluttony/ overselling: Users here are known sniffing out self-promotion in a jiffy. They watch as they can go through your post history and if that contains links only from your website, you will be down voted for being greedy and bashed for over-doing it
A sloth over content: The content is the winner and the beauty lies in the detailing. Redditors hold high this value as they seek relevant information amidst thousands of subreddits and millions of user-generated posts. So one is expected to tailor his content well, be factual and precise in his thoughts to stand out. Last but not the least, refrain from making silly grammatical errors unless, you really need a grammar Nazi unleashed on your tail.
Wrath of brands: Wars are waged; words are exchanged over Twitter and Facebook. Cheeky words and sly tongue may get you ahead elsewhere but not on Reddit. The platform updates implements as the bolting speed of light and one wrong move can tarnish brand reputation
Bias of opinion: We are all entitled to personal biases but as Reddit users, we are obliged to keep an open mind and not breed on our prejudice
Pride is a loss maker: Most companies, book-writers take the false step of portraying their profiles as brands and lose out on the human value. A brand in reddit dictionary is the sinner for being a spammer whereas a genuine user strives for the greater good of subscribers by posting content advantageous not just to him but to everyone reading it including external sources
Having survived the radar of /r/HailCorporate, if one manages to pitch for his work in a subtle fashion then there as many opportunities to get it right as were there before to get it wrong. The Ten Commandments to get it right and not down voted into abyss are as follows:-
1. Respect the ‘Karma’: The ‘Karma quotient’ is simply a reflection of your useful contribution made so far in the stint of posts and comments submitted on links. It doesn’t spike up your revenues but gets you the trust and nod from fellow redditor
2. Know your audience: This unlike any other social platform has a very selective target group which look forward to unique and bold things. A well-read, slightly nerdish if I dare say is the target group you are looking at. In such a scenario, it’s important to judge if the investment is worth it. You may not be able to sell soaps here but a technology product or service can get the word of mouth buzz
3. Go to market strategy: The biggest setback here is getting lost amidst the vast menu of offerings. To be taken notice of, being associated with the right subreddit is a necessity. The more specific it is, the more chances are of it being read and up voted. If voted popular, it gets featured on cross sub reddites
4. Attention to detail: Enriching content gets you ahead and a detailed title, even more so. Unlike Twitter, there isn’t a 140 character restriction and hence funky, click-bait buzz words are not taken too kindly. The passion backed by information and numbers sail high
5. Be yourself: Users go to lengths to ensure you aren’t a spammer and hence bring out the human element in your pitch. For example, Rob Towner participated in an ‘Ask me Anything’ (/AMA) session and sportingly answered questions showered at him about his new book with a quirky title. The eye-catching title along with passionate answers resulted in his book get an entry in Amazon Top 300 best sellers. You originality may not drive sales, but certainly piques interest in your past work
6. Research for free: Rather than investing huge amounts on interviews and surveys, Reddit gives the medium to reach a targeted audience free of cost. The right question in the right thread does the trick!
7. Get the feedback: A perfect opportunity to get quality feedback for a product launch in the pilot phase. Use this review to the most as redditors believe in ‘sharing is caring’
8. Generate leads: To give the solution, you need to identify the problem and Reddit has only too many. The prospects come to you if you keep an open-eye and take an interest
9. Start a campaign: Secure a position on the ‘Front page of the internet’ via Reddit Advertising. Be upfront, target chosen audience and set up an experiential FAQ session. The success story of DuckDuckgo search engine is a living example
10. Be creative: Being unconventional is the trick to stand out. Keep a timely check on posts made to stay alive in brand recall and do out of the box things like including info graphics to boost traffic as done by the organization Clarity Way
Most marketeers shy away from usage of Reddit citing it to be very selective, restricted and hostile at times. But if the target group is tapped correctly, it can reap a massive surge of traffic back home as stated from its stat of 8 billion monthly page views. In this love-hate relationship, the idea is to be interesting, trendy and yet valuable and be a champion of content marketing. If approached properly, it’s the best medium to not only build a brand name but also a dedicated following.
The post Digital Marketing using Reddit: A beginner’s guide to Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on IntelliAssist.
This post first appeared on Virtual Reality: The Future Of Digital Marketing, please read the originial post: here
