Reddit Advertising : Grow Brand Awareness with Quick and Targeted Reddit Ads

Reddit Advertising

In March 2017, Reddit introduced its self-serve advertising platform to the world. When it comes to advertisements, Reddit has enormous potential. And it has finally taken the steps necessary to realize this potential called as reddit advertising. 

The self-serve revamp includes several changes to analytics, billing, and reporting. Advertisers do not have to pay upfront for campaigns to get reimbursed for the untouched dollars. However, vast uncharted territories and lawlessness combined may result in some risk. 

What does this exactly mean? If the risk worth your effort? Let’s understand Reddit Advertising in a bit more detail. 

Understanding Reddit

Reddit is a type of social bookmarking sites. Created in 2005, Reddit puts users in charge. Users can post content, while the community votes on the quality. They can either upvote or downvote the content. 

When the content is relevant and good, it risks on the top. On the other hand, the poor ones sink into insignificance. Social votes, along with several other factors, determine the content’s position page. 

There are many niche communities on the site, often called subreddits. Every 1.1.M subreddit is user-moderated and user-created. 

They have their own set of rules. These rules determine the post format and type of content. They are all highly customizable having users that range from a handful to several millions. 

Registered users can subscribe to subreddits for receiving updates on their homepage feed. Few examples of subreddit titles include /r/politics, /r/askscience, /r/funny, and so on. 

If you are interested in finding popular subreddits, check out http://redditmetrics.com/top. 

Large Audience 

In 2017, Amazon’s Alexa estimated that Reddit drives approximately 524M visitors every month. In Canada alone, Reddit’s pages get around 5.9M visitors every month. It is almost 17% of the total popular of Canada, as per the 2016 Census numbers. As you can see, the numbers are enormous and unexploited. 

Canadian visitors are first with regards to loyalty metrics. The pageviews per visit, month visitors per visitor, and pageviews per visitors are more than other top nations. These countries include France, Germany, UK, and USA. 

In short, Canadian Reddit visitors offer more and deeper visits than the rest. It provides great potential to a keen advertiser. 

As per Alexa.com, Reddit is the 5th most visited site in Canada and USA. It is on the 9th position worldwide, right behind Facebook, YouTube, google.ca, and google.com. The ranking includes loyalty metrics along with pure traffic volume. 

Concentrated Demographics 

The demographic is heavily skewed on the website. It includes educated, white, millennial men without children. The specifics widely vary from one subreddit to another. However, the majority is an overwhelming 70% of college-educated males. 

A US study showed that users self-identify as moderate (39%) and liberal (47%) politically (Pew Research Centre, 2016). Therefore, Reddit is a gold mine for companies who want to target male millennials. 

Ad Formats 

Ad formats are majorly in three formats – banners, mobile, and sponsored posts. 

Desktop sponsored posts are seen on the top of pages. They are often in light blue backgrounds “promoted” mentioned with it. These posts can be text or link posts. 

Text posts are in text in-platform. They are good at promoting discussions regarding a product or topic. Link posts are meant to send website links to users. Advertisers usually tun of commenting in both cases. 

App and mobile ads are seen mid-feed in a card view instead of the top. They may have a smaller compact view or a bigger image. 

Banner ads are quite simple. They are seen on the right rail of the website. 

Reddit has shown interest in introducing video advertising, as per June 2017. It is quite a surprising and bold move. It is so because the platform doesn’t yet feature user-generated video content. 

Location Targeting 

Reddit allows city and state level targeting in the United States. On the other hand, Canadian advertisers are deprived of that opportunity. Due to this, reaching out to specific Canadian locations become difficult. 

The best ways would be by targeting geo-specific subreddits. For example, an advertiser could target greater Toronto area with /r/Toronto, /r/TorontoRaptors, /r/TorontoBlueJays, etc. The method could allow geo-targeting to attract sports fans living in Ontario or anywhere else in Canada. It offers a much tighter targeting method. 

Best Practices for Reddit Advertising

As an advertiser, you need to use Reddit correctly. Otherwise, there is no use of using it. 

Reddit comprises of a unique community with a unique environment. Therefore, you shouldn’t be approaching it like any other social network or advertising channel. Redditors tend to be cynical and snarky, and particularly sceptical towards ads. Hence, getting your message across without being shot down requires the right strategy. 

We recommended you to be honest and real. Reddit users won’t hesitate to call you out if ads feature hyperbole and superlatives. Therefore, avoid using “best ever” or “#1” in your ads if you cannot back it up. Your ads also shouldn’t be very market-y or too stiff. 

The best way to win Reddit users would be with a friendly and casual tone. Try to invite open-ended discussions. Try personalizing the copy as per the subreddit you wish to target. You can use “Hi Reddit” or “Hey /r/CalgaryFlames” to address your audience. 

If you are brave, you could also enable comments to engage in conversations. 

Lastly, do not forget to add valuable information, such as promotions, contests, or Q&As. Advertisers who use Reddit-specific promo codes have a history of great success. 

How Can You Grow Your Business with Lead Souq! 

If you wish to advertise your products and services, Lead Souq is here for you. With a targeted approach, we promise to deliver realistic and measurable results. Blessed with a team of highly efficient digital professionals, you are going to facilitate the growth of your business. 

With our commitment and dedication, you will be able to see visible growth in terms of brand awareness, traffic, and leads. Our professionals also maintain 100% transparency so that we can both be on the same page.  

With excellent customer service and astounding results, Lead Souq will deliver the best for your company. 

Closing Thoughts 

Reddit as a platform is extremely immature and young. Therefore, you have to be careful as an advertiser about your attitude. With the right approach, you can gain massive rewards from a largely untapped audience.  Engagement and finesse are critical to successful Reddit campaigns. Therefore, you need to treat it different from other ad platforms and campaigns. 

Reddit advertising targeting options and features are bound to improve with time. Gradually, it will offer more control to the advertisers. As of now, you can use this chaotic situation to your advantage to get the best. With an effective strategy, you will surely be striking gold.