Dubbed as the “front page of the internet”, Reddit started out as a simple content sharing platform allowing niche communities and interest-based groups to communicate on respective “subreddits”. It has since evolved into one of the most popular websites on the internet. Some examples of subreddits include; r/science, a community devoted to scientific topics, while r/teslamotors is devoted to discussion of the electric car manufacturer. With over 138,000 of these active subreddits, Reddit is a very intriguing advertising opportunity, especially for companies that have difficulty targeting their target audience on other digital or traditional platforms.
How Reddit Advertising Works
If you’re familiar with other self-serve advertising platforms, the Reddit ad platform is extremely similar. Reddit sponsored ads are in-stream ads, similar to Facebook ads that appear on users’ feeds that contain an image, headline, outbound link, and a call to action button.
Targeting options are also very similar to other platforms. Reddit is capable of location targeting, interest-based targeting, time of day targeting, but most importantly, the ability to target specific subreddits. The ability to target specific Reddit communities is what sets Reddit apart from other advertising platforms, and makes it a great tool for reaching really niche communities that may be otherwise limited on other platforms like Facebook or Google Ads.
Is Advertising On Reddit Worthwhile?
Just because Reddit offers similar targeting methods to other self-serve platforms, doesn’t mean you should do it. The Reddit community is very different from other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Reddit’s primary purpose is to serve top-trending organic content of the moment, so Reddit users are notoriously anti-marketing. Advertising on a community that is notoriously anti-marketing may seem like a death-trap, but Reddit’s ability to target extremely niche audiences is a strong enough reason to not disregard it just yet. If your business is having difficulty reaching its target audience on other digital platforms, there may be a specific subreddit filled with your target audience on Reddit. To start evaluating whether Reddit advertising is right for you, we highly recommend exploring subreddit topics that align with your target audience and moving forward from there. It’s important to consider the purpose behind the subreddit your considering targeting, and if the subreddit’s content aligns with your brand and your ideal audience. For instance, if you’re trying to raise awareness of a product for veterinarians, you could target the subreddit r/veterinaryprofession, which is a community for people currently in the veterinary profession or looking to go into the profession. However, it wouldn’t be wise to target r/askvet, which is a subreddit where you can ask veterinary medicine related questions and get advice from veterinary professionals. This is because only a small percentage of its users are veterinary professionals, while the rest of the community are users seeking answers.
If your target audience is broad or typically easy to target on other digital and traditional platforms, Reddit’s notorious anti-marketing community may make it difficult for your business to advertise on the “front page of the internet”. However, If your business is having difficulty putting its product or service in front of the eyes of a very niche target audience, expanding your marketing mix to Reddit may be the solution to your problems.