I have to be honest. Up until six months ago, I thought Reddit was a site reserved for gamers and internet geeks who spend their days creating memes filled with bad puns and outdated pop culture references.

Then, I read this post on Neil Patel’s blog, Quicksprout, and it changed everything.

His post is called ‘How to Get Your Slice of Reddit’s 150 Million Pageviews.’

It’s a comprehensive guide to using Reddit to boost traffic on your website–something I never knew you could do. After employing some of his tricks on my clients’ sites, I found out something magical: it worked.

Here’s a snapshot of the traffic for one of my clients.

In the interest of privacy, I’ve left the site’s name and the specific traffic numbers out, but you can see the very first time I used Reddit to promote a post, the site’s average daily traffic more than doubled.

The second time I used it? The average daily traffic was more than triple what it was to begin with.

You can see the numbers have been on a steady climb upward ever since.

Since then, I’ve been using Reddit on a regular basis to promote posts. In the process, I’ve also discovered a few other awesome ways to use the site to aid in your marketing efforts.

Here are nine of them.

1. Promote your posts. 

This is literally what I just described.

Neil’s post covers everything you need to know and then some, so I won’t recreate it here.

But, for those of you who are too busy (or lazy) to click over, here’s the gist:

• Find the perfect subreddit for your content.
• Become an active member of that subreddit, interacting and commenting on the posts of others.
• When you have an awesome post–and that’s the thing, it has to actually be awesome–share it.
• Don’t be greedy. Continue interacting and sharing the links of others in addition to your own.

If you follow the steps he outlines and take time creating great content to begin with, you’ll be golden.

2. Get ideas for new posts.

To successfully use Reddit, you should regularly follow and engage on subreddits that are of interest to you and your business.

When you’ve been following a few subreddits for a while, you’ll notice something: the same few topics keep coming up over and over.

These recurring themes make great ideas for blog posts.

For example, I follow the Marketing subreddit.

People are forever asking for tips to get traffic to their website without spending any money. I try to weigh in and leave useful comments when possible, but you know what would be even better?

If I created a blog post of 101 ways to market your website or product for free. Then, I could share that post each time someone asked for advice! You know tons of people would click on it.

This has been on my to-do list for, like, three months. One day I’ll get around to it and bask in all my Reddit glory.

In the meantime, you can use this same tactic to snag blog ideas for your own industry. Just spend some time following the subreddits that are relevant to your field, and take note of the recurring themes.

3. Conduct social listening.

One of the toughest things about being in business is getting into the mind of your customer.

This is especially true if your target audience is pretty far off from your own demographic, for example if I ran an e-commerce site selling fishing poles or camping gear.

A fishing trip, in my world

Reddit provides an awesome and totally free way to get into your ideal customer’s head.

Check it out–there are entire subreddits dedicated to Fishing and Camping. There are even offshoots dedicated to more niche topics, like offshore fishing and camping gear.

It’s a literal treasure trove of customer intel I could use to market my business.

I don’t know a damn thing about offshore fishing, but a quick glance at the threads tells me fisherman love the Squall 60LD reel (which sounds totally legit, by the way).

If I run an e-commerce site, I’d better have that reel available! And when it’s in stock, maybe I can even offer a special discount code for folks on the offshore fishing subreddit.

4. Do market research.

Small business usually equals small budget. This means there’s no such thing as conducting expensive focus groups or market research surveys.

Why not take your questions to the masses on Reddit for a (totally unscientific but highly useful and free) survey?

As I was in the process of building this site, I asked the Marketing subreddit: what’s the biggest challenge you face as a marketer? My goal was to find out the pain points of people in marketing, so I could better address them on this blog.

What I found out was super interesting.

By and large, people who work in marketing full time said their biggest challenges stem from working effectively with clients. That’s something I struggle with too, but it’s not really my area of expertise to advise others.

However, people who don’t work in marketing for a living and are just wearing many hats–like entrepreneurs, CEOs, founders, etc.–had tons of challenges dealing with day-to-day marketing strategy. Knowing how to use social media effectively or where to spend their small ad budgets, for instance.

Hey, I can help with that! Hence, why I decided to focus my website on helping small businesses tackle digital marketing.

Reddit is an awesome market research tool.

5. Get feedback. 

You know that feeling you get when you’ve been working on something so long, you have no idea if it’s good or if it’s shit?

I do, because it happens to me all the time.

Use Reddit to get free feedback and constructive criticism on anything from your website design to your new packaging to an ad slogan you’re considering using.

This is especially useful for someone like me, who has trouble asking people I know and love for critiques. I feel like they’re always going to be too nice, not telling me straight up if something just belongs in the garbage can.

You might think the Reddit community would be full of snarky trolls, but in fact, quite the opposite is true.

Well, sort of. There is tons of snark on Reddit. But the vast majority of it is well-placed, funny and pretty much deserved when it’s dished out.

What I really mean is, I was pleasantly surprised to find the Reddit community to be both critical and constructive, in a helpful way.

You’ll get feel-good feedback on what’s working, and honest advice on what’s not. It’s very useful.

6. Get new marketing ideas. 

If you do any sort of marketing, head on over and follow the Marketing subreddit now. E-commerce is also a good one.

I know my fair share of marketing tricks and tactics, but I’m always learning new things from reading what other people are up to on these threads.

7. Crowdsource user submissions.

Stock photos are expennnnnnsive. Don’t even get me started on my love-hate relationship with Shutterstock. 

Instead of paying out the wazoo for pictures to use on, say, your Instagram feed, ask the Reddit community for submissions. Then, share the photos and give credit to the photographer.

For example, I manage the Instagram account of a client who is tied to the travel industry. I might visit the Travel subreddit and ask users to submit photos of their favorite destinations they’ve visited.

(Of course, it’s important to disclose that you plan to use these pics on social media. Most non-professional photographers are happy to share in exchange for a shoutout on your social media site.)

To sweeten the deal, I might even run a contest offering $50 for the travel picture that gets the most likes after one month. Instead of paying $50 (or more) for a single stock photo, I’ll get a dozen high-quality shots for the same price.

8. Find early adopters.

Have a new app? Get on the subreddit that matches your niche and recruit beta testers.

Launching a consulting service? Offer free sessions to fellow Redditers in exchange for a testimonial to use on your website.

The key here is to adopt a “giving” mentality. Work to find ways to give back to other users, be it through responding to posts, offering relevant feedback or upvoting posts you like.

Then, when it’s your turn to request a favor, other users will be more likely to help you out in return.

9. Source experts for your content.

If you do any sort of content marketing, you know that sometimes (many times), you require the perspective of a true expert–say a dentist or a dietitian or a personal trainer.

Reddit is ripe with experts just waiting to be tapped for their specialized knowledge.

Use the subreddit that’s most appropriate to your topic to put out a request for interviews, in exchange for being quoted in your article or blog post.

Be sure to properly vet any interviews you secure this way by verifying their workplace, checking them out on LinkedIn, etc. Duh.

Have you used Reddit in your marketing efforts? Leave a comment and let me know how you use the platform!

• About
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Tami Brehse

Tami is a television news anchor turned digital marketing consultant who helps small businesses achieve their PR and marketing goals.

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