Advertising on Reddit isn’t probably the first thing to cross your mind when you’re choosing a platform for a product launch or brand awareness campaign. But it is well on its way to becoming the dark horse of social media advertising, so consider this your cue to pay attention.
Most Popular Mobile Social Networking Apps in the United States (September 2019)
Source: Statista
With almost 47.9 million unique monthly users in September 2019, Reddit ranked 6th among the most popular mobile social networking apps in the United States. It also boasts more than 100,000 interest-based communities – worth noting, as niche networks are on the rise.
It is no secret that people go to Reddit for quality information on their topics of interest. So consumers who use it tend to have 4X more research sessions and make 9X faster purchase decisions than your average social media user. Not quite done proving itself, Reddit says it’s seen higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) from these buyers too.
These unique opportunities, earned from putting up ads on Reddit, are bolstered by the platform’s most recent ad creation updates. These are:
• Bid recommendations
• Improved bulk edit tool
• Updated look with better performance
But if this is the case, why aren’t brands and businesses taking advantage of this ad platform? On top of its users, or “Redditors,” being wary about brands and advertisers, Reddit is quite tricky to navigate. For example, posts and threads in communities, called subreddits, can be upvoted and show up on more people’s feeds, while others can be downvoted into oblivion. Yet, for this very reason, a discerning social media advertising agency or team should see paid promotion via the Reddit ad program as being all the more important.
In this blog, we walk you through how you can make your brand known on the so-called front page of the internet (Reddit’s old slogan) and dive into anything (new slogan) that matters to your target audience. We discuss:
• What is Reddit used for?
• How to leverage Reddit ad creation platform updates
• How to advertise on Reddit effectively
What Is Reddit Used For? And Other Fast Facts
Chances are, you know the answer to the question, “What is Reddit used for?” But for beginners, skeptics and curious cats, think about it as a social platform that puts a modern twist on the traditional online forum of yesteryear. Now, it’s also evolved into a place for targeting potential customers. So while it trails behind heavy-hitters like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, advertising on Reddit is on the list of options you shouldn’t ignore.
Global Internet Engagement of Top Social Media Marketing Agency and Expert Choices for Paid Social Advertising
| YouTube | #2 |
| #7 | |
| #20 | |
| #22 | |
| #36 | |
| #49 | |
| #103 |
Source: Alexa
If you engage a Reddit advertising company, make sure you’re working with someone who understands the platform’s distinct targeting approach. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, it sets itself apart using interest-based and community targeting. You also have the option to include location, device, time of day, pixel retargeting and custom audience.
Ads or promoted posts appear in different places on Reddit. So don’t be surprised to find Reddit ads in comments and Reddit video ads.
• Your feed
• The r/all and r/popular pages
• Community or subreddit feed
Now that we’ve got the basics covered, let’s move on to the new Reddit ad creation platform updates that some Reddit advertising agency experts are getting excited about.
How To Leverage Reddit’s New Ad Creation Platform Updates
The Reddit ads manager or dashboard is the place to create and launch your campaigns. However, it is best to acquaint yourself with the latest updates to ensure you’re maximizing your ad dollars. The following updates showcase how Reddit continues to refine its advertising services, improving user experience and increasing return on investment (ROI) along the way.
Bid Recommendations
When you create a campaign, the Reddit ad dashboard will now display an estimated bid value for optimal audience reach. A recommended bid price will also appear if you choose an audience reach.
As with other platforms, you need to optimize your campaigns here to enjoy the benefits of advertising on social media. To this end, this Reddit update provides guidance for any brand or Reddit advertising agency. It also helps in managing your cost-per-click campaigns, making them more efficient.
You or your social media optimization company can then align expectations with performance, gaining a better perspective of how results from your ads on Reddit affect your overall social media advertising strategy.
Improved Bulk Edit Tool
Almost a year ago, the team added a Bulk Import feature to the Reddit ads manager, which streamlined editing campaigns, ads and ad groups. This also played well to the efficiency requirement of the advertiser and social media marketing agency groups on the platform.
This time, another Reddit update seeks to address this need for efficiency by allowing you to simultaneously edit bids and budgets across multiple ad groups with ease. This change also lets you scale campaigns quickly – a welcome development for any dedicated Reddit advertising agency or brand.
Enhanced Look and Performance
On top of improving ad targeting and campaign management, Reddit is focusing on boosting the performance of its ad creation platform itself. As part of this system-related Reddit update, the Reddit ads manager or dashboard now loads twice as fast as it used to.
Whether you’re launching Reddit video ads or link/text ads, or Reddit ads in comments, you shouldn’t be bogged down by poor user experience. With the latest performance tweak, you can build and roll out campaigns in a breeze.
More than ever, Reddit is positioning itself as a cost-effective, ROI-boosting and revenue-generating advertising platform for brands and businesses. The new updates aim to prove that – and convince any social media marketing agency or company to add it to their advertising mix.
How To Advertise on Reddit Effectively
Running ads on Reddit is the only way to figure out which among the diverse benefits of advertising on social media you can get out of it. But any serious business or social media optimization company must do it well to test things out properly on the platform.
Here are some tips on how to advertise on Reddit the right way:
• Identify subreddits that match your target audience profiles and tailor campaigns to their interests.
• A seasoned social media marketing agency would advise against launching paid promotions without building trust and credibility first within those subreddits.
• Know which criteria and metrics to check from the get-go: enough pageviews for your selected subreddits and campaign performance later.
• Decide on the ad format that will work best for your audience. Remember, you can add Reddit video ads or simple link and text posts. You also have the option to display Reddit ads in comments or on feeds.
• When designing your ads, you can always consult the Reddit Advertising Help page for best practices, no matter the format. You can also lurk in r/redditads to stay abreast of the latest updates or leverage the expertise of a Reddit advertising company.
Reddit Ads: Is It for You?
We’ve talked about why advertising on Reddit can be an excellent addition to your advertising mix in this blog. We’ve also touched on the latest updates on the ad creation platform to understand how it can help you craft more efficient and viable Reddit campaigns.
However, one thing that might have stuck with you is that this advertising solution is an established process on its own. It requires diligent effort to manage every step, from setting up an account to rolling out an ad to monitoring its performance.
If you’re planning to add it to your overall strategy, you can better manage your pay-per-click (PPC) costs and campaign performance with a social media advertising agency. This option will let you take full advantage of the recent Reddit ad updates while ensuring other critical parameters are in place.
In this case, Thrive can help. We are a social optimization company that focuses on deploying Reddit ads successfully while also considering your overall social media advertising strategy. Our industry and niche experts join forces to manage your campaign objectives, design, performance and costs.
Let us dive into the Reddit communities that matter to your brand and produce relevant promoted posts that add value to their lives. Give us a call or message to learn more about our platform-specific services and multi-channel solutions.
