Guest post by Eric Davidson. Eric is a Vocus Marketing Consultant who helps Vocus customers get better marketing results.
With many Vocus Consulting clients, some universal questions always seem to come up. These questions often revolve around current best practices in social media and putting out content, finding their proper demographic, and knowing what is being discussed in their industry on a timely basis.
We always encourage our clients to become engaged with our system, but also to explore other forms of social media they might not be familiar with.
One such place is Reddit.
Many of you may be familiar with this online community, but you might not know how to use it effectively. Reddit is a content sharing site that ranks information by how many people click on its user-submitted links. Reddit ranks by “upvotes,” “downvotes,” and by how long the link has been posted on the site.
So what does that mean for you?
Simple. It’s another source for gathering information, in real time, with active participants. Reddit directly mashes content with user feedback, with the best comments also upvoted to the top for visibility. It is an extremely effective and telling resource for what is going on in your industry.
So how do you get started with marketing on Reddit?
- Read the site: The amount of blue links that appear on the page is a deterrent to many, as it seems like an information overload. However, once you jump in you’ll find the informative waters much easier to navigate.
- Make an account: People who just browse information are called “lurkers.” Once you have an account, you are officially a “Redditor.” As a Redditor, you can upload a link, comment, and up/downvote on any topic of your choosing.
- Explore the “subreddits” aka categories: Quality content rises. This is a marketing practice you should already be utilizing, and since Reddit is built around this idea you will be able to see what kind of blogs, news sources, pictures, and original content is catching people’s attention.
- Pay attention: Reddit is a microcosm of trends. Look at phrases, themes, subject material, and tones that get repeated over and over. Make sure you pay close attention to this in whatever subreddit your company or group falls into.
- Learn the lingo: There are many abbreviations that you will need to know when moving forward. These are just a few:
- AmA = “Ask me Anything”: This is a way for people to engage with the digital community and field questions for approximately two hours. President Obama’s got so much traffic it temporarily shut down the site.
- OP = Original Poster: This is whoever first submitted the link. If it is you make sure that you are actively checking to see what people are saying about it.
- OC= Original Content: This is usually an article, picture, drawing, or video that was created by the OP.
- TL; DR = Too long; didn’t read: If your post or response is too wordy people won’t read it. Making a TL; DR version can help simplify your words into the most important aspects of it, often times in one sentence. Don’t be preachy, instead be genuine and clear.
Most crucially: maintain proper “Redditiquette” at all times. This means being courteous, respectful, and never shamelessly self-promoting. You are there to engage with this community and not to sell to them. Reddit is a forum that should be used to listen and have a digital conversation, not to “soft-sell” a group of individuals. As on any social network, people will be rude, disrespectful, as well as malicious, but you need to shrug it off and maintain focus on your goal: building a relationship with the digital community.
Our last bit of consulting about Reddit is this – don’t get disheartened when you start engaging.You will be downvoted at some point. You will have people say mean things about you. You will not become a Redditing legend after one post.
If you can accept this, you will find that Reddit is another valuable tool in your marketing utility belt. It will help you discover new content, news sources, and information that you would have not been privy to otherwise.