Reddit is an online community and social news platform in which users discuss and vote on other user submitted content. Reddit allows users to create small communities within the site called “Subreddits”. There are an infinite number of subreddits, which cover almost any topic you can think of. Utilizing subreddits can be extremely effective for growing your business.

 

 1). /r/SmallBusiness

One of my personal favorite subreddits is reddit.com/r/smallbusiness. This community of entrepreneurs is full of extremely involved users who are there to answer any question you could possibly have about growing or starting a business. The subreddit currently has over 46,000 users, and they offer advice to anyone in need. Topics on the subreddit range from website creation to digital marketing, and everything in between. By utilizing the resources provided in /r/smallbusiness you will be able to grow your business with professional advice for free.

 

2). Find a subreddit pertaining to your business

As previously mentioned, there is a subreddit for almost anything you can think of. Let’s say you work for a tech support business. You can subscribe to the subreddit reddit.com/r/techsupport. Now it is very important to become active in the subreddit. Get involved with other users. Answer questions, post blog articles, and post relative content that help users looking for tech support. By doing this, you will create a name for yourself within the community, and you will become an influencer and a person who others look towards. Don’t forget to have the name of your business in your username or in your posts, so that the other users will see who you are.

 

3). Create an IAmA 

IAmA stands for “I Am A ______________” (fill in the blank). These can be found and posted in the subreddit reddit.com/r/IAmA. In this subreddit there are over 10 million subscribers, and the purpose is for users to ask you questions about yourself. Some of the most famous people in the world have done one, from Bill Gates to Barack Obama. “I am a” is great way to have users interact with you and your profession or business. For example, you could post something such as “I am a social entrepreneur, ask me anything”. By participating in the IAmA, you will be able to answer questions about your business, and effectively promote yourself and your company.

4). Read what people are saying about your product/industry

 

On reddit you are able to create a site-wide search that will show results in all subreddits. In doing so, you can search using your industry or product as a keyword, and read what people are saying about it in the various subreddits. By doing this, you will get accurate reviews of your product/industry from people who are using the site with genuine interest in your product/industry. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, you can partake in customer support while doing this as well. When reading reviews, you can either thank users for their praise, or help users who have had a bad experience with your company. This will show that you care about the user, and could lead to lifelong customers.

 

5). Promote without promoting

 

Overall, redditors will laugh you off the site if you make posts that are obvious marketing. The one way to win these millions of users over, is to post great content, and only great content. When making actual posts (not comments), it is essential you make the content useful. To do so, I recommend you address community concerns with solutions, make fun posts that either require user interaction or make users laugh, and keep the content modern. Avoid double posting, and make sure you keep your promotions subtle within the posts. On your posts, reply to everyone if possible. Lastly, and I cannot reiterate this enough, make sure to look like a genuine user and not a marketing robot.

 

If you follow these steps, prepare for success utilizing the gold mine that is reddit.com

Ryan Rude is a marketing major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ryan is an avid Redditor and social media user. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.