reddit reflections

Reddit is an entertainment, social news networking service, and news website created by community members who submit content, such as text posts or direct links, according to Wikipedia. Users register for a free account and become part of the community and are able to vote and comment on previous submissions as well as submitted links and other content. Reddits topics are broken down into subreddits or topic categories and anyone is able to make a new topic.  Subreddits act as forums where people can post about topics of interest with others. Reddit's most popular subreddit or "claim to fame" are AMAs (Ask Me Anything) and IAMAs (I Am A) where users can interact similar to a press conference, but online, by commenting questions and answers.

But how could a business get involved in Reddit? And do so effectively?  Luckily there are many resources available to businesses looking to start out on Reddit.  A few articles that I referenced include: 4 Great Ways to Use Reddit for Your Business, 6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business, The Marketer’s Guide to Reddit, and The Ultimate Guide to Using Reddit for Marketing Your Business. Another resource for learning about using Reddit is Reddit itself, there is a thread How do you use reddit to promote your business? where users have discussed this topic. From these sites the biggest hints for successfully marketing your business on Reddit include:

• Create a Network or Community.  Businesses can create their own corner of Reddit devoted to their product or industry.  In order to draw users you, the business needs to provide interesting content. Utilize subreddits related to your business topic.
• Content Suggestions. Allow users to make suggestions for changes in the business, new products/service, or other topics. Hold an AMA or interview members of the business executive team. Post visual content such as photos and videos. Calendar or important dates for your business. 
• Drive traffic to your business's website. Share blog posts or other information from your website.  Provide interesting content from the business website not just company updates. Be wary of just dropping your web address in every post, you could get marked as spam. It all comes back to creating interesting content, not just posting to post. 
• Customer Service. Reddit allows businesses to set up a forum to discuss customer service issues whether by resolving the issue or pointing users to the correct resource. Users can help each other answer questions or the business can step in when there is a larger problem needing to be addressed. 

In addition to acting as a user, businesses can participate in Reddit Advertising.  This allows businesses to create ads to reach more users of Reddit.  An easy to use platform is provided to upload content for an ad, select target markets, and schedule when the ad appears.  Of course there is a cost to placing an ad but for larger businesses the cost may be worth the reach of the ad. When creating an ad Reddit provides many help resource to walk a company through what is needed to post an ad. Reddit also provides information on the traffic to your ad, specifically data on impressions and clicks.

As a consumer, Reddit is one of the last social media sites that I use.  The idea of voting up and down conversations drives me crazy and I find the layout of content difficult to read.  Additionally, having to open new tabs for comments and the article or content itself and then having to close out or go back to get to the original thread makes me crazy.  I prefer scrolling through content and comments all in one view not in a new tab for each, which is why I prefer Tumblr. There are just too many things to click on that open new tabs which makes it take more effort to get through content for me.  While I see the appeal for some and for a business to be part of the communities available, I prefer other medias over Reddit.