Why a Marketer might use Reddit

Reddit is basically a never-ending list of links, ordered by timely popularity which is determined by users' simply voting links up or down. Every link has a respective comment section where valuable information can be harvested, such as opinions/preferences and clever ideas. Subreddits are basically categories. Users subscribe to their favorite subreddits, i.e. technology, silly pictures, and things as specific as Ford Mustangs.

Is Reddit right for my business?

Reddit is a unique place. Every piece of content submitted gets judged based on a few factors. The first is subreddit rules. Each subreddit has unique posting rules all must abide by. The second is uniqueness. Any re-posts are instantly down-voted. Finally, the link you submit must be well planned. The potential to send your site major traffic from reddit is huge. With over 2 billion page views in one month, the potential to send your site major traffic from reddit is huge, even if you barely make it on the front page of a small subreddit that only has 20,000 readers. And you don't need something crazy like 1,000 upvotes to drive heavy traffic.

So, what kinda results can I expect?

I've seen results for clients where they've gotten 54 votes on a subreddit with 61,000 readers nearly crash their site. I've seen heavy traffic to sites from a submission that got 92 votes in a subreddit under 30,000 readers. Reddit is a very powerful social site, and those who use it are just as influential as the Robert Scobles of Google+ or Chris Brogans of Twitter. But what is interesting, unlike Digg, reddit doesn't look at your influence. In other words, you can reach the front page today with the right submission. The trick is knowing what to give the community.

Take Action Now

Search for the subreddit your business relates to most and start recording the most successful posts and writing appropriate comments in the discussion section. Determine why the top posts were so successful and decide if this is something your business can replicate. If you can, set a goal. You can learn a lot about your business by simply interacting with commenters and asking them questions or providing helpful answers. If the post is successful and the comment section is positive, toss in a friendly link to your product page via bit.ly and track your conversions.