That’s what we’ll discuss in today’s post. What are the digital marketing possibilities on Reddit? What does it offer in advertising, and what can be built organically?
Let’s start with the basics — what features does Reddit offer for digital marketing teams?
And then we’ll explore issues like audience, content actions, guerrilla marketing, B-side, etc. in more detail.
Let’s go?
What Marketing Tools Does Reddit Offer?
Like most social networks, Reddit also has its own advertising platform — Reddit Ads.
Reddit Ads is quite interesting for the platform, c level contact list but it offers far fewer targeting capabilities due to the nature of Reddit itself.
The vast majority of targeting features are directly associated with Reddit user profiles, not actual cookie information .
In other words, you’ll mostly be advertising to Reddit users . It’s very difficult, if not nearly impossible, to achieve the advanced targeting that Google Ads offers, what’s the future of search? but that’s not so much due to a limitation of Reddit’s ad tool.
In reality, the limitation lies with Reddit itself and its users. Very few users post information about their home address, for example, on their Reddit profile.
But these same users are often in subreddits related to the cities they live in, the hobbies they pursue, the media they consume.
And that’s exactly where segmentation happens.
But let’s put the cart before the horse. First, let’s better understand how exactly Reddit ads work:
Is it possible to advertise on Reddit Ads paying in Reais?
Unfortunately, Reddit Ads does not have a Brazilian version, with payments in reais and a dashboard in Portuguese.
All payments are made in dollars, and you will need an international credit card to be able to advertise.
However, it is entirely possible to make ads in Portuguese and add CTAs in Portuguese as well.
Reddit Ads Features
First, we need to understand the features of Reddit Ads and everything it can offer to those looking to advertise on the platform.
It’s not even remotely limited. The limitations, as we’ve seen, are a result of how Reddit is used by its users.
In fact, Reddit’s ad platform is one of the most aligned with the original platform’s uses.
It’s quite common to confuse ads with regular posts, both due to positioning and good targeting.
But see below what are the main advertising features that Reddit offers:
- Link Ads: direct to external websites.
- Image and video ads (Promoted Posts): These appear in users’ feeds in a format similar to organic posts. These posts are open to comments from other users, including if you configure them accordingly.
- Conversation Ads: Appear as the first pinned comment on popular topics.
- Banner ads or ads at the top of communities (Takeover Ads): increase visibility in strategic locations.
These ad formats are closely related to some other aspects of Reddit, especially bidding strategies.
Let’s talk more about them below:
Reddit Ads Bidding Strategies vs. Ad Formats
Ad formats on Reddit Ads are partly tied to the campaign objective , but with some flexibility.
When creating a campaign, Reddit will first ask you to select a marketing objective, such as:
- Brand Awareness & Reach
- Traffic
- Conversions
- App Installs
- Video Views
Depending on the objective you choose, the platform recommends (or even restricts) certain ad formats that best optimize for that objective. Here’s how it works in practice:
- Brand Awareness & Reach — optimized to reach the maximum number of people. The most common formats are Promoted Posts (image, lithuania phone number text, or video) and Takeover Ads , with video, especially autoplay, being the platform’s recommendation. The default bidding strategy is CPM.
- Traffic and Conversions: These formats focus on redirecting users to a website or landing page. Therefore, the platform uses CPC bidding strategy. Link Ads and Static Image + Link are recommended formats;
- App Installs: Requires formats compatible with deep links or app stores. We recommend using short videos with a clear call to download . The bidding strategy is CPC.
- Video Views: Focus on maximizing views. Only video formats are accepted here. The bidding strategy is CPV (cost per view).
What are Reddit Ads’ targeting options?
There are a few possible targeting options in Reddit Ads, all of which provide acceptable levels of personalization for your campaigns.
You can segment by:
- Interests (e.g. technology, games, health);
- Specific communities (subreddits);
- Geographical location;
- Device type and operating system;
- Estimated demographic data;
Even with the limited information available—which is only limited compared to other ad platforms—it’s still possible to target your ads very well.
One of the most interesting points is the possibility of segmenting by keywords and specific communities, the subreddits.
If you don’t select any communities but add keywords, your ad will appear to users who have already used or interacted with that keyword.
For example, if you set “Apple” as a keyword, your ads will appear to people who have commented on topics about Apple , or created those topics.
If you don’t set up keywords but do set up specific subreddits , your ads will appear to members of those subreddits, but according to your other targeting settings.
If you set up keywords and at the same time set up subreddits , your ads will appear to people who are in those subs and interact with the keyword.
Setting up subreddits related to your ad is very important and is one of the most popular Reddit Ads tools.
This is an exclusive feature, as Google Ads doesn’t work with communities and Meta Ads only have this functionality in Facebook Groups, which aren’t nearly as busy as Reddit subs.