REDDIT FOR BRANDSA quick guide to how your brand can be using Reddit.

The rise of citizen journalism has forced news outlets like CNN and The Guardian to take a new approach to news reporting.

Reddit is at the forefront of this movement, allowing users to be the creators and breakers of news.

This is the future of the news as we know it.

WHAT IS REDDIT?

55 million unique monthly visitors*

110 million unique monthly visitors#

Reddit is growing 200% YoY, and currently averages half the unique monthly visitors of Yahoo (the world’s #1 news site^).

vs

* Unique monthly visitors according to Reddit http://en.reddit.com/about/ (Updated 3/18/2013).# eBizMBA Rank: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites (Updated 3/18/2013).^ Ranked by the number of monthly unique visitors according to eBizMBA Rank (as above).

“Read it on Reddit”

Reddit calls itself “the front page of the internet”.

It is a social content sharing and news aggregator site. Known for its simple user interface, Reddit provides the latest for what's new and popular on the web.

How it works

Reddit is essentially a giant bulletin board where content is crowdsource curated.

— Users provide all the content via links or self-posts.

— Submissions are ranked by users through up-voting and down-voting, determining their position on the site.

— As a result, the front page is constantly updated with fresh content.

— “Karma” points reflects how much good the user has done for the Reddit community.

Subreddits

— A subreddit is a user-created and moderated subsection of Reddit that is tailored to a specific topic.

— There are currently thousands of subreddits covering every topic under the sun, from memes, politics to highly technical scientific discussion.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR BRANDS?

Viral and syndication potential — With Reddit’s massive reach, it has the potential to spread

your brand and website virally across the internet.

Market insights— A great crowd-sourcing tool for marketers to conduct

market research and collect honest consumer insights.

— Useful tool for customer support.

Brands can take advantage of Reddit’s unique community to gain valuable insights and generate buzz.

Opportunities for brands

— Sponsored links work like Google SEM.

— These tools are available to all members of Reddit.

— Submissions can be promoted, displaying on top of Reddit’s front page. As a brand, this can generate high volumes of traffic to your website.

Sponsored links

IAmA is a Q&A subreddit platform where a Reddit user identifies himself by submitting a Reddit titled “I am ____ Ask me Anything”.

This prompts the community to ask questions and engage in open discussion. It’s great for brands because it builds engagement, social ‘cred’, and is controllable.

IAmA

EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE & BRANDS USING REDDIT

For Valentine’s Day, IKEA Australia came up with a funny offer (published in the announcements section of the newspaper) – a free crib for babies born 9 months from the 14th of February 2013.

This is a demonstration of the power of quality content, which has resulted in viral sharing.

This post on Reddit received over 1.5 million views and 1000+ comments within a day of posting.

Using Reddit – IKEA

Obama used AmA on Reddit to answer questions about topics like the White House beer recipe, his work-life balance and the influence of money in politics.

It was so popular that it made the site inaccessible for many users during the 30 minutes that Obama was live.

This IAmA post became Reddit’s #1 post of the 2012, bringing in 5.6 million page views and generated over 24,000 comments.

On a side note, the photo of Obama answering questions on his laptop has become a web meme.

Using IAmA – Barack Obama

In February 2013, Bill Gates hosted an AmA session on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

He covered topics such as his work at Microsoft, his philanthropic work, the latest Microsoft products etc.

The session generated over 29 thousand comments and high media coverage.

The IAmA section is now an important stop for the publicity of celebrities and brands.

Using IAmA – Bill Gates

WHERE DO YOU START?– FOUR SIMPLE STEPS

Step 1.

Understand the Reddit Community

Step 2. Step 3. Step 4.

Find your relevant Subreddits

Monitor your Subreddits

Submit to Reddit

Step 1.

Understand the Reddit Community

— Reddit promotes anonymity and free speech.

— Blatant advertising is negatively received by Reddit’s organic community.

— Reddit can be activated via genuine social causes i.e. SOPA blackout, school bus monitor, r/suicidewatch.

— Understand the ‘Reddiquette’ rules of conduct.

Step 2.

Find your relevant Subreddits

For marketers, a relevant subreddit is a focus group on steroids.

— Feedback and opinion from Reddit users is a great source of consumer insight that can drive research & development and future marketing campaigns.

— Unbiased questions that are not directly about the brand work best.

— Since users are anonymous, sentiment is seen as honest and accurate.

Step 2.

Find your relevant Subreddits

— Businesses can create subreddits that are devoted to their brand. For example,Coca-Cola, TopGear and Xbox.

— If your brand fits with pre-existing Reddit behaviour and culture, create a subreddit.

— Xbox utilise this platform to provide customer support.

Step 3.

Monitor your Subreddits

Due to the segmentation of communities provided by the Subreddit structure, very specific demographics can be observed and engaged.

Actively monitor Subreddits related to your brand to gain honest insights into customer perception

Step 4.How to get submissions noticedHow to get submissions noticedHow to get submissions noticedHow to get submissions noticedHow to get submissions noticed

1. Value exchange— Provide genuine

and relevant content.

2. Headlines — Choose your

title carefully.— Provide context

and be descriptive.

— Keep it factual and opinion free.

— Avoid aggressive phrases such as “AMAZING”, “vote this up”.

3. Get Karma— Contribute

quality and relevant links regularly.

— Leave comments on other users’ posts.

4. Popular media — Images.— GIFs.— Memes.— Personal stories.

5. The right Subreddit— Successful

content needs to be targeted to the right users.

Amount of visits, comments and votes= Traffic, links, social signals, branding, feedback, followers, conversations...

Amount of visits, comments and votes= Traffic, links, social signals, branding, feedback, followers, conversations...

Amount of visits, comments and votes= Traffic, links, social signals, branding, feedback, followers, conversations...

Amount of visits, comments and votes= Traffic, links, social signals, branding, feedback, followers, conversations...

Amount of visits, comments and votes= Traffic, links, social signals, branding, feedback, followers, conversations...

Submit to Reddit

THANK YOU!For more information please email tim.evans@dtdigital.com.au or jackie.bowker@dtdigital.com.au

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