You've heard Reddit is a goldmine for finding customers and growing an audience. But every time you try to share your product or service, you get accused of "self-promotion" and "spam" by the mods. Your posts get downvoted into oblivion or removed entirely. It's incredibly frustrating - you're just trying to get your business out there, not be a spammy jerk.
Self-promotion = Banned
You've poured your heart and soul into building something you think could genuinely help people. But the Reddit community seems hostile to anything even remotely commercial. You see other companies blatantly advertising their paid tools with no issue, while your innocent product mention gets you labeled a "shill" and potentially even shadow banned.
It's a catch-22 - you need to get in front of your target audience to grow, but most subreddit rules prohibit self-promotion. And even if you follow the rules to a tee, there's no guarantee an overzealous mod won't decide your "value" is really just self-serving marketing.
The inconsistent enforcement of the anti-spam policies is maddening. One day your post offering a free tool gets upvoted and praised, the next it's getting nuked for "self-advertising." You're quickly losing motivation to even try on Reddit, despite knowing your ideal customers are likely lurking in relevant subreddit communities.
Leveraging authenticity and genuineness in interactions
What if I told you there's a way to promote your business on Reddit without being seen as a spammer? A way to get your product in front of an engaged audience while actually being welcomed and appreciated? It's a matter of shifting from outright promotion to genuine community engagement.
Reddit may seem anti-commercial on the surface, but its users are actually desperate for insightful, authentic contributions from subject matter experts. By positioning yourself as a helpful authority rather than a promoter, you can leverage Reddit's massive audience while sidestepping the self-promotion stigma.
Growing audience without appearing as spam
Here's a 5-step system for ethically growing your business on Reddit:
Step 1: Find the Right Subreddit Communities
Don't try to promote to the entire Reddit audience. Use tools like The Hive Index to identify niche subreddits where your ideal customers already congregate. Subreddits related to your product's use case, industry, or customer demographics are prime targets.
For example, a productivity app for writers could engage in communities like r/writing, r/writers, r/shutupandwrite, and r/writingcirclejerk.
A B2B payments tool might join r/smallbusiness, r/EntrepreneurRideAlong, and r/SaaS.
Step 2: Listen and Engage Before Promoting
Once you've identified potential subreddit communities, spend time just listening and up-voting. Get a feel for the culture, common questions, and pain points. Only then should you start engaging through comments - ask questions, provide insights, and have genuine discussions.
The key is to build credibility and trust as a helpful expert, not as a promoter. Share your relevant experiences, advice, and behind-the-scenes knowledge. Be transparent that you're the founder/employee of X company, but don't make it a sales pitch.
Step 3: Leverage "Engineering as Marketing"
One powerful way to contribute value is through "engineering as marketing."
Create free, simplified versions of your product to offer as tools or resources. These allow you to showcase your solution's capabilities while being overtly helpful.
For example, Ahrefs offers a free Keyword Generator tool. Mailbrew gives free access to their content reader. These free products naturally attract the companies' target audiences while positioning them as innovative experts.
Step 4: Directly Solve Problems in Comments
As you engage in subreddit discussions, you'll inevitably come across people expressing needs or frustrations that your product can solve. When this happens, provide thoughtful advice or suggestions drawing from your expertise. If relevant, you can mention your product as a potential solution - but don't make it a hard sell.
For example, if someone in r/smallbusiness is struggling with payroll tax compliance, you could explain the common challenges, offer tips for handling it properly, and say "That's actually why we created our payroll software - to automate all those calculations. Happy to share more if you'd find that helpful."
Step 5: Promote Successful Posts
If you share insightful comments or resources that get upvoted and strike a nerve with the community, that's your chance for a soft promotion. You can say something like "This issue really resonated, so I decided to turn it into a full blog post/video going deeper on solutions. For anyone interested, here's the link: [URL]"
Since you've now built credibility through your contributions, this sort of promotion tends to be welcomed rather than seen as spam. Just don't overdo the self-promotion ratio compared to your genuine engagement.
90% insightful contributions & 10% promotion
While Reddit may seem hostile to marketing at first, it's actually an amazing channel for growing an audience - if you approach it as an opportunity to build credibility through value rather than promotion. By strategically joining relevant communities, listening to their needs, and positioning yourself as a trusted expert, you can ethically leverage Reddit's massive reach to drive awareness and even acquisition.
The key is to make your participation 90% about insightful contributions and 10% about promotion. If you consistently enrich the Reddit communities you engage with, they'll naturally flock to whatever you offer. You'll gain the ultimate growth asset - an army of raving fans who want you to promote your products because they genuinely want to support you.
As the founder of wisp - a CMS for elevating the blogging experience on Next.js websites - I've seen the power of this approach firsthand. I regularly share insights and resources on the Wisp blog aimed at helping marketers and developers leverage content more effectively. Building that authentic connection with our audience has been invaluable for driving adoption.
