28 Jan How Brands Can Succeed on Reddit: A Guide for Organic and Paid Marketing

Posted at 07:58h in Reddit Marketing by

Why Reddit Matters for Social SEO and Digital Marketing in 2025

Since 2005, Reddit has been a cornerstone of online communities, attracting hundreds of millions of users who share unfiltered, honest opinions in interest-based forums called subreddits. As a thread-first (not newsfeed-first) platform, Reddit offers unique opportunities for brands to engage in meaningful, value-driven conversations across niche communities. Once a space primarily for young, tech-savvy males, its user base is now more diverse, including more women, parents, professionals from various industries, and people across generations. For brands, this means a broader audience and more potential for meaningful engagement. Reddit hosts over 100,000 active communities covering nearly every imaginable interest.

How Does Reddit Impact Social SEO and AI Discovery?

From an AI discovery perspective, Reddit has become even more valuable. Generative AI engines increasingly cite community-driven discussions as trusted sources. In fact, Reddit ranks number one globally for websites cited by generative AI engines, outperforming platforms like YouTube, Amazon, and Facebook. For brands thinking about visibility in AI-powered search and discovery, Reddit matters.

Key Reddit Marketing Terms Defined

Jump to definitions:

How to Get Started with Reddit Marketing

What Is the First Thing a Brand Needs to Do to Get Started on Reddit?

First, if you don’t already have one, set up a Reddit business account. Although it looks identical to a personal account, it delivers on Reddit’s non-negotiable: transparency. That credibility is the primary benefit, but a business account also lets you run paid ads, host AMAs, and engage organically at scale. Use a clear, straightforward username—this isn’t the place to get clever or go incognito. Complete your profile with an avatar, description, header image, and relevant links.

What Is a Reddit Business Account?

Reddit Business Account: A Reddit business account looks identical to a personal account but delivers on Reddit’s non-negotiable standard of transparency. The primary benefit is credibility, but a business account also lets you run paid ads, host AMAs, and engage organically at scale. ↑ Back to Key Terms

How Can Brands Engage Organically on Reddit?

In a landscape of more than 100,000 niche communities (subreddits), it’s critical to assess your surroundings before jumping in headfirst. Fortunately, Reddit offers several built-in features that make this process easier and scalable.

What Are Subreddits?

Subreddits: Interest-based forums on Reddit where users share unfiltered, honest opinions. Reddit hosts over 100,000 active communities covering nearly every imaginable interest. ↑ Back to Key Terms

How to Use Reddit Pro for Community Listening

After setting up your business account, navigate to the Reddit Pro tab. This is where community listening begins—often called the “lurk” phase by Reddit. Two actions here are especially important.

What Is Reddit Pro?

Reddit Pro: A feature within Reddit business accounts where community listening begins. Reddit Pro includes tools for tracking keywords, analyzing trends, and identifying relevant communities for engagement. ↑ Back to Key Terms

What Is Lurking on Reddit?

Lurking: The practice of observing and reading Reddit communities without actively posting or commenting. This “lurk” phase is essential for understanding community norms, rules, and conversation patterns before engaging. ↑ Back to Key Terms

Step-by-Step: How to Research Communities Using Reddit Pro

  1. Adding Keywords: In the Reddit Pro drop-down, you’ll find the “trends” section. Here, you can add keywords that are particularly important to your community, such as areas of interest, products, your company name, competitor names, etc. You’ll then see the keyword’s mentions-over-time chart, if available. Gather intel here. Take time to read, compare volume, read conversations, and gauge sentiment. If your end goal is to engage in conversations, it’s important to know that a hard sell will backfire and is likely against a community’s rules. Any engagement must create value.
  2. Joining Communities: As you add keywords in the Trends tool—or search them directly—you’ll see relevant subreddits surface. Sometimes, they’re surprisingly irrelevant, and you’ll learn that while in your mind this keyword was a pot of marketing gold, it’s not all the rage on Reddit, or at least not in the context you may have presumed. At this point, join relevant communities.
Now that you’ve lurked with purpose and taken inventory of the most important communities, you’re ready to engage. Here are three ways to show up organically on Reddit:

What Are the Best Ways to Engage Organically on Reddit?

1. How to Comment and Engage in Reddit Communities

You’ve learned the first rule of engaging on Reddit, which is to provide value. Also note that engaging on Reddit is more of a commitment than on other platforms. As mentioned, always read the community rules before commenting or reacting to a Redditor. We can’t emphasize this enough. Because you followed the step about keeping your username clear, users will know you are a brand; but keep it personal and casual, like a chat convo on Slack or Teams. Keep track of these conversations, and if you get a response, be sure to engage back. This isn’t a quantity play; it’s a quality play.

2. How to Post Organically on Reddit

Once you’ve set up your profile, spend quality time lurking, and engage with Redditors, you likely have a good handle on what the community needs. From here, you can post organically. Be sure to spend time building out a content strategy (pillars, cadence, etc.) specific to the channel. You can check how well your content is doing by going to the performance tab. It will show you views, upvote rate, comments, shares, and a nifty look over time.

What Is Upvote Rate on Reddit?

Upvote Rate: A performance metric visible in the Reddit performance tab that shows the percentage of users who upvoted your content. It appears alongside views, comments, and shares to help you assess content performance. ↑ Back to Key Terms

3. How to Host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit

One of Reddit’s most unique features is the AMA—a casual, live Q&A session. You can schedule an AMA directly from your profile and optionally run ads to promote it. Reddit recommends including a selfie of the host holding a sign with the AMA date and time. Sessions typically run 60–90 minutes, with mid-morning or early afternoon performing best.

What Is an AMA (Ask Me Anything)?

AMA (Ask Me Anything): One of Reddit’s most unique features—a casual, live Q&A session that you can schedule directly from your profile. Sessions typically run 60–90 minutes, with mid-morning or early afternoon performing best. ↑ Back to Key Terms

Next Steps for Reddit Marketing Success

From here, you should be on solid ground. Be sure to stay consistent but also strategic. For more business resources on Reddit, visit their learning hub. For more updates on social media happenings, follow the author of this post on LinkedIn.