Twitter, Facebook, and most of all, LinkedIn are well-known social media tools that companies and people in all industries use to engage with customers, prospects and industry colleagues and acquaintances. But there’s another platform that you may be overlooking – Reddit.

What sets Reddit apart from the aforementioned channels is anonymity. Reddit users choose a handle that does not identify them personally. This is key. Redditors, as they’re called, interact with fellow Redditors without anyone knowing who they are, where they’re from, or really only what the user is willing to share.

At its core, Reddit is a social media and news website and forum where content is socially curated and promoted by site members through voting. Posts are either upvoted, downvoted, ignored or commented on. The more upvotes a post gets, the better the chance it’s read by others. After all, the site’s name is a play on the words “read it.”

The site is composed of – ready for this? – literally millions of “subreddits,” or sub-communities. Currently there are 2.8 million subreddits. That’s right, nearly three million forums. These subreddits can be tied to a very specific topic – like a single TV show or rock band, or a sports team, or it can be quite general like “politics,” or “nature.”

For lack of a better term, I’ll say it – there’s a lot of nonsense on Reddit, and also a lot of inappropriate content – posts and topics that are NSFW, which of course means Not Suitable for Work, are often posted on Reddit, as well as posts that are NSFL (Not Suitable For Life). But that’s another conversation altogether to be had at another time and place.

When redditors submit content it is then voted on by other members. The ultimate goal is for the content to reach the top of the site’s home page, also known as “The Front Page Of the Internet” on the site. The more upvotes a post gets, the more popular it becomes, and the higher up it appears on its respective subreddit or the front page.

While scrolling Reddit is a great way to kill time or be amused, there’s a lot of value to be had from both a B2B and B2C perspective. Yes, there are indeed subreddits dedicated to labels and packaging, as well as printing and converting. If that takes you by surprise, consider these statistics:

According to marketing firm Oberlo, there are currently more than 52 million daily active users on Reddit worldwide. The firm reports that as of 2021 there were 1.5 billion Reddit users overall, and it ranks as the sixth most visited website in the US – more than Twitter, Instagram, eBay, LinkedIn and Netflix.

Here’s a summary of some staggering stats from 2021, as reported by Oberlo:

1. Reddit is the 10th most popular social network
2. More than half of Reddit’s desktop traffic comes from users in the US
3. Reddit is most popular among users between 25 and 29 years of age
4. Redditors spend on average 10 minutes and 23 seconds per site visit
5. There are more than 2.8 million subreddits
6. There are more than 130,000 active communities
7. The optimal times to post on Reddit are in the mornings on weekends and Mondays
8. Posts between 20 and 80 characters perform the best
9. Reddit users watch 1.4 billion native videos on the platform every month

This may come as shock, because on the surface Reddit can be downright confusing to the uninitiated. Yes, it’s social media, but it truly sets itself apart due to the anonymity factor.

It’s a place online where you can be frank and crude, and no one knows who you are or where you work. There’s value here, and that value lies in people being open and honest. There’s no need to hold back or censor yourself, like you might be prone to do on Facebook or LinkedIn. This makes it an effective marketing tool, as you truly learn what customers and prospects like and don’t like. If a label or packaging concept is simply poor or off-putting, you can read about it on Reddit. And it works the other way too – if a label or package “wows” and impresses, it’ll get upvotes and improve the chances of more eyeballs seeing it. Then, who knows, the user might want to explore it further and find out who created and printed the packaging.

Rules for Reddit Marketing
Katie Chodosh, content consultant at Definition, a B2B PR agency, provides a useful roadmap to using Reddit as a marketing tool.

She says, “Most marketers nowadays use social media as a part of their strategy, but many still exclude Reddit. This is a shame, to say the least – it’s one of the most visited websites in the world, it’s patient zero for nearly all viral content (meaning journalists are scouring it all the time), it has an audience for every niche, and it holds more data than any other platform. It truly is the front page of the internet. So, if you want to know what’s happening on the web (which, as a B2B PR agency, we certainly do), then you need to be on reddit.

“Reddit doesn’t have the most user-friendly interface, and it isn’t built for marketers. But if you can get it right, it’s worth incorporating into your marketing and PR strategy,” Chodosh says.

Chodosh advises that it’s critical to get to know subreddits. “These are dedicated channels on topics where you can post links, images or create a self-post to discuss whatever you like. You can subscribe to subs if you like the topic, and all posts from that sub will show up on your homepage. If you’re unsure what subreddit you’re looking at, look at the part that comes immediately after the r/ at the end of the URL. For example, https://www.reddit.com/r/books/ is a sub on everything related to books. Anyone (with an old enough account) can create a sub on any topic they like.”

She notes that the best way to identify whether a sub is worth joining is to look at member count. “A large sub doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best one – smaller subs can have higher engagement,” she says, adding, “but it’s a good sign of whether the content posted is relevant.”

You’ll also want to look at engagement level, she explains. “You can measure how engaged members are in a sub by looking at the number of upvotes and comments on the top posts from the past year,” she says.

Also, since Reddit is a global website, you’ll want to know if the subs are international or not, as some subs are very US-centric. In addition, she says, a subreddit having active moderators is a good sign, as they enforce sub-specific rules. “There are rules laid out in Reddit’s Rediquette that all subreddits have to obey, but mods can also impose their own rules. Higher quality subreddits tend to have stricter rules regarding the quality of posts and replies, which help keep the sub on topic,” Chodosh says.

According to Chodosh, marketing on Reddit works differently as compared to other platforms, mainly because it has been built to thwart overt marketing and advertising posts, rather than welcome them. “It has a particular etiquette that abhors direct advertising but rewards conversation. Outside of sponsored posts, you have to make sure that what you’re posting is authentic, exciting and rule-abiding. If you push a product or service, you will be thrown out or downvoted into oblivion.”

The best way to get used to reddit is to use it, Chodosh stresses. “Sign up using your brand name and your first name (or another human name, if you don’t want to use your own). This adds legitimacy that you are, in fact, a real human being, which will be helpful when it comes to posting.

Next, she says, find the right subreddits.”Reddit is full of subs on all subjects, so start searching for those that are relevant to you. And remember, it doesn’t matter if it’s a small sub, as they can be some of the most engaged groups. It is worth noting that you need to read the posts on the sub to make sure they’re what you think they are – for example, those looking for news about the Super Bowl might be disappointed by r/superbowl, which is a sub for pictures of superb owls.”

Then, she urges to simply start upvoting, downvoting and commenting. “Just like any other platform, Reddit will reward you for being an active contributor. Commenting will also increase your karma score, which will come in handy once you start creating your own posts,” she says.

Chodosh also emphasizes abiding by the rules of each subreddit. As mentioned, the best subs have active mods, and said mods will remove your post if you don’t stick by the rules. She also points out what works, noting, “First-person stories (but only if they’re interesting and authentic – you will get called out of it’s a thinly-veiled ad),videos (bonus points if your brand appears in it), memes, news – similar to Twitter and Facebook, being the first to share a piece of news can get you a lot of upvotes,” she says.

She concludes that one of the best ways to use Reddit is as a market research tool. Chodosh says, “We like to keep an eye on subs that are relevant to our clients so that we can remain up-to-date with what their potential customers are talking about. This helps to inform thought leadership, survey questions and our overall strategy. We also keep tabs on marketing and PR subs to stay on top of trends in our industry.”


Steve Katz is the former editor of Label & Narrow Web and is now a regular contributor. He is focused on helping companies in the label industry share their news and tell their stories. Follow him on twitter @LabelSteve.