How to use Reddit for Viral Campaigns and SEO
I created this post on one of the private parts of this Forum, but I think it can be useful here as well, many people don't use Reddit in the Social media combination or don't use it properly, I hope it helps and if you have more questions I will be happy to help.
I have used Reddit quite extensively, from both perspectives buying advertising spaces and with the free traffic it brings, I made a video like a year ago describing a little bit the process in the paid traffic, here is the video.
Paradoxically enough I did not get a lot of success buying traffic at all!! not many sales, not many conversions on my list, the only "good thing" I got from the paid advertising was the feedback (you can turn it off if you want) but I must say that it is very RAW, if you know how to interpret the "feedback" it can be useful.
On the free side I have used Reddit to create viral campaigns, build a list, and SEO, what I have realized is that most of the people does not understand how Reddit works and do it wrong, they just drop a bunch of links and expect people to go bananas for whatever they are posting in the community and it does not work like that, your approach to Reddit needs to be like if you were a Public Relationship company trying to create BUZZ around a specific topic, and insert the advertising within the content, so people don't feel pitched .
The first thing you need to do is understand Reddit history and motto "The front page of the Internet", the original idea behind the community was that it would be a place where people will "up vote" or "down vote" the content that it would be relevant for them, contrary to search engines where the "machines" decide what is the relevant thing, in Reddit the people, the community will decide what is relevant based on a voting system, furthermore you need to treat your approach to reddit like if you were pitching a story to a newspaper.
Does a newspaper wants to know you are a photographer that make portraits in Portland? NO, Does your newspaper wants to know about your new product called "take better pictures in 15 minutes"? NO, what your newspaper want is a story (and Reddit too), so you need to pitch a story and insert your services, the titles of your posts are 90% the key factor for success in the community.
Example:
You go to Reddit and look if there are sub reddits about people interested in photography, join the sub reddit, read the rules, interact with the community and now you create a post with the following title: "I have been laid off from my work and I have started to take pictures, Can you give me some honest feedback?", you write a little bit of your story in the post, link to some pages of your site and respond the feedback the community gives you.
Can you see the psychology behind the title?, you are crafting a story, I have been laid off, you create empathy in people, every body think we are in recession, number two you are asking for help and everybody loves to give advice; besides that you are in a community of photographers or at least people that is interested in the topic can you have a better audience?
Let me know if you have more specific questions.
I have used Reddit quite extensively, from both perspectives buying advertising spaces and with the free traffic it brings, I made a video like a year ago describing a little bit the process in the paid traffic, here is the video.
Paradoxically enough I did not get a lot of success buying traffic at all!! not many sales, not many conversions on my list, the only "good thing" I got from the paid advertising was the feedback (you can turn it off if you want) but I must say that it is very RAW, if you know how to interpret the "feedback" it can be useful.
On the free side I have used Reddit to create viral campaigns, build a list, and SEO, what I have realized is that most of the people does not understand how Reddit works and do it wrong, they just drop a bunch of links and expect people to go bananas for whatever they are posting in the community and it does not work like that, your approach to Reddit needs to be like if you were a Public Relationship company trying to create BUZZ around a specific topic, and insert the advertising within the content, so people don't feel pitched .
The first thing you need to do is understand Reddit history and motto "The front page of the Internet", the original idea behind the community was that it would be a place where people will "up vote" or "down vote" the content that it would be relevant for them, contrary to search engines where the "machines" decide what is the relevant thing, in Reddit the people, the community will decide what is relevant based on a voting system, furthermore you need to treat your approach to reddit like if you were pitching a story to a newspaper.
Does a newspaper wants to know you are a photographer that make portraits in Portland? NO, Does your newspaper wants to know about your new product called "take better pictures in 15 minutes"? NO, what your newspaper want is a story (and Reddit too), so you need to pitch a story and insert your services, the titles of your posts are 90% the key factor for success in the community.
Example:
You go to Reddit and look if there are sub reddits about people interested in photography, join the sub reddit, read the rules, interact with the community and now you create a post with the following title: "I have been laid off from my work and I have started to take pictures, Can you give me some honest feedback?", you write a little bit of your story in the post, link to some pages of your site and respond the feedback the community gives you.
Can you see the psychology behind the title?, you are crafting a story, I have been laid off, you create empathy in people, every body think we are in recession, number two you are asking for help and everybody loves to give advice; besides that you are in a community of photographers or at least people that is interested in the topic can you have a better audience?
Let me know if you have more specific questions.