Reddit Acquisition Playbook

Reddit is still considered by some marketers as a niche channel.

But numbers don’t lie.

Reddit gets 71 billion organic visits each month with 430 million monthly active users.

That’s way more than Twitter (X)’s 368 million.

And Reddit isn't just about memes and cat videos.

SaaS companies are crushing the community game to foster loyalty and solicit unfiltered feedback.

Here’s how you can too.

Host your own subreddits.

Launching a subreddit is the quickest way to build a community and directly connect to your audience.

Any brand can do it.

HUGE brands have strong subreddits:

• Microsoft: 405k+ members
• Notion: 322k+ members
• Discord: 1.1Million+ members

To get rolling, you can:

• Start your own subreddit; or
• Insert yourself into the moderator team if a subreddit already exists.

A thriving Reddit community gives you:

• Direct access to users and potential customers.
• Insights from a real-time focus group for feedback and idea generation.
• Solve problems and quickly identify issues raised by the community.
• Content distribution with a dedicated community.

But you can also gain value without hosting a subreddit.

Research Product Ideas & Customer Feedback

Ahrefs’ CMO posted on r/BigSEO (104k members) over 6 years ago to ask for feedback.

The response?

A mix of brutal and helpful.

In an Ask Me Anything with the r/ArcBrowser community (23k members), the CTO said, “AMA opened our eyes,” and made them prioritize mobile app development.

So they listened & adjusted the roadmap accordingly.

Piggyback on well-established subreddits to find content opportunities.

Upvotes and comments are a signal for what type of content resonates.

Here’s three steps to find good content:

1. Identify: Zero in on subreddits that align with your industry or topic of interest, i.e. /BigSEO (104k members).
2. Sort by: Use the sorting feature to view the most popular posts.
3. Analyze: Take a close look at the top 50 posts to discern patterns.

For example, in r/copywriting (188k members), you’ll discover that popular content revolves around tips on how to improve copy by studying top creator’s content strategies.

Now you can:

1. Create content that aligns with the trends and is relevant to your product. Make sure it's not just copy paste. You want to add your twist to the existing conversation.
2. Submit your content back to the subreddit. Engage authentically and add your 2 cents rather than just promote your brand.

And that’s how you embed yourself into the Reddit community.

1. Host your own subreddits.
2. Jump into existing subreddits.
3. Seek customer feedback, and prepare for honesty.
4. Inform your feature development.
5. Research top content.
6. Distribute and contribute your 2 cents to established subreddits.

Like any worthwhile organic strategy, it takes time. BUT, referrals and direct customer feedback are the elixir of life for any company.

With Reddit, you can generate both.