Twitter Chat with Paul Shapiro @fighto on Reddit Marketing #VCBuzz

Post on by VC Bee

twchat-paulThis week we are going to chat about Reddit, Subreddits and how to make the most of them! Paul Shapiro @fighto will discuss Reddit marketing with us this week!

**To join us please sign in here -> Twchat.com/hashtag/vcbuzz

About Paul

Paul is a digital marketer, programmer and professional SEO. Follow Paul at Google Plus

Paul is the moderator of /r/BigSEO SubReddit. This SubReddit is well-known for their popular AMA sessions. You can see some hugest names in SEO industry being featured in weekly BigSEO AMAs. I did an AMA too and that was lots of fun! One of our previous guests @SEO did one as well and we discussed it in much detail!

Keeping our guest’s Reddit experience in mind, let’s talk #Reddit today!

Paul was so nice to bring a company: @Clayburn and @YuriyYarovoy! Which means even more fun!

Questions we discussed

Q1 How to become a power Reddit user?

There isn’t such thing as a power user in the sense that a person has more say or power than another. Mods and Admins are slight exceptions. Reddit is a democracy. However, there are something you can do to navigate the Reddit experience better. Understanding your community equals understanding your audience! Become a moderator or start a SubReddit. It’s easy and will help you understand the dynamics of Reddit better.

  • Pro-tip: Want to moderate an existing SubReddit? Some good CSS skills can be an easy way in. Check out for existing subreddits in need of moderators.
  • Pro-tip: Use Reddit Enhancement Suite to make your Reddit experience just that much better
  • Pro-tip: Reddit formatting is a bit like markdown. Use it! Stand out!
  • Pro-tip: Add “-stream” in the URL for a great way to view active threads or AMAs. @seosmarty’s would be this.

Q2 What is Reddit Karma and how is it built?

Reddit karma is the meaningless point system that Reddit uses to reward users for quality submissions. The community is effectively bestowing karma on each other by upvoting things they like. It is pure vanity. Do not get too caught up with Reddit karma. It’s a gamification element that doesn’t effect your experience much.

  • Pro-tip: Add a “p” the a SubReddit URL to make it a picture slideshow. For example

There are some benefits to karma, yes. We ask on /r/BigSEO that people have at least 100 karma to contribute to the wiki. But it’s not the big deal people make it out to be.

SubReddits are their own commuties, with their own rules, with people who have their own psycho- & demo- graphic characteristics. Try and understand the audience when you submit content to Reddit.

Q3 What types of content are well-received on Reddit? Have you ever had your own article go hot on Reddit?

Comments on popular threads can get you just as must exposure, if not more than creating a thread. I have not have anything go “hot” on Reddit, but that’s not how I treat it. I think @Clayburn has had success generating some good traffic from Reddit. What was your experience? @YuriyYarovoy? There are some certain stereotypes that will play out well on Reddit. Kittens and bacon for example. However, Reddit is extremely diverse and full of niche communities where public opinion varies greatly from subreddit to subreddit. Worth repeating: Subscribe to get a better understanding of what makes Reddit tick. I don’t treat Reddit as if I’m a marketer. Don’t do that!

  • Pro-tip: Customize yo’ subscriptions! You’ll have a better experience if you weed out subreddits that you aren’t interested in

Q4 History of /r/BigSEO SubReddit… How and when did it start? Who had the initial idea to start it? How were the moderators selected?

I wasn’t there at the begining. It was all @YuriyYarovoy and @Clayburn. It started with a thread. /r/BigSEO came out of another SubReddit, /r/SEO which was not being well moderated. It was suffering and was not receiving quality submissions (still to this day). There wasn’t much community building happening on /r/SEO, so there was a succession.

The moderators of /r/SEO weren’t willing to admit new moderators like @Clayburn, who was very active. @clayburn had laid claim to /r/BigSEO and just built it up, bringing in members from /r/SEO into the new sub.

It quickly grew and we began inviting people from the industry to do AMAs as a way to provide some value to our subscribers. The AMAs have been really successful & the SubReddit began to grow even more quickly. Plus, I think the AMAs brought more mainstream SEOs onto Reddit and /r/BigSEO

  • Pro-tip: View subreddits a different way here

Q5 How to use subreddits to build your community and brand?

Again, everyone who’s exploring Reddit, install RedditEnhancementSuite. I especially like the NSFW filter at work ? Community building on Reddit is the same as everywhere else really. Get people involved, give them the ability to participate, enable them. Give people a voice, have transparency, establish guidelines. Have a goal of where you’d like your community to be headed and guide it gently in that direction.

Brands can all have their own subreddits. Do not make it about marketing. Make it about community. If your brand creates good engaging content, then it should have a distribution strategy in place that includes Reddit. Find the relevant communities and submit your link. But be human, actually engage in the community beforehand and get to know it. Steer clear of being overly self-promotional.

  • Pro-tip: Most content on Reddit (especially successful content) ends up being reposted again.

Q6 How to promote your SubReddit?

Take your subredit off of Reddit. Promote it on other channels, offline even. Use other subreddits to build your own. comments, man. If it’s relevant, it’s a valid share.

Do a good job managing your sub & keep it active w/ good content posted daily, then it will draw in a core group of people. You have to run a tight ship so the sub becomes something worth subscribing to, something people want to see in their feed. Promotion on Reddit is a lot like commenting on blogs, but with a down-vote button.

  • Pro-tip: If you are subscribed to >50 subs, your front page is made random posts from your subscriptions & is refreshed every 30min

You can use relationship building, influencer marketing, outreach, etc. to build your SubReddit. It’s like anything else. You can work with related communities on Reddit and partnerships to build out your own. Write blog posts, do interviews or Twitter chats. I tried promoting this on Reddit, but it didn’t go so well. People thought it was too self-promotional.

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