The Great Reddit Experiment
Everything you wanted to know about marketing, getting traffic and sales from Reddit
Hey,
It’s a sleepy Thursday. I do not feel like working today and it feels like a complete Friday. Probably because my son has a 4-day weekend for Easter.
I wanted to dive into my Reddit adventures with you to share how it has been going and what I’ve been up to over there.
Why Reddit?
This has been a platform I’ve been quietly lurking on for a long time. I’ve actually been on Reddit for 13 years!
But, I didn’t make any comments or posts up until the past year or so.
Reddit has been mostly immune to Google algorithm changes and updates
It often appears at the top of search results
It’s excellent for virality
You can have a lot of opportunities fall into your lap like partnering with brands and entrepreneurs, getting job offers and freelance opportunities and selling your products and services
How I started on Reddit
I started with lots of experimentation.
I paid attention to top-performing Reddit posts. I watched and drilled down into as much data as was made available, to see what made viral Reddit posts tick.
This info I put into my Reddit guide, which I’ve sold almost 100 times now.
Here are a few of my observations:
Redditors don’t want to be sold to
There is a lot of curiosity on the platform and they aren’t afraid to ask you questions or engage
The anonymous nature behind the platform makes it a prime place for bullying
The rules are enforced and if you break them, you can get booted from subreddit groups and from Reddit, as a whole
Here are some of my accomplishments so far…
Reddit wins!
Rapidfire style…
I’ve sold every single high-ticket product I have: SWC for $596, Roadmap Exclusive for $597, DBA for $222, UBC for $499 - all sold
Getting MILLIONS of views on my Reddit posts every month
I’ve also sold a number of my mid-ticket and low-ticket products
Job offer
Brand deals and UGC opportunities ( I had one brand DM me, make an offer and pay me via Paypal, within an hour!)
Mentorship and partnership offers
Services sold - I offer digital coaching and I get approached by Redditors for this service A LOT
Growing to 4,200+ Karma
Building a subreddit community of over 200 members
My Reddit inbox stays flooded.
New DM’s and reach outs nearly everyday.
When my posts go viral, I can expect my inbox to have 100-200+ new DMs in it, over the course of a week or so. They take literally ALL DAY to respond to (not a bad problem to have).
Reddit fails
Reddit can feel like hit or miss for people.
I feel like I’ve mastered it, but, it’s not 100% foolproof.
I still have some flubs that result in getting some of my posts deleted by mods and yes, I’ve been kicked out of subreddits, while I was learning the platform earlier on.
I’ve also been bullied and been called a scam.
One thing about Reddit is that you have to have a thick skin.
I’m not the only one monetizing Reddit…
There are a TON of entrepreneurs monetizing Reddit and using it for their business. The brave ones come forward and case study their progress on the platform.
This is incredibly eye-opening because you get to learn about strategies that are working there and how you can use them for your own business.
What I’ve seen from other Redditors…
Growing their Medium story views from Reddit
Direct selling their products and services
Growing their email lists by giving away freebies
Here’s how I think you can win on the platform
Redditors can be kinda tough to sell to. That’s because they don’t want to be sold to.
You have to warm them up and the best way to do that is with email marketing, I think.
It’s more automated than talking in DMs everyday and can help you make money passively.
If I were new to Reddit, I would create a freebie, set up an automated email list for email marketing and then start posting and commenting on the platform to grow my list.
My guide teaches you how to strategically post and strategically comment so it doesn’t sound like you’re selling.
I’ve mastered Reddit to the point where I attract people to my posts effortlessly and draw them in to DM me and ask for more information.
There’s a fine line between transparency and giving away enough info to have your readers asking you for more.
There are entrepreneurs I’ve read about that have gotten as many as 1200 email leads from a single Reddit post.
One of my students told me recently that she got more leads from one Reddit post than she had in 8-9 months in her business!?!
Direct selling is possible on Reddit too, but, it’s very manual.
Babysitting your DMs, checking them once or twice a day, being responsive and selling in DMs is what it looks like.
Then multiply this by however many people you’re chatting with in your DMs.
Right now, I’m actively talking to about 10-15 people, with about 5-8 new DMs daily.
But, it’s hard to complain about 5 sales of $500 per week because you’re in Reddit a few hours a day, chatting with people in the DMs.
What’s next?
I see a lot of people shy away from Reddit because of the reputation the platform has.
I will toughen my skin and take the insults and name-calling if it means I’m growing my email list and making sales. I can let all that slide off my back.
But, I do understand that it can impact people more than others.
Honestly though, with my style of posting and commenting, I rarely get that kind of behavior anymore.
And…a million views a month?!?
Who can say no to that?
Have you tried Reddit for business?
What has your experience been?
Wanna dive into my Reddit mini-course? Use code SUBSTACK for 35% OFF this Easter weekend!
Best,
Jenn