Navigating Reddit for Marketing: Essential Insights You Should Have
The social media platform Reddit has been garnering significant attention, especially following its 2024 IPO, making its mark in various discussions, notably in marketing. This is impressive for a platform that has been operating for two decades, which is akin to surviving in a prehistoric internet landscape.
To assist you in navigating this platform and evaluating its potential for your marketing strategy, we present an insightful guide tailored for marketers regarding Reddit.
This guide has been refreshed to include the latest developments such as the Reddit Pro Trends tool and the AMA advertising format.
Table of contents
- What is Reddit?
- What are the demographics?
- How much traffic does Reddit receive?
- What are the top marketing strategies?
- How does Reddit affect reputation management?
- What tools does Reddit offer marketers?
- New feature: Understanding Dynamic Product Ads
- New feature: Lead Generation Ads explained
- New feature: AI-driven ad optimization
- Top Subreddits for marketing insights
- Reddit achieves its first profit attributed to advertisement revenue
- New feature: Reddit Pro Trends and AMA advertising
What is Reddit?
Reddit acts as a platform for social news aggregation, content evaluation, and discussions, where users can submit various content types, including links, text, images, and videos. Other users can upvote or downvote these submissions. The content is categorized into user-created forums referred to as “Subreddits,” which revolve around specific subjects. It boasts a dynamically involved community, ranking as the 11th most-visited website globally and 6th in the U.S.
With over 100,000 Subreddits, the moderation of these communities is handled by volunteer members, which leads to varying quality in content. Popular forums such as r/askscience, with 25 million subscribers, and r/askhistorians, attracting 2 million subscribers, are well-regarded spaces for expert advice. Conversely, there are Subreddits that tend toward lower quality content. However, the topic-centric nature of Subreddits allows brands to navigate away from those less desirable ones easily.
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A key feature of Reddit is its Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions, which have featured prominent figures like President Obama and Bill Gates, as well as a range of celebrities from various fields. While these high-profile AMAs attract large audiences, sessions focusing on niche topics can also yield significant engagement within specific Subreddits.
As of December 2023, Reddit boasted over one billion posts and more than 16 billion comments.
What are the demographics?
- 63.6% of Reddit users identify as male.
- 44% of U.S. users belong to the age group of 18 to 29.
- 31% are in the 30 to 49 age range.
- Half of Reddit’s user base is situated in the U.S.
- 64% of its users report an annual household income of $75,000 or more.
Explore further: Reddit exploring new features for heightened brand interaction
What is Reddit’s traffic volume?
- In Q4 2023, Reddit recorded an average of 73 million daily active users (DAUs).
- Meta recorded 3.19 billion DAUs across all its platforms in January 2024.
- Pinterest had 498 million DAUs in January 2024.
- February 2024 saw an average of 1.2 billion monthly active users (MAUs) on Reddit, a significant increase from 430 million in 2019.
- Facebook reached 3 billion MAUs in January.
- Instagram also logged 2 billion MAUs in January.
- TikTok was estimated at 1.6 billion MAUs in January.
- 22% of the U.S. population has engaged with Reddit (for comparison, Facebook is at 68% and YouTube at 83%).
- A large portion of Reddit users are exclusive to the platform: over 50% do not interact with other social media such as Pinterest, Snapchat, or X.
- In 2023, Reddit’s average revenue per user (ARPU) was around $0.80, compared to Facebook’s $9.62.
Types and formats of Reddit advertisements
Reddit features two primary types of advertisements: promoted posts and takeovers.
Promoted Posts
Promoted posts integrate seamlessly into Redditors’ feeds, resembling organic posts. There are six different formats that advertisers can customize according to their needs and budget:
- Free-form ads that combine various media, including text, images, videos, GIFs, and headlines, resulting in a more blog-like ad structure; these can reach up to 40,000 characters, but users only see 3-6 lines in their feeds.
- Static image ads, which maintain consistency in size and resolution with other major platforms.
- Video ads available in several aspect ratios (1:1, 4:5, 4:3, 16:9) usually lasting between 5 and 30 seconds.
- Carousel Ads that allow users to swipe through images or videos in a single ad.
- Product and shopping ads that utilize your product catalog to make recommendations (currently in beta).
- AMAs (Ask Me Anything) are perhaps Reddit’s signature feature, allowing users to engage with personalities who answer questions in real-time text threads. Brands can conduct these in targeted Subreddits or on a dedicated one called r/AMA — which famously hosted a session with President Obama in 2012.
Takeovers
A takeover occurs when a brand’s ads are prominently displayed at the top of certain sections of Reddit for a full day. There are four distinct types:
- Front page takeover, featured on the Home and Popular pages, includes both a top banner and a sticky banner that remains visible as users scroll.
- Reddit takeover spans ads across Home, Popular, or Search, similar to front page takeovers while encompassing trending units as well.
- Category takeover positions your ad within the top Subreddits across 15 categories, along with all the features of front page takeovers.
- First View places ads at the beginning of specific threads or subreddits, allowing immediate visibility.
Top Marketing Strategies on Reddit
Engagement is the cornerstone of effective marketing on Reddit — the more active your presence, the more interaction you can expect. While many brands might rely solely on image and video ads, here are some insights from the moderator of the official r/Redditmarketing about best practices.

Reddit is unique, and each community comes with its own set of guidelines (which are conveniently posted at the top of each Subreddit). For instance, r/advertising prohibits any promotional content.
Laura Schiele, the head of paid acquisition at Jordan Digital Marketing, emphasizes the significance of adopting a personable brand voice and being comfortable with self-deprecating humor. Understanding your audience’s preferences is key to successful interactions — an asset particularly beneficial for B2B marketers.
“We have companies targeting engineers successfully through Reddit,” she shared with MarTech. “If there’s a community you wish to engage with, Reddit can effectively facilitate that.”
Moreover, she highlights the necessity of producing quality, customized creatives. While using Reddit-specific lingo and references can be advantageous, it should be done subtly and thoughtfully.
The platform welcomes knowledgeable contributions and commentary, a strength that aligns well with B2B marketing strategies. Engaging in AMAs tailored for relevant communities and actively responding to queries within Subreddits bolsters your brand’s legitimacy.
As many Redditors seek product recommendations from fellow users, these exchanges often serve as early indicators of brand sentiment. For instance, the subreddit r/buyitforlife centers around the most durable, high-quality consumer products. Over time, I’ve observed brands rise in popularity as they garner attention and sink as their quality falters.
How does Reddit connect to reputation management?
Given Reddit’s nature as a gathering place for discussions on numerous subjects, it can significantly influence brand reputation. Users are often passionate about the niches your brand operates in, which means their sentiments can skew either favorably or unfavorably. Therefore, it’s vital to keep track of the conversations happening on the site. Engagement from your brand will generally be well-received as long as the focus remains on offering expertise and value, rather than overt marketing hype.
To start, establish a brand profile that clearly communicates your brand’s identity. Users prefer to receive information directly from the brand itself. Additionally, make certain to adhere to Reddit’s collective rules and regulations, alongside any specific guidelines of the Subreddits in which your content appears. Create a strategy tailored to Reddit and maintain consistency in your interactions.
It’s crucial to remember that Reddit does not mediate disputes. Instead, it recommends posting factual corrections to counter false narratives. “The Reddit community generally supports accurate responses and will likely upvote corrections to give them precedence over the original misinformation,” as stated in Reddit’s FAQ.
What tools does Reddit provide for marketers?
In the advertising domain, keep in mind that 75% of Reddit’s user base engages with the platform primarily through mobile devices, necessitating mobile-optimized content.
As targeting the right audience is essential, it’s useful to be aware of various third-party analytics tools available. Additionally, Reddit has enhanced its Ads Manager, introducing features that assist in generating advertisement content, editing assets, optimizing campaign outcomes, and managing budgets and more.
What’s new: Dynamic Product Ads
Recently, Reddit has launched Dynamic Product Ads, which integrate shopping signals with advanced machine learning to deliver highly relevant product suggestions to potential buyers.
Key features include the ability for instant campaign setup, with ads automatically populating in real-time with the most current pricing and product imagery from an advertiser’s catalog. Two new targeting methods have also been introduced.
Retargeting allows ads to reach users based on previous interactions with products on the advertiser’s website. Prospecting identifies users most likely to be interested in products based on their engagements within Reddit or external sites. This feature aims to shepherd users throughout their buying journey with formats including single-image and carousel ads tailored to various stages of awareness and decision-making.
Dynamic Product Ads are currently in public beta and can be accessed by all Reddit advertisers worldwide, supporting multiple languages including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese through the Reddit Ads Manager.
What’s new: Lead Generation Ads
Reddit recently initiated Lead Generation Ads in public beta, accessible to advertisers utilizing the platform directly.
This innovative ad format integrates with Zapier, allowing advertisers to gather user information straight from the platform, aimed at enhancing lead quality and improving campaign performance across different sectors.
Highlighted features include:
- Mobile-centric design with pre-filled email fields.
- A focus on privacy for secure handling of data.
- Integration with Zapier for direct connections to customer relationship management systems.
Some statistics to consider:
- 75% of B2B decision-makers claim that Reddit offers the most impactful insights on business products.
- 28% of Redditors have investigated online education options over the past six months.
- 93% of Redditors assert that the platform aids in making informed decisions regarding tech upgrades.
Reddit’s new ad format, combined with its actively engaged user base and the Zapier integration, presents a new opportunity for businesses seeking to efficiently generate quality leads. This could significantly reshape how brands approach lead generation in digital communities.
What’s new: AI-Driven Ad Optimization
Reddit has acquired Memorable AI, a company known for optimizing ad creatives by assessing previous campaign performance metrics. This strategic move aims to enhance Reddit’s ad performance capabilities, positioning it as a competitor alongside giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and TikTok.
“Memorable AI has established its efficacy in refining ad creatives to yield optimal results even before running ads,” said Reddit’s Chief Operating Officer, Jen Wong, in a blog post. “This acquisition equips Reddit to amplify its efforts in optimizing, generating, and choosing ad creatives for improved outcomes for advertisers. We’re excited to welcome the Memorable AI team to Reddit.”
The technology from Memorable AI evaluates user reactions to visual content, allowing for more precise targeting and creative optimization of advertisements. It provides recommendations for how advertisers can approach creative modifications based on insights drawn from past campaign data using various ad platforms, demand-side platforms (DSPs), and ad servers. Tools from Memorable AI will be integrated into Reddit’s advertising infrastructure and become available to all advertisers.
Best Subreddits for Marketing Professionals
Here are the leading Subreddits for marketers, organized by user count along with a brief descriptor.
- r/Marketing (1.3M members) This sub is bustling with activity and includes its own Discord channel along with a plethora of useful resources like The Big Marketing FAQ You Didn’t Know You Needed.
- r/SocialMedia (1.3M members) A lively community for discussing social media news, strategies, and practices, accompanied by many helpful resources.
- r/eCommerce (474K members) A high-traffic sub for everyone ranging from seasoned pros to novices keen on eCommerce design and implementation.
- r/Digital_Marketing (208K members) and r/DigitalMarketing (181K members) perplexingly, two prominent digital marketing communities; both are bustling with traffic and engaged experts.
- r/Advertising (188K members) A mid-traffic hub for ad creators, students, copywriters, and others honing skills related to ad strategies. This subreddit boasts a strong ratio of answers to questions.
- r/Affiliatemarketing (188K members) A medium-traffic forum focusing on affiliate marketing, including paid traffic and SEO among other topics.
- r/Analytics (176K members) A sub dedicated to web, data, and business analytics, offering a medium to high level of traffic. Look for specialized communities that focus on specific analytics platforms.
- r/Content_marketing (123K members) This bustling forum supports content marketers by sharing advice, feedback, and resources. It also has an active Discord channel.
- r/SocialMediaMarketing (118K members) Another social media marketing group with lower traffic, which may mean content is better moderated and more visible.
- r/Emailmarketing (63K members) This focused community provides valuable answers related to technical concerns and strategic considerations.
- r/Marketingmentor (40K members) A lightly trafficked area where users can solicit guidance from seasoned marketers, though response rates can vary.
- r/WebMarketing (36K members) A niche forum regarding digital marketing strategies, including SEO, social media, and online public relations. This subreddit enjoys a high rate of answered queries.
- r/SEO_digital_marketing (29K members) A low-traffic community concentrating on SEO strategies, content marketing, link building, and related topics.
- r/GoogleAnalytics (24K members) This medium-traffic group showcases expertise on the widely-used Google analytics tool and includes resources and a Discord channel.
- r/MarketingAutomation (24K members) Such niche communities often pull in experts with targeted knowledge, making them a valuable resource.
Reddit Ads Inspiration Library
As with any popular social media platform, Reddit has its own set of unwritten rules regarding content appeal and trends. There are “popular kids” as well as distinct groups, which means what resonates with one section can be met with indifference by another.
When executed properly, your marketing endeavors can pay off; Reddit found that ads utilizing “Redditisms” resulted in a 70% lower cost per acquisition compared to those that did not. Furthermore, ads mentioning specific Subreddits were 1.3 times more effective in boosting brand awareness.
To aid marketers in navigating these nuances, Reddit has introduced the “Ads Inspiration Library” within its Ads Manager.
This resource showcases high-performing ads across various sectors, allowing marketers to filter by keywords, verticals, budgets, formats, placements, and objectives.
Reddit achieves its first profit driven by advertising revenue
In October 2024, Reddit announced its first-ever profit, mainly attributed to a robust 56% year-over-year growth in advertisement earnings.

Overall, the third-quarter revenue surged by 68%, reaching $348.4 million, compared to $207.5 million from the same period in 2023. The net income for the period was $29.9 million, contrasting with a net loss of $7.4 million during Q3 2023. Domestic revenue climbed by 70% year-over-year, while international revenue exhibited a growth rate of 57%, marking the fastest increase in over two years.
For the quarter, advertising earnings totaled $315.1 million, driven primarily by an increase in impression delivery due to greater user growth, more effective ad placements, and the introduction of conversational placement ads, while pricing metrics remained consistent with the previous quarter, as stated by COO Janet Wong.
“In Q3, we observed growth in advertising revenue across all stages of the marketing funnel,” the company remarked in its investor correspondence. “Additionally, we initiated new conversion API (CAPI) partnerships which saw over double the adoption rate compared to Q2.”
Notably, ad revenue surged even prior to the full integration of Reddit’s new advertising products like generative AI creative tools and in-comment advertisements.
Latest feature: Reddit Pro Trends and AMA advertising format
In early January 2025, Reddit introduced two key tools for marketers: a trend analysis tool and a new ad format for its popular AMA sessions.
Reddit Pro Trends, a complimentary feature, tracks real-time trends across the platform, enabling marketers to identify engaged communities. It reviews discussions to highlight relevant keywords and phrases, allowing brands to uncover where their topics and categories are being talked about.
In its analysis, the tool incorporates over 100,000 intelligent keywords, helping distinguish instances where context matters, such as differentiating between “apple” as a fruit and “Apple” as a tech company.
The purpose is to furnish marketers with deeper insights into user preferences, empowering them to craft relevant, engaging content tailored to the Reddit audience.

AMA Ads, the new ad format, is aimed specifically at engaging users who show interest in AMA sessions. This facilitates a targeted approach to connect with receptive audiences on the platform by allowing businesses to promote Q&A sessions straight from the Reddit ad interface, which even incorporates RSVP tracking and includes a “Remind Me” button for users wishing to recall the session.
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