Reddit is one of those fickle sites that I personally just haven’t figured out. So I am so glad to have one of you guys here in the video creators community with us today, to show us how Reddit works, and how we can utilize it to gain exposure for our YouTube videos. Check out what Malcom has to say about Reddit:
Malcolm here, filling in for Tim. I’m from the channel Tek Crush, where we talk about the past, present, and future of technology. Check out one of our latest videos on the science of traffic and autonomous vehicles.
Reddit is known as the front page of the internet. Don’t let that cute little alien fool you. This is a place of pure anonymity. And that could bring out the worst in people. And sometimes it could bring out the absolute best.
Reddit is like a double-edged sword. It can make you a superstar practically overnight. And, in most cases, you can lose everything that you’ve ever worked for. This is why most creators are actually discouraged from using the social media platform to promote themselves.
The key to unlocking the potential to this website is in the details. There are a lot of hoops to jump through. And there’s a pretty steep learning curve to this site, as well.
Reddit uses a series of extremely targeted subcategories, called SubReddits. You can find a SubReddit on absolutely anything, from Star Trek to pictures of trees eating things. Yep. That’s a thing. And if you can’t find a SubReddit for it. Well, then you just start your own. So using Reddit to promote your brand or your videos is a little risky. There are a lot of rules that you have to follow. These rules are called Reddiquette.
Reddiquette is kind of hard to explain. And each SubReddit has its own particular set of Reddiquette. So any SubReddit that you have found that matches, maybe, your brand or videos, you need to make sure that you absolutely know all the Reddiquette for that SubReddit. Otherwise, you can expect to be chewed up and spit out.
Which brings me to my next point. Expect to get some scrapes and bruises throughout your experience of learning Reddit. Pure anonymity makes people brutally honest. I have had several people tell me to go kill myself, and much worse than that.
Don’t expect others to hold your hand throughout this process. And do expect a lot of negative feedback. But make sure you use that negative feedback to your advantage when possible.
The biggest tip that I can give to anyone using Reddit, is to make sure you are completely honest. Don’t try to trick people, or hide behind things on Reddit. Redditors are known for their uncanny ability to waste large portions of their own time looking for the dirt that you might have swept under the rug. So try to be as transparent as possible.
One of the best ways to learn Reddit is to just dive right in. Become part of the community. Assimilate. I would recommend this to anyone that’s actually thinking about utilizing the platform.
It can be very hard to blend into the community if you don’t know what you’re doing. Unlike other social media, you can stick out like a sore thumb. And even worse than that, you can be completely ignored altogether.
Reddit is also a dynamic platform. It is ever changing. Just recently, Reddit did to the wayside some of the biggest SubReddits that made Reddit what it is today. With its thumbs up and thumbs down voting system, Reddit is kind of like the Game of Thrones of the internet.
It is constantly changing. Sometimes being gone for as little as a day can leave you’re scratching your head wondering, what in the world’s going on? Though nerve-wracking, the site is full of potential. Some amazing things have come out of the community.
I have used Reddit for about three years now to my advantage. And it still surprises me on a daily basis. I have had posts that have literally broke a million views overnight.
- So what do you guys think?
- Do you have any game plans for using Reddit?
- Are there other lesser known social media sites that you guys want to promote yourselves on?
Let us know in the comments below.