Promoting on Reddit

NateStanley

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Hey YTTalk!


Today I come to you with one of the most useful tools you have at your disposal. Every creator should be versed in the usage of Reddit, no matter what content you produce. Luckily for you, this free resource will be providing you with everything you need to know on utilizing Reddit not only to promote your content but to expand your audience, improve impressions on YouTube, and get critical, constructive feedback which will better your channel. It might seem daunting, but promoting your content is a necessary venture you must to take in order to grow your channel from a small fringe following to a large dedicated fan base who'll provide you with not only continuing support but be vessels of ad revenue allowing you to dedicate more time to the thing you love: Creating Content.

This resource has been designed for those both new to Reddit as well as those who're experienced with it. This is for anyone who wants to learn to take advantage of the Reddit powerhouse. For terminology that's unique to Reddit, I'll be providing a short glossary containing some of the more obscure terms used in this resource in the spoiler below, it's encouraged to give this a once-over. If you see a term you don't recognize in this resource, and you can't find it in the glossary, don't be afraid to google it.

Terms and definitions derived in part from Theory of Reddit

Subreddit - A user created and moderated forum dedicated to one topic. ("sub" for short)
Default Subreddit - Subreddits that, upon account creation, users are subscribed to by default. A list of all default subreddits can be found
here.
Mod - A user who moderates a specific subreddit.
Sidebar - A column of information located on the right side of a subreddit.
Upvote / Downvote - Reddit's form of a Like and Dislike.
Karma - The sum of Upvotes and Downvotes given to you by other users.
OP - Stands for "original poster", the person who created the post.
NSFW - Stands for "Not Safe For Work", something you wouldn't show your mom or boss.
Gold - A paid award that one user to can give to another's post to show appreciation and quality.
Gild - The action of giving someone gold.

Note: This resource probably won't be helpful if you're a 'generic' let's play channel or vlog channel, sorry, but that type of content doesn't work well in the Reddit environment.

So go ahead and grab a couple snacks and be ready to take some notes!


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Here's a quick, "in a nutshell" on how to operate Reddit.

Reddit was first released in 2008, and since then its interface hasn't really changed besides a slight modernization in it's style. Really the only way to understand it is just to jump in and get lurking. You'll understand how to navigate the website in only a matter of minutes, and given enough time you won't even notice the rather outdated interface.

You'll notice that the landing page for every user is actually a conglomeration of the days top posts from their subscribed subreddits. Reddit doesn't actually show you only the posts that have the most upvotes, but rather posts from all your subreddits that are popular relative to their subs size. This guarantees that no matter how niche a subject is, it will always have a chance to appear on your front page.

Speaking of posts, how do you make one? It's easily accomplished by finding the "submit a post" button in the sub's sidebar. After making a post, it will appear in the "new" tab of that subreddit. Don't worry about constantly refreshing your posts page, though. If anything significant happens, like if a user comments or a moderator has an issue with your post, you'll be notified via your inbox, in the upper right hand corner. If you have the app, you'll get an alert on your phone. You will want to check in every once in a while to see how your posts doing karma wise.

The karma of a specific post or comment is always located on the left side, where the arrows and numbers are. Do note, though, that for posts specifically, the true karma is hidden for several hours - so don't get bummed if your post isn't doing to hot or is fluctuating every time you refresh it. According to the site-wide admins, this is to thwart vote manipulation.


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Despite what the media and many online communities will lead you to believe, Reddit is more than its "hive mind" - it is derived of many diverse people from many different backgrounds and hobbies. Because of this, the communities that call Reddit home are just as, if not more, diverse than its populace. What one user finds entertaining may differ greatly than what another user finds entertaining. Often, the aggregate communities, or subreddits, will share ideals in what they find entertaining, offensive, or politically correct.

What many call the "hive mind" is actually the general attitude that many users that browse default subreddits have. They'll upvote and downvote according to these ideals and because of this default subreddits tend to all develop the same surface-level personality. Keep in mind though, this doesn't mean every user shares the same opinions on topics and in the early life of your post even on user can make a big difference in your posts success.

The specificality of subreddits vary greatly, ranging from broad topics, like r/videos, to extremely niche topics, like r/cordcutters, a subreddit centered around moving from cable to streaming only. Each of these communities have different ideals and wants, and the more niche a sub is the easier it is to identify these ideals and wants. When promoting on Reddit, it's important to never forget these niche subreddits - After all, this is some of the most targeted advertising you'll be able to get, and the whole idea of Reddit is to share content you found online, so by providing niche communities with content will allow them to go around sharing it to other, related, niche communities and also broader, related, communities.

There isn't a very good search function when it comes to finding subs, so the best way to find these communities is simply by using Reddit like a normal use will. Participate in conversations and read others. Users will often share communities they find interesting. Take note of any community you come across that your video could fit in. I'll provide a list of starting points in a spoiler below.

r/Videos - The broadest subreddit to post in. Often abstract videos will be the only ones to succeed here. (Commentary, exposé, news, or skit)
r/MealTimeVideos - A subreddit for videos just long enough for you to enjoy a good meal. (10-15 minutes long)
r/ArtisanVideos - If your video is about a trade or craft, this is a good subreddit to post them in.

r/CookingVideos - Videos of cooking, duh.
r/YoutubeHaiku - Short 15-30 second videos, often comprised of abstract or skit humor.
r/ASMR - Seen a couple ASMR people post on YTTalk, so you should also share here.






So now that you understand the intricacies of how Reddit works you've gone off and found a sub you'd like to share your video to. If it's even a medium sized sub then you'll see a constant influx of posts in the new tab. If you decide to share your video here, you might find that your post gets lost in the crowd of all the other new posts, to be passed over and forgotten. You'll be frustrated, thinking that Reddit is just as hard to get seen as it is on YouTube. There are a few tips when it comes to creating your post that should help you get noticed, though. The posts details (it's title) don't have nearly enough weight in deciding how your post does as your content does, though, so understand that if your video isn't good it just simply won't get far. But let's go with the assumption that your video is worthy of its inevitable fame, what can you do to make sure it gets seen?

Knowing that Reddit is compromised of people young and old, with jobs or in school, it's easy to understand that people get on the site at different times. So the first thing you can do to help your post do better is to pick the optimal posting time. The optimal posting time is derived, in simple terms, from the times that posts often do the best when published at. An easy way to find this for your subreddit of choice is by using
this calculator. It will even tell you the best day of the week as well as time to submit your video. If you follow this, you'll have the highest traffic to your video and post, giving you a chance for more upvotes. A common rule of thumb is to assume everyone on Reddit are either in the timezones EST or PT. Submitting your videos around 11-12 in either of these timezones should bring those on lunch break to your video, but it's best to just follow the calculator linked above.

Now that you've picked the posting time, it's
time to talk about titles. Titling on Reddit is a little different than titling on YouTube. When you upload a video to YouTube, you want the title to describe the video for a wide of audience as possible, while on Reddit you're already in your niche community. You want to pick something that isn't obvious click bait, but at the same time entices the user to click on it. Remember: Reddit is a community, while YouTube is more of a showcase. When you title your post, you could imagine you just brought this video to a bunch of friends and want to share it with them. Going up to your friends holding a video you made and saying, "Making an electric toothbrush from scratch." might seem a bit odd. But coming at them and saying, "So I decided to try and DIY myself an electric toothbrush, didn't work out right." is a lot more enticing. Feel comfortable when you write your title, as though you're talking to a couple friends.

Let's say you've posted your video not too long ago and it's garnered a small amount of attention. You see it's still gaining upvotes, but you want to add some fuel to the fire. This might sound a little odd, but it's the closest thing you can get to "vote manipulation" without breaking the rules. Gild yourself. After your post has gained some attention, hypothetically is a user saw it and liked it enough, they very well could gild it... and since gilding is anonymous... why not do it yourself? You'll have to create an alternative account to gild yourself, but if you do it at the right time nobody will notice and anyone passing by the content will see the Gold emblem and think, "Huh, someone most have
really liked this video." giving you credibility.

The last thing you can do is stay active in the comments. While the obvious indicators of a good post are upvotes and awards, an active comment section will also entice people into the video. Don't start any upper-level comment threads, as that will seem desperate, but instead reply to people and start conversations. The more back-and-forth dialogue you have, the higher the comment counter will go on the post.

Rule of thumb to get people to like your post is to browse the community before hand and get a feel for what they like and dislike- if you feel they might not like your video try and find a better sub to post in, or give it your best shot. You never know.

All of these aspects discussed in the section have an impact on both organic growth (that is, people seeing your post in new and watching it) as well as gaming the Reddit algorithm when it comes to showing your posts on the front page - and remember, you don't only have to post to one sub! You can post your video to multiple subreddits (with some time in between each post)!




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As the snoo above says, that's about it for the guide. Just follow the site-wide and subreddit specific rules and you won't have any problems with the Moderators. I hope you'll be able to rake in a few more subscribers with this guide or perhaps get to the front page with your video. No matter what, stay positive, stay motivated, and good luck.
 

xpdeus

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Reddit is very powerful source of traffic. I use it all the time
 

HerJourney

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Thanks a lot for this great manuel. I tried months ago to understand how reddit works and was totally lost.
With your help I will try it again, not because of the possibility to promoting but for the amount of knowledge there which is unreachable for me right now.
 
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NateStanley

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Thanks a lot for this great manuel. I tried months ago to understand how reddit works and was totally lost.
With your help I will try it again, not because of the possibility to promoting but for the amount of knowledge there which is unreachable for me right now.
Reddit is a awesome website even outside promotion :)
If you need help you can message me there, my username is /u/Nate_Stanley
 
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NervousLatte

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Heya! Thanks for this post, it's actually really useful! I'm usually terrified of reddit (i mean, the internet can be scary in general haha) but I'm going to give it a go in terms of promotion (while following guidelines)
 

prady

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Question: What is the best way to promote link to a youtube video on Reddit?

I noticed that as soon as a I posted the link to my video, it got removed by the admin automatically.

Is it better to upload the video on Reddit? But that won't increase my youtube stats.
 

GregD

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Nice guide - thanks!

Reddit has been a mixed bag for us, we have a much lower engagement / sub ratio / watch time avg from that traffic - and sometimes we've seen controversial stuff go *too controversial* and we've had to mop up comments on YT.

I think it's still a good place to post things, and we usually catch someone else posting our videos on there - but we certainly want to integrate a strategy where we can be more active on that platform.