How to get customers from Reddit without getting banned
Reddit is one of the few places a brand new account can reach hundreds of thousands of people. It is also the fastest place to get banned. I have been banned twice. This is what worked for founders on the show, plus what I learned the annoying way.
- 1
Warm up the account before you post anything
Do not create a fresh account, join five founder communities, and start talking about your product. Build karma, leave real comments, and read every rule in every community you want to post in. Something that is fine in one subreddit gets removed in another.
From: Newsletter: What actually works on Reddit - 2
Find people already asking for the result
Will Baker went to r/fitness and r/gym, found people asking for physique ratings, and replied with the result his app produced, watermark included. He estimates his first $1,000 to $2,000 came from this. The ceiling: promotional activity eventually led to bans.
From: Will Baker - 3
Write in first person, with a real number
The posts that work do not feel like launches. They feel like a person explaining something that happened to them. "I sold 340 lifetime deals for $149 each. 18 months later I regret every one" beats "10 tips for founders". A small or embarrassing number works too.
From: Newsletter: What actually works on Reddit - 4
Take the word marketing out
Nevo David launched nearly the same product twice. Framed as marketing for developers, it got puke emojis. Framed as a social media scheduling tool, people called it amazing. Say what the thing is, in the words that community uses.
From: Nevo David, Postiz - 5
Give the community something it actually wants
Reddit dislikes self promotion but welcomes a new release of a free, open source tool. Nevo says every Postiz launch post got at least 200,000 to 300,000 views, because people were waiting for the next version.
From: Nevo David, Postiz - 6
Run the no link test
Delete the product name and URL before you publish. If the story is still interesting, you are close. If the post falls apart without the product, it is an ad. Put the link last, or leave it out completely.
From: Newsletter: What actually works on Reddit - 7
End with a question, then stay in the comments
Ask something another founder can answer from experience, like "Has anyone else regretted selling lifetime deals?" Then answer replies and take disagreement without getting defensive. The DMs and profile visits are where the real value starts.
From: Newsletter: What actually works on Reddit