If you've dabbled in advertising on Reddit in the past, you might be curious as to why we're excited about it. We'll level with you: we didn't have the greatest time with Reddit Ads during our first go-around, either. What we mostly found was a clunky interface with limited insights and an audience that was downright hostile toward advertisers. For the most part, we had written it off as a niche option for small growth. So, why are we excited about it now?
Reddit has been putting in the work to understand what's so special about their audience, and how they can adjust their advertising offering to add value to Redditers and advertisers alike. Here's what got us wanting to retest Reddit with our clients following a conversation with our Reddit Ads rep (shout-out to Jennifer):
Rather than hiding the fact that you're an advertiser, Reddit has found a new path to help advertisers engage with their audience: lean in. Users are happy to engage with brands on Reddit, if those brands use the opportunity to be authentic and entertaining, and if they don't try to hide the fact that they're a brand. This presents advertisers with amazing creative opportunities to test messaging to connect with a whole new subset of potential customers.
Redditers are researchers. If you can connect with potential customers on Reddit, you're likely to tap into a group of people who want to learn more. Reddit claims that this makes the average Redditor a more engaged consumer, as they are 46% more likely to trust a brand that they've seen on Reddit.
The Reddit usernames provide Redditers with pseudonymity, which encourages them to be open and genuine in their opinions and expressions. That results in content that is specific, relevant & authentic, meaning platform users think more highly of content they see on Reddit. That sets a high bar for advertisers to reach, but potentially excellent payoff when they do.
Thanks to a licensing deal between Google and Reddit, you might now be noticing Reddit posts showing up higher on search result pages. While you can't currently apply this to audience targeting, it does mean that Reddit is making a concerted effort to bring a larger, high-intent audience through the platform.
Most importantly, Reddit has introduced several technical upgrades that make us much more confident that we can effectively test. One of the most important criteria for us to want to recommend a potential new ad network is the ability to measure and optimize for results. Reddit has made some big strides in that direction, including
Pixel-based conversion events
Conversions API for integrated per-user value optimization
Advanced matching options for improved attribution (think Google's enhanced conversions, for Reddit)
We're not ready to make a recommendation that everyone rush to Reddit Ads for great results as these new features—though promising—need to be tried and evaluated. With that said, if you're a Working Planet client, you'll likely be hearing from us soon about some testing opportunities to see how Reddit might be part of a successful media mix for profitable growth.
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