Reddit ads: the ultimate enigma for marketers. For some, it’s a goldmine of engaged audiences; for others, it’s a budget-eating black hole. With its rapid rise to the 3rd spot in Google’s U.S. organic search rankings and unmatched audience trust, it can no longer be ignored by businesses looking to grow.
We dove in headfirst, investing $10,000 across various campaigns to uncover what actually works. Spoiler alert: Reddit advertising isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Here's the data-driven lowdown, sprinkled with a dash of humor for good measure.
What Makes Reddit Ads Unique?
Reddit is not your average social media platform. It’s a community-first ecosystem, home to over 430 million monthly active users and thousands of niche subreddits. Unlike Facebook or Google, where flashy ads dominate, Redditors have a built-in skepticism of traditional advertising. If your campaign lacks authenticity, you’ll be called out faster than you can say “karma.”
Why Reddit a Must for Driving Business Results.
By the Numbers in 2024:
757 million monthly visitors across 100,000+ communities.
9th most visited site globally, with 3.5 billion visits in November 2024 alone.
Unmatched trust factor: 90% of users consider Reddit a trustworthy source for purchasing decisions, outperforming Facebook (89%) and LinkedIn (59%).
Unique audience: 34% inactive on Facebook, 51% inactive on TikTok, and 52% inactive on X (formerly Twitter).
Reddit’s Rise in Search Visibility:
Reddit climbed from 68th to 3rd place in Google’s U.S. organic search rankings between July 2023 and July 2024.
Its partnership with Google and emphasis on user-driven, authentic content have made Reddit threads highly visible in search results.
For marketers, this means a unique opportunity to reach engaged, intent-driven audiences who are actively searching for solutions.
Reddit ads thrive when they seamlessly integrate into subreddit culture, resonate with community values, and provide content that users genuinely find engaging. They should spark curiosity, encourage conversation, and avoid feeling like traditional, sales-driven advertisements.
How We Spent $10,000
Ad Formats Tested
We tested a variety of ad formats to determine what resonated best with Reddit’s unique audience.
Promoted Posts: These mimic organic posts and blend into subreddit feeds.
Display Ads: Banner-style ads with a corporate flair. Spoiler: Redditors hate these.
Video Ads: Eye-catching and engagement-heavy, if done right.
Targeting Strategy
Reddit’s targeting is all about subreddits. We chose highly relevant subreddits in niches like tech, gaming, and finance. Here’s how we segmented our campaigns:
Interest-Based Targeting: Ideal for building brand awareness on a larger scale, this approach casts a wide net by reaching audiences based on general interests and behaviors. However, it can lead to high costs per impression and limited ROI when compared to more focused targeting. Our data showed that while impressions increased significantly, engagement rates and conversions were underwhelming, making it less effective for performance-driven campaigns.
Community Targeting: Pinpointed subreddits yielded significantly better engagement by aligning ad content with highly specific audience interests. For example, campaigns in niche subreddits like r/personalfinance or r/gaming resulted in 40% higher click-through rates compared to broader targeting. These communities, bound by shared passions and discussions, respond well to ads that feel relevant and add value. By tailoring creatives to match subreddit culture, we ensured the ads resonated and avoided coming across as intrusive.
Device Targeting: Mobile users were more likely to click, driven by the ease of access and the platform's mobile-first design. However, desktop users showed higher conversion rates, likely due to more deliberate actions, like filling out forms or completing purchases. Our analysis revealed that mobile campaigns yielded a 20% higher click-through rate (CTR), but desktop users converted at a rate 35% better than mobile, emphasizing the importance of optimizing landing pages for both platforms.
Reddit’s self-serve platform offers robust targeting, but you need to know your audience. “Spray and pray” doesn’t work here. Reddit has a managed account program but require a minimum investment in spend of $20k per quarter. I high price to pay and makes you wonder why big brands are investing significantly in this channel.
What Worked: Data-Backed Insights
1. Authenticity Wins the Day
Ads that felt like organic posts outperformed polished, corporate-style content. For example, an ad posing a thought-provoking question or sharing a genuine experience generated 3x more clicks than traditional ad copy. One standout campaign featured a post that asked, “What’s your biggest financial regret?” in r/personalfinance, which sparked hundreds of comments and drove traffic to a financial planning tool. This success highlights that engaging content, which feels native and encourages conversation, is key to thriving on Reddit.
Lesson Learned: On Reddit, it’s relatable > professional.
2. Subreddit-Specific Ads Outperformed Generic Campaigns
Targeting niche communities like r/personalfinance or r/gaming delivered 40% higher engagement rates than broader campaigns. Why?
Subreddits are tight-knit communities, built around shared interests and trust. They function as micro-ecosystems where authenticity reigns supreme. Ads that resonated with these audiences felt less like interruptions and more like extensions of ongoing discussions.
For example, in r/gaming, a campaign promoting a new indie game drove significantly higher click-through rates by tailoring language to gaming culture, referencing popular terms and memes specific to the subreddit. This approach demonstrates that the more you align with the tone, preferences, and context of a community, the greater the engagement.
3. Redditors Love Transparency
Ads with detailed breakdowns, behind-the-scenes looks, or user-generated content resonated well. For instance, one campaign included a comprehensive step-by-step breakdown of how a specific product was developed, paired with authentic user reviews.
This approach built trust and curiosity, leading to a 25% higher click-through rate (CTR) than generic promotions. Additionally, ads featuring video testimonials from real customers sharing their experiences enhanced credibility and engagement, proving that transparency and relatability are key drivers for performance on Reddit.
Pro Tip: Treat your audience like insiders—they’ll appreciate it.
What Didn’t Work (and Burned Our Budget)
1. Display Ads Are a Hard Pass
Despite fancy visuals, banner ads tanked. CTRs hovered around 0.3%, and engagement was abysmal. Redditors simply don’t trust anything that screams “corporate.” These ads often felt out of place in Reddit’s user-centric, discussion-driven environment. The flashy nature of display ads clashed with the platform’s preference for authenticity and meaningful interactions.
Additionally, users frequently skipped or outright ignored these ads, leading to poor visibility and wasted spend. For advertisers, this underscores the importance of aligning ad formats with the cultural norms of the platform—or risk losing both budget and credibility.
2. Over-Broad Targeting
Casting a wide net resulted in wasted impressions and lower ROI. Interest-based targeting had 50% higher CPMs and fewer conversions than community-specific campaigns. While impressions grew, they failed to translate into meaningful engagement, leading to inflated costs per conversion.
The lack of relevance meant many ads went unnoticed, or worse, generated skepticism among audiences. This highlights the need for granular targeting to ensure that your ads resonate with specific interests and behaviors, rather than attempting to appeal to everyone.
3. Ignoring Reddit Culture
Reddit has its own unspoken rules. Ads that felt out of touch or overly “salesy” were met with downvotes and harsh comments. For example, one campaign that leaned too heavily into corporate language and aggressive call-to-action phrases was quickly downvoted and sparked a flood of critical comments. One user even called us out with a “Nice try, marketing bot.” Ouch.
This backlash not only hurt engagement but also tarnished the brand's credibility. It became clear that success on Reddit requires a deep understanding of its culture—ads must blend in organically and avoid coming across as overtly promotional or insincere.
Key Metrics: By the Numbers
Here’s how our campaigns performed:
Total Ad Spend: $10,000
Average CTR: 1.2% (subreddit-specific ads peaked at 2.5%)
Cost Per Click (CPC): $0.80
Conversion Rate: 5% on targeted campaigns
ROI: Subreddit-specific campaigns yielded 3x higher returns compared to generic targeting by delivering precise audience alignment and fostering trust within niche communities.
These campaigns benefited from higher click-through rates and more meaningful engagement, with audiences responding positively to tailored, contextually relevant content.
This strategic focus significantly boosted both conversions and overall campaign efficiency, making it a cornerstone of successful Reddit advertising efforts.
Lessons Learned and Final Thoughts
Reddit Ads Best Practices
Know Your Audience: Dive into subreddit culture before creating ads.
Speak Their Language: Avoid corporate jargon and embrace conversational tones.
Test, Learn, Repeat: A/B test everything—creative, targeting, and formats.
Be Authentic: Redditors can smell inauthenticity from a mile away.
Reddit ads aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution.
They require thoughtful planning, a deep understanding of subreddit dynamics, and a willingness to experiment and adapt. Success hinges on your ability to craft campaigns that feel natural, provide value, and align with the tone of each community.
When done right, they can drive meaningful engagement, build brand credibility, and generate high-quality conversions. But beware: it’s a platform where only the most authentic marketers thrive, and missteps can quickly turn into public downvotes and reputational risks.
So, would we spend another $10,000 on Reddit ads? Absolutely. But this time, we’d do it smarter, with lessons learned and a healthy respect for Reddit’s fiercely discerning audience.
Ready to Master Reddit Advertising?
Reddit isn’t just an ad platform; it’s a community. Approach it with respect, authenticity, and data-driven strategies, and you’ll unlock its true potential.
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