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The way people discover brands is evolving, simple Google searches leading to your website are no longer cutting it. People want to know more before they hear anything straight from the source. When potential customers research your brand, they are jumping between search engines, social media platforms, online communities, review content and AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. 

This ever developing landscape proposes a new question for brands: What does the internet say about us when we’re not the ones doing the talking?

Why using Reddit for marketing is important for AI search & GEO

So, what actually is GEO? 

It stands for Generative Engine Optimisation, which is all about improving how easily your content is understood by audiences and how likely it is to be referenced or cited by AI-powered search engines. 

By improving your GEO, you are actively tailoring your content to be easily discoverable and suggested by these engines. Because they aren’t just using your company website to retrieve information. 

These programs draw on a wide range of online sources, this can include: 

• Online discussion forums 
• Video or written reviews 
• News outlets 
• User-generated content 

Anywhere your brand name has been mentioned or discussed online can paint a picture of your company to potential clients/customers before they even check your website for themselves.

Which is why, when it comes to modern digital marketing, Reddit could be just the tool you’ve been missing. Full of independent and user-generated content, it is more than just a social platform, it is an incredibly valuable research tool. 

To find out more about how AI can be further implemented to help your marketing strategy, check out our blog on ‘How to make AI work for you on social media’.

What makes Reddit stand out?

On Reddit, GEO becomes much easier to manage. Their tagline is ‘The Heart of The Internet’ for a reason. It has seen a ‘major growth in organic search visibility’, increasing 10x since early 2023, now appearing in more than 8.3 million AI overviews. The platform is built on real people having real thoughts and discussions. 

It’s used every day to share things like: 

• Personal opinions 
• Product and brand recommendations 
• Genuine questions 
• Problems and potential solutions
• Brand discussions 

Think of it as the ‘digital word of mouth’. While you may not be able to directly influence what the people of Reddit say, it is an extremely helpful tool to aid in better understanding how your brand is really viewed.

Using Reddit for customer research

Audiences are using Reddit for more than just mindless scrolling, with over 116 million active users, it is responsible for 1.4 billion search events, making it useful for brands looking to boost engagement and get some better insights. 

When you are using Reddit for marketing, you don’t have to keep up with a consistent posting schedule to improve your brand. Marketers can simply read through these interactions to understand:

• What customers are repeatedly asking the most about products, services or industries 
• Common problems and frustrations customers have 
• The type of language and dialect customers are using to describe their needs 
• What people are praising or criticising about competitors 
• What content customers are really asking for 

Having a more thorough understanding of the discussions and opinions surrounding your brand is a great way to start tailoring your content for better visibility. 

Turn those repeated questions and common problems into:

• Blog posts 
• Frequently asked questions 
• Social media posts 
• How-to guides 
• Video walkthroughs 
• Tailored landing page content 

Reddit can help you distribute content, but it can also give you the tools to know what content you should be creating in the first place.

Building brand identity & reach online

When it comes to your content strategy, Reddit can offer your brand the opportunity to discover more about your customers, listen to what they’re really saying, what they want and even answer their questions, but digital marketing on Reddit can go even further. 

Building familiarity with customers is a great way to develop your relationship with both existing customers and Reddit communities.

How Secretlab uses Reddit to build trust and digital word-of-mouth reach

Gaming chair company Secretlab have been using Reddit as a way to boost their marketing and interact with their customer base at the same time. 

When purchasing a gaming chair, Secretlab encourages customers to take a photo of their chair and post it to Reddit (or other social media platforms) with a relevant hashtag in return for a 5 years extended warranty on their product. 

This strategy gave Secretlab the chance to build trust and boost engagement with their customers while encouraging them to discuss their opinions on their products. 

If you want to know more about boosting engagement using other social media platforms, like Instagram, check out our blog post on how to use Instagram stories as an engagement tool!

Participation vs promotion

But there is an important distinction to make when using Reddit for marketing in this way, participation vs promotion could be the thing that makes or breaks your brand. 

Don’t use Reddit as a way to plug your brands products or services, communities on Reddit can be highly sceptical of anything they perceive as overt marketing. 

The reason Secretlab’s strategy works so well is because they created a system where both parties benefit from interacting with the community, but a brand account using Reddit to drop links or promotional content is unlikely to build any kind of trust inside communities. 

When participating in these communities, always ensure your brands responses are: 

• Useful
• Relevant
• Transparent
• Human
• Community-aware

But for the most part, let your customers tell your story. Because a real person recommending a brand based on personal experience will always be more convincing than a brand telling people how good it is.

How Marketers should get started: Do’s and dont’s

Do: 

• Listen carefully to conversations happening within relevant communities 
• Identify the most common questions and problems relating to your brands products or services 
• Take the insights and use them to create tailored, informative content 
• Provide useful answers and partake in relevant conversations with audiences 

Don’t

• Spam communities with links 
• Copy-and-paste promotional messaging 
• Pretend to be a customer or un-affiliated with your brand 
• Enter communities solely to advertise 
• Use Reddit only as a part of your content/research plan

How Rawww can help

If you want to increase your brand’s visibility both in general and in AI searches, we can help you! 

Reddit is just one small piece of the puzzle, and at Rawww, we specialise in everything from SEO and content strategy to GEO and digital PR. Meaning we have the tools to help you understand more about your audience and their sentiments. 

Ready to become part of the conversation? Talk to Rawww today about your digital marketing strategy.

FAQ’s 

Q. What is Reddit marketing?

A. Reddit marketing is fundamentally different from traditional advertising, it gives brands the opportunity to listen and engage with their customer base authentically. Community engagement is encouraged across the platform, meaning your brand has the chance to offer transparent and human responses to questions, problems and support without having to rely on a consistent posting schedule or delayed feedback. 

Q. How do I use Reddit to improve AI search visibility? 

A. Brands can use Reddit to build genuine online visibility by taking time to listen to the conversations being had and participating authentically to gain a better understanding of what customers are looking for, rather than attempting to manipulate AI results. 

Q. Why is Reddit important for AI search visibility?

A. In digital marketing, Reddit is not like any regular social media platform, brands can use it to identify communities, listen to conversations and interact with their customer base to build trust and identity. The platform is full of people’s personal experiences and recommendations, meaning brands can monitor the conversation while also understanding what the general consensus is and continue to improve their service, because a real customer discussing and recommending your products is more authentic than a brand overtly marketing themselves. 

Q. What is Reddit GEO? 

A. Generative Engine Optimisation and Reddit go hand in hand when you are trying to improve your brand’s visibility in AI searches. Third party information sources have become a way for AI to gather information about you without having to look at your branded website, so taking the time to see what queries or problems are most common within your area on Reddit can be helpful when tailoring your content.  

Q. Is Reddit better than traditional social media for marketing?

A. There is no solid answer for this, as Reddit serves a much different purpose for digital marketing compared to other social media platforms. Reddit is more than a way to advertise your brand, it is a helpful tool in gathering information and can compliment your content strategy when implemented correctly. 

Q. What are the pros and cons of using Reddit for marketing? 

A.