More than a hundred thousand active communities, endless conversations, and authentic human connections can be found on Reddit. Whether you enjoy breaking news, fashion, conspiracy facts, or funny videos, you will find a Reddit community for your Muslim brand to engage users.
Why Market Your Muslim Brand on Reddit?
The “2023 Social Analytics Guide to Influencer Marketing on Reddit”, states:
“[Reddit’s] rate of growth, combined with web-wide users’ love of anonymity, indicate Reddit’s staying power as a top-ranking social site.”
The authors of the guide are of the opinion that far too many brands and marketers underestimate (at their peril) the opportunities of understanding how to navigate Reddit properly with some not even considering Reddit, to begin with.
They mention that there are at least 100,000 active communities and 13 billion posts and comments on Reddit. Its value has tripled from $2.7 billion in 2019 to $10 billion in 2022.
Here is an example of an Islamic Finance subreddit discussion with more than 220k members. At the time of writing this article, there were 731 members on that page:
We consider the major platforms— Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn, etc. – to be the only options for social media marketing. The online world, however, is a big place full of highly active social niche communities that may be relevant to the customers you’re attempting to serve.
Reddit is probably the most underutilized popular social media marketing platform. To prove this point here are some stats from 2022 published by passport-photo online in December 2022:
- 52 million active members
- Revenue growth by 150% from 2020 to 2021
- 1 billion registered users
- 1.7 billion global monthly visitors
- 86% of internet users trust product reviews on Reddit
- 36% of Reddit users are between the ages of 18 and 29
- The most popular subreddit has 40 million subscribers
Reddit for Business (the advertising platform for Reddit) reports that 90% of Reddit users trust it to learn about new products and brands.
Here are some more stats from the aforementioned “2023 Social Analytics Guide to Influencer Marketing on Reddit”:
- 69% of Redditors mention that they respect brands that make the effort to be on Reddit.
- 61% admit that they are more likely to trust a brand that participates on Reddit.
- 66% say that brands can have a conversation with them on Reddit that they can’t have anywhere else.
Reddit has a massive user base. Reddit is a very active and engaging community. And your halal brand is most likely not marketing there. Let’s look at how you can change that.
How to Market Your Muslim Brand on Reddit (Organic)
For the purpose of this article, we will be discussing the organic aspect of marketing on Reddit. We will discuss using Reddit for Business to advertise on Reddit in another article. However, the best option currently for paid advertising to Muslims online is MuslimReach™.
Understanding Reddit Users and Subreddit Owners
Reddit was founded by tech hackers who wanted to hack internet possibilities to create business models. We are talking about inventors and risk-takers and thus many of those engaging on this platform (owners of subreddits) have the same mentality. Many of them you will not find actively participating anywhere online.
Because of their well-documented credibility on Reddit, these are the people who can make a product or service go viral. But watch out, Redditors are extremely protective of the communities they’ve created, and they despise brands that try to take over a subreddit for personal gain.
Understanding How Reddit Works
Reddit’s primary focus is news aggregation and forum communication. Reddit’s core functionality is that users submit content, which is then upvoted or downvoted by others. The most popular threads are displayed at the top.
Karma points are awarded for every action a Redditor takes, from sharing links to voting and commenting. Credibility is equivalent to karma. The more karma one has, the more time this person has spent participating on the platform, and the more respected his/her voice is.
You can earn post karma and comment karma, your halal brand or representative needs to build credibility for both by creating the most useful posts and comments in the halal niche you are serving.
An example of a halal niche on Reddit is r/IslamicFinance with 7.4k members at the time of writing this article. These are highly niche and engaged members which means more quality engagement than on other platforms.
Basic Tips for Great Engagement
- Share extremely timely and relevant content with a great catchy title.
- There could be a few dozen subreddits discussing modest fashion, for instance, do not crosspost as this will appear as spam. Choose one and stick to it.
- Use the advised formula of contributing 80% of the time and self-promoting only 20% of the time.
The Top Things That Annoy Redditors
Remember when we said that Redditors are extremely protective of their subreddits? Well, here are the top three things to avoid when using Reddit for your Muslim brand:
- Creating fake accounts for any reason whatsoever
- Working with paid sponsors and not disclosing this information
- Asking your employees to upvote your content
Subreddit Cultures
You must also acknowledge that your target communities may have distinct cultures. Have a genuine interest in the community in which you wish to participate.
Before you start posting and commenting, learn the subreddit’s traditions and mannerisms, as well as what types of content are popular and how to title and format your content for maximum impact. Try to pick up on the sometimes unspoken rules of the subreddit.
Creating Brand Awareness and Presence on Reddit
Once you are on Reddit, you do not only want to sporadically engage Muslim consumers. What you really want to do is create a consistent presence for your halal brand. Here are some best practices and tips to help you on your way:
- Investigate all of the subreddits that may be relevant to your brand and just listen in at first- remember: do not crosspost, not yet!
- Adopt a regular commenting frequency before you begin submitting original content.
- Create a piece of content specifically for your Reddit audience.
- Create based on the best-performing content formats: GIFs, videos, still images, short text, articles, and breaking news.
- Create AMA (ask me anything) threads and ask Redditors to participate. If your Muslim brand has a unique story to tell, it can find a lot of success with AMAs.
- Create your halal brand’s subreddit to allow Redditors and customers to ask questions. Make sure you monitor closely so you do not miss a single query.
- Find influencers to collaborate with by looking at their karma scores. The so-called Karma kings with 100k karma may need to get paid but the ones who are up-and-coming and believe in what you do as a brand may be willing to spread your message. Remember, Redditors are very dedicated to their niche and if your message has value to that niche you will have a willing partner.
Conclusion
The number of brands and businesses using Reddit is increasing. Reddit, in comparison to other social media platforms you use, will occupy a different place in your halal brand’s marketing strategy, more like an extension of your PR efforts.
Start small. Take the time to understand your audience and get to know the places they hang out and then reap the rewards of the engaging content you can begin to build.
Learn. Share. Contribute. It may not always make sense but soon it will open the doors of communication and allow you to become a part of the communities that will matter to your Muslim brand.
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