Today I want to talk about how you can promote your YouTube channel on Reddit… the right way!
I was reading some comments on Reddit just the other day and I´ve found so many helpful insights from people that actually knew what they were talking about, so I asked myself “how come this is not a better self-promotional platform?“
So I decided to do a little research and found a couple of tips you can use to promote on Reddit and get a ton of traction and high-quality traffic to your videos.
Let´s see!
Understand How It Works
The first thing I´ve learned is that the reason it was such a helpful resource was the same reason it wasn´t a spammy forum full of degraded and unuseful information.
Reddit is basically a community-based forum, where people share knowledge and want to keep the engagement flowing by not allowing any sort of sale-driven type of content.
People there generally do not like self-promotion, and they especially hate spam, that´s one of the first things you HAVE TO know.
You will have to invest real time to get to know the platform and the people in it.
Make sure you follow the guidelines set by each subreddit you get involved in, but more on that later.
That bein said, there´s incredible potentail that you can take advantage of on Reddit.
In fact.
You can check out this sick post from Tubular Insight on how a YouTube channel grew almost 6000% using primarily Reddit as a promotional tool.
Due to the fact that is “made” by REAL people, when they like something they tend to share it, post it, like it, comment on it, and so on.
It´s probably the most similar word-of-mouth type of marketing you´ll ever find online.
Basic Reddiquettes
First and foremost, don´t just go and spam the crap out of your new video, you have to take time, be consistent with it, and become a part of the community first.
It´s possible that you´ll be attacked sometimes as the community hates spammers and self-promotional posts and comments.
Do not repost or repeat the same stuff too much, just naming your channel once in a while it´s ok, but be always aware of the fact that you MUST provide value upfront.
Don´t ask for upvotes!
There is way too many people just doing the same stuff, it simply won´t work. What it DOES WORK is giving before asking.
If you follow these basic guidelines you´ll be fine. 😉
Now, if you want to have better insight on this then you check out this post: Reddiquette.
Make GOOD Use Of Subreddits
The second aspect I´ve seen lots of people screw up is that they don´t choose well enough the proper subreddit, or that they don´t even care as much and they think it´ll work if they simply share their “stuff”.
Trust me, it won´t. Reddit users look at that type of sharing as spam too.
You have a couple of resources or ways to easily find what your best option would be.
For example, Reddit itself has a List of Subreddits published you can check out.
Another one is that you can go to RedditList, which is a site fully dedicated to ranking, tracking, and categorizing subreddits on the platform, which is AWESOME!
Finally, there are even great posts online that also comprise some of the most popular and newer subreddits or topics that are being discussed
Now, the point that I want to make and that you should pay attention to is that choosing the right subreddit matters and that you have to know everything about it.
Meaning… there are guidelines and rules you have to follow so that you don´t get banned from them, because it does happen.
“Listen” To The Users
You can find lot of helpful tips from other users that have been promoting their channels on the platform for a while.
There´s tons of great insight on how you can use the platform and some basics on what things you should and shouldn´t do.
Like this:
And I particularly love this one: “Be a
It shows what the community is all about and how you should approach Reddit in order to get some loyal viewership to your channel.
I highly encourage you to go through the comments, actually “listen” to what other people that´s been on the same situation that you are in right now are doing or have done in the past, you´ll find some golden nuggets here and there, trust me.
Contribution Is KEY
Make sure you can actually contribute to the community long before you even ask for anything in return. (like they go and subscribe to your channel)
Why?
Well, the foundation of Reddit is that the community is the one that decides which content sinks or swims on the platform.
The upvoting and downvoting feature is what makes the process easier for people to decide and it what makes or breaks your posting success.
The same thing happens with “good” or “bad” comments, people basically have the power to vote for everything that gets shared on the forum.
That is why a generous, thoughtful, and authentic contribution is rewarded and works great.
If it´s good people will let you know, pretty fast!
So, a good way to know what people like and are looking for on Reddit is to simply read the comments. There´s a ton of great information if you know where to look.
Take the time to go through the comments and see how people are interacting with each other, what they are talking about, and what they are interested in.
Then, you can use that to get some leverage and upgrade your strategy by providing value using the things you already know they are interested in.
3 Reddit Hacks You Can Try
Now that you know some of the elemental things about the platform you can go pass that and get familiarized with some “hacks” you can try out.
Here are a few things that can ultimately help you grow on Reddit, both on reputation and YouTube viewership.
Hack #1: Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES)
Almost any old Reddit user knows about RES but in case you´ve never heard of
Maybe you´ve heard that the platform is often criticized by its old look and lack of features, and although it is true there is one way you can solve this, use Reddit Enhancement Suite.
Those features that you would like to see and are still missing can be easily added by this browser extension by giving you more control, a customized dashboard, and a design that allows the app to blend in your user experience.
Now, to give you a better idea of what you´ll be able to do:
It adds an account switcher, a comment navigator, allows you to save comments, adds some filters, a user highlighter feature, and much more!
Hack #2: Create a Multireddit
If you´ve been using (or plan to use) Reddit pretty often chances are that you are going to join dozens of different subreddits in the future.
This creates one problem. Due to the fact that your front-page can´t show an unlimited amount of subreddits you won´t be able to keep track of all the content on each and every subreddit.
Now, the way you can solve this is by organizing your content so you can go through it in quickly and with relative order.
Here´s how:
Use multireddits! They are personally curated collections of subreddits that are comprised on a single list of your choice.
Whether you create it to organize those that have similar content or information or simply because you want to have fast access to some of your favorite ones this feature will make it so much easier to do.
Now, making them is pretty simple.
First, expand the multireddit tab on the left of the screen and click Create. Give it a name and once again click Create.
The multireddit’s page will appear. You can add subreddits by typing the name in the respective field on the right-hand side of the screen. That´s it!
TiP! You can also add multireddits to the RES shortcut bar if you want.
Hack #3: Save Threads & Comments
Although it might not seem like a “hack” it is a pretty useful feature most people don´t use or even care about.
Once you start going through the platform and begin to find awesome content you´ll
Well, if that´s your case there is a way you can do it, by using the save option.
You will find it on underneath the thread’s title from the subreddit’s homepage. To save an individual comment, hit the save button below it.
Now, another thing you can do too is simply bookmark the page and use it that way, so you can come back to it once in a while.
YouTube Basics Go First
Now that you know the importance of subreddits, reddetiquettes, and how you should manage yourself across the platform let´s dive into YouTube.
If you want people to actually want to join you and subscribe to your channel then you need to understand some of the fundamentals of the platform in order to convey a serious appearance as a content creator.
So, make sure you use customized thumbnails, craft a nice attention-grabbing title, level up with a description, and use tags the right way.
Of course, there are tons of other things you can do to fully optimize our channel and videos, but for now focusing on those will suffice.
In addition to that, you should directly share your YouTube videos on your Reddit account.
Yap, you can do just that without ever leaving the platform. That´s how easy it is.
Just go into your YouTube account or simply search for one of your videos and click on “share“, this is what will show up.
Now, as I´ve said before, although is important to get the hang of YouTube features, what really matters is how much value you can provide.
That´s why the REAL reason for your success is to build a reputation on Reddit first and then let people decide whether they like your content or not.
Consistency is Overrated
You can still grow a successful YouTube channel posting once a month but you´ll have to make sure you beat most of the competition by creating an AWESOME video.
Brain Dean´s channel from Backlinko serves as a great example.
He´s a digital marketer that thrives on the platform with only 30 videos or so and has almost 200.000 subscribers and counting!
However, being consistent and posting regularly can serve a different purpose, it states that your audience can count on the fact that you are going to continue posting great content and that you take it seriously.
So, if you take it from that perpective then consistency can be really powerful.
Go Off Reddit
The same as Reddit there are tons of niche-related forums and sites where you can apply a similar strategy and get a good number of new subscribers and viewers to your channel.
You should especially search for forums that are highly targeted and where people are engaged with the content that´s being shared.
Try typing your keyword + “forum” or “discussions” and see what comes out.
In addition to that, there are places like Quora where people answer questions from other users or sites like Tumblr that act as great content sharing platforms.
So, go ahead and try other venues, although Reddit is great there are tons of options you can try online and can work wonders for your channel.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how to get started on Reddit I suggest you to go right now to the platform, sign up, and start providing some value to the users and the different micro-communities to begin building a reputation for yourself.
Be patient as it will take time to get noticed and get content shared.
I wish you the best of luck!
Have a great one,
Matt.