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After 10M+ Views, 13k+ Upvotes: The Reddit Strategy That Worked for Me!

With over 70 million daily active users and a wide range of subreddits catering to various interests, Reddit has emerged as one of the most effective free marketing channels available. We are Mokkup.ai, a dashboard wireframing tool that lets you create high-fidelity dashboard wireframes in under 30 minutes.

With over 30,000 users and counting, Reddit plays a significant role in our free marketing strategy. However, navigating Reddit's community can be challenging, as most users, like us, prefer a more subtle approach to marketing. Despite facing hurdles such as automatic removal of tool links in comments or posts, we continue to receive inquiries from Reddit users. Before encountering this link issue, we typically saw around 100 to 150 conversions per month from Reddit.

We now have over 10 million views and 13,000+ upvotes on our posts. Here are our top 5 performing posts:

  1. Post 1

  2. Post 2

  3. Post 3

  4. Post 4

  5. Post 5

Here are 5 things I have learned in my Reddit journey:

1. Know where your audience is

It's super important to know who your audience is and where you can find more people interested in what you offer. For Mokkup.ai, which is a free tool to create dashboard wireframes in under 30 minutes, it's smart to focus on places where folks like data and visuals. That's why we hang out on subreddits like r/dataisbeautiful, r/infographics, and r/visualization. Since we talk a lot about American data, we also check out r/murica.

By sticking to these spots, we make sure we're showing our stuff to the right people and hopefully grabbing the attention of some new users along the way.

2.Keep the marketing/ads very minimal

Reddit users prefer a genuine experience, so it's best not to be too pushy with marketing. Instead, focus on being subtle. For example, when we share content related to Mokkup, we don't say things like "Try Mokkup for free," which can feel like a sales pitch. Instead, our posts don't even look like marketing. We just create beautiful charts using Mokkup and share them on relevant subreddits.

To subtly promote Mokkup, we include our logo at the bottom of the charts we create. Additionally, we mention Mokkup in the comments section to credit it as the tool used. This way, we integrate our brand naturally into the content, respecting the community's preferences while still getting our product out there.

3.Research on the subreddits you're posting on

Every subreddit has its own rules, so it's essential to read them before posting. Imagine spending hours on a post, only for it to be removed by the moderators or reported by users. By familiarizing yourself with the rules, you can better align your post and avoid these issues.

Take some time to look into what kinds of posts have done well in the past and what topics people are most interested in. This research can give you ideas and inspiration for your own posts, helping you create content that resonates with the community.

** Example:** Take our post on Tipping culture
in the U.S., for instance. It did well because we noticed other posts about tipping that got a lot of attention in the past. By seeing what worked before, we got an idea of what the community was interested in and could create content that fit right in.

4.Have a few alt accounts

Along with your main account, start slowly building a presence on your alt accounts. It's not just about having alt accounts as backups; it's also about actively nurturing them alongside your main account.

By gradually participating in discussions, sharing content, and engaging with other users on these alternative accounts, you establish a foundation for each one. This ensures that if your main account encounters any issues, you're not starting from scratch with your alt accounts.

5.Keep your expectations low

Don't expect instant results from Reddit. Even if you don't see immediate conversions, focus on building brand awareness. We've found that some users who ended up on a demo call with us mentioned discovering us through our Reddit posts. So, even if you're not getting direct conversions, your efforts are still making an impact.

Reddit is like a big ocean, so keep trying different things. Find out which subreddits and content resonate the most with your audience. By experimenting and learning what works best, you can gradually build up your brand presence on Reddit.

I’d also love to hear from you about your thoughts, suggestions, or feedback on Mokkup. Creating hi-fi dashboard wireframes on Mokkup.ai is completely free!

Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn [Pavel Gupta] (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelgupta/)

  1. 2

    Loved it, very useful

    1. 1

      Glad you found it to be useful

  2. 1

    It makes me more comfortable seeing others are taking similar steps to gain traction for their products. I am new to reddit, and I also realized it is primarily not for marketing and maybe an indirect method (talking about the problem my product solves, showing some benchmarks) would be a better strategy. This post reinforced my assumption and motivates me to try it! Thanks.

    1. 1

      Glad it helped. Good luck!

  3. 1

    So insightful! Reddit wasn't on my list to market my product before but I think it's worth a try. What do do you think about using Reddit to market a productized service?

    1. 2

      It can be a cool marketing avenue, but I would suggest being very subtle about the marketing, and thinking about extending value to the Redditors. Good luck!

      1. 1

        Will keep that in mind. Thanks for sharing Mokkup's story!

        1. 1

          Welcome. Good luck on your journey!

  4. 1

    Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I found it very useful.

    1. 1

      Glad you found it to be helpful!

  5. 1

    Thanks for your share, I learned a lot.

  6. 1

    Great insights from your experience! using Reddit's vast user base for marketing can be tricky, but your approach proves it's possible. I on relevant subreddits and creating non-intrusive content is key. great tips for an early stage founder. Thanks for sharing your Reddit journey!

    1. 1

      Thank you! Glad you found it worthwhile

  7. 1

    Thank you for sharing this!

  8. 1

    Loved it I am going to use this strategies.

  9. 1

    The best reddit marketing post out there loved it.

  10. 1

    very helpful thanks!

  11. 1
    1. Research on the subreddits you're posting on

    That is why currently I am building app.socialtrendanalysis.com . The idea of the tool is to help me analyze on social media what is working and what is not working.

    The strategy that the tool is using right now is by analyzing your competitors which we will get to know what kind of content or posts that is working for them for each social media.

    1. 1

      This is interesting. Good luck!

  12. 1

    Thank you for sharing!

    1. 1

      Glad it was worthwhile for you!

  13. 1

    nice reddit can be super tricky this seems like a solid balance of nuance + marketing. curious, you have 30k users and ~150 a month from reddit, so what is your biggest marketing channel?

    1. 1

      Our biggest marketing channel is SEO. It gets us around 45% of sign up conversions every month. You can find that article here:

      https://www.indiehackers.com/post/seo-gets-us-45-of-sign-up-conversions-every-month-heres-how-we-did-it-eb2a0ec5ee

  14. 1

    I think I'm going to try this out. Would this strategy be suitable for a marketing newsletter in these subreddits?

    1. 1

      I don't think in the subreddits I have mentioned, as they don't align with your use case. Ig there is a subreddit called r/newsletter. Maybe check that out

  15. 1

    Very insightful post. I guess the problem is that your reach will be very dependent on your product. It works for you as you create mockups and there are huge data visualisation subs, but another product might not have as much to work with.

    1. 1

      Exactly. Which is why it is imperative to do thorough research to figure out the best subs that align w the ambition of your product. Good luck!

  16. 1

    Nice posts, I actually learnt a lot from the sample posts that you shared here. I think consistency play important role here. To show up and keep trying is the key !
    Btw, do you have the number of how many users coming from these link, and the conversion rate on it ?
    btw I guess this post is also another marketing move =))) Smart

    1. 1

      Yes we track them from GA!
      Thanks : )

  17. 1

    Yes Off course Reddit is a best advertising platform from many years, here you can target every type of peoples for different businesses.

  18. 1

    Having alternate accounts seems so sketch and against the rules 😕

    1. 1

      As long as you don't go too overboard, it is okay :-)

  19. 1

    Nice writeup. I agree that Reddit is a great platform to gain exposure but yes you need to be strategic in how you present your app.

    I recently also launched on Reddit and had some moderate success. I got tons of traffic, got about 25 signups and one conversion. It's a success for me.

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