A short, lighthearted dive into how your brand can benefit from Reddit in its Digital Strategy.

1. REDDIT &
DIGITAL STRATEGY
LEARNING HOW
TO NAVIGATE
THE FRONT
PAGE OF THE
INTERNET.
A LIGHT HEARTED PRESENTATION
BY RHYS HILLMAN, DIGITAL STRATEGIST
AT GEORGE PATTERSON Y&R.

2. WHAT IS THIS
REDDIT THING
PEOPLE GO ON
ABOUT?
Reddit is the worlds leading truly social news site.
Users register with complete anonymity.
Once registered you are eligible to submit links.
You also gain access to vote up or down on other users posts.
Your vote dictates a links rank amongst all the other submissions.
The most up-voted links make their way onto the front page.
This front page is essentially the front page of the internet...

3. WHAT IS THIS
REDDIT THING
PEOPLE GO ON
ABOUT?
Beyond the ‘Front Page’ there is an infinite system of ‘sub’ Reddits,
these are user submitted sections about literally ANYTHING.
If discussing Corgi’s is your thing, then /r/corgi exists for your needs.
This is the brilliance of Reddit, anyone can create their own digital
home... and any submission has a chance at making the front page,
making their normally ‘niche’ submission visible to the mainstream.

4. OMG, AM I
GOING TO GET
A VIRUS?!
Remember when people didn’t trust Wikipedia, because it was on
this crazy thing called ‘the internet’? Well turns out it’s now the
most peer reviewed source of information in the world...
This is the same with Reddit, any outlandish claim is peer reviewed
at an unbelievable pace - by thousands upon thousands of users.
As much as Reddit can be the wild west of the internet, its sheer
numbers of morally judging and self moderating users put a stop to
just about any malicious behaviour.

5. THE REDDIT YOU
OFTEN SEE IN
MAINSTREAM
PRESS ISN'T ALL
TRUE.
It’s easy to sit back and write-off Reddit users as ‘trolls’, common
perception of its users is constantly hurt by journalistic
organisations looking for a quick-win headline. But you dig a little
deeper and they’ve done so much good for the ‘under-dogs’ no one
else would help....
From the School Bus Monitor, overnight Bone Marrow transfer
funds, through to Haiti earthquake fundraising, they’re always up to
lend a genuine hand.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3000145/reddit-getting-dwolla-and-stripe-powered-fundraising-button

6. THE REDDIT
HIVE-MIND IN
EFFECT, AN
INTERESTING
EXAMPLE.
Not only is Reddit capable of world wide press through its helpful
network, it is also a hive of some brilliant minds.
Here’s an example of the powerful hive-mind at work; Spend 15
minutes reading the now infamous “Homeless man $50” saga....
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/weo8j/today_a_homeless_looking_man_handed_me_50_and/?
utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=feed

7. SO NOW YOU KNOW
WHAT REDDIT’S DEAL IS,
LETS APPLY IT TO SOME
DIGITAL STRATEGY.

8. OK RHYS, SO
HOW IS THIS
RELEVANT TO
ME?
I’m sure you’ve all read Mashable? Well, take a guess at how they
got most of their content on their front page right now?.... Yep,
Reddit. Gawker, Buzzfeed and Shock Mansion, etc. are all the same.
Brands online need to move at online speeds, you cannot post
outdated material, old news is defined by less than 2 days in the
digital space. You want positive engagement?, you want increased
engagement? - be one of the trendsetters, go to the source.
Reddit is full of bite size, shareable content for brand social pages -
from humorous images, through to information on the latest and
greatest invention from the actual person who may have created it
(/r/IAmA).

9. OK RHYS, SO
HOW IS THIS
RELEVANT TO
ME?
Be active or at least view regularly Sub Reddits that are relevant to
your brand.
It’s not all about getting the newest ‘meme’ or trend for your brand
page, Reddit is also a valuable tool for online sentiment. Think about
it, you’ve got a platform with hundreds of thousands of people
posting their opinions, and the most popular opinions are voted to
the top for easy reading... They’re doing the work for you!
Reddit provides a platform for your brand to become a trendsetter,
bold content for your brands Digital Strategy.

10. WELL IF YOU’RE
SO PRO AT THIS,
HOW ABOUT
SOME TIPS,
HEY?!
You don’t need to have an account to browse.
DO NOT delve into some of the.... more questionable Reddits. It does
have a dark side, this is the internet after all.
Invest some regular time into Reddit at the start, like all platforms it
takes time to truly learn the ropes.
DO NOT ASTROTURF CONTENT - Reddit is fiercely self moderated by
its users, if they smell a fake (and they will), you are in e-trouble.
Bring Reddit in as part of your content strategy mix, don’t rely on it
100%, but don’t neglect it, you need to find the right mix for your brand
and current workload.

11. WANT SOME MORE TIPS?
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER:
@RHYSHILLMAN