This executive briefing on how organizations can best leverage the Reddit social media platform was prepared by Ronald Champagne while an MBA student in the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana.
Overview
In the vastness that is the Internet, there is place where a cornucopia of knowledge is available at any given time of the day. The destination I am describing does not offer knowledge in a traditional or educational sense. Instead Reddit offers subscribers and “lurkers” a means to grab a wide array of information on essentially any topic that interests them. Whether you log in for current news, trending topics from the political or sports realm, or even cute pictures of cats stuck in jars, it’s all there (“Reddit’s Stories are Created by its Users”).
The Platform in Brief
On any given day, Reddit will disseminate to over a million unique visitors and over a span of a month will average more than 400 million visits (“Competitive Intelligence”). These numbers are enough to rank Reddit as the tenth most visited site nationally (“Competitive Intelligence”). For comparison, the more traditional news websites such as CNN and USA Today receive less than half the monthly visits (“Connecting Site”). What is it that draws this volume of Internet goers to reddit? People love the easy to use format, anonymity, and the vastness of topics available to be commented on (“What is Reddit”). When signing up for Reddit, One creates a unique username and provides other information all of which remains confidential from your other Reddit counterparts. Once an official Redditer, the user is free to post topics or comments on any of the Reddit pages or subreddits. Welcome to the “Front page of the Internet” (“What is Reddit”).
The Platform in Operation
Virtually every major US company has information posted by them or on them somewhere in the Reddit platform. With content in the hands of subscribers, the posts can range in a wide array of directions. The most popular posts will receive upvotes allowing them to be viewed by more people while the opposite for unpopular comments (“What is Reddit”). Reddit can be a great way for companies to interact with their users and consumers. Instead of shouting the same worn-out company message, companies can answer many direct customer questions and will be provided valuable feedback on the products they are offering.
Many companies have taken a proactive approach to Reddit in order to grasp a little control over the content being posted. Xbox for instance has a subreddit page where customers, existing and potential, can get their service questions answered and speak with other Reddit users to get advice about which games to buy and what features are new and improved (“6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business”). Many television shows have also gotten involved in Reddit. Breaking Bad’s subreddit scheduled interviews with members of the cast allowing Reddit subscribers to ask their own questions to the cast (“6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business”). While the Top Gear subreddit encourages their fans to share pictures of their favorite cars with one submission being chosen as picture of the week.
Even the sports realm is heavily represented on Reddit, as every professional sports team imaginable has its own subreddit. These pages keep fans with up to the minute transactions and changes to their organizations and show schedules and results for their games or matches. Fans are able to discuss their feelings on the team’s direction and share news or rumors they have been hearing through the grapevine (“6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business”). Most of the businesses who actively participate in their subreddits focus on providing excellent customer service and offering quality products. Placing representatives so close to the consumers can show a deep concern for customers and can encourage future business (“Let’s Discuss how Companies Properly Use Reddit”).
The Platform’s Pros and Cons
The Reddit platform can be wildly beneficial to a large number of companies, but could also harm companies as equally. Any company who specializes in providing quality products or services will enjoy the benefits Reddit can provide. With the conversational power in the hands of the consumer, the businesses will benefit from the positive word of mouth that will be spread. Customer participation and interactment can spread a sense of community which could deepen brand loyalty. As brand loyalty increases, a company’s bottom line will also increase. All of which with a relative small initial investment other than time. While companies who specialize in quality will thrive, other companies would do better staying far away from the Reddit platform.
Companies who stress cutting costs and offering the cheapest prices but sacrifice on quality will not have a pleasant time participating in a subreddit designed for them. Walmart for instance has a number of subreddits all of which are cluttered with disgruntled customers or comments on how poor their shopping experience was. When consumers are driving the conversation, it is important to give them a product to be proud of.
The reddit platform greatly benefits users, as has been said before, they drive the conversations. If a person is looking for information on a company’s product, they only need to post a topic asking. With the convenience of timely information and the responses coming honestly from fellow consumers rather than a business’s marketing materials, consumers are able to make more confident purchases. Customer service is also a great benefit to Reddit users as they are able to get their questions answered directly by people in the know and often times can have their problems solved quickly and painlessly.
Analysis
While predicting the future for Internet websites is virtually impossible with constant changes to established websites and new creations happening everyday, I believe Reddit will remain a force in the web industry. Companies who participate heavily on Reddit and can master the line of marketing and customer service will thrive with the websites subscribers which number grows 10,000 daily. If a company is proud of its product and is not participating on Reddit, it is missing a huge chance to reach a much larger community of consumers. Any company who values consumer feedback and interaction should look no further than the Reddit platform as it has both of these in abundance.
References
6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business |. (2012, September 20). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/reddit/
Competitive Intelligence. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/reddit.com
Let's Discuss how Companies can Properly Use reddit • /r/TheoryOfReddit. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/patnb/lets_discuss_how_companies_can_properly_use_reddit/
Reddit is a website about everything. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.reddit.com/
Web traffic insights for Reddit.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.similarweb.com/website/reddit.com
What is reddit? (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlI022aUWQQ
In the vastness that is the Internet, there is place where a cornucopia of knowledge is available at any given time of the day. The destination I am describing does not offer knowledge in a traditional or educational sense. Instead Reddit offers subscribers and “lurkers” a means to grab a wide array of information on essentially any topic that interests them. Whether you log in for current news, trending topics from the political or sports realm, or even cute pictures of cats stuck in jars, it’s all there (“Reddit’s Stories are Created by its Users”).
The Platform in Brief
On any given day, Reddit will disseminate to over a million unique visitors and over a span of a month will average more than 400 million visits (“Competitive Intelligence”). These numbers are enough to rank Reddit as the tenth most visited site nationally (“Competitive Intelligence”). For comparison, the more traditional news websites such as CNN and USA Today receive less than half the monthly visits (“Connecting Site”). What is it that draws this volume of Internet goers to reddit? People love the easy to use format, anonymity, and the vastness of topics available to be commented on (“What is Reddit”). When signing up for Reddit, One creates a unique username and provides other information all of which remains confidential from your other Reddit counterparts. Once an official Redditer, the user is free to post topics or comments on any of the Reddit pages or subreddits. Welcome to the “Front page of the Internet” (“What is Reddit”).
The Platform in Operation
Virtually every major US company has information posted by them or on them somewhere in the Reddit platform. With content in the hands of subscribers, the posts can range in a wide array of directions. The most popular posts will receive upvotes allowing them to be viewed by more people while the opposite for unpopular comments (“What is Reddit”). Reddit can be a great way for companies to interact with their users and consumers. Instead of shouting the same worn-out company message, companies can answer many direct customer questions and will be provided valuable feedback on the products they are offering.
Many companies have taken a proactive approach to Reddit in order to grasp a little control over the content being posted. Xbox for instance has a subreddit page where customers, existing and potential, can get their service questions answered and speak with other Reddit users to get advice about which games to buy and what features are new and improved (“6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business”). Many television shows have also gotten involved in Reddit. Breaking Bad’s subreddit scheduled interviews with members of the cast allowing Reddit subscribers to ask their own questions to the cast (“6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business”). While the Top Gear subreddit encourages their fans to share pictures of their favorite cars with one submission being chosen as picture of the week.
Even the sports realm is heavily represented on Reddit, as every professional sports team imaginable has its own subreddit. These pages keep fans with up to the minute transactions and changes to their organizations and show schedules and results for their games or matches. Fans are able to discuss their feelings on the team’s direction and share news or rumors they have been hearing through the grapevine (“6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business”). Most of the businesses who actively participate in their subreddits focus on providing excellent customer service and offering quality products. Placing representatives so close to the consumers can show a deep concern for customers and can encourage future business (“Let’s Discuss how Companies Properly Use Reddit”).
The Platform’s Pros and Cons
The Reddit platform can be wildly beneficial to a large number of companies, but could also harm companies as equally. Any company who specializes in providing quality products or services will enjoy the benefits Reddit can provide. With the conversational power in the hands of the consumer, the businesses will benefit from the positive word of mouth that will be spread. Customer participation and interactment can spread a sense of community which could deepen brand loyalty. As brand loyalty increases, a company’s bottom line will also increase. All of which with a relative small initial investment other than time. While companies who specialize in quality will thrive, other companies would do better staying far away from the Reddit platform.
Companies who stress cutting costs and offering the cheapest prices but sacrifice on quality will not have a pleasant time participating in a subreddit designed for them. Walmart for instance has a number of subreddits all of which are cluttered with disgruntled customers or comments on how poor their shopping experience was. When consumers are driving the conversation, it is important to give them a product to be proud of.
The reddit platform greatly benefits users, as has been said before, they drive the conversations. If a person is looking for information on a company’s product, they only need to post a topic asking. With the convenience of timely information and the responses coming honestly from fellow consumers rather than a business’s marketing materials, consumers are able to make more confident purchases. Customer service is also a great benefit to Reddit users as they are able to get their questions answered directly by people in the know and often times can have their problems solved quickly and painlessly.
Analysis
While predicting the future for Internet websites is virtually impossible with constant changes to established websites and new creations happening everyday, I believe Reddit will remain a force in the web industry. Companies who participate heavily on Reddit and can master the line of marketing and customer service will thrive with the websites subscribers which number grows 10,000 daily. If a company is proud of its product and is not participating on Reddit, it is missing a huge chance to reach a much larger community of consumers. Any company who values consumer feedback and interaction should look no further than the Reddit platform as it has both of these in abundance.
References
6 Ways to Use Reddit to Grow Your Business |. (2012, September 20). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/reddit/
Competitive Intelligence. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/reddit.com
Let's Discuss how Companies can Properly Use reddit • /r/TheoryOfReddit. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/patnb/lets_discuss_how_companies_can_properly_use_reddit/
Reddit is a website about everything. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.reddit.com/
Web traffic insights for Reddit.com. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.similarweb.com/website/reddit.com
What is reddit? (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2015, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlI022aUWQQ
Contact Information
To contact the author of this article, “What You Need to Know About Reddit” An Executive Roadmap for Social Media Success,” please email the author at [email protected].
To contact the author of this article, “What You Need to Know About Reddit” An Executive Roadmap for Social Media Success,” please email the author at [email protected].
The mission of the College of Business at Southeastern Louisiana University is to provide educational experiences for personal, professional and intellectual growth, enable the creation and sharing of knowledge to enhance learning and to advance the practice of business, and engage communities through service to positively impact their future. The Accounting and Business programs in the College of Business are accredited by the AACSB International.
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