“Some [clients] are a little bit more cautious about going into Reddit for the reason of the Reddit backlash,” said Tom Olivieri, group director of creative services at performance agency Within. “They feel they can do more harm than good to their brand.”

Olivieri said that recently, Reddit has climbed to take up around 5% of budgets, driven by the platform’s agency outreach and new tools, marketers wanting to diversify away from Twitter, TikTok and brands wanting to connect with Reddit’s niche communities.

Reddit is this community of communities focused around interest and having anonymity.

Jim Squires, evp of business marketing and growth, Reddit

Within’s clients have found success testing messaging within Reddit’s communities before rolling out the messages wider.

“The Redditters … let you know if this feels wrong,” said Olivieri.

Breanne Morrison, vp of paid social and search engine marketing at Publicis Canada, expects clients’ investment to increase between 70% and 80% year over year, which she attributed to the platform’s growth in Canada and improved performance.

Riches in niches

Marketers have struggled to find a place for Reddit on the media plan, given its text-based, anonymous nature is different than most other social platforms. Squires is positioning this difference as an asset.

“Reddit is this community of communities focused around interest and having anonymity,” Squires told Adweek. “It’s not focused around the individual. It’s not focused around the me; it’s focused around the we.”  

This resonates with some marketers.

“With paid social and influencer marketing being such a cluttered space, Reddit stands out for being the anti-influencer platform,” said Phil Lewicki, associate media director at agency Dagger.

Reddit is a place where people go because they’re genuinely interested in learning about a topic rather than becoming famous. That helps brands who want to drive discoverability and clicks to their site, said Natasha Blumenkron, senior director of paid social at Tinuiti.

Indeed, a viral blog post last year noting the flaws in Google started with the claim that Reddit is the most popular search engine.

“If I’m looking for a new pair of shoes or boots, I can talk to people on the subreddit,” Blumenkron said. “If I see a brand with very unique messaging, they’re right where I am in my journey.”  

Still, several marketers said Reddit does not serve as a true performance platform that can drive sales. Tafur’s clients still have been reluctant to test Reddit, even with discounts and new tools.

“There needs to be a re-education for the clients,” Tafur said. “Reditters can go really dark and can go really wholesome, and the fear of being in that mix can stop clients from activating.”