Reddit is one of the most popular sites that allows Internet users to filter through what’s on the Web, find the gems, and share them with each other. Similarly to creating a bookmark in your Web browser of a site you think is cool or useful, posting to Reddit – which essentially means submitting a link and short description – allows you to share the bookmark in the context of a social network specifically geared toward this type of sharing. If your links are particularly awesome, you will float to the top. (Contrary to popular belief, this does not prove that you are a witch.) That said, the more upvotes and engagement your post receives, the more karma you can receive and the higher you can rank on Reddit. However, post engagement through organic ways can be challenging on any social media platform, therefore many people tend to look for other methods to rank Reddit posts with upvotes from high karma accounts.
Why Reddit is Useful – Organized Filtration
The good and bad thing about the Internet that we experience every time we look for something on Google or surf around from link to link is that it is a jungle. Reddit itself, the broad site, filters content – but it is still all over the place. Nice sometimes, but more focused content on certain subject matter can be helpful relevant to a certain industry. A specific piece of the site focusing on a specific subject is called a subReddit – so you can look into sports or news or whatever topic. (I specifically recommend the subReddit All Things Rambo.)
Why Reddit is Useful – Joining Forces
Reddit is a way to join forces with other explorers out looking around and finding interesting things online. In a sense, you can think of Reddit as an alternative to Google. It’s difficult for a person or company to work its way up in the search engine rankings because it’s so competitive and some folks have strongholds on the top spots. Quality is more important than a size on Reddit. (Something you may want to post to Reddit is the link mail.yahoo.com with the description, “Have you heard of this fantastic free email website? And with such a funky name!”) The popularity of such posts depends on the number of upvotes you gain. It directly influences your karma points on Reddit, which could improve your post’s outreach. If you want to learn the tips on increasing Reddit karma on your post, you can look for blogs discussing the same. You can get information on karma calculators, ways to earn them, how to make money from karma points, etc.
Success Tip 1 – Titling
You want your title to be fairly long – for whatever reason, longer ones tend to rise to the top. You don’t want to be too straightforward with what you write. Instead, think of speaking directly and informally to an individual looking at the link. That is the tone of the site. In other words, don’t title it like a newspaper headline. Title it like a comment on social media… Remember to focus on creative wording though – so savvy social media, not blah. (Example Savvy: “Oh man – I should not have attacked the raccoons with my nail gun. I will never be the same. “)
Success Tip 2 – Imagery
Reading is for the birds. If you can find an image or a video, these will tend to work better. You can also get across the same idea both in text and in a picture and in a video. Then you are hitting all the angles on Reddit and elsewhere. But imagery does tend to get a quicker and stronger response.
Success Tip 3 – Externalize
Go on to your social networks on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let your connections know that you have posted something to Reddit and you’d appreciate if they vote for it. This can start your ball rolling, provided what you posted is also appreciated by strangers.
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Look around on Reddit and get a sense of it. If you have not used it before, you will start to see right away on the homepage that it’s a simple concept and uses a similar model to the huge social media sites. Try it out – part of it is trial and error anyway. (I’m heading over there now to post about this amazing Yahoo email service – very excited to let everyone know about it.)
by Kent Roberts and Richard Norwood
Sources:
1 http://websearch.about.com/od/blogsforumssocialsites/qt/reddit.htm
2 http://ezinearticles.com/?Reddit-Tips:-Submission-Success-Secrets&id=5793882
3 http://tophatrank.com/why-do-people-use-reddit/
by Kent Roberts and Richard Norwood