How To Advertise An App On Reddit?

How To Advertise An App On Reddit?

According to Buildfire, there are about 5 billion apps, almost evenly spread, between App Store and Google Play Store (2.2 billion for the former, and 2.8 billion for the latter), and mobile apps are expected to generate more than $189 billion in revenue this year alone.

Apps seem to be the hot topic in what looks like an oversaturated marketplace. Competition is at an all-time high, and the necessity to adopt different approaches and differentiate from the rest of the pack is stronger than it’s ever been. 

What’s more, is that social media channels are stacked as well. With brands vying to build high-following communities and generate leads, ad space became a problem on many platforms, so much so that the only way out seems to be hijacking sponsored content towards story formats (with Instagram and Facebook as the first early adopters of such blueprint). 

But maybe, there’s an alternative.

As of today, Reddit holds one of the most prominent positions within the social media sphere. 

Born in 2005, mainly as a social news site, Reddit quickly became a discussion and confrontation field for anyone looking not for quick, valuable information, or just high-quality, like-minded conversations.

Fast forward to the present and Reddit still remains one of the go-to social platforms, surpassing Twitter with about 400 million MAU (Monthly Active Users) and counting more than a billion comments (1.7 billion, to be precise) in 2019 alone. 

Over the years, Reddit has become a valuable source for marketing purposes. Its highly-diversified user base, mixed with both the opportunity to create strong business profiles and frequent ad-optimization updates, makes it foolish, for many entrepreneurs, not to use it as an advertising platform. 

How to advertise an app on Reddit?” has quickly become one of the most popular questions, and with good reasons.

Apps are a dime a dozen, and the best way to validate their usefulness and potential is to propose them and talk about them where people will actually listen.

Marketers are looking for alternative ways to get their message across, and their desire to move towards “greener pastures” got them to exploit (or think about doing so) high-volume, high-traffic platforms such as Reddit, which provides just that: a place to share app ideas for validation and improvement.

How to advertise an app on Reddit the right way?

The winning approach lies in a 3-step process, which we will unveil in the upcoming sentences:

1. Fine-tune your value proposition

Before even approaching Reddit and sub-Reddits (which are subtopics revolving around a particular subject), make sure your offer is on point.
Start by picking the keyword, which is going to be your app’s name. Make it specific and easily recognizable to the audience you are targeting.

After that, focus on the description; highlight ways to make the most out of your app, along with relevant benefits. Again, think of them from your audience’s point of view, and appeal to what they might be looking for.

Finally, make it a point to gather some kind of social proof, even before any beta testing. Customers will be more prone to give your app a shot if they find out its value has already been acknowledged by their peers.

2. Create Reddit Ads

How To Advertise An App On Reddit?
In this study, Comscore illustrates the need to understand the unique communities existing on different platforms, and their unique challenges and opportunities.

As we have previously outlined, Reddit has a big community. On Reddit, you can talk about anything –  which means that the platform is crowded with multiple market segments. Reddit ads will help you to break through the noise and reach directly those who might be a great fit for your app. However, when crafting ads, it’s good to have some kind of understanding about the so-called “best-practices”. In this case:

  • Pay attention to how Reddit works. Before engaging in the ad-creation process (or even in any content creation effort), I would recommend you spend at least a couple of days observing which type of content “sells” more, which one doesn’t, what is the overall tone of voice, and the common traits of the most active users. Also, make sure to actually interact, yourself.
  • Create a community. Once you get yourself acquainted with Reddit, aim at creating a community and earning a solid amount of “upvotes” on your content.
  • Once you’ve garnered some kind of reputation, you could afford to think about structuring your ad campaigns. Throughout the ad creation, bear in mind to be specific in regard to your audience. Picture who your ideal customers are, and segment them based on your app’s most relevant features.

These steps should be followed in order. “Redditers” are not disingenuous when it comes to sneaky sales techniques: if they notice that you are not a long-time presence on Reddit, they will not want to hear about your app, let alone think about giving you any money.

3. Keep it Interesting

Regardless of your ads’ performance, the people that paid attention to your app, or the number of upvotes (or downvotes) you get, it is worth remembering this: every social media platform has in daily, consistent, positive interactions its backbone. Every business, product or service that wants to use the power of the Internet at its best has to be based on this simple truth: entire businesses and industries change and evolve based on the quality of their communication and interactions.

Reddit, of course, is no different. Whether your “testing” goes well or not, keep interacting with your potential customers, and don’t give in on community building. If a great number of people like your app, it might be a good idea to launch it officially. If they don’t, it’s preferable that you get a glimpse of what needs to be improved: you can do that by just asking simple questions. Also, remember to thank each and everyone’s constructive feedback in the process!

Advertising an App on Reddit: is it Worth it?

How To Advertise An App On Reddit?
According to Statistica, Reddit has a stable MAU base.

According to FoundationInc., Reddit generates an average of 14 billion screen views a month, and, with 26.4 million MAU, it is the third most popular website in the US. 

These statistics suggest (and prove) that a lot of eyeballs are there, and since we live in what is referred to as the “attention economy”, if you’re trying to get some kind of marketplace response from your app, Reddit is probably one of the few platforms that are still relatively unsaturated ads-wise (at least compared to more spoken-about platforms such as Instagram and Facebook) and is therefore deserving of some attention. 

If you follow the 3-step process we have described above, you should be able to experience some Reddit leverage, which will not only put you in a position of prominence within its ecosystem, but also considerably improve the chances of your app being viewed, downloaded, and positively reviewed. 


So, to answer the question: yes, it’s worth it to advertise your app on Reddit. As a matter of fact, it would be silly not to do so.

However, don’t jump right into it with the “hope” that everything will work out because when you do, chances are, it will not. Adopt a strategy that is as little dependent on hope as possible. Craft, instead, a powerful and coherent online presence on Reddit (but not limited to it), along with well-thought-out app distribution and advertising plans, all without forgetting that at the center of it all lies your customers, their wants, and their overall best interest. The rest will take care of itself. 


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