Tag: marketing plans

Reddit for Business: 6 Effective Ways to Build Your Brand

 The internet has revolutionized how we communicate, transact business, and drive engagement. With its growing popularity, the digital space has become a prime opportunity for businesses to build their brand.

Reddit is a potent tool in this regard, as it offers businesses a platform of engaged users who can find value in the services and products they offer. However, utilizing Reddit for business requires careful consideration of strategy and tactics.

This article will explore ways businesses can use Reddit to establish their brand, increase customer engagement, and grow their business.

Reasons You Should Use Reddit for Business

Reddit was never the top choice for businesses to use as an online marketing tool. But, as it has grown in popularity and reach, marketers are realizing that Reddit is a valuable platform that can be used to drive traffic, increase brand awareness, and generate sales. 

Here are some of the reasons why you should use Reddit for business:

Reach a Broad Audience

Reddit has over 430 million active users and is a great platform for reaching a wide variety of demographics. By crafting compelling content, businesses can tap into Reddit’s vast user base and engage with users from all walks of life.

Get Valuable Feedback and Insights

Customers are the key to success–businesses must listen to what customers have to say about their products and services to make necessary adjustments. Through Reddit, businesses can easily get direct customer feedback on improving their brand and what aspects are working or not. 

Additionally, by utilizing Reddit’s vast network of users, companies can gain valuable insights into industry trends and customer preferences, which can be used to shape future marketing plans.

Connect With Potential Customers

You can never have enough customers as a business. Facebook and Instagram are mainstream platforms for reaching out to customers; however, nowadays, they’re no longer enough. 

This is where Reddit comes into play. As a business, you can use this platform to connect with potential customers willing to engage in conversations about various topics and interests. This opens up the possibility for businesses to interact directly with customers about their products, services, and brand. 

6 Ways to Use Reddit for Business

The following tips and tricks can help businesses maximize their use of Reddit for increased engagement, lead generation, and brand recognition.

Research Your Audience

Reddit can be an invaluable resource for businesses for audience research. By researching the most relevant subreddits to your business, you can better understand what resonates with your target audience and which topics they’re discussing. 

You can also use Reddit to explore what kind of content gets the most upvotes and comments and use this data to create content that resonates with your audience. 

Leverage Reddit Ads

Advertising on Reddit can be a great way to reach new audiences, build awareness of your brand, and drive traffic to your website. When leveraging Reddit Ads, you should focus on setting realistic goals, targeting the right people at the right time, and creating engaging ads.

Be sure you are familiar with Reddit’s policies and guidelines as well since there are some restrictions on the type of content you can advertise. We also recommend checking out Reddit marketing examples to better understand what works and what doesn’t.

Invest in Reddit SEO

Reddit SEO can be highly effective if you’re looking for ways to improve your online presence and reach more potential customers.

Here are some tips on how to use Reddit for business:

Identify relevant subreddits: Start by researching subreddits that are related to your niche and the topics you want to cover.

Create engaging content: Once you’ve identified your target subreddit, create interesting and valuable content to Redditors.

Engage with other Redditors: Participating in conversations and responding to questions is a great way to build relationships with other Redditors. This will help you build trust and establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Be consistent: Consistency is key when it comes to Reddit SEO. Post regularly and respond quickly to comments, questions, and messages. This will help you stay top of mind for your target audience.

Curate Excellent Content

Quality content can convert, engage, and retain customers, so ensuring you have something notable to share with the Reddit community is important.

Redditors appreciate well-crafted content that is both informative and engaging. It’s best to avoid generic, promotional content – this won’t go down well with the Reddit community.

Instead, create content that solves problems and adds value. You can use Reddit’s upvote and downvote system to gauge opinions on content topics or ideas and use this to inform your own content strategy.

Be sure to use visuals, as they make content more interesting and engaging. Redditors also love humor and stories, so don’t be afraid to get creative.

Promote in Subreddits

Don’t be afraid to promote your business on Reddit. Promoting your business in subreddits is a great way to increase brand awareness and get more people interested in your offer. Before promoting, make sure that the subreddit you’re targeting is relevant to your business so that its users will receive your content well.

However, be mindful of the community guidelines and ensure you follow the rules. Engaging with other users is also important before promoting your business. Commenting on other posts and starting conversations can help build relationships with people in the subreddit and make them more likely to accept your promotional content.

Create an Engaging Community

One of the great things about Reddit is that it provides entrepreneurs a platform to build an engaging community. By creating a subreddit specifically for your business, you can invite customers and other interested people to participate in discussions about your products or services.

Once the community is established, use it to ask questions, get feedback on ideas, or simply share your business updates. You can also offer exclusive discounts and promotions to members of the subreddit. Doing so will build loyalty and encourage more people to join the community.

Key Takeaways

When used correctly, Reddit can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to grow their reach and engage with potential customers.

By following these tips, you can use Reddit SEO to ensure your content is seen by the right people and increase visibility for your business.

Research your audience to understand the content that catches their interest.

Run Reddit Ads to get your content in front of more people.

Create compelling content that engages and adds value to the Reddit community.

Leverage Reddit SEO to increase visibility for your content.

Promote in subreddits that are relevant to your business.

Build an engaging community around your brand by creating a dedicated subreddit.

20 marketing tips for your small business

 Marketing can be a beast, especially when it isn’t your forte. Add to that ALL the things that fall under the marketing umbrella: social media, in-store traffic, events, website, SEO, blogging, customer engagement…the list goes on (and on)!

With years of communications under my belt, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn many aspects of marketing, public relations and social media. It helps equip me to serve YOU – the woman business owner that wants to rock marketing but doesn’t exactly know how to be successful at it.

First things first – you need to know that marketing is one big experiment. What has worked for me with one company (or even campaign) doesn’t always work for another. The key is to test, test, test and then analyze. If you’re not tracking your results, you have a major disconnect happening.

For the purposes of today, I want to share some ideas to jump start your marketing efforts. Some of these will work – some of these will rock your business – and some you may not be ready for yet. 

20 marketing tips every boutique and business owner should be doing RIGHT NOW:

SOCIAL MEDIA:

1. Engage with your customers and potential customers on social media

This seems like a no-brainer, but I cannot tell you how many business owners miss this. Engaging is more than liking someone’s comment on your post. Engaging is commenting back, liking their posts, commenting on their posts and being authentically interested in them. Treat those strangers online just like you would someone who walks in your shop.

2. Create a month’s worth of social media content and schedule it out

I know this sounds really overwhelming. Start a week at a time, with the goal to build this out. By creating content ahead of time you always stay ahead of the game and keep your head above water. I personally find it much easier and less time consuming to batch create my content – I will sit down for an hour and knock out at least 2 weeks of copy. I work on my photos all at one time. And I do my scheduling when I have the above two complete. For me and my business, I schedule my social media weekly. However, I have content written for months on end (I’m always writing down my ideas!).

3. Tag vendors and create community with them

Keep this relationship going, online and off! When you show your vendors love online, they will most likely do the same. One of my coaching clients has a great relationship with one of her vendors and they constantly give her items for free for giveaways! I encourage you to always flourish all of your business relationships.

4. Use video to create content

Don’t skip this one, no matter how anxious it makes you feel! I have a whole post dedicated to creating simple videos: 26 Instagram & Facebook video ideas for boutiques, and how important it is for your small business!

5. Use Instagram and Facebook stories

How would you like an easy, free and fun way to reach new audiences and engage your current customers? There ya have it folks, use the Stories feature on Facebook and Instagram! Don’t forget to incorporate stickers, such as polls, questions and more. This will get those people in your inbox and interacting with you personally!

6. Go live! Share your expertise and serve your audience.

And when you’re ready to be extra brave (I promise, it is NOT that hard), go LIVE! This is the No. 1 way to engage your followers and draw in new people. We love to get to know people we buy from, and it adds a big trust factor that is a huge plus for repeat customers. Give it a try!

7. Re-purpose all your social media posts (rinse & repeat!)

This is one of the easiest social media hacks you’ll ever have up your sleeve! Here’s an example of an Instagram Story I edited and used as a Facebook video post. I do this with my copy too – I revise it and use different photos between FB and IG. My audience is different, plus I wait weeks or months to re-purpose the content so different eyes will see it.

8. Network in Facebook and LinkedIn Groups

This does not mean be spammy. DON’T promote your business (unless they allow it on a particular thread/day). DO be helpful, supportive and serve the people of the group. Lend your expertise, cheer people on and just be a friendly neighbor in the space. And the bonus is by being helpful, people will check out your profile which should be linked to your business. I have gotten many leads this way just by serving FB groups where my ideal customer is hanging out.

WEBSITE / SEO / BLOG:

9. Create a blog and write frequent blog posts with fresh content.

Take advantage of your full social media marketing mix with this one! Create pins to share and drive traffic back. Maximize your SEO (Yoast SEO is a great place to start and has a free WordPress plugin) and build on those keywords.

10. Add reviews to your website

I’m the kind of girl that loves Amazon, but will also check Amazon while shopping at Target because of the reviews. Reviews, and especially pictures of women in outfits I want to buy, play a huge part in my purchasing decisions. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase how real people love your items! 

11. Don’t forget product photos!

Seeing real women in the clothes I want to buy makes a huge difference in my decisions. Spend time nurturing those customer relationships so women want to share their product photos. Encourage shares on social media using your business hashtag and re-purpose those on your website (don’t forget to ask for permission!).

EMAIL:

12. Offer special promotions for followers or email subscribers only

You should always value your email subscribers (we don’t like giving out email address to just anyone!) and your followers. Offer them special promotions, discounts and gifts. Special sneak peaks, behind-the-scenes and even personal info no one else may see. Give them value and always remember repeat customers make the best customers!

13. Collect email addresses to build your audience

Even if you do not have an email system in place yet, always ask for their email addresses! When you’re ready to launch your emails, you will have a list in place. And you want to nurture your list – keep customers engaged and coming back in-store or to your website.

LOCAL MARKETING:

14. Host in-store events such as Sip & Shops and holiday events

Create a welcoming environment, promote the heck out of it, personally invite your top customers (or all customers!) and offer special promotions. I love boutiques that host events, and always make an effort to attend. It is a great way to get people in the door.

15. Sponsor a local event or charity

Find events that cater to your ideal customer and events to benefit a nonprofit that you truly believe in. By aligning with these types of sponsored events, you give back to your community and your company can become more well known in town.

16. Offer raffle or silent auction items at local events

If a sponsorship is out of your budget, consider donating raffle items and silent auction items. This should be something added to your marketing plans and budget right away! It is a great way to get your name out there.

17. Attend networking events

Whether the local chamber or a small networking group, I highly recommend you get out there! We love doing business with people we know, and getting out there is the first step to it. Remember referrals and word-of-mouth are significant for local businesses.

PUBLIC RELATIONS / MEDIA

18. Find media opportunities to make your brand known

Without an agency, there are a few easy ways to seek out media opportunities. First thing, introduce yourself to your local news stations and lifestyle newspaper reporters. 

19. Submit articles to large media outlets for publication

Don’t be afraid to do this!  Many reporters are looking for experts in certain areas (fashion boutiques on style, home stores on home decor tips, etc) and you are just the person they need on speed dial! Keep an eye out online and in their print publications for these opportunities.

20. Offer yourself up as a style/home/gift/etc expert

In addition to media, by become a known expert by speaking at events, being interviewed on podcasts and joining webinars where your ideal customers is hanging out.