Reddit Ads FAQs From AMA With Reddit for Business
Overview
InterTeam was recently invited by Reddit for Business to host a live AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit Ads for B2B Businesses. Over the past couple of years, we’ve quietly built our reputation as one of the leading Reddit Ads agencies, so it was very awesome to have our work recognized by the marketing team at Reddit and to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with other marketers considering the platform!
The AMA brought in over 20 questions on a wide range of topics, including which ad formats to use, the top targeting strategies, questions about bot traffic in Reddit Ads, creative best practices, and more. The questions ranged from strong foundational questions to high-level marketing questions, and the thread turned into a goldmine of insights for anyone running, or thinking about running, ads on Reddit.
In this post, we’ve broken down the top questions we received and shared the answers from our founder, Cole Furrh, who’s managed hundreds of Reddit Ad campaigns and seen what actually works, and what doesn’t. Whether you’re managing a massive budget or just starting out, the lessons here will help you get more from your Reddit ad spend and avoid common pitfalls that could burn through your budget without results.
Here are the top questions from the live AMA! We’ve adjusted some of the question and answer texts for clarity, but provided screenshots of the original questions and answers, plus a link to the discussion at the end of the article.
1. How do I know if my audience is on Reddit? How can I determine the best subreddits to target?
— u/PullStartFire (also asked by u/cye_seid)
Answer — Cole Furrh:
The best way to identify whether your audience is on Reddit is to identify high-intent subreddits, or communities, where your audience might be engaging. I have 3 main methods that I like to use when trying to identify whether there are high-intent subreddits to target:
- Search for Reddit communities in the Ad Group settings. The Ad Group settings interface has a search feature that is very solid. You can simply search for your industry or service within the interface, and it will not only give you recommendations that match your search but also suggest similar communities that are pretty spot on.
- Google search. Another method that I like to use for finding high-intent subreddits is searching Google for your highest-intent keyword with the word “reddit” at the end of the phrase. Once you do this, you can analyze the top results, and if they are all coming from the same communities, then that typically means they’re high-intent and worth targeting.
- Retargeting campaigns. Last, you can launch retargeting campaigns targeting your website visitors and analyze where your clicks and conversions are coming from. This will give you a good idea of what your highest-intent communities are, and then you can target these communities in cold campaigns.
If you're interested in learning more about targeting strategies that have worked for us, I'd check out the case study below. It breaks down our process for identifying high-intent communities and aligning messaging with targeting.
If you’d like to learn more about how we identify strong communities to target for our clients, I suggest having a look at our recent case study: Reddit Ads Case Study
2. Which targeting performs better: broad or niche subreddits?
— u/cye_seid
Answer — Cole Furrh:
In my experience, the size of the niche does not matter. What's more important is the intent of the community and whether or not there's significant interest in the services the business is offering.
For example, if you're targeting manufacturing companies and your product is useful for people in the additive manufacturing space, you'll probably see strong performance from both r/manufacturing and r/AdditiveManufacturing despite r/manufacturing being significantly larger.
The key is to test and follow the results!
3. Which ad creative formats have the highest conversion rate: static images, videos, carousels, or free-form?
— u/xtina3435
Answer — Cole Furrh:
We have recently been doing a deep analysis on this, looking at the performance of different types of creatives for Feed vs. Conversation placements.
In most cases, Carousels tend to work the best, especially on Conversation placements. For Feed, we've seen strong performance from both images and carousels, depending on how good the creative is.
Video has been the most volatile ad type in our experience. We have had some clients who performed well with video creatives, but on the whole, we haven't seen great results. My suspicion is that the format looks awkward in Reddit since most of the content is text-based.
I would suggest testing whatever is working on other platforms to start, along with carousel ads.
If you're interested in learning more about this, I'd check out this article where I walk through the strengths and weaknesses of different ad types on Reddit.
If you’d like to learn more about this, have a look at our recent blog post where we outline different types or Reddit Ads creatives and give recommendations on which to use in different situationst: A Complete Guide to Different Reddit Ad Types
4. Should I combine keyword and community targeting in one ad group, or keep them in separate ad groups?
— u/consentmo
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I recommend testing both keywords and community targeting, but set them up in separate ad groups. That way, it’s easier to see the difference in performance.
Community targeting has usually been the most effective in my experience, though keywords can also work well. One of my favorite strategies is targeting branded keyword searches so your ads show when people are looking for reviews or feedback on your product. Those usually drive very high conversion rates.
I'd also recommend segmenting your campaigns and monitoring the performance of individual keywords and communities so you can remove underperforming options.
5. Do Reddit Ads work for small businesses/non-advertising agencies with smaller advertising budgets?
— u/Existing-Rate3223
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Absolutely. I've had a lot of success running small-budget ad campaigns on Reddit.
My suggestion would be to retarget people who have already visited your website and show your ads in the highest-intent communities. This approach works nearly every time if your audience is active on Reddit.
If you'd like to hear more about retargeting and community targeting, check out this recent case study. We go into both strategies in detail:
6. How should ads and organic content work together on Reddit?
— u/liz_ard__
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Great question! Organic content will definitely help your ads because it builds credibility.
If people see your ads and also see the same profile posting and engaging in the community, it reinforces trust.
My advice on organic content would be not to sell hard. Offer valuable insights/content and answer questions/help people in the comments of other posts. I've found this to be the best way to win trust on Reddit!
7. How do you avoid low-quality clicks in Reddit Ads?
— u/profspindoctor
Answer — Cole Furrh:
In my experience, there are a couple of tricks you can use to avoid low-quality or bot clicks. Here are some strategies for targeting the highest-intent traffic on Reddit:
- Target conversation placements. I've found these have the highest CPLs (sometimes 2-3x higher than Feed). My theory is that they're higher intent because conversations are often the entry point for some of the most valuable traffic on Reddit, like organic search and AI referral.
- Desktop Targeting. People use their desktops when they're researching solutions to problems, so desktop users tend to be higher intent. I've also found that there's less bot traffic on all ad platforms I've worked with when targeting desktop.
- Targeting High-Intent Communities. In my experience, community targeting is the best way to ensure high-intent traffic. It almost always outperforms other targeting options like keywords and interests.
8. What's the best approach to messaging in Reddit ads?
— u/ilovefishfillets
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Don't go aggressive. Focus on providing value and speaking to the pain points that people in your target communities care about.
For content and calls to action, stay as informational as possible, especially with top-of-funnel campaigns. We've had success simply sending people to high-intent blog posts and letting them convert on their own.
One last piece of advice: try using emojis. These have worked well for us 👀💪😅
9. What are the best ad formats for Reddit?
— u/Accomplished-Push942 (also asked by u/Mat-Kol)
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Carousels have worked the best for us. That said, performance depends on what creatives the business already has and how strong they are.
I would suggest testing your top-performing social media creatives or ad creatives from other platforms to start, and A/B testing other creative types.
If you'd like to know more about what works in terms of Reddit ad formats, I'd check out this article I wrote that breaks down the pros and cons of each format:
📕👉 A Complete Guide to Different Reddit Ad Formats
10. How do I test whether there’s demand for my product with Reddit Ads?
— u/Altruistic_Anxiety84
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I don't recommend running ads if your product isn't live yet.
In your situation, I would build an MVP first and post about it organically. Reach out to people and get advice.
You need to establish a product and user base before running ads.
11. What are the main distinctions between optimizing B2B and B2C Reddit Ads campaigns?
— u/LiliiaHreshchuk
Answer — Cole Furrh:
The main distinctions are around targeting. B2C products usually target a broader audience, so targeting options like interest groups make more sense on Reddit.
For B2B businesses, the target audience is typically much smaller, so your audience targeting strategies need to be more focused.
B2B also tends to require a higher degree of education, so you often need multiple touchpoints in order to convert a lead.
12. How can real estate agents use Reddit Ads to get more leads?
— u/Purple-Gate-5023
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Reddit community targeting for real estate seems very straightforward.
I would suggest targeting local real estate subreddits for your city and testing ads that promote both listings and the specific agent or firm.
For example, here’s a Toronto-focused community with over 120k members.
I should add that I have not personally tested this, so this is just what I WOULD do if I were to try. 😅
13. Does Reddit Ads work for all the B2B SaaS and B2B services or only certain industries?
— u/Shelf-Made
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I've tested Reddit Ads for many B2B SaaS and B2B service brands and have seen success with nearly every product we’ve tried the platform with.
I think almost every business can find value in Reddit purely based on how strong the platform is for retargeting. But in my experience, the most important indicator of success is whether there’s an engaged Reddit community with members who would be in-market for your product.
I highly suggest doing your research beforehand to identify high-performing communities.
14. What types of B2B SaaS and B2B Services get the best results on Reddit Ads?
— u/Shelf-Made
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Here are some of the top-performing verticals we've worked with:
B2B SaaS
🔥 Marketing SaaS
🔥 API/Connector SaaS
🔥 Education SaaS
🔥 Sales SaaS
🔥 Reporting SaaS
🔥 Workforce Management SaaS
B2B Services
🔥 Development outsourcing
🔥 SDR Services
🔥 Marketing Services
🔥 Advertising Services
If you'd like to read more about our strategies for B2B businesses, I'd check out the article and case study linked below:
📕👉 Reddit Ads Strategies for B2B
15. What kinds of lead magnets perform best on Reddit Ads for top of funnel?
— u/Mat-Kol
Answer — Cole Furrh:
In terms of lead magnets, what works on other platforms doesn’t usually perform at the same level on Reddit.
In my experience, a good lead magnet is heavily influenced by industry. For example, salespeople are more likely to agree to a call early, while development and ops professionals prefer informational content.
Still, I don’t think Redditors as a whole respond well to overt lead magnet content.
What I’ve found works best is promoting educational content in top-of-funnel campaigns and offering a low-friction call to action on the website, like a free trial conversion. I’ve even had success with ungated content (sending people to blog posts and letting them convert on their own).
16. What’s the best way to use retargeting on Reddit Ads?
— u/Mat-Kol
Answer — Cole Furrh:
You want to save the aggressive CTAs for retargeting and test them in the highest-intent placements, like desktop visitors and conversation ad placements.
It makes sense that retargeting is more expensive than top-of-funnel because the intent is higher, and that’s been my experience with Reddit. That said, retargeting CPCs on Reddit is still absurdly cheap. I usually pay less than $2 per click and almost never see clicks over $5.
17. What would you recommend as a minimum daily budget for Reddit Ads?
— u/Mat-Kol
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I would say it all depends on goals. I believe you can get value from Reddit with small budgets simply because of how effective retargeting is.
18. What are your best practices for Reddit ad headlines?
— u/Mat-Kol
Answer — Cole Furrh:
My advice for writing high converting Reddit ad headlines would be: don’t go too aggressive. Focus on providing value or speaking to the pain points people in your target communities have.
I would also suggest trying out emojis. These have worked well for us 👀💪😅
19. What is your recommended audience size for Reddit Ads campaign targeting?
— u/Mat-Kol
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I have not had as much success with broad targeting, unless the communities are high-intent and have lots of members.
I prefer to target very small audiences.
Ideally, you want your audiences to be over 1000 members, but I've had success with audiences of less than 50. For some services, there may only be 50 people at any given moment who have engaged with a brand and are in-market, so it's super important to maximize your spend on these segments!
20. How do you set up multi-touchpoint conversion tracking with multiple touchpoints in Reddit Ads?
— u/Mat-Kol
Answer — Cole Furrh:
You need to set up multiple conversion actions in Tag Manager and create conversions through your CRM integrations. Right now, we’re doing this for high-intent page visitors, like people who visit the pricing page, and for HubSpot lifecycle stage conversions when someone becomes an opportunity.
We're then using these conversions to build lookalike audiences, exclusion audiences, and retargeting audiences so that we can retarget higher-intent leads and avoid low-quality traffic.
21. How do you prevent bot traffic in Reddit Ads?
- u/Remarkable_WrfallA
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Bot clicks are an issue on all ad platforms, and in my experience, Reddit isn’t significantly different from Google, Meta, or LinkedIn. A lot of Reddit’s reputation for bot traffic comes from experiences a couple of years ago.
Since Reddit signed a partnership with Google last year, its posts have been showing above organic search results more often. That’s led to a big increase in organic traffic, and I’ve noticed a clear improvement in traffic quality as a result.
According to SpyFu, organic traffic is up 53%, and Reddit is now the #2 site for AI referral traffic behind Google, with 11.1M monthly visitors in June. These traffic sources are very high-intent and quite different from traditional Reddit users, so you need to be nuanced about how you think about Reddit audiences.
22. Are big brands driving up Reddit Ads costs for SMEs?
- u/Remarkable_WrfallA
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I have seen quite a few large brands advertising on Reddit, particularly in the B2B SaaS space, but I have not noticed any increased CPCs as a result.
In fact, in my experience, the CPCs on the platform are extremely cheap, usually less than $2 per click and almost never over $5. For reference, many of the B2B clients I work with pay over $30 per click on LinkedIn and Google Ads.
23. Does direct response advertising work in Reddit Ads?
- u/Remarkable_WrfallA
Answer — Cole Furrh:
Direct response advertising on Reddit Ads can be tricky. With Reddit, the key is not to go aggressive with your calls to action. Aggressive CTAs, like asking for a booked call or demo in cold campaigns, don’t really convert on Reddit. I’ve tested this a lot, and it only works if you’re using very precise placement targeting.
With top-of-funnel advertising, I’ve had more success with lower-friction calls to action, like free trials and educational content.
If you want to test higher-friction CTAs, I’d recommend saving them for retargeting. I’ve had a lot of success with that approach, and I’d also add that Reddit is one of the most effective B2B retargeting platforms I’ve ever used.
24. How do you handle toxic audiences in Reddit Ads?
- u/Remarkable_WrfallA
Answer — Cole Furrh:
I honestly haven’t experienced much toxicity in my ads. Out of tens of thousands of ads launched, I’ve only gotten maybe three negative comments.
I would also add that most niche B2B communities are filled with people trying to get advice or wanting to talk about their shared interests. They’re often very wholesome 😅
My advice is not to worry too much. If you’re really concerned, you can always turn off comments on your ads.
25. What are the steps to become a certified Reddit Ads agency partner?
- u/twodoorstwodoors
Answer — Cole Furrh:
The requirements vary depending on the industry. For us, we had to manage a certain number of accounts, reach a minimum monthly spend, and complete certification in the relevant Reddit courses. If you're interested in learning more about this, I'd check out the link below:
https://www.business.reddit.com/solutions/advertising-agency/partner-badging
Want to Learn More About Reddit Ads?
Thanks for reading our post! If you’d like to check out the the full AMA on Reddit you can click here:
👉 Spent $70K on Reddit B2B Ads. Here’s What I Learned. Ask Me Anything
Click here to learn more about our approach to Reddit Ads or whether we can help your business 👉 Our Approach to Reddit Ads Management
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