How to advertise on reddit: A practical guide to successful campaigns

Running ads on Reddit means setting up a Reddit Ads account, choosing a clear campaign goal, zeroing in on the right subreddits or user interests, and then building ads that actually feel like they belong on Reddit. The whole game is about joining conversations, not interrupting them. That means your creative needs to be genuine, interesting, and actually add some value to the communities you're targeting.

Why Reddit Is Your Untapped Growth Channel

A laptop displaying 'Untapped Growth' on an orange screen, alongside a bar chart notebook on a wooden desk.

Before we jump into the "how," let's spend a minute on the "why." You already know platforms like Meta and LinkedIn are getting crowded and expensive. Reddit, on the other hand, is still a goldmine that too many marketers overlook. It’s not just another social site—it’s a massive network of incredibly engaged, niche communities (subreddits) where people are actively looking for information, answers, and real recommendations.

This structure is a massive opportunity. Instead of shouting your message into the void of a broad audience, you can drop it directly into the online hubs where your ideal customers already hang out. If you're a B2B SaaS company with a project management tool, you can advertise right in r/projectmanagement, where people are literally discussing their workflow problems. A practical example: your ad headline could be, "What's the one recurring task that drives your team crazy? We built a tool to automate it." This speaks directly to their pain points.

The Power of Niche Communities

The real magic of Reddit advertising is baked into its community-first DNA. Redditors are notoriously allergic to slick, corporate ads. They sniff out inauthenticity a mile away and value transparency above all else. This forces you, the marketer, to create better, more thoughtful ads that connect with people.

Think about the built-in advantages here:

High-Intent Audiences: People in subreddits like r/skincareaddiction or r/homeimprovement aren't just killing time. They’re there with a purpose—hunting for advice, reviews, and solutions. An ad for a durable work boot in r/homeimprovement will land with much higher intent than a generic ad on a different platform.
An Unfiltered Feedback Loop: The comment section on your ad is a direct line to your audience. You get raw, honest feedback, can answer questions on the fly, and build genuine rapport. A good interaction can turn a skeptic into a vocal supporter. For instance, if someone asks, "How is this different from [competitor]?" your honest, detailed reply builds trust with everyone reading.
Less Ad Clutter: Compared to the ad-pocalypse on other platforms, Reddit is still relatively uncluttered. Your message actually has a fighting chance to stand out and get noticed without being drowned out by competitors.

The secret is to stop thinking of it as an "ad" and start thinking of it as a contribution. Pose a question, offer a genuinely useful tip, or spark a real discussion. An ad that feels like a good post will always win.

A Cost-Effective Alternative

It's not just about engagement; the numbers make sense, too. Reddit's ad revenue is skyrocketing, which tells you that more and more advertisers are seeing real results. The platform pulled in $788.78 million in ad revenue in 2023, and forecasts predict it'll hit over $1.5 billion by 2026. This isn't just hype; it's driven by performance. You can dig into more of these Reddit advertising statistics to see the trend.

From a practical budget standpoint, your money goes further here. CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) and CPCs (cost per click) are often way lower than what you’d pay on other major platforms. For startups, SaaS companies, and DTC brands, this means you can reach a hyper-specific audience without the eye-watering budgets that Meta or Google demand. It’s the perfect channel to test, learn, and scale your campaigns without breaking the bank.

Setting Up Your Reddit Ads Account The Right Way

Before you even think about creative or ad copy, you need to get the technical setup handled. A properly configured Reddit Ads Manager account is the bedrock of any successful campaign. It's how you'll track what's working, measure your actual ROI, and avoid the data nightmares that plague so many advertisers.

Let's get this done. First, head over to ads.reddit.com to get your account started. You'll need to connect it to a Reddit profile—I almost always recommend creating a new, dedicated business profile for this to keep your brand's advertising separate from any personal accounts. The initial business info is easy, but the real meat is in the tracking setup.

Getting the Reddit Pixel in Place

The Reddit Pixel is a non-negotiable piece of code for your website. Seriously, don't run a single ad without it. This little snippet is your direct line of communication between Reddit and your website, telling you which ads are actually convincing people to sign up, request a demo, or make a purchase. Without it, you're just guessing.

You'll create the pixel right inside your Ads Manager dashboard, which will give you a code snippet. You can either pop this into your website's header manually or—the much cleaner way—use a tool like Google Tag Manager.

Once that's installed, you need to tell it what to track by setting up conversion events. These are the specific, valuable actions a user can take on your site.

B2B SaaS Example: You'd want a "Lead" event that fires when someone fills out your 'Request a Demo' form. A "SignUp" event for a new free trial would be another great one.
DTC Brand Example: Your bread and butter would be an "AddToCart" event and, most importantly, a "Purchase" event to track the full customer journey.

Pro Tip: The biggest mistake I see is people just installing the base pixel and stopping there. You have to set up specific conversion events. This is how you teach Reddit's algorithm what a successful outcome looks like for your business, which leads to much smarter ad delivery over time.

The Final Account Polish

With your pixel firing correctly, there are just a couple of housekeeping items left. You’ll need to add a payment method—Reddit takes all major credit cards. This is also where you can set your daily or lifetime spending limits, which is a great way to ensure you never accidentally overspend.

Next, make sure to verify your website's domain in the Ads Manager. It's a quick step that proves you own the site you’re sending traffic to, which can help with ad approvals down the line.

Finally, start thinking about your data. If you have customer email lists or other first-party data, get them ready. An actionable insight here is to segment your list. For example, create a list of customers who haven't purchased in 6 months. You'll be able to upload this later to create a powerful Custom Audience for a re-engagement campaign with a special offer.

Getting these technical details nailed down from day one is what separates the campaigns that succeed from those that fizzle out. If you want to explore more platform-specific strategies, take a look at our complete guide on using Reddit for marketing.

Finding Your Customers Through Subreddit Targeting

This is where Reddit advertising really shines. Forget the broad, often clumsy interest-based targeting you might be used to on other platforms. On Reddit, the magic happens with subreddit targeting. You get to place your ads directly inside the niche communities where your ideal customers are already hanging out, talking about their passions, and—most importantly—their problems.

It’s less like shouting into a crowd and more like joining a highly relevant conversation.

The whole game starts by translating your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) into a list of specific subreddits. Think of it like a digital treasure map. You aren't just plugging in keywords; you're identifying entire communities whose purpose and culture align with the solution you offer. This is precisely why Reddit is such a goldmine for businesses serving specific niches—the platform is literally built on these focused communities.

From ICP to Subreddit List

Let's walk through a real-world example. Say you're marketing a new project management SaaS tool designed for small, agile teams. Your ICP is a startup founder or a product manager. So, where are they on Reddit?

You'll start with the obvious, first-tier communities:

r/projectmanagement: This one's a no-brainer. It's full of professionals actively debating tools, sharing tips, and looking for solutions.
r/startups: A perfect watering hole for founders who are neck-deep in building their companies and desperate for ways to streamline their workflow.
r/productmanagement: This is where you’ll find product managers talking shop about roadmaps, sprints, and team collaboration—all things your tool helps with.

But don't stop there. The real competitive edge often comes from what I call "shoulder" subreddits. These are communities where your ICP spends time, even if the main topic isn't a direct hit for your product.

For our SaaS tool, that could look like:

r/SaaS: A community of fellow founders and operators sharing growth strategies. They're your people.
r/agile: Catches users who are deeply invested in the agile methodology, which is likely a key feature of your software.
r/smallbusiness: A broader group, but it's packed with people who are wearing a dozen hats at once and hungry for anything that saves them time.

The secret is to build a diverse portfolio of subreddits. You want a mix of communities with high purchase intent and those with related interests. This strategy lets you tailor your ad copy to match the unique vibe of each subreddit, which is how you boost relevance and get those click-through rates up.

Before you get too deep into targeting, though, make sure your account fundamentals are sorted. This quick overview shows the essential setup flow.

Think of it this way: you can't hit a target if your bow isn't strung correctly. Get the account, tracking pixel, and billing sorted first.

Community vs. Interest Targeting: What’s the Difference?

When you hop into the Reddit Ads dashboard, you'll see two primary targeting options: Community Targeting and Interest Targeting. It’s crucial you know the difference because it will make or break your campaigns.

Community Targeting: This is the subreddit-level precision we've been talking about. You hand-pick the exact subreddits where you want your ad to appear. It's contextual, direct, and incredibly powerful.
Interest Targeting: This is much broader. You pick a category like "Technology," and Reddit will show your ad to users who have recently interacted with tech-related subreddits, no matter where they are on the site at that moment.

My advice? For anyone new to Reddit Ads, start with Community Targeting every time. It gives you total control and ensures your message lands in the most relevant environment possible. You can always use Interest Targeting to scale your campaigns later, but it just doesn't have the surgical accuracy you need to get started on the right foot. Since Reddit is a network of thousands of specialized groups, mastering how to target niche markets with ads is the key to unlocking its potential.

To help you decide which approach is right for your campaign, here’s a quick breakdown.

Targeting Strategy Decision Matrix

This matrix can help guide you toward the best targeting method based on your specific goals and business.

Targeting Method	Best For (Business Type)	Use Case Example	Pros	Cons
Community Targeting	Niche B2B/B2C, products with a dedicated hobbyist base, direct-response campaigns.	A company selling premium coffee beans targeting r/coffee and r/espresso.	Extremely high relevance, better ad-to-audience message match, often higher engagement.	Smaller audience size, can be harder to scale, requires manual research.
Interest Targeting	Broad-appeal B2C, top-of-funnel brand awareness, large-scale campaigns.	A mobile gaming company targeting the "Gaming" interest group to reach a massive audience.	Huge potential reach, easier to set up and scale quickly, good for brand awareness.	Lower relevance, risk of wasted impressions on uninterested users, less context for the ad.

Ultimately, starting with Community Targeting to validate your messaging and audience is almost always the right move before expanding to broader Interest groups.

Do Your Homework: Vet Your Subreddit List

Got your list of potential subreddits? Great. Now it's time to do some manual recon. Don't just dump them into your campaign and hope for the best. Spend some time lurking in each one before you spend a single cent.

Here’s what I look for:

Is it actually active? A good subreddit has multiple new posts and a steady stream of comments every day. A ghost town won't get you any impressions.
What are the rules and vibe? Some communities are fiercely anti-promotion. Even though your ad bypasses the rules, an overly "salesy" ad in a community that hates it will get downvoted and slammed in the comments.
What's the tone? Is it a helpful, supportive space or a place for cynical debates? Your creative and copy have to match the local culture. Our list of top subreddits for marketing highlights communities known for positive engagement.

This hands-on research is what separates the advertisers who kill it on Reddit from those who burn their budget and leave. The opportunity is massive. We're talking about 443 million weekly active users as of 2026, with users in the U.S. spending 25–30 minutes on the site daily. That deep engagement is why Reddit’s ad revenue hit $549 million in Q3 2025—a 74% year-over-year jump. The audience is there, and they're paying attention.

Creating Ads That Redditors Actually Engage With

Here's the hard truth: Redditors have an almost supernatural ability to sniff out inauthentic, corporate-speak ads. They don't just tolerate good advertising; they’ll actually upvote it, discuss it, and even defend it.

The secret is to stop thinking like a marketer and start acting like a member of the community. Your ad can't feel like a disruptive pop-up. It needs to look and sound like a high-quality, organic post that genuinely belongs in the subreddit you're targeting.

Any ad that's too polished, stuffed with jargon, or makes over-the-top claims is destined for a downvote graveyard. You need creative that’s humble, direct, and adds something to the conversation.

Choosing the Right Ad Format

Reddit gives you a few ad formats to play with, but for most campaigns, you'll be leaning heavily on two main workhorses: Promoted Posts and Video Ads. Your choice really boils down to what you're selling and the story you need to tell.

Promoted Posts: Think of these as your bread and butter. They’re designed to look just like a native Reddit post, with a headline, body text, and a single image. This format is perfect for starting a conversation, asking a question, or laying out a simple, clear value prop. A DTC backpack brand, for instance, could share a user's photo and ask, "What's the one feature you wish your daily carry had?" That’s an instant discussion starter.
Video Ads: If you need to show your product in action, video is your best bet. A SaaS company could use a quick, 15-second screen recording that shows exactly how its tool solves one specific, nagging problem. The key here is to keep it short, get to the point immediately, and make sure it works with the sound off (most people scroll with mute on).

The best ads don't feel like ads. They feel like they belong. A cybersecurity company targeting r/netsec could run a text-heavy Promoted Post that breaks down a recent security vulnerability, subtly weaving their tool into the solution.

Writing Ad Copy That Connects

This is where you win or lose the authenticity game. Ditch the slick marketing slogans and industry buzzwords. Your tone should be direct, conversational, and transparent—like you're explaining your product to a smart, slightly cynical friend.

Here are a few tips I’ve seen work wonders:

Acknowledge You're an Ad: I know it sounds crazy, but starting with "Hey r/gamedev, (Ad) here" can instantly disarm skeptical users. It shows self-awareness.
Use "I" and "We": Write from a personal perspective. "I built this because..." or "We created this to..." feels a lot more human than a faceless corporate "the company."
Ask a Real Question: A good headline prompts a genuine response. For a project management tool, something like, "What's the most frustrating bottleneck in your team's workflow?" works way better than a feature list.
Keep It Scannable: Redditors don’t read walls of text. Use short sentences, bullet points, and plenty of line breaks to make your copy easy to digest.

To really nail the culture, you could even try creating subreddit-specific memes for your campaign with a tool like an AI meme generator. A perfectly placed, in-the-know meme can communicate your brand's personality faster than paragraphs of text ever could.

Visuals That Feel Native

Just like your copy, your visuals need to blend in. That glossy, overproduced stock photo is a dead giveaway you're an outsider. You want images and graphics that look like they were uploaded by a real person.

User-Generated Content (UGC) is Gold: If you have photos of actual customers using your product, use them. They are infinitely more believable than staged shots.
Simple Graphics Win: Think basic text overlays, straightforward diagrams, or even well-designed screenshots. You don't need a huge design budget; you need authenticity and clarity.
Avoid Stock Photos at All Costs: Seriously. Redditors can spot them a mile away, and it just signals low effort.

A meal-kit delivery service will get way more traction from a customer's slightly blurry phone pic of their delicious dinner than a perfectly lit, professional studio photo. It’s real.

Don't Ignore the Comment Section

On Reddit, the comment section is part of the ad. Ignoring it is one of the biggest—and most common—mistakes advertisers make. This is your golden opportunity to talk directly with potential customers, answer their questions, and handle feedback.

Be ready to jump in and respond to comments quickly. If someone asks a tough question, answer it honestly. If someone leaves criticism, thank them for the feedback and address their point. A single negative comment handled well can build more trust than a dozen positive ones because it shows you’re actually listening. This is how you turn a simple ad impression into a real conversation.

Getting Smart With Your Budget and Bids

Let's talk money. Navigating the financial side of Reddit ads can feel daunting, but it's really about being methodical. Think of it like a science experiment: start small, measure everything, and only pour gas on what's already burning. Reddit advertising isn't about carpet-bombing with a huge budget; it's about smart, surgical spending driven by data.

Your entire budget strategy hinges on picking the right bidding model for what you want to achieve. Reddit gives you a few key options, and matching the right one to your goal is the first step toward a solid return on investment. Get this right, and you're already halfway there.

Decoding Reddit's Bidding Strategies

Each bidding strategy is purpose-built for a specific campaign objective. One of the quickest ways to waste money is to mismatch your bid with your goal. You'll get some results, just not the ones you actually care about.

To make this simple, Reddit’s bidding options help you tell the algorithm what you value most. Are you after eyeballs, clicks, or video views? Choosing the right strategy ensures you only pay for the outcome that matters to your business.

Reddit Bidding Strategies at a Glance

This table breaks down the main bidding options to help you align your spend with your campaign goals.

Bidding Strategy	Objective	When to Use It	Example Metric
Cost Per Click (CPC)	Traffic & Conversions	When your primary goal is driving users to a specific landing page to take an action (e.g., sign up, purchase).	Clicks
Cost Per Mille (CPM)	Brand Awareness	When you want to maximize impressions and get your brand in front of as many relevant users as possible.	Impressions
Cost Per View (CPV)	Video Views	When your campaign is built around a video and the goal is to get people to watch and engage with it.	Video Views

Choosing the right bid type is crucial. You wouldn't use a branding-focused CPM bid for a direct-response lead generation campaign. Sure, you'd get plenty of impressions, but you're not paying for the action that actually puts money in your pocket—the click.

Pro Tip: Always, always align your bidding strategy with your campaign's main KPI. A mismatch here is a classic rookie mistake that burns through cash with little to show for it.

Let's walk through a real-world example. Say you're a startup launching a new productivity app. You might run two campaigns to start:

Awareness Campaign: A quick video ad showing off the app's coolest feature. You’d target broader communities like r/productivity and r/getdisciplined. Here, CPV (Cost Per View) or CPM (Cost Per Mille) makes perfect sense because you're just trying to get on people's radar.
Conversion Campaign: A Promoted Post offering a 30-day free trial. You'd aim this at more business-focused subreddits like r/saas and r/startups. For this, you absolutely need to use a CPC (Cost Per Click) bid. You only want to pay for people who are interested enough to click through and sign up.

Start Small, Then Scale What Works

One of the best parts about Reddit Ads is how accessible it is. You can get started with a daily budget as low as $5, which is perfect for dipping your toes in the water. Resist the urge to go big from day one. Wait until you have cold, hard data telling you where to spend your money.

I always recommend starting with a small daily test budget, maybe $20-$50, split across a few different ad groups. Each ad group could test a different subreddit, a unique ad creative, or a new headline. Let them run for at least 7-10 days to collect enough data to make informed decisions.

During this test phase, you need to be glued to these metrics:

Click-Through Rate (CTR): Is your ad actually grabbing attention?
Cost Per Click (CPC): How much are you paying for each interested user?
Conversion Rate: Are the people who click actually following through? For help on this front, check out our conversion rate optimization checklist.

After a week or so, you'll start to see clear winners and losers. Don't be afraid to be ruthless. Pause the ads that aren't performing and move that budget over to the ones that are. This simple, methodical process is how you scale based on performance, not gut feelings.

The platform is also incredibly cost-effective. Even bootstrapped founders can test ideas with minimal risk. CPMs can be anywhere from $0.50–$15, but well-tuned campaigns in tech niches can see them as low as $0.20. Similarly, CPCs often land between $0.20–$4.00. The whole game changed in September 2025 when an algorithm update more than doubled the average ROAS from 2.3x to 4.7x and dropped the cost per conversion by 40%. You can read more about these updated Reddit ad performance benchmarks.

This low-cost environment gives you the freedom to experiment and fine-tune your strategy without breaking the bank, which is absolutely critical for maximizing your ROI in the long run.

Answering Your Top Reddit Ad Questions

Diving into a new ad platform always raises a few questions. As you get ready to launch, some common uncertainties can pop up. Let's tackle some of the most frequent questions I hear from advertisers who are new to the Reddit game.

What's a Good Starting Budget for Reddit Ads?

You don't need to break the bank to get started. I always recommend setting aside a small, dedicated test budget—think $20 to $50 per day for your first few campaigns.

This amount is the sweet spot. It's enough to get meaningful data on which subreddits and creative angles are hitting the mark, all without a huge financial commitment. Treat the first week or two as pure learning. Once you spot a clear winner with a solid ROAS or a cost-per-lead you're happy with, that's your green light to start scaling up the budget on that ad set.

What are the Biggest Mistakes New Advertisers Make?

I see the same few slip-ups time and time again. The good news is they're incredibly easy to avoid once you know what to watch out for. Steering clear of these will put you way ahead of the curve.

Running Generic, Corporate Ads: Slick, polished ads that look like they belong on LinkedIn are the fastest way to get ignored or, worse, downvoted. Redditors value authenticity above all else.
Ghosting the Comment Section: This is a big one. Engagement is a two-way street on Reddit. Your ad's comment section is a direct line to your potential customers. Ignoring it is a missed opportunity; engaging builds trust.
Targeting Way Too Broadly: Don't point your niche DevOps tool at a massive, general community like r/technology. You'll get much better results by focusing on hyper-relevant subreddits like r/devops or r/sre.

It really boils down to one simple idea: act like a member of the community, not an advertiser crashing the party. Your ad should feel like a helpful post, not a disruptive sales pitch. Authenticity and relevance will always win.

How Quickly Will I See Results?

You'll see the initial data—impressions, clicks, and comments—roll in almost immediately, usually within the first 24 to 48 hours. This early feedback is perfect for getting a quick pulse check on your creative and copy.

But for the metrics that really matter, like leads or sales, you need to be a bit more patient. Let your conversion-focused campaigns run for at least 7 to 14 days before making any big decisions. This gives the algorithm enough time and data to find your audience and gives you a statistically sound basis for judging performance. Think of early metrics as a compass, but wait for conversion data to draw your map.

Ready to turn Reddit's passionate communities into a reliable engine for traffic, leads, and customers? At Reddit Agency, we live and breathe this stuff, building paid and organic strategies that actually connect with Redditors. Let's build your Reddit growth engine together.