Reddit is one of the biggest and most popular websites in the world, with more than 500 million monthly active users. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s probably because you’ve never needed to. It’s basically like an online community in which users can post content, stories, and links that other users find interesting, useful, or both.
If you own or work in an auto shop, you might consider using Reddit for marketing and outreach. Why? Well, it’s one of the few places where you’ll find an audience that is genuinely interested in your industry.
Whether you’re an established business with major brands or a small shop with a handful of vehicles, you can use Reddit to grow your business. But to do that, you need to engage with the community and provide them with value. Let’s look at how you can do that.
Build An Overall Strategy
Before you start doing anything else, it’s important to build an overall strategy. What do you want to get out of Reddit, and how will you use it to achieve your goals?
For example, you might decide that you want to use Reddit to inspire future car buyers, so you aim to provide helpful information about cars and driving to encourage people to come back for more. Or you could use Reddit to find international partners and customers, so you curate content in several languages to reach a larger audience.
The key is to find a way to connect with your audience and provide them with value. Then, you can use the platform to grow your business.
Get Active In The Community
Once you’ve built a strategy, you can start taking action. What actions? Get active in the community!
You don’t need to be a celebrity or an expert in the industry to have value on Reddit. In fact, being a beginner is usually a plus. That means you can curate content on a variety of topics, and the community will appreciate your efforts. To make the process easier, you can use platforms like Reddit Enhancement Suite (Reesu), which allow you to easily run a Reddit account from one place.
On the other hand, if you are a professional in the industry with years of experience, you might want to consider becoming an authority on Reddit or creating a brand for yourself. That way, you can make sure that your content is always up-to-date and provide tips and advice about the industry to those that come back for more.
Post Regularly
The more you post, the more you’ll build credibility. When Redditors see that you’re consistently posting valuable content, they’ll believe that you know what you’re talking about and will value your opinion. So, it’s imperative to post regularly. On the other side of the coin, if you have valuable content that you don’t want to share on a regular basis, you can always use the Hide/Delete option so that it won’t show up every time a user runs a search.
For example, you could write a guide about the best trucks for business use. While that content might be extremely useful for those in your industry, it might not be something that you want to post every week.
Build An Overall Digital Marketing Strategy
As we mentioned above, before you start doing anything else, it’s important to build an overall digital marketing strategy. What does that mean? It means that you’ll integrate all of your digital marketing efforts (including your social media accounts) under one roof. For instance, if you want to promote your business on Reddit, you could create a blog post that discusses the ways that you can use the platform to promote your business. Then, you could follow up with a series of increasingly insightful posts on the topic.
In doing so, you’ll be able to establish yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry. Of course, the reverse is also true. If you’re looking for a platform on which to establish your expertise, consider giving it a whirl!
Use Your Blog
Speaking of establishing your expertise, we’ll discuss establishing a blog as part of your digital marketing strategy. Why? Well, it’s fairly easy to do so and makes a pretty good addition to your arsenal of marketing tools. Plus, you can use your blog to curate content for other platforms like Reddit. That way, you’ll be able to connect the dots between all of your marketing efforts and develop an organic link-building strategy.
To make the process easier, you can use platforms like Jotunate, which allow you to create and maintain a blog from one place. Plus, with its integrated email marketing tool, you’ll be able to capture email addresses of those that come back for more and grow your email list.
Get Inspired By What’s Going On Around You
Last, but not least, we have the subject of inspiration. Always look for ways to be inspired and educate yourself on the subject matter. What’s going on around you right now that can help you establish your expertise or bring in revenue?
For example, if you’re in the process of selecting a new vendor for your business and wonder if there’s anyone out there that can provide exceptional service, you can always search for reviews of that vendor on sites like Yelp or Google. Then, you can connect with the businesses that they reviewed and get a sense of whether or not they’re worth pursuing.
Similarly, if you’re looking to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and are wondering where to start, you can always use your analysis of what’s going on around you to get an idea of the sorts of topics that will be most beneficial to your efforts.
Always be looking for ways to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. That way, you’ll never be at risk of losing a customer or potential customer because they didn’t believe you were actually worth their time. So, be sure to put in the extra effort to educate yourself on all things automotive so that you can provide the best service possible to those that come back for more.