How To Advertise Your Dropshipping Store On Reddit?

Reddit is such an overlooked social media platform.  

Many marketers don’t realize how easy Reddit makes reaching people based on their passions and interests. 

And even running ads in those potential-customer habitats for as little as $5 a day. 

Having one of the most dedicated user bases and a huge focus on niche content, Reddit is in truth a valuable traffic source for any and every business. 

This is why today I’ll be showing you how to…

• Promote your store using organic Reddit posts. 
• How to set up paid Reddit ads. 
• And how to master Reddit’s “Karma” system for your success.

That said, let’s start by looking at how Reddit works in the first place.

 

How does Reddit work, anyway?

 

 

First of all, subreddits “regard” members according to their karma level. 

This is a representation of the value they’ve contributed by commenting and making posts.

Reddit has two types of Karma.

The first, Post (or Link) Karma deals with the posts you’ve made. 

And the other, Comment Karma deals with the comments you’ve left.

 

So, how do you build karma?

Reddit calculates your karma based on your submission score. 

This refers to the difference between the total number of downvotes (dislikes) and upvotes (likes) your post or comment has.

As a new user, most communities won’t let you make posts until you have considerable karma 

To reach that point, you’ll need to;

Regularly interact with the community. 

Drop a lot of helpful and valuable comments. 

And, eventually, you can start posting and building karma with posts too.

Now that we’ve cleared the platform, let’s visit the question that brought you here in the first place.

 

How can you use Reddit to advertise your dropshipping store?

 

Get started with Organic Reddit posts 

 

When you gain enough karma through your commenting efforts, you can finally make your first post. 

Click the “Plus (+)” sign at the top to see these four options.

 

 

Use the tips below to promote your company without getting kicked out of your subreddit. 

 

Tips for advertising your dropshipping business organically on Reddit

 

1. Find suitable subreddits 

 

Before posting anything, find a suitable subreddit that fits your business. 

If you sell maternity clothing, for example, communities like r/womensfashion, r/maternity, r/moms, r/momsworkingfromhome and more will be great places to start.

 

2. Become a contributing member

 

Redditors abide by an informal yet strict reputation policy. So new accounts with no posts are mostly distrusted. 

This is why you have to become a genuine contributor within the group.

 

 

If you’re lacking content ideas, I suggest you check the “Top” posts to get a feel of the topics and ideas that subreddit values the most. 

Additionally, look for questions many people are asking. Do your research and provide what you’re sure is a better answer than 99% of the other posts.

 

3. Build trust within the community first

 

To establish trust among your fellow Redditors, focus on building credibility from the outset. 

When you join…

Actively engage in group discussions.

Upvote good posts.

And share valuable or interesting content. 

Moreover, it will always help to familiarize yourself with your subreddit’s unique language. 

You know, the slang and abbreviations that show  you’re an involved member of the community.

Speaking of building trust, are you using the power of inbound marketing to boost customer growth yet? 

This tactic, centered around giving your audiences valuable experiences, can be a real game-changer when combined with your organic and paid social media campaigns. So I’ll go ahead and link to our inbound marketing guide.

 

4. Don’t sound promotional

 

In a guide to promoting your store, this must sound really contradictory.

But I have let you know that most subreddits frown upon self-promotion and advertising. 

So don’t just spam out your links. And don’t blindly upvote your own content or ask anyone else to!

If you’re serious about having a business presence on Reddit, fully read Redditiquette so you understand the culture and social norms. 

And make you’re following all the FAQ guidelines on spam.

 

  5. Be consistent!

 

Getting the results you want from social media marketing requires hard work and consistency paired with solid strategies. 

So play the long game by staying active on Reddit. And keep commenting and posting valuable content no matter how long it takes you to build a considerable level of karma.

Additionally, know the right time to post. As always, this will depend on your audience and community. 

So, research to find out your target audience’s social media habits in as much detail as possible. 

Also, it will help to analyze the top posts to see the typical times those posts were sent out.

 

6. Host an AMA (Ask Me Anything)

 

Reddit’s Ask Me Anything is simply a question-and-answer between you and your followers.

I put this last because using it only makes sense when you have built a considerable following and the trust of your audience, just like Elon Musk did in 2015. 

As a business owner, you can use an AMA session to strategically mention your company, products and achievements.

Want more digital marketing advice? You’ll be pleased to discover these 9 winning social media marketing tips on our blog.

 

Steps to setting up paid ads on Reddit

 

These are the steps for setting up your Reddit promotional campaign. Let’s begin!

 

1. Set up your Reddit Ads Manager account

 

• Sign up for Reddit Ads

Click on the “Advertise” button in the top right corner of the page.

 

 

Reddit will then direct you to this sign up page 

 

 

where you will have to…

• Divulge your business details

Once you sign up, the next step is to set up your Reddit Ads Manager account.

 

 

Stage 1 of entering your business details requires you to share:

• Your username,
• Your first and last name,
• The name of your business,
• And the link to your website.

Once you do that, move on to stage 2. 

Here, Reddit requires you to state what kind of business you are.

 

 

Once you specify the type of business you do, you will enter stage 3. 

 

 

Here, Reddit will ask:

• The location of your business,
• The currency you operate with,
• And whether you want to receive support calls about managing your account.

Complete these steps, then click finish so we can move to the next step, which is…

 

2. Setting up your first campaign

 

• Open a new campaign

At this stage, you have two options.

 

 

The first, Simple Create, is a 3-step set-up option that lets you create ads FAST.

 

 

All you have to do is add your: 

1. Creative (an image or video),
2. Your targeting preferences
3. And your payment method.

This option is for marketers who want to publish ads on the go.  

So for the sake of brevity, we’ll only walk through the Advanced Create option.

 

Set up Advanced Create Reddit ads

 

• Give it a name

 

 

Give your campaign a name. Then move to…

 

• Specifying your objectives

 

 

Here, you define the goal of your campaign. 

From the options available, you can choose:

• Brand awareness
• Traffic
• Conversions
• Video views
• App installs
• And catalog sales, a new ad type that’s great for marketing many products or services in a single campaign.

Note: each campaign goal has a different cost basis and optimization, so take note of that.

 

• Select your funding instrument aka your payment methods

 

 

Here, Reddit will prompt you to add your payment method. And, optionally, your lifetime budget. Which, in other words, is the most you’re willing to spend over the campaign’s duration.

Once you’ve defined the above parameters, hit continue at the bottom of the page to begin…

 

3. Setting up your ad group

 

• Give it a name 

 

 

Again, name your ad group then…

• Define your audience 

 

 

This part of the ad setup is where you specify;

• The communities you want to target
• The interests related to your ads
• The keywords you want to target
• And the custom audiences you want to include or exclude 

Fill these details so you can…

 

• Defining your audience demographics

 

 

Your audience demographics.deals with:

The locations you want to include and exclude.

And the genders you want your ads to target.

After setting your audience demographics, the next step here is to…

 

• Choose your supported devices

 

 

The options here are Desktop, Android, and iOS.

But, if you want, you can choose all of them. 

 

• Now, choose your placement preferences

 

 

Ad placements are concerned with:

• Where on the Redditors’ screen you want your ads to display. The options here are on feeds and within Reddit conversations.
• Community restrictions. For the safety of your brand, you can restrict your ads from showing up in certain communities.

Now it’s time to…

 

• Set your ad delivery

 

 

In this stage, you get to define your;

• Budget – The amount you’re willing to spend on your ad group.
• And budget type – Either a daily or lifetime budget.

Daily budget sets a max spend for each day your ad group runs.

Meanwhile, a lifetime budget sets a max spend over a specified period.

Know that whichever budget type you choose  will make the biggest difference in your total ad spend. 

Once you’re done with your budget, Reddit will ask you to…

 

• Set up your bid strategy 

Bid strategy refers to how you want to bid in ad auctions. Your options are:

• Cost cap – This keeps the average cost of your clicks at or below the cap.
• Lowest cost – This maximizes the number of clicks for your budget.
• Manual bid – This sets one bid for all ad auctions.

After setting your bid strategy, the final step of this stage is to…

 

• Set the ad schedule

 

 

With your schedule, you choose between :

• Run continuously starting that day
• Or set a start and end date

Reddit’s scheduling system also lets you choose the times of the day you’d like your ad to display. After completing these steps, we can finally…

 

4. Set up your ad

 

1. Give it a name

 

 

You know the drill. Give your ad a name and move on to the next step which is…

 

2. Adding your creative 

 

 

First, select the type of post you want to use. 

Here, you have images, videos, carousels, and text as options.

For the best results, you’ll want the help of professional brand photo- and videographers. 

With a partner like Globallyfulfill, you won’t have to use boring stock-like photos ever again. 

Instead, we will help you capture the subtleties and visual appeal of your products, so more often than not viewers engage with your ads. 

Back to the topic, it’s time for step 3 which is…

 

3. Customize your creative

 

 

This is where you:

• Add a title
• Add a card image

 

 

• Add a thumbnail 
• Add a destination URL (where a click takes Redditors)
• Add a display URL (what link Redditors see)
• Add a CTA (call to action), i.e., buy now, view more, etc.
• And allow comments (or don’t)

After adding the necessary, the final step of this stage is to…

 

4. Add trackers for clicks and impressions

 

 

These tools help you track the impressions and clicks your ad gets.

Reddit has a list of approved tracking providers, so find an option suitable for you there. 

After setting trackers, move on to the final stage where you…

 

5. Preview your ad

 

 

Here, you get to preview your ad to see what it will look like when you hit publish.

This is the final stage of creating your ad. So Reddit will ask you to confirm the ad preferences you’ve chosen since you started.

When you’re satisfied, hit publish for your ad to go live.

Now that you’re ready to advertise on Reddit, I’d reckon you also want to learn how to do the same with TikTok. 

For that, look no further than our guide to Using TikTok to advertise your dropshipping company 

 

Final thoughts

 

To sum up, Reddit is an often underestimated advertising platform.

But, with the right strategies, anyone can use Reddit to drive traffic, customer growth, and sales.

Remember what we talked about today? 

To succeed, you must understand your audience. Build trust as a genuine and contributing member. And stay consistent with your Reddit advertising efforts.

Finally, as you begin to see results with your Reddit ads, don’t hesitate to seek the help of a dropshipping agent.

The last thing you want to witness is the customers you’ve fought tooth and nail to get leave because of a poor experience.

To prevent that, Globallyfulfill is here to help you manage all aspects of fulfillment. 

From sourcing to warehousing to packing, labeling, and shipping. All so you can focus on the right things – building your store and promoting your products! Get a free quote today!