0:03 showing up. This is awesome. Um, I'll
0:05 just do a little quick introduction to
0:09 myself before we get kicked off. Um, so I'm
0:11 I'm
0:14 the um, community manager for the UK at
0:17 Reddit. Um, so I spend a lot of my time
0:19 talking to the wonderful people who use
0:23 our platform and make the communities on
0:26 uh, Reddit fantastic and inspiring and
0:29 exciting to be a part of. um because
0:32 Reddit really isn't anything without the
0:36 communities that that make it up. Um so
0:39 I'm going to talk you through um how to
0:41 kind of engage with communities on
0:44 Reddit, how to um kind of bring a brand
0:47 presence to Reddit as well and um you
0:50 know have a an impact that uh helps
0:54 drive like visibility um and um like
0:56 high sentiment for your brand on the
0:59 platform as well. So, I'll share my
1:02 screen quickly.
1:05 There we go. Um, you can see that. All right.
1:07 right.
1:10 Fabulous. Thank you for the thumbs.
1:12 Um, I just need to make sure I have my
1:15 chat open as well. There we go. Fabulous.
1:16 Fabulous.
1:19 So, I realized this morning that I
1:20 haven't actually timed myself talking
1:23 through this. So, we're we're just going
1:25 to get going and we'll see where it
1:26 takes us.
1:29 Um, but yeah, so like I said, I'm going
1:31 to talk you through how to use Reddit to
1:34 get results for your for your brand. So,
1:35 it's about community building. It's
1:38 about authentic brand presence on the platform.
1:46 Perfect. So, community is really the
1:49 place where like diehard fans hang out.
1:52 So, they're often hard to kind of become
1:54 a part of. You know, they're linked to
1:57 loyalty schemes. um memberships or they
2:00 just require more than like a few clicks
2:03 to, you know, reach them. And often
2:04 people don't find that particularly reasonable.
2:06 reasonable.
2:08 They're great places for surprise and
2:11 delighting members and making them feel
2:13 really special, but it's rarely a great
2:16 way to sort of reach a new audience.
2:18 It's it's a little lower in the funnel
2:20 for for most brands.
2:23 Social media on the other hand um is
2:25 kind of hard to meaningfully call
2:28 community in my opinion. Um so sharing
2:30 content on socials is a great way to get
2:33 the word out but it's often tough for
2:35 people to have this true dialogue with
2:38 followers. Um and it's even tougher to
2:42 facilitate like sharing with each other.
2:44 I think uh the the posts that you've
2:46 been doing, Millia, are a great way of
2:48 like actually managing to like wrangle
2:51 social media into something that
2:54 resembles community, but it is it it
2:56 takes a lot of finesse to be able to do
2:59 that. Reddit instead really works to
3:01 kind of bridge that gap between social
3:05 media and community spaces. So on
3:07 Reddit, communities are easily
3:10 discoverable and uh shared with users
3:12 that might be interested in the topic.
3:15 Um but the subreddits themselves are all
3:17 about that two-way communication.
3:19 So users don't expect this kind of
3:22 perfectly curated feed of images created
3:25 by community managers. Instead, they
3:27 want engaging conversations with other
3:31 enthusiasts on the topic. And although
3:34 that's powerful, I totally understand
3:36 that it can also feel like a risk if you
3:39 don't know how to effectively manage a
3:41 community on Reddit. And it can look a
3:43 little complicated compared to a lot of
3:47 other social media platforms. So,
3:48 So,
3:51 I don't need to tell you guys how
3:53 powerful community can be. You're here.
3:55 You obviously understand that. Um, but
3:58 as Reddit's membership grows, um, and
4:00 we've actually now overtaken, uh,
4:03 Twitter or X or whatever you want to
4:06 call it nowadays, um, as the fifth most
4:09 popular, uh, social platform in the UK.
4:12 So, it's coming up in more and more
4:15 conversations. People recognize that
4:17 Reddit is kind of community first and
4:20 can be a powerful tool. Um, but knowing
4:22 that it's valuable and knowing how to
4:26 use it are two very different things.
4:29 So, the reality is that often when
4:32 community professionals or or brands
4:34 join Reddit, they come in with the wrong
4:38 expectations and it can often make your
4:40 job a lot harder. It leads to missteps.
4:43 I can't tell you how many people a day I
4:46 deal with who are from brands who have
4:49 managed to get themselves shadowbanned.
4:52 Um, so you know that that's on us
4:55 though. You know, we need to do more to
4:57 explain what makes Reddit communities
5:00 tick, how to work with them in a way
5:03 that actually lands. So, that's what
5:05 today's about. Um, I want to give you
5:07 the tools and the insights to get the
5:10 most out of Reddit and connect with
5:15 communities in a way that truly works.
5:18 So, how you can engage with community on
5:20 Reddit, there's two ways that you can
5:23 really use to organically grow your
5:25 presence on Reddit.
5:27 So you can either start your own
5:30 community or you can interact with other
5:33 communities. Simple.
5:35 Um so I'm going to be talking through
5:37 both of these things and kind of how you
5:44 Yeah, you're you're very right, uh
5:46 Nancy. Like I spend a lot of time
5:49 working with mods uh to fight bots and
5:51 and really make sure Reddit stays clear
5:53 of them.
5:56 So the the big thing that makes Reddit
5:58 really really special is our moderators
6:01 or mods as we more colloquially call
6:04 them. So they're Redditors who um create
6:07 communities or join existing communities
6:09 and help ensure that they're fun and
6:12 interesting and well organized places to
6:15 discuss and share content. I think a lot
6:18 of people misunderstand like what a mod
6:20 is and how they work. um you know,
6:23 they're not the owners of a subreddit.
6:25 They don't control everything that
6:28 happens on there, but they are stewards
6:30 who make sure that things stay like safe
6:35 on topic. Um and I think a lot of people
6:36 kind of when they're trying to engage
6:40 with communities, um don't know how to
6:43 work with or deal with mods. Um so
6:45 there's a number of things that mods can
6:47 do. So they can create the look and feel
6:49 of the community. They can invite people
6:53 to join. They can um do fun things like
6:56 create user flares or um like create
6:59 certain types of mega threads or posts.
7:02 Um but then they're also important for
7:05 safety. So they can remove or approve
7:07 posts or comments. Um they can ban
7:09 spammers and other Redditors who might
7:13 be breaking community rules. Um and they
7:15 set the rules as well and they enforce
7:17 posting and commenting guidelines. And
7:20 as Reddit, the only thing that we
7:21 require for them is to keep their
7:25 community well-managed and to have like
7:28 their expectations clearly laid out. Um,
7:31 so if they decide that they don't like
7:33 the way that someone is posting, they
7:35 can they can ban them and and we have no
7:37 say in this. We don't step in and say,
7:40 "Oh, this is an important brand. Like,
7:43 maybe be nice to them." No, like they
7:44 get to set the terms and conditions of
7:46 their communities and and that's very
7:49 important to us. But there are a number
7:51 of things that they can't do. They can't
7:54 see an individual list of subscribers to
7:56 the community. Um sometimes we get
7:58 brands who reach out to us and say, I
8:00 want to know who's in my community. I
8:02 want to know their demographics. Um and
8:05 to understand more about them. Um and we
8:08 will say no because Reddit is so much
8:11 about anonymity or pseudonymity.
8:14 Um so it's not the best place to come
8:17 kind of um on a a data factf finding
8:20 mission to get demographic data. Um it's
8:22 more about this sort of like uh
8:25 qualitative interactions and sentiment. Um
8:27 Um
8:30 they um also kind of can't know these
8:32 like granular things like who voted on
8:34 things in the community, who reported on
8:36 things with the community all for the
8:39 same sorts of reasons.
8:42 So now we know a bit more about mods. I
8:46 want to talk to you about um how to like
8:48 create a community. What the good thing
8:52 about creating a community is. Um, so
8:55 Reddit has gotten more and more popular
8:58 recently for, like you said, going for
9:01 real advice, getting feedback on brands.
9:04 Um, getting like, I want to buy a new
9:06 set of headphones, so I'm going to go to
9:09 r/ headphones and ask if somebody has
9:11 like feedback on the brand that I'm
9:13 looking at. It's become extremely
9:16 important for conversations about brands
9:20 and trusted conversations as well. Um,
9:22 it's also becoming more and more popular
9:26 in SEO. Um, Google answers, the AI
9:28 answers are often pulling from
9:31 conversations in Reddit. So, you know,
9:35 if you are able to kind of not control
9:38 the space, but you know, like have some
9:41 sway over the space, speak directly to
9:42 the people who are writing these
9:46 reviews. um you know you're able to
9:48 gather a lot of feedback but you're also
9:51 able to like shape the presence of your
9:54 brand on the platform and then you know
9:57 those uh like great interactions will
10:02 fuel uh the AI answers um so it's great
10:05 for visibility for trust for a brand um
10:06 you know like you said you're more
10:10 likely to go to Reddit to ask about um
10:12 the actual feedback and the actual
10:14 reviews from people than you are to go
10:16 to Instagram and see posts by
10:18 influencers who may or may not have been
10:20 sponsored and disclosed it. You know
10:22 what I mean?
10:24 So, we have loads of different community
10:26 types on Reddit. We have things like
10:28 support and discussion communities. So
10:32 something like r/starling bank UK is a
10:34 great place for people to come together
10:36 and share their experiences, share
10:39 company offers, how they managed to get
10:41 great deals um or brilliant customer
10:44 service they've received. Um some of
10:47 them are more passion based. So
10:50 something like um r/airfix is a lot of
10:52 like model creators coming together over
10:55 a specific brand of models um and they
10:57 get to nerd out about the products and
10:59 the media and you'd be surprised like
11:03 what people nerd out about in um Reddit
11:05 communities like some of them are super
11:07 niche it's incredible
11:09 there's a lot of learning communities so
11:12 communities of practice like uh
11:15 r/personal finance where there is like
11:18 huge amounts of knowledge shared on the
11:21 um subreddit hosted Wikipedias
11:24 um that you know teach people about how
11:26 to manage their finances and provide
11:28 support to them when they have questions
11:32 about what to do next. Um oh yeah, frogs
11:35 with hats is great. I really like um
11:38 what is it? R/fat squirrels or
11:40 something. Um no, fat squirrel hate.
11:44 That's my one of my favorite ones. Um,
11:45 it's also good for finding great
11:47 stories. So, you know, if you want to
11:50 find like great UGC moments, um, and
11:54 things like Am I the Um, or you
11:55 know, other like streamers and
11:58 podcasters go there to like find clips,
12:01 um, and like source stuff from their community.
12:04 community.
12:06 So, here are some of the ones that live
12:09 on Reddit at the moment. We have like
12:11 r/revolute which is run by an incredible
12:14 mod who I work with a lot. Um, you know,
12:17 the Revolute itself works with the mod
12:19 team to reach their customers. Um, it's
12:22 an unofficial subreddit, so it's not run
12:24 by the brand. Um, but the brand has a
12:27 great presence in the subreddit. Um, and
12:29 works closely with the team in order to
12:32 provide that extra level of like support
12:35 from the the brand internally. Um, we
12:38 have r/ enter the dungeon, which is a a
12:43 really cool uh video game with 187,000
12:45 uh members. Um, and people will share
12:48 like how they build their um like
12:50 character, how they do their runs in the
12:52 video game, and it's a great place for
12:55 people to just have fun and talk to the
12:58 community around like the product. Um, r/gofundme
13:00 r/gofundme
13:03 is also um a brilliant space. This one's
13:06 company founded, but it's communityrun.
13:08 Um, and people give each other tips on
13:10 how to set up a great GoFundMe. They can
13:12 share ones that they think are
13:14 particularly um good and deserve more
13:18 visibility. Um, so, you know, it's a
13:20 brilliant space to like connect with
13:25 people, but also get help and support.
13:27 Our/Manchester is is really good as
13:30 well. Um we're we're going up to
13:32 Manchester for a mod meetup and uh we've
13:34 been asking them where's best for us to
13:38 go. So nurturing your community is an
13:40 important thing. You can't just set up a
13:42 community and expect people to come. Um
13:44 I think we all know that from social
13:46 media nowadays. Um but it's not as
13:49 difficult or as stressful as it seems.
13:53 Um I think people um you know again are
13:55 a little confused about what the role of
13:58 um someone who sets up a community is.
14:00 So it's actually quite simple. We have
14:03 kind of five key steps which is creating
14:06 and posting content. When you first set
14:08 set up a subreddit the most important
14:10 thing to do is to populate it with
14:13 content. You don't have people there yet
14:15 to discuss and to talk amongst
14:17 themselves. That will come later. But
14:20 first, you need to put in interesting
14:22 content um that sparks discussions and
14:24 gets people thinking about the subject
14:27 of the subreddit. And then once that's
14:29 in there, it can be picked up by the
14:32 popular page, by the people's feeds, and
14:34 be fed to them so that they can find it.
14:36 But if there's no content in the
14:38 community, then there's no reason for
14:39 our kind of like machines in the
14:42 background to do their job.
14:45 Um responding to users is is super
14:48 important. Reddit runs on conversations.
14:51 The more conversations that are in your
14:54 replies, um the more like chat that's
14:56 happening on posts, the more likely it
14:58 is to be surfaced to others. I think
15:01 this is pretty um standard advice across
15:04 most social media platforms. Um but
15:06 making sure that you're really driving
15:08 that that chatter can make people feel
15:11 more uh comfortable to open up and to
15:13 post and to talk on the subreddit, which
15:16 is what it's really all about.
15:18 Um having a team of moderators is
15:21 important as well. Um you know there's
15:23 there's background stuff to be done like
15:25 setting up rules um setting up things
15:29 like automod or um post guidance which
15:32 is all kind of like a little bit crunchy
15:34 stuff that happen has to happen in the
15:35 background and we have tons of articles
15:38 to help people. But sometimes it just
15:40 helps to have a team around you. you
15:43 know, something like a a LinkedIn um
15:47 channel, a Instagram feed, uh you know,
15:49 a Facebook profile. You can't have a a
15:55 group um like actively moderating it. Um
15:56 you know, you can have people helping
15:57 you in the background, but they don't
16:00 live on that profile with you. Whereas
16:02 in a subreddit, you can do it as a team.
16:05 Um, and it's actually really nice to
16:08 have like all of you visible and
16:11 replying and getting involved. Um, so
16:14 that's a brilliant uh highlight of of subreddits.
16:16 subreddits.
16:18 Finding moderators, you could do that in
16:21 a number of way ways. We have um r/ uh
16:24 need a moderator which you can post in.
16:27 Um you can reach out to an admin like
16:28 myself and they can help you find
16:32 moderators. We have a bot which suggests
16:34 people from your community who would be
16:37 a good moderator. He's called Modbot. Um
16:41 and then there's kind of like um hub
16:44 subs called like r/ukods or r/mods
16:47 Brazil which are great places to find
16:50 moderators who are in the same um
16:52 location as you.
16:56 Um so it's also important to like update
16:58 your visuals and your rules as the
17:00 community grows. then like the
17:03 expectations may change. Um things might
17:05 flag up that you didn't realize you had
17:07 to consider before. Um so it's good to
17:10 kind of keep that keep that updated. And
17:13 then collaborating with other mods from
17:15 different communities is also great. You
17:18 know, we have so many subreddits that
17:20 hold like fun joint events or like
17:23 cross-ost each other's content. Um, you
17:27 know, we have r/UK food um likes to like
17:30 host takeovers. So, they do like events
17:33 uh a week every like few months where
17:35 like r/ Ukraine will come in and do like
17:38 a Ukrainian food event. Um, which is
17:40 super super fun and cool and really
17:42 helps boost the visibility of all these
17:48 So, you know, creating and posting
17:51 content is just, like I said, it's all
17:52 about whenever you see something
17:55 relevant to your community, post it.
17:57 Like, it it's not a place that has to be
17:59 super polished and and super finished.
18:02 Like, just get that content in there and
18:04 you'll be surprised what people like
18:07 really latch on to and enjoy in Reddit.
18:09 Uh, it's just about consistency really
18:12 and starting a habit of posting continuously.
18:14 continuously.
18:17 So, good content on Reddit is all about
18:19 being relatable. Um, you know, you want
18:20 people to feel like they're in a group
18:23 of friends. It's it's not about like the
18:24 polished feeds that you might find
18:27 elsewhere. Um, you want to share and
18:30 like that anonymity allows people to
18:32 like open up and talk about their
18:35 stories and situations in a way that a
18:36 lot of other platforms doesn't allow for.
18:38 for.
18:41 Um, Taskmaster here. We're having a
18:42 discussion about how Millie has never
18:46 seen Taskmaster. Um, so shout out in
18:49 this slideshow. Um, but relevant and
18:52 timely posts really helps as well. Um,
18:54 there's a a bit of a kind of news cycle
18:56 that happens on Reddit. People come
18:58 there to get like updates on like fun
19:01 pop culture things that are happening.
19:02 um you know so if there's anything
19:05 that's informative or lets people know
19:07 about what's like occurring in the world
19:10 that's brilliant.
19:13 Uh entertainment is also key. I think
19:15 this is is true across most of the
19:17 internet. People love that sort of
19:19 light-hearted stuff that makes their
19:23 day. Uh memes in jokes um visual media
19:26 especially. Um, but it's also especially
19:29 fun when there's like like jokes that
19:30 have been going on in the community for
19:33 a while um that make people feel like
19:35 they're sort of part of the inroup or
19:38 something bigger.
19:40 Um, and then engagement as well. You
19:43 know, it's important to, like I said,
19:45 get those conversations flowing, get
19:47 people feeling like their input is
19:49 valued. You know, you can do things like
19:52 this kit design contest here, which was
19:56 um in r/O that was super super popular.
19:58 Um calls for questions, caption
20:03 contests, AMAs. Um because like there's
20:05 so little limitation with how someone
20:07 can reply. They can post images. They
20:10 can post videos. Um they can share long
20:12 like sections of text on Reddit. There's
20:14 no character limit. Um it means that you
20:18 can get like really um really involved
20:22 and they can actually um like
20:23 what's the word contribute in a
20:26 meaningful way.
20:29 AMAs is also one of the like best things
20:31 about Reddit like people really expect
20:35 to see AMAs on the platform. Um, and
20:38 they are brilliant for brands because if
20:41 you have someone in a brand or in your
20:43 company that has some like an
20:47 interesting niche job, then 100% Reddit
20:49 is the place to share it. So, you can
20:51 see in the the top right hand corner, I
20:53 know Alex Horn and Pierre Gassley like
20:56 draw attention, but in the top uh right
20:58 hand corner, we have a cheese munger at
21:01 Neil's Yard Dairy. Um, this was posted
21:04 in our/London. It was really popular
21:06 because people like you don't think
21:09 about what a cheesemonger does on a on a
21:11 daily basis. You don't think what like a
21:14 glass blower does or you know like
21:16 someone who cleans hotel rooms for a
21:18 living. Like what is their dayto-day
21:20 like? Like what are those burning
21:22 questions that you've always wanted to
21:24 ask them? And you know, we've had like
21:28 game designers come on. Um, you know,
21:30 like someone who works in like the the
21:33 smallest office in the corner of a bank
21:35 who does a job that nobody's ever heard
21:38 of. Um, and it's like it's super fun to
21:40 hear their insights and what their day
21:44 is like. Um, we also we had one uh
21:47 recently that was um, I just ate a one
21:51 pound u microwave meal. Ask me anything.
21:54 That was my favorite post from the last
21:57 month. Um cuz that went absolutely
22:00 viral. It was really funny.
22:02 I think about cheese mongering more than
22:05 normal. It would have been a perfect uh
22:07 perfect AMA for you.
22:09 Um, so if you don't want to start your
22:12 own community and run loads of events
22:14 and fill it with content, there is, you
22:16 know, tons of ways that you can reach
22:19 your audience on Reddit um, without like
22:22 actually setting up a subreddit as well.
22:25 So creating a brand profile is super
22:27 super easy. So you can see here that we
22:29 have England Rugby and they have a
22:31 little official tag next to them which
22:33 shows users that like this is actually
22:35 the brand. they're speaking directly to
22:39 the company. Um, we verify these people
22:42 as official users. So, you know, the
22:43 users know that they're talking to the
22:46 real deal. So, a brand account really
22:48 allows you to keep um access to like
22:50 activity and conversations even when
22:53 employees leave. You don't want an
22:55 account kind of connected to a single
22:58 employee. Um, so you can set up one of
23:01 these brand accounts.
23:03 Then, you know, so much of it is about
23:06 like engaging with people on the
23:08 platform. You know, if you're if you
23:11 have like um a subreddit that is
23:13 dedicated to something similar to your
23:16 brand or maybe even the brand itself,
23:19 you can head in there, reply to
23:22 questions, um like actually like give
23:24 people updates about fun things that are
23:27 coming up. um and just like kind of get
23:30 into the you know the chats that are
23:32 already happening.
23:35 So a there's no real difference in brand
23:37 account versus personal account breach.
23:40 Um you know they're mostly exactly the
23:42 same thing. They just have that official
23:44 tag. We don't penalize brands for being
23:46 on the platform. But we do work with
23:48 them more closely as admins. So, we'll
23:50 give them extra little information and
23:53 tips and tricks um compared to like a
23:56 user who who's just on there for like
23:58 gaining karma and having a good experience.
24:00 experience.
24:03 We also really really encourage brands
24:06 to work with the mods of the communities
24:09 that they're posting in. Um a lot of
24:11 brands will just kind of like go in and
24:13 be like, "Oh, this is a community that's
24:15 dedicated to something that is to do
24:18 with us. let's just start posting and
24:21 the mods will, you know, we've seen how
24:23 important communities are to mods. Um,
24:25 how much work they have to do, how much
24:27 they've built it from the ground up. You
24:30 know, they will often kind of naturally
24:32 be like, "What is happening? Who is this
24:35 person? Why are they claiming to be this
24:38 company?" If you approach the mods
24:42 first, um, then
24:44 you know, you can actually start working
24:46 with them. they know this community
24:49 inside out. They're, you know, extremely
24:53 um like clued into how the community
24:55 ticks, how it works, um what's exciting
24:58 and interesting to them. So, if you want
25:00 to do brand activations, like the mods
25:04 will often like pitch in, help out. Um,
25:06 even though they're working for free,
25:09 like I've worked with mods who we've run
25:11 like a football community awards that
25:13 spanned over seven weeks worth of work
25:16 with me and the mods like in Discord
25:18 collaborating. Like, they're excited to
25:22 have these fun um brand activations on
25:24 their on their profile. So, they're
25:26 often really excited for you to reach
25:28 out to them and actually work with them
25:30 more meaningfully. So, that will be my
25:32 number one tip of engaging with
25:35 subreddits um is make sure that you
25:37 reach out to and talk to the mods
25:39 because they're they're fabulous people.
25:42 I'm biased, but they're fabulous people.
25:45 So, crossosting is another great way to
25:48 get content out there. Um you know, you
25:50 can find communities that share your
25:52 focus. you know, posting in things like
25:56 r/mov or r/true films um and then post
25:58 them into other communities um by using
26:00 the crossosting function. And that
26:02 really helps to just like get more
26:05 visibility for like the single um like
26:11 So,
26:13 it's really important when you're like
26:16 going into a subreddit and sharing your
26:18 post that you you follow is what we call
26:22 it. Um, so making sure like like I said
26:24 that you um like say a quick hi to the
26:27 mods. You get a feel for the vibe of the
26:29 community. You're open about your goals
26:31 and what you're trying to do because
26:34 mods are very savvy savvy people. So
26:36 they'll see you straight through you if
26:38 you start trying to like advertise in
26:41 their subreddit um without approval or
26:44 permission. Um so you know their input
26:47 can also be super helpful like I said.
26:49 Um, and just check the rules before you
26:51 reach out to them. Um, if you ask them
26:53 to do something and they say no, it's
26:55 rule number two not to do it, it shows
26:57 that you haven't done your research and
26:59 that you're not kind of trying to muddle
27:03 in and and check the vibe, like I said.
27:05 So, we've had some brilliant brand
27:08 moments on Reddit. Um, we actually got
27:10 uh r/O.
27:12 um we found them like a a pot of money
27:15 through our community funds um
27:19 initiative and that enabled them to
27:23 sponsor Reddic the the um football club.
27:26 So Reddic FC is sponsored by R/OTO
27:31 um which is so much fun. Um we also did
27:33 a load of Eurovvision um brand
27:36 activation. So, r/ Eurovvision, the mods
27:39 of that community are fantastic. Um, and
27:42 they we flew them over to the
27:44 Eurovvision Song Contest. Um, they got
27:48 to interview a load of the um like acts
27:51 for the Eurovvision this year and last
27:55 year. Um, and then we posted in those uh
27:57 communities as well. Um, so that was a
27:59 lot of fun and a great way to get brand
28:03 visibility on the platform.
28:05 And um then we also had like a fun
28:08 comedy night on r/casual UK. So we
28:12 worked with agents from um you know like
28:15 comedians and uh invited them onto the
28:18 subreddit to like do standup and answer
28:20 questions. Um it was a lot of kind of
28:24 like AMA crowd work. It was really cool.
28:27 So, we had Jimmy Carr come on um and uh
28:29 like do I don't know, it probably won't
28:40 so yeah, he came on and like did uh like
28:42 an AMA, but it was essentially like
28:44 roasting the questions, talking through
28:46 them, and doing standup based off of
28:49 them. So, that was a lot of fun. And
28:52 like I said, we've done a lot of AMAs.
28:55 um you Tom Carriage um we've had Alex
28:58 Horn on you know just people who have
28:59 come in and talked about their brands
29:01 their personal brands the work that
29:04 they're doing um and these often go down
29:06 extremely well
29:08 so I noticed there were a couple of
29:12 questions um in the chat about like how
29:15 you get kind of account verification um
29:16 if there's anything that you can do to
29:19 like raise your profile on this on uh
29:21 the platform and that is where like
29:25 myself and other admins come in. Um, at
29:27 Reddit, we try to be as like connected
29:29 as possible to the users on the
29:32 platform. So, I have kind of like a a
29:34 spreadsheet with all the mods that I
29:37 talk to, and there are like 1,000 people
29:40 on there. Um, so we try really hard to
29:43 like work with these subreddits to
29:45 really help them grow. And, uh, we have
29:48 a brilliant partnerships manager who
29:51 works directly with brands. Um, I work
29:53 directly with the brands and the mods.
29:54 Um, you know, we're always trying to
29:56 pitch in and facilitate these bridges
29:59 being built. So, if there is anything
30:02 that you need, um, then literally just
30:05 message me on Reddit. Like, my inbox is
30:06 always open. You can message me on
30:10 LinkedIn, too. Um, on Reddit, my
30:13 username is you misdrifter.
30:17 um you have any concerns, thoughts, um
30:19 you just want to chat about Reddit, then
30:23 I'm here. It's my job. I'll always be
30:26 available as your contact. Um so, you
30:28 know, please feel free to reach out. Um
30:31 we also have things like webinars um
30:35 that are hosted um on Zoom. So, this
30:37 sort of thing we do very often. They dig
30:41 down into like deeper topics like how to
30:45 upskill your modding, how to like reach
30:48 um more people on the platform. Um and
30:50 they get together people from like
30:52 gaming community, sports communities. So
30:56 we we love our webinars um on Reddit. Uh
31:00 we also host a lot of meetups. Um, so if
31:01 people are interested in Reddit and want
31:04 to come and find out more, then we do
31:06 these like, you know, at least once a
31:08 year, um, usually two or three times.
31:12 Um, and then we also have r/UK mods. So
31:13 if you're based in the UK and are
31:16 interested in learning about modding or
31:17 finding out more about Reddit in
31:20 general, then you can find us there very easily.
31:21 easily.
31:25 Um, so yeah, that that was my spiel. It
31:26 was actually all right in terms of
31:29 timing, I think, in the end.
31:31 Um, but yeah, happy to take any
31:34 questions and and give answers.
31:36 I would say that you nailed that timing.
31:38 Thank you so much.
31:41 She did. I had one eye on the time.
31:44 Yeah, nailed it. We do um we have a
31:46 couple of questions and if folks have
31:47 any questions, they want to come up and
31:49 raise their hand. You're very welcome to
31:51 as well. Just use the raised hand
31:53 feature at the bottom of the screen. Um,
31:56 but yeah, let me kick off with a few
31:57 questions. Mhm.
32:01 Uh how do you find moderators?
32:05 Um so if you're looking to find if I'm
32:07 looking to find moderators, um what I
32:12 will do is I will um find who is being
32:14 particularly active in a subreddit. And
32:17 I do this one of two ways. Either I put
32:20 out a call on the subreddit and I say,
32:22 "We need moderators. Um please please
32:25 help." Um, and a lot of the time we'll
32:27 we'll get a flood of volunteers for
32:29 people who who really want to help grow
32:32 the space um and keep the space safe.
32:35 Um, that's such a huge part of of my job
32:39 and what I do dayto-day. Um, we can also
32:40 look up, we have a lot of kind of
32:43 dashboards in the background where we
32:46 can look up who is um making reports,
32:50 who is um like trying to like make a lot
32:52 of posts and comments and stuff on the
32:54 subreddit. Um, and often those people,
32:56 even if they've not put their hand up,
32:58 if they're reached out to will be like,
33:00 "Oh, yeah, I never considered modding,
33:02 but like I would like to do it and I do
33:06 care about this community." Um, you can
33:09 do this very easily if you're a um like
33:12 a creator of a a a subreddit as well.
33:14 So, you can in the same way that I have
33:17 done like put out a post saying, "I'd
33:19 like a moderator. here are the
33:21 requirements that I would need for
33:23 someone moderating. Here's what the job
33:25 would entail um and what I need you to
33:29 do. Um but then also like I said, you
33:32 can use the um the the bot that we have
33:35 to find u moderators. It runs exactly
33:37 the same information that I get on the
33:39 back end. Um it just doesn't give you
33:42 all of the like data and details. It
33:44 just kind of spits out the names for
33:46 you. Um, but if you want any help
33:49 finding moderators, again, send me a
33:51 chat message and say, "I need some
33:54 moderators. Help me." Um, and I'll go
33:56 and do it for you.
33:59 Will do. We'll do. I'm taking that offer
34:04 very literally. Um, can we build bots
34:05 for Reddit as well? Wondering if there
34:08 is a marketplace for tools?
34:11 Yes. So, um, we do. It's called the
34:14 Reddit developer platform. Um, so it's
34:16 very easy to find if you just Google
34:19 Reddit developer platform. Um, or I can
34:22 post the I mean etch you might just be
34:25 able to find it by uh by googling that.
34:29 Um, on there is a ton of tools that are
34:31 built by our incredible like developers
34:34 and they are Reddit users as well. Um,
34:38 so we have moderators who um build bots
34:41 like um um like ones that can ban
34:43 accounts that have been flagged for
34:46 spammy activities. Um we have a really
34:48 cool one called community home which
34:50 allows you to host loads of like cool
34:52 resources in like a fun and eye-catching
34:56 way um at the top of your community. Uh
34:57 we have one which is a ticket
35:00 marketplace um which can help you sell
35:04 like um like football tickets, season
35:06 tickets, that sort of thing or even like
35:10 theater tickets. Um I think Oasis um r/
35:12 Oasis used it recently, r/ coalplay used
35:15 it recently because of their um ticket
35:17 reselling stuff that was happening on on
35:20 the subreddit. Um but you can also build
35:24 your own bots. Um it's currently uses
35:27 node. Um I believe I'm not a developer
35:30 myself so sometimes things wash over me
35:31 when people talk about the developer
35:34 platform but yeah it currently uses
35:36 node. Um so if you know that programming
35:39 language that's great but we are also
35:42 working on um a way to make it a little
35:45 bit simpler for people who don't have a
35:47 coding background so that they can kind
35:49 of just build it with with boxes. I
35:51 don't know what the real term is but you
35:53 know you just you put the boxes and you
35:55 create a workflow. Um, so yeah, we're
35:57 currently working on making it more
35:59 accessible, but the the whizes over on
36:02 the the developers team are are hard at
36:04 work on that.
36:07 That's super helpful. To kind of set
36:09 expectations, what would be like a
36:11 typical timeline to get a community from
36:14 zero, from just like an idea to the
36:15 point where it's kind of growing and
36:18 maybe even then self-sufficient. M so we
36:20 have a lot of programs internally in
36:23 Reddit to help like take a community
36:26 from zero members um like to the moon
36:30 essentially. Um so um it depends really
36:33 on the input that you're like willing to
36:36 put into the community if you're able to
36:39 post kind of like daily and like commit
36:41 to answering questions. We have
36:45 subreddits that um have had zero members
36:48 and we've taken to a thousand is kind of
36:51 like the the hardest hurdle um and then
36:54 up to we've now got one that's hit
36:58 30,000 members and it was started in
37:02 May. So because they were posting and
37:05 then like we helped them kind of like we
37:06 tweaked some things in the background to
37:08 like give them a little bit of extra
37:10 visibility. um provided a lot of
37:14 resources to the mod to to help like um
37:16 like accelerate the process. But you
37:18 know, the one that I'm thinking of, it
37:21 was a a Cambridge University student who
37:23 started a subreddit about Chinese
37:26 architecture um because they study um
37:28 art history and architecture.
37:30 Um there were, you know, they didn't
37:33 have any like brand recognition,
37:35 anything helping them in the background.
37:36 uh they just started up this niche
37:38 community where they shared pictures of
37:41 Chinese architecture um and that got to
37:44 to 30,000 members in in a couple two
37:46 three months. So yeah, it it's
37:48 definitely doable if if there's an
37:52 interest for it and um you know you can
37:56 commit to to posting and and commenting.
37:58 Fantastic. A question a little more on
38:01 um personal brand if we want to get
38:02 better. So it says, "What's the
38:04 recommendation to raise our personal
38:05 brands if we want to get better on
38:07 thought leadership or be like a creator?"
38:09 creator?"
38:11 I think the most important thing is to
38:14 put yourself in subreddits where your um
38:17 information is helpful. Um so we
38:18 definitely have people who are less
38:22 anonymous um and like share their
38:25 thoughts and opinions on um Reddit. So
38:27 you know things like there's a lot of
38:29 places where people will ask questions
38:31 about like how they go about doing
38:35 things. So um without knowing exactly
38:37 like what the thought leadership is like
38:40 for example we have our UK personal
38:41 finance where a lot of people who work
38:44 in personal finance and banking will
38:46 answer questions and give people
38:48 guidance and help. We have r/ legal
38:51 advice um where people will go in and
38:54 and if they have a background in law and
38:55 an understanding of how things work,
38:58 they can answer questions from people
38:59 and these people gather quite a
39:01 following because they're known as
39:04 trusted and helpful. Um it can even be
39:06 something as niche as like r/skilled
39:10 worker visa UK. Um where people will go
39:12 in and and talk to you about how you go
39:15 through that process. Um, so there's a
39:17 lot of kind of professional communities.
39:20 We have like r/d doctors UK, which is
39:23 actually where the junior doctor strikes
39:25 from a few years ago were planned. They
39:28 were planned on Reddit. Um, and people
39:31 like kind of gain more professional um,
39:34 like sway. They gain more professional
39:37 like kudos by getting involved in those
39:40 conversations and helping to plan. Um,
39:41 you know, we have one mod of that
39:44 community. He's a a neuroscientist who
39:46 is now moving more into the sort of
39:50 political side of um of doctors. My my
39:53 dad was a kind of political doctor um
39:56 and yeah has definitely raised his
39:59 profile um in the community by like
40:01 leading some of these conversations on
40:13 Hi, I'm Aen. This I've been very excited
40:17 to join this uh master class because I
40:19 have been a lurker for all my life
40:22 maybe. Yeah, pretty much. But I haven't
40:25 figured out how to properly contribute.
40:28 So, I now have a startup and a friend of
40:29 mine who has a startup, she's doing
40:31 really well actually, like she's quite
40:33 um she's an influencer, but she recently
40:35 got banned because when she was trying
40:38 to answer questions, it was her product.
40:40 I mean naturally like we want to sell
40:42 our our product but how do you build
40:44 kind of like that relationship and then
40:48 also be able to market your brand as an answer?
40:49 answer?
40:53 Mhm. So like I said in the presentation
40:55 like making sure that you reach out to
40:57 mods and you just have like a quick chat
41:00 with them can go like a super long way
41:02 to making sure that you don't get banned
41:05 on that specific subreddit. In terms of
41:08 Reddit as a whole, um we do sometimes
41:13 find that our spam um like bot is a
41:17 little overeager sometimes. Um so can
41:19 kind of like um bam people because
41:22 they've like shown signs of being
41:24 spammy. And a lot of times when when
41:26 brands or um individuals who are u
41:28 marketing their services come onto
41:30 Reddit, they'll they'll post something
41:32 similar repeatedly or the same link
41:35 repeatedly. Um and that might trigger
41:38 the uh our spam bot called Spamari. Um
41:42 in that case, just reach out to me. Um
41:44 we have a a system where I can just flag
41:47 that um the bots's been over eager um
41:51 and yeah um and that that needs to be
41:54 fixed. Um, so I just file a ticket um,
41:55 and it will get looked at in a in a
41:58 couple of days. Um, and as long as it's
42:00 not like, oh, this is actually a spam
42:02 bot, which it won't be if I've been
42:05 reached out to. So, but pretty much 99%
42:06 of the time I can just get someone
42:09 unbanned. So, it's not a problem.
42:11 Thank you. That's this is great.
42:19 Awesome question. Uh, one of our one of
42:21 our audience asked, "What is the Reddit
42:24 karma system about? How does that work?"
42:27 So, karma is pretty much um like an
42:32 indicator of how much people how
42:35 how
42:42 if people like your answer and agree
42:44 with your answer, if you are uncontroversial
42:46 uncontroversial
42:48 um and provide like good advice and
42:51 helpful advice, then you get karma for
42:54 that. So essentially, if your comments
42:57 or posts are upvoted um you will then
42:59 get a a small amount of karma. So if you
43:02 see someone with like a million karma,
43:06 which has happened, then it means that
43:08 their content is just like crazy
43:11 upvoted. People love it. Um, and a lot
43:13 of time people try to gather karma in
43:16 order to show that like their account is
43:20 loved and appreciated and respected. Um,
43:22 it's a great way to like judge how long
43:25 someone's been on a platform like
43:27 actually physically. You can see
43:29 someone's like account age. you can be
43:32 like, "Oh, it's 16 years old, but it has
43:35 1,000 karma." So, they probably aren't
43:37 actually on Reddit that much. They're
43:39 probably more of a lurker. They're not
43:41 getting involved. They're not answering
43:43 questions. Um, so they have a low karma
43:47 score. Um, we also find that if people
43:49 are downvoted a lot, they will then get
43:53 a negative karma score as well. Um, so
43:56 you'd sometimes see people with like -60
43:57 karma or something because they've
43:59 posted something and people don't like
44:04 it, so they downvote it. Um, it's it is
44:06 I would say more of a metric of like
44:08 being uncontroversial. Um, because if
44:11 you say something that like maybe stirs
44:13 up half of the audience and then you
44:15 know half people like it, then you'll
44:17 end up with like a balanced karma score.
44:20 Um, and it won't be creeping up. Um, but
44:22 if you say things that people like and
44:24 enjoy and you give helpful advice, um,
44:27 then you should see your karma raise.
44:31 Um, I think it's a a good way to kind of
44:33 judge like again thought leadership um,
44:37 and if you've been helpful and um, like
44:39 people who are on Reddit a lot will
44:42 respect a karma score.
44:45 That's a helpful insight. Uh, can Reddit
44:49 help with SEO and backlink strategies?
44:54 Um, I am not an SEO expert. Um, so I'm
44:55 probably going to be talking very top
44:58 level about this. Um, but essentially,
45:01 um, the way that we work is, um, we have
45:04 a deal with Google. Um, so that's why
45:07 you see a lot of AI answers on Google
45:09 being pulled from Reddit because we give
45:13 them access to our database. Um, so
45:15 because of the amount of access that we
45:18 give them, they do surface Reddit
45:20 responses quite high on on Google at the
45:23 moment. Um, we've seen a little dip in
45:26 that recently. A couple of months ago,
45:29 like every single hit would be Reddit at
45:32 the start. Um, but yeah, they it does
45:35 surface quite heavily. So if there's
45:38 someone talking a lot about a brand on
45:40 Reddit, then those posts will be
45:43 surfaced by Google. Um and then like I
45:47 said pulled into the AI answers. Um so
45:50 we find that that is is really helpful.
45:54 Um, in terms of linking, um, we don't
45:58 actively as Reddit penalize any sort of
46:00 like linking to other products, uh,
46:02 linking to like your website and stuff
46:06 on on the on subreddits. Um, but
46:09 moderators might dislike it. Um,
46:11 moderators are all about kind of
46:16 creating this like um, value exchange.
46:19 um you know this proper um authentic
46:21 human interaction on their subreddits.
46:24 So you know if you're trying to drive
46:25 people elsewhere or not have those
46:28 conversations on the subreddit itself
46:30 they they might kind of frown upon it.
46:33 Um so we always recommend that people
46:36 kind of try and get involved in a as
46:38 human a way as possible. Um and then
46:40 usually that that drives people to kind
46:44 of consider um visiting other sites or
46:46 uh pursuing like your services or products.
46:48 products.
46:52 Amazing. Yeah, invited folks to bring
46:54 your own use case. Feel free to raise
46:56 your hand. If you have a use case that
46:58 you're curious about, um you're very
47:02 welcome to come up and pitch it and get
47:03 questions or get advice and get feedback.
47:05 feedback.
47:07 or if you just have any other questions,
47:09 feel free to raise your hand as well.
47:11 Yeah, so much of what I do is like
47:14 talking to moderators about like their
47:16 individual subreddit and and how we can
47:20 make it better. So, um yeah, I've kind
47:22 of gathered a weird amount of knowledge
47:29 Awesome. Well, I can see that Edger has
47:32 dropped a bunch of uh links. So, if any
47:34 questions pop up, I'm sure as Immigran
47:36 said, you can just reach out and
47:39 hopefully get those answers. Um, but I
47:40 think we'll we'll wrap it up. We're
47:42 nearly at the top of the hour. Uh, we've
47:44 just posted a LinkedIn post. And if you
47:46 want to come and meet everyone that's on
47:48 this chat, click that link. It's just a
47:51 final link in the chat. And come and
47:53 meet and connect and let us know what
47:56 you took away from this uh session. And
47:57 thank you so much for coming and
47:59 imagining thank you so much for your
48:00 time this
48:02 Thank you for having me.
48:04 Awesome. Have a wonderful day everyone.
48:05 Day, evening.
48:08 Thank everyone. See you in the last session.
48:10 session. Bye.
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