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Ask HN: Self Promotion on Reddit

10 points by corytheboyd ↗ HN
Hey everyone,

If you have a project that you think perfectly fits a niche for which there is an active subreddit and you want to share it there, what do you even do? Every subreddit has fairly draconian rules against self promotion, so I’m curious if anyone here has strategies.

I am NOT trying to sneak around barriers to spam people with bullshit, I don’t even have a product to sell yet. I’m just curious to hear thoughts from anyone who may have succeeded here.

Thanks!

18 comments

[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 48.4 ms ] thread
jaspergilley
This may sound unhelpful, but if you have good enough organic growth somebody may post it in the subreddit (and many other places) without your prompting
corytheboyd
No worries, I’m assuming you don’t have that yet.
code-is-code
Just dump it on reddit like everyone does. Especially projects that do not sell something are mostly welcomed.
corytheboyd
I guess that’s a good enough answer hah. You’re basically rolling the dice, but if you’re honest maybe you won’t get thrown under the bus
quickthrower2
Getting your post removed by a mod.... isn’t really that bad.
cableshaft
I got shadowbanned from the entire site for years for posting a thread in two subreddits about a small indie video game I worked on for six months full time and wanted to share (in r/games and r/indiegaming, I believe).

I didn't even realize until a moderator told me they had manually approving (some of) my comments for the past six months.

I didn't submit many links but I was an active commenter, and had about 1,000 comment karma at the time.

That really sucked.

corytheboyd
Yeah this is the shit I am worried about. Your fate is basically in the hands of moderators, and the mood they happen to be in when reviewing your content...
stazz1
There are 2 kinds of subreddit: novices and oldhats. Oldhats hate being hawked to, but novices really enjoy any info. Ask oldhats what they use and why, what are the pain-points. For novices, offer free info that gently points towards your product. Redditors in general have an aversion to paying for stuff so use it more for knowledge and generating positive buzz by sharing valuable information.
soulchild37
Buy ads and target that subreddit
mooreds
This is a great solution if you budget! I wasn't sure if OP was talking about a passion project.
mooreds
Follow the rules. Provide value beyond your project. Jump in with comments, not just link shares.

Lots of reddits are ok with 10% of your posts being self promotion. But if they aren't, then they aren't.

A community has the right to regulate itself, whether online or offline.

alt-enter
Really great advice, and if you're still wary, send a message to the mods asking if your post is appropriate (granted there is an active mod team).
mooreds
I've definitely asked mods about whether my post was appropriate.

I've also been scolded for "drop in" posts where I didn't respect the community. It wasn't fun. No fun at all.

wmeredith
1) Push marketing: buy ads on that subreddit

2) Pull marketing: add value to that subreddit. Post your content for free. Not a link to the content, but actually add content to the subreddit in the form of quality posts and comments. People who are interested will reach out in the form of DM's.

ysfah
This sub is pretty open to self-promote your own project: https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/

But to you answer question:

I'd avoid self-promoting to a niche sub. You'd be in danger of getting banned immediately without any explanation. Just update your user profile with your project info and comment on each posts in the sub. Be helpful, provide value, and be fun. People will click on your profile for sure and DM you. But this method takes a long time to work and can be pretty draining.

egfx
I have had success with Reddit for my SaaS. Of course it is a GIF application that makes memes so that is a natural fit for a number of communities on Reddit. A standard gif typically gets 5-30k views however there are one or two examples that reached much higher.
jamil7
My iOS app had a lot of success on Reddit but I was careful about how I approached it (don't be sleazy and actually show some interest in the community) and spawned my own small subreddit where I post updates.