Reddit highlights key engagement trends and brand opportunities in the app
Based on interviews with over 2,000 social media users, Reddit sought to find out how people are using social media to connect, and the role that Reddit, in particular, plays in facilitating community engagement. Which also points to opportunities for brands, by tapping into these key notes in alignment with your campaign approaches.
You can download Reddit's full, 13-page 'Find Your People' report via the original article, but in this post, we'll look at some of the key notes. First off, Reddit says that its platform is 'synonymous with community', and outperforms all other apps in the key aspects of community-building and engagement.
"Our participants agree that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok lack both a strong sense of belonging and emotional security (Need Fulfillment). And while Pinterest and Snapchat do offer some emotional security, users don't feel a sense of belonging to a community (Membership)." |
Reddit also helps to facilitate positive engagement through community trends, while the up and downvote process, which is seen as a risky approach by other platforms, actually helps the Reddit community to weed out troublemakers and trolls, by reducing exposure for more divisive opinions. That's as opposed to algorithmic amplification of such to maximize engagement - whatever that 'engagement' might be.
And because subreddit posts and comments are community-moderated en masse, as opposed to being hidden by automated systems or internal restrictions, the decisions on such reflect the consensus of each community, which helps to establish agreed norms and behaviors in each.
The report also suggests that users see Reddit as 'more additive, not addictive'.
"For our study, we asked half of the participants to stop using Reddit for three days. Without access to the communities they look forward to engaging with, users reported feeling isolated from their communities and out of the loop. They wondered what they're missing out on, because Reddit is an important part of their routine and where they turn to stay informed." |
Reddit also notes that its lack of reliance on algorithmic amplification, in favor of human moderation and feedback, democratizes access.
"While what you see on most platforms is unique to your algorithm, on Reddit everyone sees the same content within the subreddits they are a part of, as well as the popular page. Because all redditors have the same access to content, it minimizes the social media silos that tend to become echo chambers." |
And despite its reputation as being hostile to brand approaches, Reddit users are actually open to brands participating in subreddit discussion:
"Reddit users welcome brands into their communities. In fact, redditors want brands to actively participate in their communities and interact with them directly, offering brands the opportunity to cross the bridge from "outside advertiser," to "members of the Reddit community," and make more meaningful connections with their audience." |
But the feedback, overall, shows that brands can benefit from being part of these engaged Reddit groups, if they approach such in the right way.
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