Stop Trying So Hard to Promote on Reddit

The Paradox

When I first started with Reddit promotion, I’d dutifully read through posts people had made asking for advice on some of the weight gain and fitness subreddits. I’d read through the responses, and take the time to write out a well thought out, encouraging response.

These comments were usually well received, but also I could sense they were of limited value as far as promotion went. Few people would see my comment unless the post was brand new and interesting to them. Worse yet, posters would often get their answer and delete the entire post or the post would get taken down by a mod soon after I wrote my detailed comment.

The payoff just wasn’t there for the time it took to read through multiple posts and comments, then write my own. I decided that making my own posts was a much better route. After all, why answer the same questions about calorie tracking over and over when I could just write up a nice and detailed post that explained everything people might need to know?

I got busy writing out an extensive guide on a fitness subject that often concerns people in their 40s and 50s. I created a nice header image for the post, in the correct aspect ratio, with bright and engaging colors. I was excited to post it, this was far better than most of the stuff I saw being posted. So I posted it… And nothing happened.

I was slightly confused as I refreshed the post over and over, trying to figure out where all the missing upvotes were. It briefly jumped to 4 upvotes, then went to zero and stayed there with no comments.

Well, OK fine. This one didn’t resonate for some reason, let’s just try again. I doubled my efforts, spending over 4 hours crafting a beautifully written, engaging post about another fitness subject, along with a nice, properly formatted header graphic. I posted it with confidence on another subreddit… And I was quickly perma-banned.

I blamed it on a disgruntled mod and went and posted my beautiful post on another similar subreddit instead. The post was held for review for a few hours, then was removed and I was perma-banned again, this time with a nasty message from the mod accusing me of being an AI. All this hard work was backfiring, but I slowly began to realize what was going on.

The Reality

So why the heck were my posts on Reddit being removed? I wasn’t doing any of the obvious red flags. I wasn’t posting direct links, begging for subscriptions, overtly advertising, or even mentioning that I had a brand at all really. Yet the posts were either just being ignored, or outright banned with hostility.

Eventually I had a helpful discussion with a mod who didn’t ban me, in regards to one of my high effort posts. The posts, it turns out, were just too darn good. They were too extensive, too well thought out, and too well formatted. The fact that I spent four hours creating the best possible post wasn’t a positive thing, it was actually a huge red flag to both the mods and readers.

The mods on Reddit are honestly a pretty jaded bunch. It’s an unpaid, mostly thankless job to spend hours a day sifting through spam, duplicate posts, and a constant drivel of AI slop. Readers on Reddit are also, for the most part, hyper-sensitive to being marketed to. Readers are used to seeing hundreds of low effort, poorly written posts from younger people and people who don’t speak English as their native language. When a high quality, professionally written post shows up on their sub, the mistrust is immediate. The readers think, “No one would take this much time to write something so detailed, so it’s either AI, or someone wants something from me.”

The Proof

After that, I mostly swore off trying too hard with Reddit, and honestly that’s when things actually started to work out. I’d still throw in a comment here and there, but I was no longer putting hours into it each week. I cleaned up my profile picture and bio to make them much less aggressive in their marketing, just more about me and my journey personally, and this seemed to resonate with people.

I came across a photo of an old PC game, King’s Quest IV, and chuckled. I remembered in the late 80s and early 90s, right before CD drives became common, games coming on like 10 or more floppy disks and I hadn’t thought about it in years. On a whim, I cropped the photo to a 2000×1600 aspect ratio for Reddit, brightened the colors up a bit, and posted it to /r/nostalgia with a quick paragraph talking about those floppy disk years of PC gaming.

Half expecting to get banned again, I was surprised when the post actually took off. People embraced the post and began to comment and trade stories about the struggles of disk swapping, bad disks, and their various favorite games from that era. It was an enjoyable experience and I made sure to follow up in the comments and participate in the conversation.

I hadn’t tried to market to anyone, force anyone to engage, or involve my brand in any way. I simply had a link to my website and YouTube page in my bio and left it at that. Now here I was with a post that had 27,000 views, 350 upvotes, and 37 comments, and it took me all of five minutes to post!

The Framework

Let’s break down some of the different things I’ve learned from my time using Reddit. Perhaps some of these points can help you if you’re struggling as well:

• DON’T try and promote directly on Reddit. Unless it’s just a low quality link dumping sub, readers and mods are hyper sensitive to any kind of self-promotion whatsoever.

• DON’T ask for subscribers, followers, or views for your channel. This will usually result in hostility or outright bans. Even mentioning in comments that you have a brand or a channel is often frowned upon.

• DON’T go over the top with the effort put into the content you post. This will be met with suspicion of ulterior motives or be met with accusations of using AI.

• DON’T use AI to write your posts or comments. Reddit for the most part, hates AI generated content and will act swiftly to ban if they think you are trying to pass off AI content as your own.

• DO consider using your own picture as your avatar, rather than corporate logos or product pictures. This generates huge trust with the Reddit community and allows them to feel like they are interacting with a real person rather than a marketing company. You can blur your face slightly if you need to.

• DO read each subreddit’s rules thoroughly before attempting to post anything. Formatting your post properly and following the rules will give your post a far higher chance of being approved.

• DO create a nice personal bio with some text and a custom banner. Keep it from sounding like a sales pitch. Simply drop your links in your bio and let people discover them as they interact with you and find value.

• DO contribute to the community. You’re not there to sell people something, you’re there to interact with people as a real person and provide value. The readers who are interested will naturally visit your bio and explore further.

The Takeaway

So drop the high pressure marketing and become a valued, contributing member of the subreddits you participate in. The profile/bio views and channel clicks will follow naturally. Your insightful posts and comments will act as a passive funnel to your profile and then to your brand. You can promote yourself on Reddit if you do it strategically. Since Reddit as a whole despises self-promotion and anything readers feel is inauthentic, the lesson is be authentic!