I might have been a little late getting started today because I fell down a rabbit hole on Reddit — and let me tell you, it was worth it.
If you’ve never explored Reddit, think of it as a sprawling collection of dinner parties happening all at once. Each “subreddit” is its own table — one might be deep in marketing trends, another swapping cat photos, and a third arguing about the best way to brew coffee. You can learn a lot about human behavior (and marketing) by paying attention to what people are talking about at each table.
To explore what Reddit can teach marketers, I sat down with Flynn Zaiger, CEO of Online Optimism — a marketing agency that knows a thing or two about digital communities, employee culture, and, yes, the occasional office cat.
Conversation Highlights
Reddit as a Listening Tool:
Forget the focus group. Subreddits are where your customers speak freely — unfiltered, passionate, and brutally honest. If you want to know what real people think about your industry or brand, start lurking.
Authenticity Wins Every Time:
Redditors have a built-in radar for fake marketing speak. If your post sounds like an ad, they’ll downvote it into oblivion. The brands that thrive on Reddit are the ones that genuinely engage — answering questions, sharing insights, and adding value to the conversation.
Community Before Conversion:
Flynn reminds us that on Reddit, connection comes before conversion. You build trust by showing up consistently and contributing meaningfully — not by dropping links and vanishing.
Cats Still Rule the Internet:
Yes, we took a short detour to talk about pets in the workplace. Turns out, happy office cats (or dogs) can improve morale and your Reddit karma.
Actionable Takeaways
Listen before you speak.
Spend a week just reading Reddit threads related to your industry. Notice what people are actually complaining about or celebrating.
Be human, not a headline.
When you do engage, drop the corporate voice. Talk like a real person — the way you’d comment on a friend’s post.
Find your people.
There’s a subreddit for nearly every niche. From r/marketing to r/smallbusiness and r/entrepreneur, hang out where your target audience already gathers.
Share useful insights.
Don’t pitch — teach. Share lessons learned, data, or stories. The value you give away becomes the credibility you earn.
Bring that community mindset home.
Whether it’s your internal Slack, your LinkedIn presence, or your podcast audience, think like a community manager — not a broadcaster.
You can find Flynn and his team at OnlineOptimism.com — and if you want to see their agency’s blend of creativity, culture, and data-driven optimism in action, check out their blog or find them on LinkedIn.
