9 Reddit advertising mistakes that waste your budget
When a company tells us "we tried Reddit and it did not work", the cause is almost always on this list. None of these mistakes is exotic. All of them are avoidable.
1. Recycling ads from other platforms
The polished creative that performs on LinkedIn or Facebook looks like an intruder on Reddit. People scroll past it without thinking.
Fix: write new ad copy for Reddit, in the plain voice of the community you are addressing.
2. Targeting too broadly
Selecting huge general communities or wide interest categories gives impressive reach and weak results.
Fix: begin with a handful of focused communities where your buyers actually talk. Our targeting guide explains how to choose them.
3. Launching without tracking
Without the Reddit Pixel and conversion events you cannot tell a good click from a wasted one, and neither can Reddit's optimisation.
Fix: set up and test tracking before the first ad goes live.
4. Sending clicks to the homepage
A specific ad that leads to a generic page breaks the thread of interest. Visitors leave.
Fix: send each ad to a page that continues the same message. This alone often lifts the conversion rate more than any change to the ad.
5. Judging too early
Pausing a campaign after three days, or after fifty clicks, is deciding on noise.
Fix: set a proper test budget and give it four to six weeks.
6. Judging too late
The opposite error: letting a clearly failing ad group run for months because nobody is watching.
Fix: agree stop rules in advance, and review the account weekly.
7. Never refreshing the creative
Communities are finite, so the same people see the ad again and again. Click-through rate declines and costs creep up.
Fix: rotate in new versions every few weeks.
8. Opening comments with nobody to answer
An ad with comments on and no one replying is an open microphone for anyone with a grievance.
Fix: start with comments off, or make sure a capable person is watching the threads.
9. Advertising a product that does not fit
This is the most expensive mistake and the hardest to admit. Some products have no audience on Reddit, and some offers cannot survive a sceptical crowd.
Fix: find out before spending. Our article on when not to advertise on Reddit lists the warning signs.
The pattern behind all nine
Each mistake comes from treating Reddit as just another ad platform. It is a set of communities that happen to accept advertising. Companies that respect that difference do well. Companies that ignore it conclude that "Reddit does not work".
How we keep clients out of these traps
Team of Monkeys was built by longtime redditors, so most of this list is instinct for us. Before launch we check the fit, the tracking, the landing page and the copy. After launch we watch the numbers weekly and move budget on evidence.
That process is why the campaigns we run deliver click-through and conversion rates that lead the industry, across multiple industries.
It also means we catch mistake number nine before it costs you anything. If we do not think your product will succeed on Reddit, we will tell you before you spend any money. Our goal is repeat business, and we know you will only come back if you are consistently happy with the results.
Common questions
Why are my Reddit ads not working?
Check three things first: whether the audience is too broad, whether the ad sounds like corporate marketing, and whether conversions are being tracked correctly. Most struggling accounts have at least two of these problems.
Can a failing Reddit campaign be fixed?
Usually, if the product fits the platform. Tightening the targeting, rewriting the copy and fixing the landing page turn around most accounts. If the product does not fit, no amount of tuning will help, and it is better to move the budget elsewhere.
Want to know if Reddit will work for your product?
Team of Monkeys is a Reddit advertising agency that plans, writes, launches and manages campaigns with click-through and conversion rates that lead the industry, across many industries. If we do not think your product will succeed on Reddit, we will tell you before you spend any money. Our goal is repeat business, and we only earn that when you are consistently happy with the results. See our simple pricing or book a 30 minute call.