Every guide to Reddit for business says the same things: use your own account, say who you are, follow the community's rules, be useful first. It is good advice and hard to apply when a real thread is open in front of you and you want the customer. So here are five realistic posts, the reply most owners write the first time, and a rewrite of each. Each rewrite is a little more patient than the first draft.
The threads are invented but typical. The rules behind them are not: Reddit's own rules ban spam, and each community adds its own, which are posted in the community's sidebar or about page. Read those before you write anywhere. If you want the rules in detail, start with Reddit self-promotion rules: what counts, what to disclose.
Thread 1: "Anyone recommend a bookkeeper? I'm three months behind."
The first draft:
Hey! I run a bookkeeping firm called LedgerLoop and we'd love to help. We have a special offer for new clients this month. Check out ledgerloop.example or DM me!
It has a pitch, an offer and a link, and it answers nothing. It is likely to be removed, and the asker learns nothing.
The rewrite:
Three months is very recoverable. Reconcile the bank feeds first, then sort uncategorized transactions by vendor, since most repeat. Save receipts for anything over a few hundred dollars. Disclosure: I run a bookkeeping practice, so I do this for a living. If you would rather hand it off, I can tell you what that costs, but the steps above will get you most of the way on your own.
What changed: the answer comes first, the disclosure is one plain sentence, there is no link, and the offer is quiet and optional.
Thread 2: "What CRM do you all use for a 4-person roofing company?"
The first draft: a paragraph praising your own product, pretending to be a happy user. This is a move that often gets accounts banned. Posing as a satisfied customer of your own business is deception, and Reddit users spot it fast.
The rewrite:
I make one of these, so weigh that. Honest answer for four people: a spreadsheet plus your phone's calendar is fine until you lose a lead, and the first sign it is time to switch is when someone asks "did we ever quote that guy?" and nobody knows. When you do switch, pick one with a quote template and a mobile app, because you will use it from a truck. Happy to say more about what I would look for if useful.
What changed: it says up front that the writer makes a competing product, gives advice that would apply to any choice, and leaves the product unnamed. Someone who wants the name will ask, and a named answer to a direct question is fine.
Thread 3: A months-old thread that still ranks on Google
Old threads are valuable because search keeps sending readers, but the asker is gone. Reddit closes comments on very old posts, so check that the thread still takes replies before you write.
The first draft: "Great question! Here is what we do at my company..." as though the poster were waiting. It reads as a bot that surfaces old threads.
The rewrite: write for the next reader, not the original poster.
Adding a newer data point, since the prices above are a few months old. Where I work, in 2,000 square foot houses, home energy audits now run $300 to $500, and the ones near $150 are usually a walkthrough without a blower-door test. Ask any auditor whether the test is included. I run an audit company, so weigh that, but the blower-door question works with any of them.
What changed: it adds a number someone can use and a question they can ask, and it says who is writing. The old-thread tactic works when it adds something a reader today needs. See can you reply to old Reddit posts for the mechanics.
Thread 4: A competitor is being criticized in the comments
The post asks for alternatives, and three commenters are complaining about the leader in your category. This is where owners get tempted to pile on.
The first draft: "Yeah, they are terrible. We are way better and half the price."
The rewrite:
Switching is a bigger job than the price difference suggests, so before picking anything, export your data and check you can get all of it back out. For an alternative, think about what you are fixing: if it is price, compare the tiers you would actually use. If it is support, ask each vendor how long a reply takes and judge by the answer. I am from a company in this space, so I will leave it there, but ask me anything about how to compare.
What changed: no attacks, no claims about anyone else's product, and a method the reader keeps whichever vendor they pick. Speaking ill of competitors reads as desperate, and it invites a thread of rebuttals.
Thread 5: "I got my reply removed. What did I do wrong?"
This one is about you. A removal feels personal, but it usually means one of three things: the community bans promotion outright, you broke a specific rule such as no links, or an automatic filter caught a new or low-karma account.
- Read the removal message and the community rules again.
- If it is unclear, message the moderators politely and ask what would be acceptable. Do not repost the same thing.
- If the community bans promotion, accept it and move on to a community that allows what you do. Do not make another account to get around it. A second account made to get around a ban is the fastest way to a permanent one, and Reddit's rules treat ban evasion as a violation, so check the current wording.
If your replies keep being removed, compare them with the rewrites above: probably the answer was thin, a link was present, or the pitch came before the help.
The thread that runs through all five
- The answer works if you delete your name from it.
- The disclosure is one sentence and comes at the point where it matters.
- There is no link in the first reply.
- Nothing is said about anyone else's product that you could not say to their face.
- It is written from your own account, the one with a history, not one made for the purpose.
Where Rocketship fits
Conversations finds the threads and drafts a reply and a short DM in your voice, and the drafts say that you own the business and carry no link. Each one is a starting point, and you should read the thread yourself, because only you know whether the situation matches the draft. You can send each reply yourself from your own account. For those who want a lighter workload, there is Post for me on Launch and up, where the extension posts the best-fitting Reddit replies from your own account within a daily limit you set. It skips communities whose rules ban promotion. We describe what it does and where it stops in a separate article.
If you are still choosing which communities to be in, how to find the right subreddits for your business comes first, and how to write a Reddit reply that does not read like an ad covers the writing. To see Conversations on your own business, read how Conversations works.