How to Get Started Using Reddit Ads - Things You Need to Know
How to get started using Reddit Ads- Things You Need to Know. If you aren’t using them yet, Reddit ads are a great way to get ahead of your competition running ads in a space that is not yet being dominated by other advertisers.
As Gary Vee said, “Marketers ruin everything.”
We do, let’s face it. So it won’t be long before Reddit’s ad platform is saturated with all kinds of advertisers, but until then, it is a great opportunity to get your ads in front of millions of potential users who aren’t being bombarded by other ads.
Also, one of the things we truly LOVE about Reddit Ads is that their new ad platform gives our creative team plenty of opportunity to flex their creative genius. Reddit offers our team many different types and sizes of advertising vehicles. Each needs to be designed, headlines written, videos produced, photo shoots produced, and testing plans designed.
It’s been a long time since a digital advertising vehicle has given us much chance at all to engage in old school graphic design and direct response copy. Think about Google Ads – the machine pretty much tells you what it is going to write and show, and then it changes it dynamically. Not much creative genius required there – just pay your bill and hope it works out.
But Reddit has given us all a unique chance to truly produce amazing ads and get results for our clients (and ourselves).
But being a Reddit Ads Management Company, we have learned some things we think are helpful to know to get started.
This short guide should help you navigate the early phases of using Reddit Ads and get you the pathway to success.
So let’s get started.
Types of Ads You Can Run on Reddit
The first thing you should know is that there are multiple ad types you can run on Reddit. The main ones most advertisers will focus on are:
#1: Carousel Ads
#2: Text Based Ads
#3: Video Ads
#4: Freeform ads
Carousel Ads
Carousel Ads are basically six “panels” that someone can rotate through.
Each panel can be its own little advertisement. But you get six of them people can scroll through. They look like this:
Carousel ads are great for adding product images, bullet point lists of product features and benefits, and pictures of happy people using your product.
Plus, you get six panels to work from, which gives you six different creative opportunities to capture your potential audience’s attention.
Each carousel ad also gives you the ability to add a CTA button for people to click through to learn more
PRO TIP – Reddit has pre-selected over a dozen CTA’s. You MUST use one of theirs, so don’t bother spending a lot of your copy writing time trying to formulate a unique CTA – you won’t be allowed to use it.
If you’d like to see some carousel ads right now, hit this link to Reddit: https://www.business.reddit.com/advertise/ad-types/carousel-ads
Carousel Ad Sizes Are Listed Below –
These are for Mobile ads, and most Reddit users are on mobile – we suggest going with the portrait size of 1200 x 1500 pixels for your carousel panels. These seem to be the most universal size to us, and make the most sense.
We found that creating these and sizing them in Canva worked extremely well, but of course you can use Adobe In-Design or Illustrator if that is what you are used to working with.
If you aren’t used to working with either, you can get these type of ads designed fairly inexpensively using a freelancer from Upwork.com or another freelance graphic design website. Just make sure you give them the size requirements, your logo, and really good product images.
| Square 1:1 | 1200 x 1200 px | |
| Portrait 4:5 | 1200 x 1500 px | |
| Landscape 4:3 | 1440 x 1080 px | |
| Landscape 16:9 | 1920 x 1080 px |
To See All Reddit Ad Specifications, Click the link below:
https://business.reddithelp.com/s/article/Reddit-Ad-Unit-Specifications
The Best Thing About Reddit Carousel Ads
The Best thing about Reddit Carousel Ads is their beauty. It is a great size and vehicle to really put your advertising creatives to work designing six beautiful panels for your clients.
PRO-TIP – Reddit ads are often going to be “high-funnel” marketing vehicles. So it is important to educate. Tell people about your products. Explain things. Show images of happy people using your products.
DO-NOT think you are going to simply slap a picture of a product up there and get a response from Reddit. Reddit is not the audience you are used to. They value information, not hard sell click bait.
Text Based Ads
Text based ads can be just text, and can appear “in conversation” – but they can also include a picture with text on the picture. They can also include a call to action.
So you are basically going to get a headline, picture, and call to action spot.
And because of the many sizes you can choose from, a text based ad could basically be thought of as a single panel from a carousel ad (as opposed to six).
Reddit Video Ads
Reddit Video ads are just as you imagine they would be – you can embed a product video into an ad, and as users scroll past it, the ad starts playing.
The most important thing to know about Video ads is their size limitations (see below for size requirements) and that they should not exceed 60 seconds in length.
They can be a little longer, but Reddit’s best practices suggest that they be no more than 60 seconds long, and from our experience with the way algorithms are approaching video, 60 seconds should be the max you aim for
PRO- TIP FOR BIDDING
Reddit has two bidding options for video based ads – pay per x-number of views or pay per click. You are allowed a CTA button to link to a website, landing page, or wherever you want to link to, so if you are using a CTA button, the cost per click bidding strategy makes more sense.
But if you are just aiming for more top-of-funnel awareness advertising, then you can get a lot of mileage our of pay per view.
Sample of a Reddit Video Ad
Reddit Freeform Ads
Reddit Freeform ads are really long ads – like, REALLY LONG.
They allow up to 40,000 characters of content interspersed with multiple meme’s and videos.
So you could have a long paragraph, then a video, then another long paragraph, and then another video, and then another paragraph and then a meme and then more text and more videos or video clips.
If you were launching some new product that you needed to tell people a lot about, this freeform ad would be great for that.
Sample of a Reddit Freeform Ad
Conclusion - Getting Started Using Reddit Ads
If you are just getting started using Reddit ads, the best thing you can do is focus on getting together good images, good video, and good content about your products or services.
You are going to need to be able to write compelling headlines and long form body copy.
You are going to want to test different ad types, different headlines, and different call to action to see what grabs people and what doesn’t.
Remember, the most important thing is to add value. Add something to the conversation. People love to learn. They love to problem solve. They don’t love to be sold.
So focus on what you want to say and how your product or service solves people’s problems.
Educate people in-depth about what you do and why it should matter to them.
If you do that, you may reap the rewards of using Reddit Ads.
There is more you can learn. Reddit gives you lots of tools and opportunities to educate yourself. You can even do a Reddit certification course which we highly recommend.
There is also Reddit Pro – a analytics dashboard that will help you choose audiences from within Reddit.
Here is a link – this is your reward for reading the whole article:
Sample of a Reddit Freeform Ad
To See All Reddit Video Ad Specifications, Click the link below:
https://business.reddithelp.com/s/article/Reddit-Ad-Unit-Specifications
Reddit Freeform Ad Sizes
I have included a link above about ad sizes, but here are the most important things people probably need to know:
A freeform ad on Reddit can incorporate text, photos, videos, and meme’s – each of those elements must conform to the size requirements for all other Reddit ad types.
As an example, if you want a video in your freeform ad, then it will need to meet the same size requirements as a video ad placement. Photos, same thing.
How to Use Reddit Freeform Ads
Freeform Ads are going to be best used to put out a great deal of information. Which is great. People like to learn things. Just make sure it is focused around education and adding value rather than trying to make one great big long sales pitch.
Remember, it is no effort at all for a user on Reddit to scroll right on past your long form content ad. No work at all. They just keep on scrolling.
