The 9 Reddit KPIs You Should Be Tracking

Considering jumping into the exciting and unpredictable world of Reddit marketing? It's a fantastic opportunity to grow your audience and build deeper brand engagement.

However, when it comes to measurement, you can't simply apply the same metrics from other social media channels to your Reddit strategy and expect success. Reddit is a unique community, which is why it requires its own unique set of key performance indicators (KPIs).

This post explores what makes Reddit unique and provides key performance indicators you should consider for measuring the success of your Reddit marketing. We’ll be exploring the top 9 Reddit metrics every digital marketer should be monitoring:

1. Karma
2. AMAs Participated In
3. User Followers
4. Nano-Influencers Engaged
5. Non-Branded Posts Created
6. Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM) on Ads
7. Promotions Run
8. Comments Received
9. Traffic to your site from Reddit

What is Reddit: a (brief) introduction

Before we get to the KPIs, it’s worth pausing to consider what makes Reddit different from other marketing channels. So, what is Reddit?

Reddit is a community that brings users together to share, comment on, and popularize different pieces of content. It's similar to other social channels where users can post links and text for others to see, but that’s where the similarities end.

The defining traits of Reddit are:

• Upvotes and downvotes: Users can vote on posts based on how valuable they think they are. Posts that get the most upvotes are pushed to the top of pages and get seen the most.
• Subreddits: Reddit is largely broken down into a series of communities called "subreddits". Individual subreddits are where most of the posting takes place. For example, the “CFB” subreddit brings together more than 4.4M subscribers (or “fans,” as the subreddit calls them) who are interested in college football. Similar subreddits exist for nearly every topic imaginable. An important thing to remember here: subreddits aren’t “owned” the way branded social media pages on Facebook or Twitter are. They are true communities, created and run largely by the people who participate in them. Subreddits are how users engage with content and build communities around topics that matter most to them.
• There are rules–strict rules: Unlike some platforms where behaviour has to be egregiously awful before action is taken, Reddit makes its rules for users quite clear. If you don’t follow them, you will be banned from using the platform. What’s more, each subreddit usually creates its own specific sets of rules. Content that doesn’t conform—some subreddits won’t let you post overly promotional links, for example—will be taken down. Repeatedly violating the rules will also get you banned.

Why Reddit’s utility for marketers is changing

For a long time, Reddit has been an outlier for marketers. We know the main social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Reddit, however, barely earned a mention.

That perception is shifting. Marketers are increasingly turning their attention to “the front page of the internet,” as Reddit brands itself. Search Engine Journal has declared that “every marketer should be on Reddit,” while SmartInsights declared it a respite from “the same old marketing channels.”

The platform’s burgeoning ad platform, which operates on a bidding system similar to other social ad platforms, is quickly becoming more accepted for advertisers to reach Reddit users.

Reddit also boasts a large user base—around half a billion worldwide. Add in the fact that changes to Facebook’s algorithm have made it more difficult for brands to reach users, and suddenly Reddit looks like a very attractive option for building your audience.

What to consider before setting your Reddit marketing KPIs

Your Reddit marketing KPIs will be unique to you and your goals. But before you set them, you’ll want to consider what makes Reddit unique. Here are some areas that set it apart from other social media.

Reddit is a true community

Many social platforms operate on an “anything goes” policy. Not Reddit. Redditors won’t be afraid to call you out if you’re not observing good “Reddiquette.”

That means if you spam a subreddit with links to your website, other users won’t hesitate to inspect your posting history and call you out on it. Even if you aren’t banned, you could still be blacklisted, which means other users are purposely choosing not to engage with your content due to your past behaviour.

Redditors don’t respond well to advertising

Let me put it even more bluntly: Redditors hate advertising. On other platforms, it’s understood that brands will be promoting their products. Not so on Reddit. Redditors can tolerate brands talking about the products they sell, but they have no patience for anything that exists solely for selling. That puts the onus on you to craft quality content that Reddit users will want to engage with.

It’s now okay to be a brand on Reddit

Historically, brands had a limited presence on Reddit. To get content in front of users, they often had to wait for someone to post it organically. That changed with the arrival of Reddit profile pages. Now, brands have a dedicated space to post content without needing to find a home for it in a particular subreddit.

For example, look at the Nintendo of America profile page. Nintendo uses it as a place to post updates and make new announcements—the sorts of posts that wouldn’t necessarily fit on other subreddits.

Redditors love great content

The ground rules on Reddit might be slightly different, but the operative principle for brands is the same: provide great content, and your audience will grow.

Reddit marketing KPIs worth considering

As with all metrics, you’ll want to develop KPIs with your own individual goals in mind. But, to get you started, here are some ideas for KPIs you’ll want to consider.

1. Karma

Karma is one of Reddit’s more unique elements. Your karma is determined largely by how many upvotes and downvotes your content receives. The more upvotes you get, the higher your karma. The more downvotes, the lower your karma.

There are two types of karma:

1. Link karma: Your karma for your link posts.
2. Comment karma: Your karma for comments you post.

Why should you care? Because if your employees are posting your content and getting a terrible karma score, it’s a sign of one of two (or potentially both) things:

• Redditors don’t like the content you have to offer. The posts you are choosing to publish on Reddit could, for example, have an advertising bent to them. That means they likely offer little value to the rest of the community.
• Whoever is posting content isn’t engaging with the community. Perhaps this person is writing posts that people simply don’t like. For an example, check out this comment from the creators of the video game Star Wars Battlefront II. It became the most downvoted comment in Reddit history, largely because it was out of tune with the community's concerns.

Tracking the karma score your posts and comments receive is a great way to measure how successfully you are engaging with the community you’re trying to reach.

2. AMAs participated in

Another feature largely specific to Reddit is the AMA, or “ask me anything.” These feature interesting people—famous and otherwise—taking over a subreddit for a period to answer questions from users. It’s a key feature of building an audience on Reddit. That means if your goal is to engage with the community, you’ll want to track how many AMAs you’ve hosted.

For example, Audi hosted a series of AMA sessions featuring celebrities like Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, designed to use interaction to deepen brand engagement.

3. User followers

Tracking the number of followers your user page has isn’t available to everyone. This feature is still being rolled out and may not be accessible to all users. But for those that do have it, it’s an important means of measuring how many Reddit users are choosing to engage with your content.

Note: This is different from the number of subscribers on a particular subreddit.

Instead, it measures the number of users who have chosen to subscribe to the posts you are creating on your personal profile.

4. Nano-influencers engaged

Nano-influencers, users who have between 100 and 1,000 followers, can play a major role in helping to build your following on Reddit. That may not seem like much, but these seemingly insignificant users can have a big impact.

“[If] you find someone who knows the site well and has a track record of popular posts that align with your brand, don’t be afraid to reach out to them,” writes AdWeek. And, once you have, be sure you track it as a KPI. That way you can determine how much progress you’re making.

5. Non-branded posts created

You can’t just show up on Reddit and start dropping product-focused content everywhere. You need to find ways to engage with and provide value to your audience outside of your narrow product offerings. To measure how well you are doing in this area, you’ll want to develop a metric that shows your ability to connect with your potential customers outside of your own message. The non-branded posts created metric can help you measure this.

6. Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on Reddit ads

Reddit Ads, done right, can be a great way to expand your audience on Reddit. But unlike other social media, Reddit ads are run solely on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis. That’s why this metric is essential for measuring your success with Reddit ads.

7. Promotions run

Well-crafted promotions are a great way to connect with a new audience on Reddit—as long as they provide genuine value and aren't overly promotional.

(For the gold standard in Reddit discount promotions, check out this campaign advertising discount beef jerky. It was so successful at engaging the Reddit community that the employee who developed the idea was asked to do a Reddit AMA).

If you’re looking to offer real value to the Reddit community, consider offering a discount or another type of promotion.

8. Comments received

Comments are the lifeblood of Reddit. With other social channels, you can be happy getting a few clicks and likes. Not so on Reddit. If your posts aren’t receiving any comments, you’ll want to know about it so you can change your strategy accordingly.

For this metric, it also wouldn’t hurt to track the number of comments to which you are responding. That way you can be sure you’re engaging with the audience that wants to connect with you.

9. Traffic to your site from Reddit

Building an engaged following on Reddit is important. But it likely doesn’t mean much if you’re not driving traffic to your website. Using a tool like Google Analytics can help determine how much all that Reddit engagement is translating into visits to your site. It’s not just traffic from your posts, either. Measuring clicks to your website from Reddit can also help you measure if you’re getting clicks from other users as well.

Conclusion

Reddit offers a fantastic opportunity for your organization to expand its reach and engagement on a largely untapped social media website. But because Reddit is a unique community, you need to be smart about how you plan to use it. Developing KPIs that can truly help you measure success is the best place to start.