Launching Ads on reddit: How to create a new ad

If you have mastered creating a campaign, selected your campaign objectives, added a payment method, and built out an ad group on reddit with your targeting, then you are ready to move onto the next step and check "create reddit ad" off your to do list. (If not, be sure to check out our blog on how to create a reddit campaign and how to create an ad group here: https://www.littleads.co/blogaboutredditadvertising/how-to-launch-a-reddit-ad-campaign).

Before you build your reddit creative, you really should…

When you start to build reddit ads, the single most important thing you can do before getting into your reddit account and launching campaigns through reddit ads manager, is to gain a solid understanding of your target audience on reddit. How they speak. What their interests are. What it takes to get them to respond.

It’s critical. If you run out the same content on reddit that you have used on other platforms, it will not drive traffic to site from reddit. So, before you publish anything, spend a few days following the subs you would like to advertise on. (If you need help, get in touch with us! We’d love to help you finalize your creative, even if you’re gung ho to run your own campaigns.)

The options available for your new ad include Image, Video, Carousel, or Free-Form. For the most part, you’ll be selecting “Image”.

Sidenote: If you select Video, you’ll want to go back into your Ad group selection and make sure that the ad group you built is ready for video. For cheaper CPM, select Awareness. For cheaper CPC, select Traffic.

The four creative types you can upload on reddit include Image, Video, Carousel, and Free Form (New!).

reddit ad specs:

Image Ads - 1080x1080 square, 1080x1350 portrait, 1440x1080 landscape, 1920x1080 landscape

Thumbnail - 400x300

Video Ads - Same aspect ratios as Image Ads, 1:1 square; 4:5 portrait; 4:3 landscape; 16:9 landscape

Carousel Ads - 1200x1200 square, 1920x1080 landscape

(Need more? See link below for all the specs from reddit for business: https://business.reddithelp.com/helpcenter/s/article/Reddit-Ad-Unit-Specifications)

What type of creative ads on reddit work well?

Creatively, a few things to keep in mind. First, know that you are likely in a mobile-first app environment. If running video, make sure you have captions enabled or run a SUPER brand-heavy piece of creative. As for the nature of your creative, Reddit recommends “being a brand, if you’re a brand”. Or, more specifically “Reddit is a place where people can be their authentic selves, meaning they’ve come to expect and respect when brands show up in genuine ways on the platform. In this respect, brands that include obvious and clear branding in their ads are more likely to achieve brand and performance objectives.”

There’s a piece of this that feels a bit self-serving (of course reddit would not want users to confuse paid content from a business with organic content), but quite a bit of truth as well. We advise our clients, when working on adding creative to your reddit account, ensure that the voice of your product is a fit for the platform…and if not, you either make your content fit your targeted subreddits or you don’t even try it.

Sure, there’s trolls everywhere on the internet, but leaving comments on and trotting out weaksauce creative will get you shot down (or karma’d down) real quick. Knowing how to balance your existing brand voice with the voice needs of the platform can definitely be a difficult proposition, in fact, it can be an art form (that’s why we’re here). Whatever you do, don’t sleep on knowing the voice of your customer on reddit. Here’s a few more recommendations from reddit:

Successful creative on reddit should have:

• Branding on the top left corner of all images

• Brand name in the headline

• Polished static ads

• Video first

Or so says reddit! As before, some of this is a bit suspect. Video is almost certainly more profitable for the platform AND likely much, much higher from a CPC standpoint. Surely it helps make the platform stickier, and they want people spending as much time on the app as possible. tghAnd don’t let recommendations re: polish impact your focus on fitting in. It’s in reddit’s best interest to ensure that ads look like ads…but don’t let that drive your concept. If you want to explore, go for it. The platform will tell you whether it’s good or not…cheapest form of customer research you can buy!

Ok, where were we? You have a reddit account. You love your creative, you’ve created it to spec. You’ve set up your campaign in your reddit account, you’ve created an ad group, determined your bid, and you’ve selected what type of ad you are loading. Now it’s time to write your headline and supporting copy. How long is too long? Well I am glad you asked. Reddit will tell you to target 150 characters out of the 300 available. However, based on your results, you’ll know when the copy in your headline is too long. If you have a longer story to tell, feel free to fill all 300!

If you look at the top right, there is a character counter that is counting down as you type. As you can see from the screenshot, you have 300 characters in the headline and 100 in additional text. Generally, we recommend to use as much real estate as you can – to a point. The longer and more specific headline the better, but don’t drone on just for the sake of it.

Can you give me an example of what a good reddit ad looks like?

Sure, constant reader. Here’s an example of a fun headline we wrote for Crandal Fitness. As you can see, we have a polished image with bright, vibrant colors that point back to the product, alongside the Crandall Fitness logo. The copy is a strong fit for their target audience, with just enough reddit-imbued humor to engage viewers to click through, especially if they love their grandma. And who doesn’t love Mandma?

In this case, there’s no additional text (100 characters), but for an ecom company like this, it may not be a bad idea to communicate an offer here. For example: 20% off plates with reddit code PASSTHEANDRO.

Enough Talk. How do I upload my creative to reddit ads?

Ok, so you love your new reddit ad. It’s the best reddit ad that has ever existing. Reddit, as a platform has never seen such a beautiful ad. Ok, you’re ready. Next steps, you will upload your creative, add a thumbnail (generally your company logo), and add your destination URL.

Quick PRO TIP here on your URL, definitely ensure you are loading that link up with UTMs including Source, Medium, and Campaign so you can reference the traffic in GA4, rather than only natively in reddit. Always good to have a single point of reference to evaluate all of your campaigns, whether they are via Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Bing, Google, Programmatic, Site-Served…whatever. Here’s a link to the UTM tool that we like to use, to keep things simple: https://utmbuilder.net/

If you’re not familiar with checking your UTM results, we have a longer post on this process that primarily looks at the differences between Linkedin and reddit, but also delves into putting a valuation on your engaged traffic to site. You can check it out here: https://www.littleads.co/blogaboutredditadvertising/how-to-compare-your-linkedin-ads-buy-to-a-reddit-ads-buy

What Call to Action should I pick for my reddit ad?

Next step is in selecting your Call to Action, which is likely going to be selected based off the type of business you are in and the result you are attempting to drive. When in doubt, “Learn More” is always a good place to start. Unless, of course you are one of the many locally-owned small town movie theatres who advertises on reddit, in which case “Get Showtimes” would be a likely fit. Don’t overthink this one.

Last step. Should you allow comments on your creative? Uhhhh….no. No you should not. With the exception of contests or other content where you are specifically trying to drive engagement or responses to your ad, we recommend not allowing comments. Too many trolls. Too many bots. Not enough reason to do it, especially if you’re not checking your notifications daily. No to comments.

Annnnnd that’s it! Click Save and launch that baby! You just launched your very own reddit ad campaign.

Still need more creative tips for reddit ads?

Wow, look at you brown noser! You still want to bolster that account? Ok, before you go, here are a few more reddit recos:

• Try using reddit lingo, but don’t force it.

  • If you’re familiar with redditisms, feel free to give them a try to connect with your target audience. But don’t go too far. You may be accused of being “boomerish” or worse; “the olds”.

• Act Now!

  • The old lessons of direct mail hold true. Give redditors a limited time to respond to a deal, or a unique code, and they’ll go to town on it. (And by town, we mean your website of course.)

• Let yourself have fun!

  • When in doubt, keep it light. Most reddit users are on the platform to be entertained. So do that!