How to use Reddit for digital PR

If you’re new to Reddit, it can feel like stepping back in time. At first glance, it looks more like an old-school internet forum, with too much text, endless topics, and minimal visuals. While images and videos are becoming more common, Reddit remains a largely text-based, community-driven platform. And that’s part of what makes it such a powerful tool for digital PR.

Despite its potential, Reddit is still massively underutilised by PR professionals. Whether you’re taking part in brainstorming sessions with your team, monitoring the latest news trends, or pitching press releases to journalists - chances are, Reddit isn’t part of your regular toolkit.

Instead, platforms like X, Instagram and TikTok often dominate the conversation. But that’s a missed opportunity. Reddit is home to some of the most brutally honest, insightful, and deeply engaged communities online. With billions of monthly visits and thousands of highly-engaged niche communities, Reddit can be a goldmine for PR pros - if you know how to use it properly.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can tap into Reddit’s full potential - from identifying trends and sourcing campaign ideas, to engaging with communities and boosting brand visibility in an authentic way.

What’s in this article:

Reddit by the numbers - and why PRs should care
Understanding Reddit’s structure and culture
Identifying the right subreddits
Monitoring trends and social listening
Sourcing campaign ideas
Engage genuinely with the community
Key takeaways

Reddit by the numbers - and why PRs should care

Since launching in 2005, Reddit has grown into one of the world’s most visited websites. It’s the seventh most visited website globally, with 5.14 billion monthly visits. In the UK, it ranks tenth. And while it isn’t a search engine in the traditional sense, Reddit receives 900 million daily searches - placing it above Bing (600 million) and just below ChatGPT (1 billion).

As of 2025, Reddit has over 500 million accounts - up 150 million since 2019 - and that number is only expected to grow. By 2028, user figures are projected to exceed 556 million.

But what really sets Reddit apart is how it functions. Rather than one vast platform, it’s made up of over 100,000 smaller communities known as subreddits. Popular examples include /r/funny/, /r/AskReddit/, and /r/gaming/, but there are niche communities for virtually every interest.

It’s all well and good to talk about Reddit’s traffic and user numbers. You’re probably still wondering how exactly it can be used by PR professionals, and why should they care?

Well, the answer lies in Reddit’s unique structure. With thousands of niche, tightly-moderated communities and millions of highly engaged users, it offers PR professionals something incredibly invaluable: access to unfiltered public conversations, early trend spotting, and the chance to build authentic, meaningful connections. It’s a tool journalists already use to source stories - so it makes sense for PR pros to be there too.

Understanding Reddit’s structure and culture

Before diving into how to use Reddit for PR, it’s essential to understand what Reddit actually is - and how its unique culture works. Reddit users are famously critical - especially when it comes to anything that feels like marketing. Reddit is notorious for being anti-advertising, so if you’re planning to jump straight in and get your brand out there, chances are you won’t last very long.

To avoid backlash, it’s important to learn and become familiar with some of the platform's norms or ‘reddiquette’, as it’s known. And the best way to start is by ‘lurking’. Spend time observing how users interact within different subreddits that might be relevant to you or your client’s industry. See what kind of posts work well, and what topics seem to spark debates and useful insights.

There’s no particular algorithm that you need to get your head around for Reddit either. Posts with more upvotes rise to the top, while irrelevant and low-quality posts get buried. Every user also earns or loses ‘karma’ based on how their posts are received. Accounts with high karma are seen as more credible, so building yours up is key to gaining trust on the platform. This system puts the community in control, not an algorithm.

Identifying the right subreddits

Success on Reddit starts with targeting the right communities. No matter how niche your client’s industry is, there’s almost certainly a relevant subreddit. Whether your focus is technology, fitness, health, or lifestyle - you name it, Reddit will have it. Simply search for your niche on Reddit’s built-in search tool, or Google ‘your niche + subreddit’ and a variety of relevant subreddits will pop up.

For example, you can find UK gardening discussions at /r/GardeningUK, stay updated on ecology topics at /r/ecology, or engage with experts and enthusiasts about VoIP technology at /r/VOIP. These examples reflect some of the sectors we work with here at Motive.

It’s also worth monitoring local subreddits. Country-wide subs like /r/unitedkingdom, or regional ones like /r/nottingham and /r/manchester, can provide valuable insights. If you’re planning a campaign with a regional focus, local subs can be a great way to understand local sentiment and opinion on particular topics.

Monitoring trends and social listening

While Reddit is known for its memes, niche debates, and endless rabbit holes, it’s also a goldmine for PR professionals. With unfiltered public opinions, emerging concerns, and the real-world language your audience uses, it offers a unique window into what people actually care about - and a powerful tool for staying ahead of the curve. It’s perfect for spotting emerging trends before they hit the mainstream, gathering insights for reactive content, and discovering pain points or frustrations within an industry.

As a PR pro, staying on top of brand mentions is essential - and Reddit is a great place to uncover organic mentions you or your clients receive. Reddit’s built-in search tool is the first place to begin searching for product names, brand mentions, or any keywords that are tied into your industry’s niche. There are also a number of third-party tools available for those looking to go the extra mile.

In early 2025, Reddit launched the Pro Trends tool to support marketers looking for authentic audience insights. It allows you to track virtually any keyword or phrase - from brand and product names to broader categories and viral trends.

Other monitoring tools are available to help you stay on top of trends and mentions, including Brand24, SnitchFeed, and RedMonitor. Much like Google Alerts or Talkwalker, these tools let you track selected keywords and phrases. Each time your term is mentioned on Reddit, you’ll receive an email alert linking directly to the post.

Sourcing campaign ideas

Using Reddit to generate campaign ideas is one of the most valuable ways PR professionals can benefit from the platform. It’s an incredibly efficient tool to speed up ideation and spark inspiration before a brainstorming session with your team.

Start by exploring subreddits relevant to your client’s industry - the more niche the better. It’s the highly specific communities where you’re most likely to find users talking about the things that matter most to your audience.

Look for high-engagement threads and try to identify posts that are receiving thousands of upvotes and comments. These are the stories that are likely touching on emotional or universal truths, and the most likely to be going viral. Pay attention to recurring questions or any frustrations that multiple users have. Look for opinions that perhaps challenge common assumptions. And once you’ve gathered ideas, think about how you can tie this into your client’s industry, what kind of newsworthy angle could a press release take? Remember, journalists are active on Reddit as well, so use Reddit as an angle-creation tool. “If Reddit users care about X, journalists likely will too.”

You might be surprised by the places inspiration can come from. Take this real example from a successful campaign we ran at Motive. For one of our clients in the environmental consultancy space, the initial idea came from a post in /r/oddlyterrifying. The post featured an oak processionary moth (OPM), whose caterpillars are pests of oak trees. After digging further, we found the moths being actively discussed in /r/GardeningUK - confirming the topic's relevance to our client’s niche.

Additional research revealed that these caterpillars are most dangerous between April and July, with peak risk being May and June - making it a timely issue.. We drafted the story and flagged the urgency to our client. After approval, we pitched the campaign and it went on to land coverage on high-authority sites including BBC Countryfile, BBC Discover Wildlife, Huffington Post, and In Your Area. All from a simple browse on Reddit.

Engage genuinely with the community

Reddit might be anti-advertising, but that doesn’t mean PR professionals can’t participate - it just needs to be done thoughtfully. Overly promotional posts are often removed by moderators, or heavily downvoted by users. Copy and pasting a press release simply won’t cut it.

Reddit values transparency, authenticity, and value-first content. If you want to contribute and use Reddit effectively, your approach matters. Join relevant discussions under your real brand or expert profile, answer questions, and share behind-the-scenes insights. These types of contributions are far more welcome - and far more impactful - than self-promotion.

It’s a slower burn, but if you’re aiming to become a thought leader in a certain niche, Reddit can be a powerful tool. Once you’ve built trust and a credible presence, you might even consider hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything). An AMA can be a great opportunity for a business or individual to reach a large audience by answering questions about your area of expertise or services in real time, and if it’s promoted properly, it can generate a huge buzz. This blog post by Feedbird explains the power of hosting an AMA and how you can engage with your audience like never before.

So what does work on Reddit? Be authentic. Engage genuinely. Share relevant expertise. When done right, Reddit can be one of the most rewarding platforms for community engagement and insight.

Key takeaways

Understand Reddit’s culture before diving in. Reddit is all about authenticity, and protective of its community standards. PR professionals must familiarise themselves with ‘reddiquette’ and spend time observing.
Identify the right subreddits for your niche. Whether industry-specific or location-based, subreddits offer access to highly engaged audiences relevant to your client’s field.
Use Reddit as a tool for trend spotting and social listening. Reddit is a goldmine for unfiltered opinions, pain points, and emerging trends. There are tools to make it easier to track brand mentions and industry buzz.
Source campaign ideas from organic conversations. High-engagement threads, recurring user frustrations, and viral topics can spark creative campaign ideas. Real-world examples show how Reddit browsing can lead to national press coverage.
Engage authentically, not promotionally. Reddit punishes overt marketing. To build credibility, PR pros should contribute to discussions with value-first content, expertise, and transparency.

Want smarter PR campaigns that start where real conversations happen? Get in touch today to find out more about our digital PR services.