Reddit Fundamentals

With this module, the aim is to help you understand the terminologies around Reddit and what makes it a unique platform compared to others.

Up/Downvote (Karma)

Other platforms have the concept of emotes such as likes. Reddit has a system of voting where you can upvote something or downvote something. Upvoting is technically for increasing the score of a post or comment because it is relevant to or adds value to the discussion, while downvoting is used in the opposite way when something deters from the discussion. However since people can use it however they want, it is generally used as approval or disapproval.

The amount of points is what's called "karma" — so post karma is how many upvotes a post has, comment karma is how many upvotes a comment has, and so on.

This is useful to us because when we have a lot of upvotes we can potentially boost our visibility by a big margin. However this feature opens up the possibility of forming echo chambers, where people try to farm points by saying popular things and regurgitating existing popular opinions. Then people criticize this behavior and the repeating discussion also starts to include the criticism, to the point where arguments become predictable and cliche.

To us it makes us prone to self-censure, where we don't really say the things we really want to say in fear of downvotes. This is something we will have to constantly work with.

Subreddits

A museum is a place with multiple collections of artwork. Reddit is a website with multiple subreddits of posts. Sort of like, when we look at the Facebook groups feature — Facebook is a website with multiple groups of posts.

Each subreddit has a primary topic. For example /r/funny is obviously for funny posts. But with every general, catch-all community there is a variance in quality, so with different people wanting different sub-flavors of funny they form different subreddits like /r/meirl for self-deprecating humor or relatable situations, /r/therewasanattempt for obvious failures at things, and so on.

For us, we have to think about the trade-off between subreddit size and potential impact. If I'm posting at a subreddit with 3.8M users, I have the potential to reach 3.8M users; but this also means that the possibility of my posts getting buried is equally high. If I'm posting at a subreddit with 5k users, the risk of being buried is very low but at the same time the maximum reach is lower.

Each subreddit also comes with its set of rules. For example in a community like /r/lotr filled with Lord of the Rings enthusiasts, it would be tiring to see the same meme template over and over, so low-effort memes are banned in /r/lotr. However in /r/lotrmemes they are not only allowed but encouraged. It's important to follow subreddit rules — and this is a good segue into ban prevention.

Ban Prevention

Let's think about this from the opposite direction. If I'm running a subreddit about mental health and somebody keeps wanting to farm karma, I don't want them to continue doing that. I can warn them that I'll remove their low-effort posts but they keep doing it. I can either keep playing catch-up with them or I can just ban them from my subreddit.

This is why the subreddit ban system exists. But there are other types of bans:

• Site-wide ban — You won't be able to participate in anything at all. Fortunately this type of ban is not something we have to worry about because it's usually given to bots or accounts that actively promote violence, domestic terrorism, or illegal activities.
• Shadowban — This makes it seem like your account is normal from your perspective; you're able to post, comment, and vote, but the system doesn't reflect anything you do outside of your account.
• Subreddit ban — A specific subreddit's moderators decide you can't participate in their community.

Subreddits are run by mods and mods are humans. Some humans are easy to talk to and will understand you. Some won't, and some will be prejudiced against you. It's important to remember that the landscape of subreddits changes over time, so it's not the end of the world if your favorite subreddit bans you.

Ideally you have a lot of fun on Reddit to gather a community that will center around you to make your own subreddit. By that point you can be the mod and you can do whatever you want. But until then, you have to follow other subreddit rules. Thankfully it's easy to do so because every subreddit has their rules on the right of the subreddit page.

If you feel like you are rightfully banned, it's time to take the L and move on. It's a learning experience. But if you feel like you are banned for an unjust reason, it's important to follow the appeal process instead of trying to make a new account. This kind of activity is called ban evasion and it is easily trackable by system admins.

To appeal to a subreddit's moderators, you can use the direct messaging feature and set the subreddit as a recipient. This will send a DM to the moderators of the sub.

2026 Ban Risks You Need to Know

The Reddit moderation landscape has changed significantly. Here are three ban risks that didn't exist (or weren't enforced) a few years ago:

Subreddit Selection By Method

1. Explore

Reddit has an "Explore" tab that helps you find subreddits by interest. As discussed in the previous module, each interest is likely to have multiple subreddits related to it with varying size and specificity. It's important to check out all of them and see what discussions are happening in each of them.

2. Search

This is more for searching topics that aren't curated by Reddit because they're very niche. On the search bar you can search for your topic and look at what subreddits have the discussions around it.

For example if I'm someone looking to move to Paris and I'm looking for other expats, the Explore tab is unlikely to have it because it's such a specific scenario. But searching on the search bar gives results like /r/AmerExit, /r/eupersonalfinance, and other niche communities that can be beneficial too.

3. Google

While Reddit search has gotten better over the years, it doesn't beat the search giant who has worked with the search problem for their entire existence: Google. When you search for your topic or interest, just add "reddit" or "subreddit" and you'll see results from Reddit as well.

4. AI

This is 2026. You have access to AI tools that can do research for you in seconds. AI is incredibly good at finding subreddits because it can cross-reference subreddit size, activity levels, moderation strictness, and topical relevance all at once.

Here are some prompts you can use to get started:

• "I'm a [your niche] coach. Find me 10 subreddits where my ideal clients are asking for help. For each subreddit, tell me the subscriber count, how active it is, and whether self-promotion is allowed."
• "What are the top subreddits for [your topic]? Rank them by activity level and tell me which ones are most receptive to advice-giving posts vs. which ones are mostly venting."
• "Compare these subreddits: /r/X, /r/Y, /r/Z. Which one has the most engaged community for someone offering [your service]? What are the posting rules I need to follow?"
• "Find me niche subreddits under 50k subscribers related to [your topic]. I want communities small enough that my posts won't get buried but active enough that people are posting daily."

The more specific you are with your prompts, the better the results. Tell the AI about your niche, your ideal client, the size range you're comfortable with, and what kind of engagement you're looking for. It'll save you hours of manual browsing.

5. Market Leaders

This one is a bit more strategic. If there's a prominent figure in your field who already has a following, chances are there's a subreddit built around them. And that subreddit is full of exactly the people you want to reach.

This is actually how I got a lot of my early Reddit momentum. I was active in /r/Healthygamergg, the subreddit for Dr. K's community. Dr. K is a psychiatrist who does mental health content, and his audience overlaps heavily with the kind of people who benefit from life coaching. By showing up in that subreddit and genuinely helping people, I was tapping into an audience that was already primed for the kind of work I do.

Think about who the market leaders are in your space. Who has a podcast, a YouTube channel, a book? Search for their name + "reddit" and see if a community exists. If it does, start participating there.

Post Templates

When it comes to making posts, you generally have two options: posting on your profile and posting on subreddits. Making a post is different from making a comment in that YOU are leading the discussion, whereas with comments you are responding to what other people initiated the conversations with.

The core difference between making a post on your profile vs. subreddits is who has admin rights over your post. On your profile, you are obviously the one in charge; you can promote, criticize, make fun of, and do anything else you want. But when it comes to subreddits there are rules we must follow as part of participating in a space that others have created with their time and effort.

I usually put my daily writings in my profile to reduce a click for the people who follow me on Reddit. If you're a writer or creator on another platform you can link to your material from your profile as well.

A note about videos: they are featured in the app as Reddit is somewhat trying to compete with other shortform video platforms, so they may be subject to their own algorithm when it comes to displaying your content.

Profile Posts: Pinned Post

Pinned posts are the most core part of my approach to Reddit, because they serve as the visual anchor for how to best take advantage of your content. In your pinned post, make sure to include:

• A "hook" as a title so that people don't have to think twice about clicking through your pinned post immediately after landing on your profile page
• A landing-page-esque copy to get people to follow whatever action you want them to take. For example, if you want people to join your mailing list take them to a CTA that gets them to opt in. If you want people to subscribe to your YouTube channel, take them to that link.

You can have multiple pinned posts, though I think with more the effects tend to have diminishing returns. I personally prefer one everlasting pinned post and one seasonal pinned post, promoting your latest and greatest work.

Profile Posts: General Posts

You can write whatever you want in your general posts, especially since they're on your profile. My suggestion is to read ahead for the section on subreddit posts, take that as you write your primary post, and add more links and actual self-promotion to put it on your profile.

Subreddit Posts

Like any other coaching activity, being on Reddit will trigger vulnerabilities around being visible. You will want to make a good impression on people and you will want to look professional.

While I completely understand the sentiment, I'm telling you: this kind of sentiment is exactly what will lead to you burning out. You will not have fun, which is the most fundamental requirement of this methodology.

I always want you to keep FUN in mind. With that, the second most important part about writing on subreddits is to follow the rules of the subreddit.

Most subreddits will have rules around what you can and can't post. The thing is, not all subreddits are moderated equally and even inside of one subreddit there may be different moderators who moderate with different standards.

It's important to keep in mind that mods are also humans. Some will understand you after a conversation, some will judge you harshly and not change their mind. It's okay, there are lots of places on Reddit you can write on. I just want you to be the type of person who respects the subreddit rules, is all.

Templates for Subreddit Posts

• "I see topic X on this subreddit very frequently. Here's how I dealt with that topic."
• "LPT: [insert a life pro tip you can provide here]"
• "In case anyone else feels like X, here are some tips you can use." — This uses an anti-pattern to your advantage. Other anti-patterns include "am I the only one who..." and "Why do X do Y?"

The above are Reddit-specific ones, but that's not all you can do. If you already write emails or make posts providing coaching to others, you can just re-use those as well.

What should you do when a user responds to you? What you would do with any other person, since there's nothing special about Reddit users! If someone leaves you a comment on Instagram, what do you do? If someone leaves you a comment on TikTok, what do you do?

Human behavior and conversations are platform-agnostic. But in the context that your posts and comments are visible to other Reddit users, there are some things to keep in mind.

Reddit's Culture Around Commercialization

Reddit has a history of being a very hip, community-driven platform. Recent changes in ownership and operation have made Reddit a bit more commercialized and people have grown to dislike that kind of change.

This means trying to get people to contact you privately for future steps or anything that obviously seems like a sales conversion attempt will be met with a negative response.

Another thing to note is that Reddit tends to be an echo chamber that reinforces already popular opinions because of the upvote/downvote system. And one of the prevailing opinions is that life coaching is similar to a MLM scam. Talking to people with lots of coach-speak or jargon can be met with a negative response.

Dealing with Negative Responses

Negative responses and downvotes. On one hand, who cares? It's not the end of the world. But it does take a toll on your nervous system when something isn't received in the way you want it to be received.

The reason I'm telling you the above is, I want you to understand that the reason you got downvoted isn't necessarily because you suck or are doing something wrong. It is most likely a Reddit culture influence.

A Real Example: Handling Raw Frustration

Here's an actual exchange I had on /r/Healthygamergg. Someone posted with a lot of raw frustration:

This person is not attacking me. They're frustrated, and they're being honest about it. Here's how I responded:

Notice the pattern:

1. Validate first. "That's a super valid point." I'm not correcting them. I'm not defending reframing. I'm meeting them where they are.
2. Use a relatable example. The "I'm fine" with my wife scenario is something everyone has experienced. It makes the abstract concept concrete.
3. End with empathy, not a pitch. "Hence, I understand your frustration." I'm not linking to my website. I'm not saying "DM me if you want coaching." I'm just being a human who gets it.

This is what builds your reputation on Reddit. The people reading this exchange (not just the person I replied to, but everyone lurking) see someone who listens, who doesn't get defensive, and who can explain something clearly. That's the person they click through to learn more about.

A Real Example: The Ad Hater Who Talked Himself Into Respecting You

The previous example was about someone who was frustrated but not attacking me personally. This next one is different. This is a sustained, multi-comment attack on a paid Reddit ad — the kind of thing that will absolutely happen to you and will absolutely test your nervous system.

Someone showed up on one of my Reddit ads and went hard:

This is a full-on attack. They're calling my work a scam, mocking the price, dismissing the entire concept. Most people's instinct here is to either get defensive or delete the comment. I did neither:

They escalated. Called me "Mr. Corpo." Said my job is "expressly to convince" them. I stayed the same:

They went even harder. Wrote multiple paragraphs. Called me "Billy." Questioned my business model. Said my website template was basic. Accused me of not knowing what I'm selling. Told me I "wouldn't be selling courses if I was actually successful."

In a separate thread on the same ad, they wrote: "Making $120 in three years isn't exactly a good profit margin. Probably make more money following rich people on the sidewalk and just taking whatever they drop."

I responded simply:

And then something remarkable happened. After all of that, after spending their time scrolling through my profile, reading my posts, and visiting my websites, they wrote this final comment:

Read that again. The person who opened with "how to scam people" ended up complimenting the business and giving genuine marketing advice. They talked themselves from hostility all the way to respect — and I didn't do anything except not flinch.

Here's what to take away from this for your own ads and posts:

1. Don't delete hostile comments. Other people are reading the exchange. When they see someone attacking you and you staying composed, you look like the adult in the room. That builds more trust than any sales copy.
2. Don't match their energy. Every time they escalated, I stayed at the same level. "You're free to judge however you want." That's it. No clap-backs, no dunking, no sarcasm.
3. Correct misinformation, then stop. I clarified what the course is about once. I didn't keep defending. I stated my position and let it sit.
4. Let your profile do the work. This person spent their own time scrolling through my history, reading my posts, visiting my sites. That's exactly the behavior you want. Your body of work is your best argument.
5. They're doing your marketing for you. Long comment threads boost visibility on Reddit. This person wrote hundreds of words on my ad. Every word made the ad more visible to other people browsing that page.

The Engagement Flow Chart

1. Am I okay with making Reddit my actual platform (consulting people with Reddit messages/chat)? Or am I just using Reddit as an entryway?
   • If Reddit is your platform, did the person reach out to you privately or publicly?
     • If private: coach them to the degree you can and invite them to a session directly via links.
     • If public: coach them to the degree you can and give them more information about how they can continue progressing with you.
   • If Reddit won't be your platform, lead them to your primary platform (email, Discord server, Facebook group, etc.) following the same procedure regarding public/private.

Scaling

While simple in theory, working on Reddit will test you in many different ways. That's sort of the reason why this system opens up the way to getting more clients in general — you get a lot of reps in talking to actual people about their problems and how you can help them. But that also includes criticism, general shit-talking, downvote brigades, and more.

You're making yourself available for more people, and in that group of people there are people who love you for who you are (they just don't know it yet), people who love you for your work and utility, people who don't like the work that you do, and people who just don't like you.

At first I encourage you to get yourself familiar with the feeling of helping people in relatively small visibility ways. Pick subreddits that aren't too big for your nervous system. Start engaging with people in your topical community in ways that aren't directly selling. Have fun with them and be familiar with the feeling of being online with a lot of people at once.

Once you get the feeling of helping people in general, now you can see the impact of visibility as you progressively walk yourself into bigger waters. Extend your reach to more subreddits. Pick more popular subreddits. Comment on controversial topics and speak your mind even if you know it won't fly well with the community.

As you do these things you'll grow in capacity — not in terms of inner resistance, but the amount of people you can work with at a time as well as the amount of money you can make at one time. When your boundaries are challenged you have a clearer vision on what problem to solve for in your business.

The 90-Minute Weekly System

Here's what this means for you in the context of this course. When you don't have clients, you have to make the time for them first and during that time work on attracting the client that will fill that time.

Suppose you offer 30-minute sessions to people, and you want to work with 3 people a week. This gives you 90 minutes in your week. Block that time in your calendar first.

And in those times, work on Reddit and help people. Your profile is going to do the work for you once people click onto your profile. So focus on giving people immediate help so they can see the value of what you do.

This way you're already making the room for people who want to join in. When you have the sales call or the equivalent of one, you can give them your 3 availability slots and ask them to pick one. Repeat this three times and you're fully booked. Make more availability. Rinse and repeat. That is the 90-minute weekly system.

Extra: The 3 NO's

Over the last few years I've worked and taught with this system I've heard lots of resistances and reasons why this system doesn't work. I agree, this system is not foolproof because nothing is foolproof. But since this is my system and I get to dictate the rules, I want to offer you the 3 NO's — by practicing this system you are saying NO to 3 things.

No, I won't seek immediate results

Things in general take time. It is reasonable to say that there is no solution in the world that will get you in front of someone who is ready to buy from you immediately, and they'll be a perfect fit client for you who understands you and your work 100%. It takes time for people to get to know you, it takes time for people to understand what you do, it takes time for people to be at the point in their life to buy your solution.

So many people stop posting even though their inputs are genuinely helping people because it's not working fast enough. They need money right now. They need paying clients today. In this case, it's just so much better to find a job or a loan. Not only is it reliable, it's guaranteed to be instant.

Participation in this system means that you're learning how to work from a state of zero from yourself. I need your commitment in saying you're not in this for immediate results.

No, I won't suffer

This NO includes the above point as well, but the above point is so common that it needed a specific shout-out. What this point is about is, we're not going to be doing this system from a point of frustration and anxiety.

Take it from me. After I got my first taste of working with clients through Reddit, I thought "if I post more and do more, that means I'll automatically get more clients." Then I saw a period of no clients and this frustrated me to a great degree and it made me resentful and angry towards everyone. I was resentful to the people who didn't see my comments. I was resentful to the people who saw my comments but didn't upvote it. I was resentful to the people who clicked through my profile but didn't email me. This is a miserable way to live.

To reiterate, the purpose of this program is to teach yourself how to apply a system that's meant to take you from a state of zero to one. The knowledge and technical bits of this program aren't what matters. What matters is how YOU practice it and apply it to your life, and how you teach yourself to practice all of this HAPPILY instead of from a state of suffering.

No, I won't give up

Lastly, this is a NO to defaulting into "I can't." There are so many reasons to say "I can't":

• There's no subreddit that talks directly about what I want to talk about
• I can't promote my work because this subreddit says no self-promotion allowed
• I don't have a link to take them to
• My website isn't done yet
• I'm not really a coach so I can't coach people

I'm very well aware that these are real limitations you're experiencing, but when you say you can't then there's this energy of you already having decided that it's impossible for you.

What I need from you is the problem-solving, pursuing researcher's mindset of "given this limitation, how can I work around it?". When you approach your limitations in this way and work with me to problem-solve, I guarantee you that these things will go from limitations to lessons.

I record one video. From that single recording, I walk away with:

• A captioned video ready for YouTube — no editing software needed
• A full transcript that becomes a typed-out Reddit coaching comment
• A YouTube description with hooks, hashtags, and product links
• A newsletter draft for my email list
• A Practice Library essay for my paid content archive

The total extra work after I stop recording? About 90 seconds of copy-paste.

This is not a course about editing videos faster. This is a content multiplication system. You record once — talking naturally about your topic, coaching a client, reacting to a post — and a four-tool pipeline turns that single recording into platform-ready content across every channel you publish on.

Who This Is For

This system works best if you're a creator who talks as part of your work — coaching calls, reaction videos, commentary, teaching, advice-giving, live sessions — and you want every word you say to also exist as written content without doing the writing manually.

If your content style is scripted → filmed → edited (like a filmmaker or a sketch creator), this probably isn't your workflow. But if you talk to a camera and wish those words could live in more places — this is exactly that.

The Four-Tool Stack

The entire system runs on four pieces of software: OBS (recording + live captions), Cloud Captioning Plugin (auto-transcription), Advanced Scene Switcher (workflow automation), and an AI Agent (transcript → multi-format content). All free except the AI model, which you likely already have.

OBS is short for Open Broadcasting Software, and it's what you use to broadcast live streams or record high-quality video from your computer.

Think of OBS as a video studio. You have the "Space" (the studio), and you populate it with "Sources" (cameras, microphones, browser windows). The layout of these sources is called a "Scene."

• Scene collections have multiple scenes.
• Each Scene has different sources.
• Each Source is "something" you want shown in the video.

1. Set up your camera

Add a source named "Video Capture Device" and select your webcam in the Device settings.

2. Set up your window source

I personally coach or "react" to Reddit posts, so it helps to have an overlay of what I'm seeing. Open any website in your browser and add a "Window Capture" source.

3. Change output to MP4

For maximum compatibility with AI tools and video platforms, go to Settings → Output → Recording, and switch the format to MPEG-4 (.mp4).

4. Vertical Videos (TikTok/Shorts)

Creating vertical content is easy. Go to Profile → New (e.g., "Vertical"). Then go to Settings → Video and invert your resolution (e.g., from 1920x1080 to 1080x1920).

5. Test recording and verify output

Now press Start Recording, say some things, and end the recording. The location of the file will be displayed at the bottom when you're done recording.

This is the magic part. The Cloud Captioning Plugin automatically embeds captions into your videos as you speak. No manual transcribing, no timing keyframes.

More importantly, it can output your speech as a text file the moment you stop recording. This is what we feed into the AI Agent.

Configuring the Output

After installation, open the Caption Settings. Enable Speech Recognition, then in the Transcripts section, designate a folder where your text files will be saved. This is the bridge between your voice and your written content.

Adding Open Captions

To have captions visible on the video (useful for social media where audio is often muted by default), add a "Text Source" and link it in the plugin settings.

Advanced Scene Switcher is for creators who hate the "Edit → Render → Upload" workflow. I use it primarily to automate YouTube Intro and End Screens.

Instead of stitching screens together in Premiere, I talk in my main scene, then hit a hotkey (e.g., Ctrl + End). This triggers my "Outro" scene, which holds for exactly 20 seconds (the length of a YouTube end screen), then automatically stops the recording and moves to an "Idle" scene.

The Macro Logic

Here is how the automation is set up in the Switcher settings. When the scene is "Outro":

1. Audio is muted.
2. Wait 20 seconds.
3. Stop Recording.
4. Switch to a different scene (to prevent loops).

Now the final move: converting your transcript into multiple platform-ready outputs.

We use a File-Based Skill System. This is superior to "Custom GPTs" or "Projects" because it resides in your workspace, is version-controlled, and works across any AI model.

The Conversion Process

1. Take the text file from your Transcript folder.
2. Invoke the "Video Transcript to Content" skill.
3. Paste the transcript and get your 5 outputs.

Why this is better

This method of teaching an AI agent a "skill" is model-agnostic. It's just a markdown file that says "when given X input, produce Y output in Z format with these rules." You say "use the skill for [file]" and the agent does it.

The template below can be fully customized to meet your specific needs. You can add unique tone guides, platform constraints, or product-specific logic as your workflow evolves.

You don't need to write 5 different posts for 5 different subreddits. You write one piece and adapt it. This is the single biggest unlock for scaling your Reddit outreach without burning out.

The Core Idea

Every piece of content you create has a core message. That message doesn't change. What changes is the framing: how you present it, what language you use, and what you leave out. A post about overcoming procrastination can be framed as a productivity technique, a meditation insight, a personal growth story, or a discipline method, depending on who you're talking to.

A Real Example

I wrote a piece called "Don't Try to Do a Good Job." The core message: the pressure to perform well is actually the friction that stops you from starting. From that single piece I created:

1. Profile post — the full version with a link to my article. This lives on u/julylifecoach.
2. r/getdisciplined — reframed as a [Method], removed all links, ended with actionable learning steps.
3. r/OverThinking — reframed around the overthinking loop: "you're not lazy, you're stuck in a quality spiral."
4. r/Procrastinationism — reframed around the procrastination-overwork cycle.
5. r/productivity — pure productivity framework, zero coaching mentions, zero links.

Five posts. One writing session. Each one feels native to its subreddit because I respected the culture of each community.

Adaptation Rules

• Profile posts: Include your article link, be yourself, promote freely. This is your space.
• Subreddit posts: Remove ALL links from the body. No self-promotion. Reframe the closing so it doesn't sound like a pitch.
• Add flair: Many subreddits require post flair. Check the subreddit rules before posting. Common ones: "Technique," "Tips and Tricks," "Sharing Helpful Tips."
• Match the tone: r/productivity wants frameworks and bullet points. r/Meditation wants reflective, personal language. r/getdisciplined wants actionable steps with a [Method] or [Advice] tag.

Subreddit Tier Map

Not all subreddits are created equal. Here's how I categorize them:

Tier 1: Post-Ready — You can post here today if you follow the rules.

• r/getdisciplined, r/Meditation, r/productivity, r/Procrastinationism

Tier 2: Build Karma First — These require account history or comment karma before you can post.

• r/Stoicism, r/confidence, r/GetMotivated, r/Buddhism, r/OverThinking, r/procrastination

Avoid — These communities have strict anti-coaching policies, trigger-happy automods, or view coaching as predatory.

• r/socialanxiety, r/Anxiety, r/mentalhealth, r/therapy, r/depression, r/ADHD

Automod Triggers

Many subreddits use automated moderators that will instantly remove your post if it contains certain keywords. Here are the ones I've run into:

• "life coach" — triggers automod in r/selfimprovement and others. Remove it.
• Any URL — most subreddits remove posts with links. Put links in your profile, not your posts.
• "DM me" or "message me" — reads as solicitation. Let people come to you.
• "check out my" — obvious self-promotion trigger.

The 90/10 Rule

For every 1 post you make, leave 9 genuine comments on other people's posts. This isn't just about karma; it's about being a real participant in the community. The people who see your comments will click your profile. Your pinned post will do the rest.

Post Staggering

Never post to multiple subreddits at the same time. Reddit's systems can flag this as spam. I space my posts at least 2 hours apart. Post to one subreddit, go do something else, come back and post the adapted version to the next one.

Once you have your content adaptation pipeline down, the next bottleneck is the actual posting. Logging into Reddit, copying your text, finding the right flair, submitting; it's tedious when you're doing it across multiple subreddits. This is where automation helps.

What the Script Does

I use a custom Node.js script that posts to Reddit via their API. Here's what it can do:

• Post from a file — write your adapted post in a markdown file, point the script at it, and it submits to the subreddit of your choice.
• Config-based posting — instead of typing everything in the command line, you create a simple JSON config file with the subreddit, title, body file path, and flair ID. One command posts it.
• Flair discovery — the script can list all available flairs for a subreddit so you know which ID to use.
• Delete posts — if something goes wrong (wrong subreddit, automod issues), delete it instantly.
• Identity check — verify which Reddit account you're posting as before you hit submit.

The Config File

Here's what a posting config looks like. This is a plain text file you can save and reuse:

How to Get This Built

Tell your AI coding agent the following:

1. "Build me a Node.js script that posts to Reddit using the Reddit API."
2. "It should read a JSON config file with the subreddit name, post title, path to a markdown body file, and an optional flair ID."
3. "Use Devvit OAuth tokens for authentication. The token file lives at ~/.devvit/token."
4. "Add commands for --whoami, --list-subs, --delete POST_ID, and flair discovery for any subreddit."
5. "Auto-refresh the token when it's about to expire."

Your AI agent will know what to do with these instructions. If you need to set up a Devvit account first, go to developers.reddit.com and run npm create devvit@latest with any template to get your authentication token.

The Posting Workflow

1. Write your piece or adapt an existing one into a .md file.
2. Create a config JSON file with the target subreddit, title, file path, and flair.
3. Run the script. Verify the post URL renders correctly.
4. Wait 2+ hours before posting the next adapted version to another subreddit.
5. Repeat with a new config for each subreddit.

Once your organic Reddit presence is established, paid ads become a powerful accelerant. Reddit ads are different from Meta or Google ads in important ways, and understanding those differences is what makes or breaks your campaign.

Why Reddit Ads Are Different

Reddit users hate being sold to. They can smell a generic ad from three screens away. But they love authenticity, and they love people who genuinely participate in their communities. This means the usual playbook of polished images and aggressive CTAs doesn't work here.

Ad Formats

• Freeform Ads (Text Posts) — These look like regular Reddit posts. You write a body, people can comment on it, and you can respond to those comments. This is the most "Reddit-native" format and the one I recommend for coaches. Think of it as a promoted AMA.
• Carousel Ads — Multiple image slides (up to 6) that users swipe through. Good for conversion campaigns where you want to tell a visual story: hook, proof, price, CTA.
• Reddit Max — An AI-driven campaign type. You give it headlines, images, and target communities. Reddit's AI tests different combinations and automatically shows the best-performing version to each user. Reported results: 17% cheaper CPA, 27% higher conversions.
• Video Ads — Under 30 seconds with subtitles. 79-82% of Reddit traffic is mobile with sound off, so subtitles are mandatory.

Targeting Options

• Community targeting — Show your ad to people who visit specific subreddits. This is Reddit's killer feature. You can target r/lifecoaching, r/Entrepreneur, r/getdisciplined, etc.
• Keyword targeting — Seed keywords like "life coach marketing," "get clients online," "coaching business" and let Reddit find the right audience.
• Custom audiences — Upload your email list (CSV) and Reddit will match those emails to Reddit accounts. Match rates are typically 10-40%.
• Demographics — Age, location, device. I target 25-45, United States, all devices.

The Reddit Pixel

Before running any ads, install the Reddit Pixel on your website. It's a small JavaScript snippet (similar to the Meta Pixel) that tracks when someone visits your site, adds something to cart, or makes a purchase. Without it, you're flying blind.

Install it on every page of your site, not just the landing page. The pixel builds a retargeting audience over time, even before you run ads.

Branding Policy

Important rule: you can mention "Reddit" in your ad headline, but you cannot put "Reddit" in your creative images or video. This is Reddit's branding policy. If you're selling a course about Reddit (like I am), the headline can say "How Coaches Are Getting Clients on Reddit" but the carousel images can't have "Reddit" on them.

What Works on Reddit (from Reddit's own team)

• Authenticity and real stories outperform polished creative
• No emojis, no hashtags, no AI-generated images
• Clean, natural images perform better than stock photos
• Meme-style campaigns can work surprisingly well
• Videos must have subtitles (most users are on mobile, sound off)
• Design for mobile first (79-82% of traffic)

Budgeting

Reddit regularly offers ad credit matches. When I started, I got a $1,500 match: spend $1,500, receive $1,500 in free credit. This effectively halves your cost per acquisition and makes the first campaign a low-risk experiment.

For benchmarks: my early campaigns ran at $0.71 CPC (cost per click), $3 CPM (cost per thousand impressions), and 0.45% CTR (click-through rate). Industry benchmarks are $1.50-2.00 CPC, $5-7 CPM, and 0.35-0.45% CTR. Reddit can be surprisingly affordable.

This is how I actually set up my Reddit ad campaigns. Not theory; this is what I did, what I spent, and how I evaluated results.

The Two Campaigns

I run two campaigns simultaneously. Each one serves a different purpose, but they feed each other:

Campaign A: "The Coaching Floor" (Freeform AMA)

• Format: Freeform text post (promoted)
• Budget: $20/day
• Objective: Awareness and engagement
• Targeting: r/selfimprovement, r/DecidingToBeBetter, r/getdisciplined, r/Mindfulness, r/AskMenOver30, r/findapath, r/needadvice, r/internetparents

This is a promoted "Ask Me Anything" where I coach people live in the comments. The ad looks like a regular Reddit post. People comment with their problems, and I give them real answers. Not teaser answers; full coaching responses.

AMA Headline Options

I tested three headlines:

1. "I'm a life coach who built my entire practice on Reddit. AMA."
2. "I left my corporate job at 28 to become a Buddhist life coach. I've written 1,300+ essays since. AMA."
3. "I coach people for free on Reddit every day. Ask me anything about your life and I'll give you a real answer."

AMA Body Copy

Engagement Protocol

• Launch day: Block 2-3 hours. Respond to every comment within 30 minutes.
• Days 2-7: Check 3x/day. Respond to all new comments.
• Days 8-30: Check 2x/day. Prioritize upvoted comments.
• Trolls: Respond with curiosity. "Fair question. What would convince you?"
• Never copy-paste responses. Never link-dump. Coach fully.

Campaign B: Reddit Max (Conversion)

• Format: Carousel (4 slides) via Reddit Max AI
• Budget: $35/day
• Objective: Purchases
• Targeting: r/lifecoaching, r/lifecoach, r/coaching, r/Entrepreneur, r/smallbusiness, r/therapists, r/SocialMediaMarketing, r/startups
• Seed keywords: "get clients on Reddit," "life coach marketing," "coaching business," "grow coaching practice"

Reddit Max is the AI-driven format. You give it 5 headlines and your creative, and it tests different combinations for each user. The 5 headlines I used:

1. "I Built a Coaching Practice Entirely on Reddit. Here's How."
2. "How Coaches Are Getting Clients on Reddit Without Self-Promoting"
3. "The $9.99 Course That Shows Coaches How to Use Reddit"
4. "Stop Posting Links and Start Getting Clients on Reddit"
5. "From Zero Clients to Booked Calendar, Using Only Reddit"

How They Work Together

Someone sees my AMA. They read me coaching people in the comments. They click my profile. Three days later, they see a carousel ad for the Reddit Course. They already know I'm legit because they watched me work. That's the conversion path. The AMA warms the audience; Reddit Max converts it.

Evaluation Framework

After 2 weeks, I evaluate both campaigns against clear thresholds:

Campaign A (AMA):

• Strong: 50+ comments, genuine coaching conversations, 200+ profile visits
• Acceptable: 10-50 comments, mixed quality, 50-200 profile visits
• Poor: Under 10 comments, mostly trolls, under 50 profile visits

Campaign B (Reddit Max):

• Scale: CPC under $1.50, CPA under $10, 15+ purchases
• Continue: CPC $1.50-3.00, CPA $10-17, 5-15 purchases
• Kill: CPC over $3.00, CPA over $25, under 5 purchases

Week 2 Decision Matrix

• Both working → Keep both. You've found a third ad channel.
• AMA strong + Course CPA over $25 → Kill Campaign B. Shift all budget to AMA at $55/day.
• AMA poor + Course CPA under $17 → Kill Campaign A. Shift all budget to Reddit Max.
• Both poor → Stop. Redirect budget to Meta or organic.

My Benchmarks

For reference, here are the numbers from my early Reddit ad campaigns:

• CPC: $0.71 (benchmark: $1.50-2.00)
• CTR: 0.45% (benchmark: 0.35-0.45%)
• CPM: $3 (benchmark: $5-7)

Reddit outperformed benchmarks across the board. I attribute this to having an organic presence first; the ads didn't feel like ads because I was already a real participant on the platform.