At the recent Cannes Lions festival, Reddit's VP of Community, Laura Nestler, delivered a pointed piece of advice to brands: "act like a citizen, not like a billboard." That single line captures the core philosophy of how a brand needs to show up on Reddit.
Reddit doesn't function like one media channel — it's a collection of thousands of individual communities, or subreddits, each with its own language, humor, pace of conversation, and norms. According to Nestler, brands that perform well on Reddit are the ones that respect that individual culture, listening and contributing rather than applying one marketing formula across every community.
Genuine participation means replying directly to user questions in comments, responding to concerns raised in conversation, and contributing meaningfully to an ongoing discussion instead of dropping a campaign into it. That requires brands to invest real time understanding a community's dynamics before engaging at all.
Research before participation was also emphasized: brands should first identify which subreddits their target audience actually talks in, observe the tone and influential users in that community, then adjust strategy accordingly — a far heavier lift than typical promotional tactics. Analyzing comment threads and discussion trends reveals how a community reacts to specific topics, letting brands move customers to the next step, as Reddit puts it, "with greater confidence."
Reddit argues this community activity converts into real business outcomes — shopping activity is rising as users research products on Reddit before buying, and Reddit content being frequently cited in AI chatbot answers is opening new marketing opportunities.
This message isn't unique to Reddit — it reaffirms a principle for community-based platforms generally: brands need to be participants in the conversation, not its owner. In practice, that means building a listening phase into your process before any campaign launches — identifying target subreddits and learning their norms and pet peeves as a dedicated task, not an afterthought. The performance metric shift matters too: quality of authentic interaction, not ad impressions.
The note about Reddit content being cited in AI chatbot answers is also worth watching from a search and generative-AI visibility angle. Authentic conversation and positive sentiment accumulated in community spaces can translate directly into brand mentions inside AI search results — which argues for treating community engagement as long-term brand equity, not a short-term campaign.
If you're planning a community-first strategy across Reddit or similar platforms, Best Partner's services can help you design it, or get in touch.
Reddit's VP of Community, Laura Nestler, advises brands to "act like a citizen, not like a billboard" — respecting each subreddit's distinct culture and contributing to conversations rather than broadcasting the same marketing message everywhere.
Replying directly to user questions, addressing concerns raised in discussion, and contributing meaningfully to ongoing conversations instead of dropping in a campaign — all preceded by real research into the community's norms and influential voices.
Reddit says shopping activity is rising as users research products there before purchase, and Reddit content is increasingly cited in AI chatbot answers, creating new brand visibility opportunities beyond the platform itself.
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