Social media is rapidly changing for consumers. For a long time, social media replaced the internet for most people. Twitter is where the news came from, Pinterest and YouTube helped us learn new things, Instagram kept us interesting as long as our feed was properly curated and facebook as well as LinkedIn is how we maintained relationships and participated in events.
Reddit always remains on the outskirts of the social media craze. It is more private, less sexy in interface design and creating a following requires effort. As attendees reconsider relationships with social media and how much they are willing to share with strangers or people that they don’t really have a personal connection to, how does Reddit move to a more attractive social media option?
As a marketer and event coordinator, I’ve always seen Reddit as a perfect portal to free anonymous focus groups. It’s a great place to learn about subjects and find others that are willing to pitch in open source information to the community. The anonymity brings an element that removes ego for some and brings confidence to others. It’s not our job to figure out which is which but just to observe and listen to what the people are trying to tell us.
In events, Reddit is a great way to build community online and translate the care-abouts to a live event. You’ll already know what the target likes and you know there is a market for the event as long as you can properly promote it geographically. For industries that are a bit more underground Reddit is a natural fit to find what one needs, tapping underground or emerging industries is a great way to stay current.
Reddit is a genuine social media platform that allows event organizers and marketers into a test market they would normally have to pay for in expensive focus groups. Use it, grow it and learn more about Reddit as social media transforms.