Is your small business paying attention to Reddit? If not, writes Peter Clark in EMARKETER, you could be missing “critical conversations happening in real-time…where over 180 million U.S. users discuss products, share recommendations, and influence purchases before companies even know what’s trending.”
Gabriel Sands, Reddit’s head of news and lifestyle partnerships, obviously agrees, saying during a recent webinar, “We are currently the third most visited website in the U.S.”
If you’re not familiar, Reddit is a social media platform featuring user-generated content centered around shared interests. There are currently over 100,000 active communities on the site (called subreddits) with 121 million active daily users and 471 million active weekly users. Reddit users are anonymous and depicted by avatars they design themselves. The anonymity apparently encourages open and authentic conversations, and users can upvote or downvote any comments.
Why Reddit Matters Now: Reddit Shopping
In the past year, Reddit has become a powerful recommendation engine. Every second, two people ask their communities for recommendations—and receive an average of 14 responses.
These recommendations are then up- or downvoted by others in the subreddits, giving consumers additional confidence they’re making the right choice. Companies are taking notice—and investing—by buying ads. According to EMARKETER, Reddit’s ad revenue will grow 52.6% this year, hitting $2.31 billion.
To aid in-store and online retailers, Reddit just introduced several shopping tools, enhancing “the Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) experience” on the site.
Reddit reports it has “seen a 40% year-over-year increase in the number of high-intent shopping conversations on the platform.” And 84% of Reddit shoppers “feel more secure in their purchases after researching products on the platform.” A third-party report—Fospha’s The State of Retail Commerce 2026, showed that “businesses that scaled their investment in Reddit saw cost per purchase improve by 34%.” And yet, according to the report, there’s “still untapped opportunity,” identifying Reddit as “the most under-valued channel in the media mix.”
EMARKETER’s Clark says Sands calls Reddit “the ultimate free focus group and says that’s “why many brands these days are looking to see how their product or their brand is being discussed.”
Participating in Reddit Conversations
For businesses that want to actively participate, success comes from engagement—not promotion, according to Clark’s article. Sands explains: Businesses “are generally going to be interacting in spaces that they don’t own and operate. [Those] that add value to the communities through their participation are really the ones that succeed.”
Ready to explore Reddit conversations? Clark’s article shares Sands’s best tips:
- Start by listening in all the communities where your [business may] appear to understand the sentiment.
- Reach out to volunteer moderators and ask how they’d prefer companies to show up.
- Use transparent usernames that identify your professional affiliation, even if you’re writing as an individual
- Focus on providing value rather than making recommendations or promoting.
If you’re still hesitant, Clark writes that Sands recommends “starting with personal use aligned with individual interests rather than professional identity.”
Most small businesses won’t find their names trending on Reddit. But that doesn’t mean you’re not part of the conversation.
Customers are already there—asking questions, sharing experiences, and influencing each other’s decisions. The opportunity for small businesses isn’t to control those conversations, but to understand them—and, when appropriate, contribute in a way that builds trust.
Because whether or not you’re participating, your customers are.
Rieva Lesonsky is the founder of Small Business Currents, a content company focusing on small businesses and entrepreneurship. You can find her on Twitter @Rieva, Bluesky @Rieva.bsky.social, and LinkedIn. Or email her at Rieva@SmallBusinessCurrents.com.
Photo courtesy Brett Jordan via pexels