Reddit offers real influence, without influencers

Discover how brands can win authentically on Reddit

By Leah Smith, Director, Mid Market Sales

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February 28, 2023

The growth playbook for today’s brands are shifting

Brands are at an interesting inflection point right now. Amid the economic slowdown, rising competition and inflated shipping costs, many have had to re-evaluate their business model and adapt their strategies to remain successful in a field of aggressive and diverse rivals.

The same holds true for their marketing strategies. Many brands were born on social, but we know that doesn’t work anymore thanks to rising CPMs, market saturation, and a sea of sameness in advertising and branded efforts. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results, so why are brands relying on the same tactics to drive new growth and expecting better performance?

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Influencer marketing is ripe for disruption

This is especially true for influencer marketing. According to eMarketer, influencer marketing spend is projected to reach $7.14B in 2024, up 43% from this year.¹ But while brands keep cranking up the spend on influencer marketing, we’re also seeing it become less effective over time. Between 2021 and 2022, there’s been a -30% decline in influencer engagement on Instagram.²

*Sources: Reddit internal data, US, 2021; Reddit internal data via Suzy, US, 2022; Rival IQ, Global*

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Why? We’ve hit influencer overload. Our social feeds aren’t what they used to be. Where we once turned to influencers for discovery and aspiration, we’re now drowning in a sea of #sponcon. The number of sponsored posts is up 27% across FB, IG, TikTok and YouTube.³

And as a result, fatigue is creeping in. 85% of Americans find influencers inauthentic or unrelatable. On Reddit, we’ve seen a similar pattern with a +644% increase in negative mentions of influencers between 2019-2022.⁵ This shows that the more brands and products an influencer endorses, the less they can credibly advocate for anything.

What does this mean for brands? Beyond ineffective marketing, wasted spend, and negative brand association, influencer marketing has caused a wave of distrust and skepticism among consumers. Consumers have never been more fed up with brand promises. In fact, 72% of people agree that it’s becoming harder to trust brand claims.⁶

In order to reach new audiences, brands now need to rethink how to cut through the noise and relay their brand personality and products—in a way that is genuine, trustworthy, and scalable.

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Reddit offers real people, real perspectives

In some ways, Reddit is the anti-influencer influencer. Where influencer marketing is based on a personality selling a product, Reddit is the opposite.

We don’t have influencers on the platform. On Reddit, everyone is real and has an equal opportunity to contribute to the community. Our anonymity is the big equalizer here. Your content is valued because it is good and adds value to the community, not because of your social/internet status. Our users agree: 87% agree that influence and feeling important to the community on Reddit comes from the worth of people’s contributions, not who they know or how many likes they receive.⁷

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Find your people where they find communities they trust

Redditors provide peer reviews that can back up or refute the claims of influencers and brands.

People still discover brands and products through influencers. But Reddit is where they come to find out if they should really buy from them – from people who’ve actually used the goods or services they want to buy.

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