Contest promotion on Reddit: community posts and ads that follow each community's rules

Will a Reddit community let you post about your contest entry?

Sometimes, and only the community's own rules can tell you. Every Reddit community writes its own policy on self-promotion, and moderators enforce it. One community welcomes an entrant sharing their work; the next removes the post and bans the account.

So the first job on Reddit is reading, not writing. For each community on the shortlist we record:

• Whether self-promotion or links to a contest are allowed at all.
• Whether the poster needs a history of ordinary participation before sharing their own project.
• Whether posts need a particular tag, format or weekly thread.
• Whether a contest vote counts as a request for support, which some communities ban outright.
• How to reach the moderators, and whether they ask for permission before a post.

Ask before you post

Where the rules are unclear, the entrant sends a short message to the moderators: who they are, what the contest is, what they would like to share and a clear offer to withdraw the post if it does not fit. A yes in writing is worth more than any guess. A no is also useful, because it keeps your account in good standing.

The outcome of this reading is a plan with three lists: communities where a post is welcome, communities where you should take part in discussion without posting your entry, and communities we leave alone. This reading is part of the free contest analysis.

How do you write a Reddit post that supports an entry without reading like an advert?

Lead with something the community can use, and put the contest second. People come to a community for its subject, whether that is photography, local news, a game or a profession, and they judge a post on that subject first.

What a welcome post looks like

• A title that describes the work or the story, not the ask.
• A plain statement of your connection: you made it, you entered it, you are the founder.
• A few sentences of context a stranger can enjoy without clicking anything.
• One mention of the contest, with the voting steps in plain words, near the end.
• A promise to answer questions in the comments, which you then keep.

What we keep out

• Repeating the same post across many communities.
• Asking people to upvote, or to vote on a schedule, or to vote because of a favour. We do not organise, coordinate or encourage voting on Reddit posts, and we do not accept projects that need it.
• Pretending to be a happy stranger. A person who benefits from the post says so.

A good post may get a question rather than a vote. That is a good sign: answering it well does more for the entry than a dozen reminders.

If you want help finding the words, the creative and copy service covers drafting, and the entrant stays the author who publishes from their own account.

When do Reddit ads make more sense than posting in communities?

Ads make sense when the communities you want do not allow your post, or when the entry needs reach at a set time. A Reddit ad is bought inside Reddit's ad system, shown to the audience you choose, and clearly marked as an ad, so it avoids the problem of self-promotion rules.

The two routes solve different problems.

How we set an ad up

We choose the audience from the options in the ad system, such as interests and the communities your voters belong to, and write two or three versions of a short message. A direct ad about the entry works better than a clever one, since Reddit readers are quick to notice a pitch. The link leads to the entry or to a page that explains the voting steps, and carries a tracking tag.

The ad account is yours, so the history and the audience notes remain yours after the contest. The general method is on our page about paid promotion of contest entries.

What does CoinMarketing Pro do on Reddit, and what stays with the entrant?

We research, draft, advise and measure. The entrant, or the person whose name is on the entry, publishes and answers. That split exists because Reddit communities judge a post by the account behind it, and an account that belongs to the entrant carries real history.

Our part

• Reading the rules and writing the community shortlist.
• Drafting the moderator message and the post for each welcome community.
• Building and running the Reddit ad campaign, from an ad account you own.
• Watching comments and suggesting replies, so questions get answered the same day.
• A daily report from Reddit's own analytics on ad spend, reach and clicks.

Your part

• Posting from your own account, in your own words.
• Answering questions yourself.
• Telling us at once if a moderator removes a post, so that we stop and re-read the rules.

How it connects to the rest of the campaign

Reddit seldom stands alone. A common pairing is a few well-chosen community posts together with one ad set, plus a more personal channel such as email and messenger outreach. Our methodology shows how we decide the mix, and how a contest campaign runs shows the whole sequence from analysis to wrap-up.

Where does Reddit promotion stop, and how do you begin?

Moderators can remove a post at any time, communities can change their rules halfway through a contest, and no one can make a stranger on Reddit care about an entry. We deal with that by asking before posting, by keeping a second route open in the form of ads, and by never spending ad budget on a message the community has already rejected.

To start, send the contest link, the rules, the entry and the deadline via the free contest analysis, and name any communities you already read. You receive the three lists described above, a view on whether Reddit deserves a place next to Facebook or X, and a written quote to approve or decline. If you first want wording to adapt, the templates for asking people to vote are free.

How it works

1. Contest and rules reviewYou send the contest link, entry and deadline. We read the contest terms and confirm that outside promotion is allowed.
2. Community shortlistWe read the self-promotion rules of each relevant community and sort them into welcome, discuss-only and avoid.
3. Drafts and moderator messagesWe write the moderator message, the post and the ad versions, and you approve all of it.
4. Publish, launch and answerYou publish from your own account, our ads go live from your ad account, and comments are answered the same day.
5. Daily reading and wrap-upYou receive daily numbers from Reddit's analytics, then a wrap-up report with the audience notes and files.