Finding Your Target Markets on Reddit: A Social Media Marketing Lesson
Our community recently discussed an interesting marketing experiment with Reddit. One member shared how they posted about their project in two different subreddits with very different results:
On r/SideProject, their post got minimal engagement
On r/cursor (a much smaller subreddit), their post took off and even started appearing on Twitter
This sparked a great conversation about finding the right audience online.
Size Isn't Everything
The key lesson wasn't that one platform is better than another—it's that finding the right community matters more than finding the biggest one. A small but highly relevant audience will usually respond better than a large but only tangentially interested one.
As the community member discovered, their content resonated with the specific interests of r/cursor members, even though that subreddit has fewer members overall.
The Ripple Effect
What was particularly interesting was how success in one small community led to visibility elsewhere. After gaining traction on r/cursor, the content was picked up and shared on Twitter, creating a secondary wave of visibility.
This shows how targeted engagement in niche communities can sometimes be the best path to broader reach—the opposite of the "spray and pray" approach that many marketers take.
Practical Tips From The Discussion
The conversation yielded several useful insights:
Research before posting: Spend time understanding the culture and interests of specific subreddits
Track mentions across platforms: Tools like f5bot.com can alert you when your brand is mentioned on Reddit, Hacker News, and similar sites
Engage authentically: Communities quickly recognize and reject purely promotional content
Follow the momentum: When you find traction in one community, nurture that relationship rather than immediately looking elsewhere
Beyond Reddit
While this example focused on Reddit, the principle applies across social platforms. Whether you're looking at Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Groups, or Discord servers, finding your specific tribe matters more than raw follower counts.
As one community member put it, "It's better to be a big fish in a small pond than to be ignored in the ocean."
For startup founders and creators, this serves as a reminder that marketing isn't just about reaching lots of people, it's about reaching the right people who actually care about what you're building.