Are you tired of the same old online marketing channels and are looking for something new? Reddit is easily your best pick.

This unique content publishing platform attracts almost 164 million unique visitors each month.

A perfect candidate for your next marketing tool, right? True - Reddit has a lot of potential, but navigating its user base can be tricky.

Before making your move you should know that Redditers are a specific community. If you fail to follow the “redittquette”, or betray your marketing intentions, things might get ugly before you know it.

Still, brands like Xbox 360 or Red Bull manage to successfully use Reddit for marketing purposes. It might be risky, but Reddit is definitely worth it.

Here are 8 tips to help you make your first steps towards marketing your business on Reddit.

1. How Reddit Works

Reddit is a platform where users share content which can be upvoted or downvoted by other users.

If your submission gets lots of upvotes, it's moved to the Hot page – the same works for subreddit pages, as well as the main Reddit page. If your post lands there, you're guaranteed to get lots of traffic and conversions.

Reddit is huge, and lots of users share submissions in countless subreddit threads. The sheer number of submissions is enough to make you work a little harder on your posts if you'd like them to stand out and grab users' attention.

2. Who's on Reddit?

Here are some findings from a recent survey which showed the following facts about Reddit user base:

• 71% of Reddit news users are male
• 59% of these users are 18-29 of age
• 47% of them identify as liberal (only 13% consider themselves conservative, and a total of 39% as moderate).
• 47% of Reddit users are online almost all the time (a striking figure when compared to 21% of U.S. adults overall)

If this consumer group matches your target audience, consider Reddit as your next tool for online marketing.

3. Posting on Reddit – How to Survive

Here's all you need to know before publishing your first post on Reddit.

You can choose between two types of posts:

• link posts – featuring links that direct users to an external site
• text posts – content hosted on Reddit

If you'd like to boost the traffic of your website, choose link posts. Text posts, on the other hand, are excellent for getting links.

Your text posts should be relevant to the subreddit thread. Always offer lots of insightful information, links to other resources and quality data. Most importantly, keep it interesting and say something new.

4. Here's How to Avoid Getting Banned

Reddit easily bans users who might be spammers. A ban might lead to Reddit banning your entire domain from ever appearing on the platform. And that's a serious problem.

Here's how avoid getting banned:

• Don't submit links only to your website
• Never submit the same comments to different subreddits
• Don't openly ask for upvotes
• Don't share illegal content or private information
• Don't sound promotional

Redditers hate to be subjected to blatant marketing and won't hesitate to screen your profile and posting history to check whether you're a marketer who only posts company content.

Use 1 to 10 ratio for posting your own content and sharing content produced by others, and you should be fine.

5. Create a Genuine Profile

Your profile should look like it belongs to a real person, not a marketer.

Here's how to avoid giving the wrong impression to Redditers checking you out:

• submit to various subreddits
• link to quality content
• amass a few hundred “karma” points
• post insightful comments on other posts
• wait a few weeks before posting your own content

Your profile should make it clear that you're here to engage with the community, not shamelessly sell your product. Be smart and patient and you will be able to hide your marketing intentions from the watchful eye of Redditers.

6. Choosing the Right Subreddit for Posting

Reddit is full of subreddits for every niche you can imagine.

Prepare your posts with subreddits in mind. You can choose between small subreddits with few subscribers or large, general subreddits that usually generate lots of traffic.

Small subreddits are full of engaged users and promise easy conversion. If you decide to post on a large subreddit, you surely have a better chance at getting more traffic, but conversions are generally low.

Try posting in both types of subreddits to see what works for you. However, always remember to follow the posting rules of subreddits at all cost.

7. Make the Most out of Redditads

Redditads are reminders the platform sends to users about the date and time of an event, featuring a link to the official event page. Be smart and use Redditads to keep users informed about events relevant to your niche.

8. Create a Calendar of Events

Social media serve as powerful mass notification tools these days. A smart strategy for sharing news and reminding users of upcoming events related to your brand is Reddit's calendar.

You can keep in touch with your followers by creating a calendar of events, posting company news, or updating users on how far you've got left to reach your goal.

News has immense value on Reddit. A study from the Pew Research Center showed that 78% of Reddit users come to the platform to get their daily news fix.

Extra tip: What to do if accessing Reddit is tricky in your country?

If you happen to be located in a country where Reddit is banned – and believe me, it happens way more often than we all like to think – you can still benefit from the network by using a VPN and connecting to the platform with a foreign IP number.

There are plenty reviews available on the web to help you pick the right VPN service, a sound investment in this day and age.

It's clear that Reddit has enormous marketing potential. Use these 8 tips to direct a ton of traffic to your website and build a community of loyal followers to power your brand engagement.

Author Bio: Elizabeth Lee is an ardent blogger and marketing specialist deeply passionate about finding and utilizing new and untapped channels for business promotion. Currently, Elizabeth is supporting PACK & SEND - experts in the field of transportation.