Reddit Marketing Guide: How to Promote With Comments Without Getting Banned
Who is this for?
Marketers / business owners who want to or are already marketing on Reddit.
You already know the potential of Reddit, but you’re getting banned, or your comments are getting removed, or you just want to know how to improve ROI.
This guide is for you.
Why listen to me?
I grew my solo business from $0 to $11k/mo, mainly using Reddit marketing. 64% of my traffic comes from Reddit - all organic.
I’ve tested a lot of approaches, made mistakes, and even got banned from some subreddits.
What I’m sharing here are first-hand lessons, not generic copy-paste advice.
How does promoting with comments work?
The overall idea is simple:
- Monitor Reddit for posts where your product / service can help OP
- Post a comment that helps first, and only then mention your product/service as an option
The devil is in the details. Let’s go through common pitfalls and how to avoid them.
What happens if you do it right?
Here’s all the good stuff that can happen:
- OP checks out your product / service
- Other Redditors see your reply and click through
- Helpful replies get upvoted, moving you to the top
- The post gets indexed by Google and cited on AI chatbots like ChatGPT - people searching for the same problem sees your comment for months or even years
Reddit comments ranking on Google
As you can see, you’re not just limited to short bursts of traffic from Reddit.
Done right, it can create long term visibility because Reddit threads rank well on Google, and more people are specifically seeking Reddit advice.
What happens if done wrong?
- Your comment could get removed or collapsed (hidden behind a “+”)
- Your account could get banned from the Subreddit
- In worst cases, you could get banned Reddit-wide
Do note that even if you follow best practices, mods can still remove your comments - sometimes arbitrarily. That’s just Reddit.
But if you avoid common mistakes and monitor how your comments perform, you’ll usually see more upside than downside.
What people do wrong (and what to do instead)
Shilling more than helping
Redditors HATE self-promotion. If your comment smells salesy, you WILL get called out.
Example of self promotion comment downvoted
But that doesn’t mean you can’t self-promote. You just have to help much more than you promote.
Offer free information and advice. Share your personal experience if relevant.
And no, sharing your product / service doesn’t count (except free info products like blog or youtube videos which are a bit grey).
ONLY after you’ve offered help, THEN offer your product / service as an option to consider.
Example of helping first, then offering your product / service
Do it in the most non salesy way possible. Never present it as the best thing in the world.
Bonus - compare with competition and explain pros and cons. The reality is that every product / service is best for different groups of people. Call that out and you’ll be seen as a trustworthy information sharer instead of a pushy sly salesman.
Using (pure) AI replies
To shortcut the helping OP part, some people use AI to generate “helpful” replies.
But it is still very obvious and they still often get taken down.
The problem with AI replies is that even if the tone and style has been prompted to mimic Redditors, the content is still very generic and “empty”.
Collapsed and removed comments are visible when logged in which is misleading
Even if theres a sliver of insight, the surrounding blabber still gives off that AI smell.
That doesn’t mean you cannot use AI to speed up crafting of replies. It just means that you still need human in the loop.
Here’s the workflow that I’ve found to work better:
- Curate a knowledge base of insights relevant to your niche
- For each thread:
- AI sorts insights by relevance to the thread
- You pick insights AI should use
- AI combines and re-writes the insights to address OP
I use my own tool ThreadSnipe to streamline this, but you can also do it manually with ChatGPT projects.
Curating a knowledge base of insights sound tedious, but you can always build it up progressively as you answer questions from Reddit. Its basically an FAQ.
Replying too late
You want to be in the top 10 comments, not buried under 30 others.
To increase your odds, you need to be early.
The earlier you comment, the more people will see it, the more likely it'll get upvoted. This sets off a flywheel because the more upvotes = more visibility = more upvotes etc.
As a rule of thumb, the best window is within the first 3 hours.
To be early, hang out in your niche’s Subreddits, sorting posts by “new”. Or use Reddit monitoring tools like f5bot (free but only tracks exact keywords) or ThreadSnipe (paid, AI tracking, covers all subreddits).
Not tracking comment visibility
Reddit doesn’t notify you when a comment is removed or collapsed. You’ll still see it when logged in, which can be misleading.
To catch this, log out or use an incognito browser to view the post - only then will you see if your comment is hidden or gone.
Collapsed and removed comments are visible when logged in which is misleading
Regularly tracking what gets removed helps you iterate on your approach so you don't continue wasting effort on comments that aren’t reaching anyone.
Each Subreddit has their own rules (visible or not), so you should track on a per Subreddit basis.
I use ThreadSnipe to track this automatically, but you can also track this in a spreadsheet.
Not tracking comment upvotes (and downvotes)
If you don’t track this, you could be putting in a lot of effort but not gain any traction.
You’ll want to:
- Note which replies get upvotes - do more of that.
- For downvoted or removed replies, tweak your approach (tone, advice, salesy-ness etc)
Over time, this iterative approach compounds. You’ll learn:
- What type of advice garners the most upvotes
- How to phrase product mentions without triggering downvotes
Most people give up after a few failed comments. Those who stick with it, track outcomes, and iterate are the ones who turn Reddit into a reliable growth channel.
I use ThreadSnipe to track this automatically, but you can also track this in a spreadsheet.
Faking reviews
I did not personally try this because it makes me feel icky. But i’ve noticed some few users getting banned Reddit-wide for doing this.
You don’t want to risk that because that means all your comments and posts will be wiped out - all the effort down the drain.
Instead, just be authentic and upfront about your connection to the product or service.
Redditors actually respect honesty when paired with genuinely useful advice.
Other tips
Farm and age your account first
Some Subreddits have AutoMod rules that do not allow you to post unless you have a minimum karma and age.
Example removal due to insufficient karma and age
If your account doesn’t meet that criteria, try participating in these subreddits that do not have karma requirements and are fairly easy to jump into:
- r/AskReddit: Very active with lots of open-ended questions that invite many responses and discussions, great for genuine, thoughtful, or witty comments.
- r/ShowerThoughts: Perfect for short, clever, or funny comments on simple observations.
- r/Jokes: Commenting on jokes or adding punchlines can get upvotes.
- r/aww: For positive, friendly comments related to cute content.
- r/nextfuckinglevel, r/mademesmile, r/holup, r/thatsinsane: Subreddits featuring interesting or funny media where engaging comments get visibility.
Ending notes
That’s it for now! Hope it has been helpful.
It’s all very simple really. Be helpful, authentic, early, and track whats working and what isn’t.
Do that consistently, and Reddit can become one of your highest-ROI channels - without the bans and headaches.