When it comes to your Indiegogo campaign, reddit is unique among social media tools for its consistently attentive and engaged audience. Submitting your project as a conversation topic is a great way to drive excitement, buzz, and feedback – and there’s a right and a wrong way to go about it. We connected with reddit to see what you can do to ensure your experience with their communities is a success. Take a look and go campaigner go!

1. Get the lay of the land. A quick reddit search of keywords related to your campaign category will pull up any existing reddit communities that could make sense for you to engage with. It’s also a good idea to make sure your project (or a near-identical endeavor) isn’t already being discussed. Again, reddit’s audience is highly engaged – you may be surprised at how quick they are pick up new topics of conversation.

• Tip: If you do your research and are still uncertain where exactly your campaign fits into a conversation or community, good! You now have a talking point for introducing yourself and asking for guidance from seasoned redditors.

2. Engage with the right conversations in the right way. Once you’ve identified communities related to your campaign category, make sure you know what’s appropriate content for submitting and engaging. For example, many subreddits have strict rules against posting direct links to crowdfunding content, and ignoring those rules will result in deletion. Each subreddit’s community-specific rules are posted on its main page’s right-hand sidebar. Even though you’re unable to directly promote your campaign, just commenting and contributing to conversations is great for establishing a social presence and gaining valuable community insight into your campaign.

• Tip: Subreddits run deep! Take the time to really explore the site’s many niche communities – they may become your project’s biggest supporters if you make a genuine, direct connection.

3. Use promoted posts to feature your project. If you aim to gain campaign awareness by submitting to multiple subreddits, you run the risk of being flagged for spamming (self-promotion isn’t allowed on reddit). Rather, paying as little as $5 for a promoted post is a great way to guarantee your campaign features in a number of very niche subreddits. For example, if you’re running a campaign to fund revolutionary exercise equipment, you can pay for a sponsored headline that will target the LoseIt, Fitness, and HomeFitness subreddits at once.

• Tip: Click through to learn more about reddit’s rules for self-promotion and promoted posts.

4. Leverage an AMA to your benefit. While an AMA (Ask Me Anything) cannot focus specifically on your Indiegogo campaign, the discussion may relate to it. For example, an AMA titled “I’m an indie horror filmmaker whose Indiegogo campaign is ALMOST at goal, AMA!” will be suspended, while “I’m an indie horror filmmaker whose first film won 10 awards, AMA!” won’t. Before you open up to questions, think about your strategy. Are you actually the one best suited for engaging with this particular crowd? Or do you have a team member who excels at telling your story with a twist? Interesting, funny, and unique do well on reddit.

• Tip: Individuals are limited to hosting one reddit AMA every 3 months, so keep that in mind when scheduling – especially if you foresee your campaign leading to a bigger project.

For more information on enhancing your Indiegogo campaign with social media, check out our playbook!