Reddit (stylized as reddit) is easily one of the most influential social media sites on the web, and if you aren’t leveraging it to grow traffic and revenue, you’re likely missing out. The site essentially functions as a message board through which there is a main “front page”, but there are also user created sub-boards, known on the site as “subreddits”. These sub-sections allow users to form interest groups that range from the tame to the outright bizarre, but the important thing to realize is that both reddit’s main section and its subreddits can be used to gain brand awareness and new customers. Below are four ways in which to maximize your usage of reddit’s tools:

SEE ALSO: What Your Job Board Can Learn from Reddit’s /r/jobs

1. Pay Attention to Feedback

When you post something to reddit, other users can leave comments on it, and these comments can be upvoted or downvoted based on popularity within the reddit community. With this knowledge, you can pay attention to feedback that is posted on the content you upload, but you can also pay attention to community trends based upon which comments receive the most upvotes and downvotes. If a comment is critical of your content, but the community heavily downvotes such a comment, you can have peace of mind in knowing that commenters largely support the content.

2. Gain New Content Ideas

As there are so many subreddits out there that discuss very specific topics, you can use reddit to gain new ideas for content based on what is trending in a specific subreddit. For example, if you publish horror fiction, you could look for subreddits that pertain to this genre, and based upon trending conversations, you might choose to gather together ideas for your own content.

3. Host an AMA (Ask Me Anything)

Reddit also provides users with a chance to field questions from the community through AMA (ask me anything) sessions and IAMA (I am a) sessions. AMA sessions allow users with the chance to ask questions of influential individuals in various industries, and this forum would be perfect for authors, journalists, broadcasters, and more. An IAMA is similar in that it allows users to host question and answer sessions based on occupation. For example, if you publish a weekly newspaper, you might conduct an IAMA for the journalism community to ask you questions about how you got started and so on. Using these methods, you can increase brand awareness and provide valuable, educational, and entertaining content.

4. Create Your Own Subreddit

Another way to expand readership with the goal of gaining extra revenue is to create your own subreddit. Because subreddits can be about virtually anything, feel free to be as narrow or as broad in scope as you would like. One word of caution, however; it would not be wise to create a subreddit that pushes a particular service or product. Instead, focus on your industry and its demographics as a whole to reach the right people and have a larger impact.