The Reddit Problem

November 19, 2012Comments Off on The Reddit Problem

Reddit is more popular than ever…and losing money.

They've asked their users to buy gold accounts. 

The honesty is refreshing, and it might just work. 

But I think there is a better model. 

The amazing thing about gathering together such a strong, passionate, community is you can identify exactly what they want and sell such products to them.

Threadless thrives on this. They earn over $40m a year selling products to their community rather than finding communities for their products. 

I'd be working on The Reddit Guide to Life (and other community-created 'Guide to' books), Reddit merchandise (t-shirts etc where members could submit their favourite quotes/ideas), organizing/facilitating Reddit events/activities around the world, and exclusive areas of the site members can pay to access. 

There are no shortage of ideas for monetizing a community. Look to what other successful communities are doing and copy that. Mumsnet, for example, sells their guides, has an academy that sells courses on Ancient Greek, Jewellery Making, Writing Sex In Fiction etc…, hosts sponsored events, charges organizations to host competitions, and otherwise has a highly diversified income stream. 

Reddit users have money. They've raised donated over $2m to charity in the last few years. They're willing to spend the money on things and ideas that match their community ethos. The challenge is to find the products they want to buy. The process of doing that is the most valuable part of monetizing a community. 

Aside: If Reddit gave their top 10,000 members free Gold accounts for 1 year, my bet is a) the majority of them would pay to keep it and b) far more members would upgrade to gold account. 

Comments Off
©2023 FeverBee Limited, Apartment 2410, 251 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 6FN England FEVERBEE
GO TO THE CUTTING EDGE OF COMMUNITY BUILDING

We’d like you to join us.

We’re a group of community professionals who push each other to the cutting edge of our work. Every day we share our experiences, highlight new expertise, and push one another to become the best community builders we can be.

The day you join, you’ll get access to 1000+ practical tips, dozens of resources, and unlimited access to the top experts in our space. You’ll also get to see how we go about building a community amongst our own audience.

It takes just 30 seconds and doesn’t cost a thing.

CLICK HERE AND JOIN FEVERBEE
Please Select Membership Level to access more posts.

Level Price  
ALL COURSES $750.00 per Month.
Select
Community Development Program $1,100.00 per Month.
Select
Director of Community $8,770.00 per Month.
Select
Free Trial - Accelerator Program Free.
Select
Community Accelerator (founding members) [annually] $250.00 per Year.
Select
Community Accelerator and FeverBee Intelligence [monthly] $45.00 per Month.
Select
Community Accelerator and FeverBee Intelligence [annually] $450.00 per Year.
Select
Full Community Upgrade (Large Enterprise Only) [monthly] $750.00 per Month.
Select
Full Community Upgrade (Large Enterprise Only) [annually] $7,600.00 per Year.
Select