Use of Reddit in Early Stages of the Innovation Process

The toolbox of qualitative research offers numerous methods which can help the researcher to understand the end-customers. But still, it takes a master to leave all the expectations and beliefs behind and see the world through their eyes. And ONLY then, we can genuinely uncover customer’s needs, pains and emotions in order to build a product or campaign which we should be aiming to build.

But what are your options, when you are yet to organise your interview or your budget won’t handle a couple of focus groups? When you are a lost researcher out in the open, and desperately trying to understand what your target audience is like? When you need a quick idea for your pitch but have no time on your hands? No matter what your situation is, on the following pages you will learn how you can harvest the power of Reddit, the online powerhouse with 330M+ monthly active users [1], in order to save your ass when you need it.

Firstly, if you have never used Reddit before, it is a discussion website predominantly used in English-speaking countries. It is important to stress out, that it isn’t your normal social media with friends and pictures from your holidays. Here users subscribe to various subreddits according to individual interests and have no connection to other “redditors” commenting under the posts.

Secondly, users exercise anonymity and therefore often share information they wouldn’t normally share. Also, they engage in a discussion they would never engage IRL (“In Real Life”, abbr. used by redditors). For the researcher, this creates a somehow uncontrolled environment where anything can happen and no topic is off limits.

Thirdly, the average redditor is a young white male from the U.S. and not surprisingly he’s also likely single [2]. Nevertheless, you can reach other market segments, control the research subject and direct the discussing redditors in your desired direction.

How it works?

Let’s clear up a couple of facts right in the beginning. This method generates and harvests users’ discussing activity. Placing carefully formulated questions or statements in the popular subreddits, almost immediately generates hundreds or thousands of comments which, if done right, provide you with the information you are looking for. For example, Subreddit called /AskReddit is literally made for asking questions and has currently ~22mil users. Not clear yet? Look at the colourful examples below from this subreddit and you will understand straight away

1 GET YOURSELF A PROFILE: The older the profile is, the better. Also, a profile with more karma will help you, but that’s not necessary.

2 FIND AN ACTIVE SUBREDDIT: Generally, you have a better chance of getting responses inside of a very active subreddits (e.g. /AskReddit). But also think about the market segment you will be asking there.

3 FORMULATE YOUR QUESTION: You have to get their attention, but don’t get carried away! This is one slippery slope. Use specifiers as “Parents of Reddit” or “Students of Reddit” for targeting specific audiences. Follow the rules of the subreddit but don’t be too obvious in what you are actually doing.

4 ASK YOUR QUESTION: First think about the time of the day — then ask. Participate in the discussion and help it grow.

5 COLLECT THE DATA It took a couple of minutes and didn’t cost you anything! Where’s my money? Keep on reading for hints on the analysis.

Further Literature & Inspiration

Getting Closer to the Consumer — How Nivea Co-Creates New Products: Using netnography method to geared to gain consumer insights from social media and an online co-creation session to evaluate and further enrich ideas [5] https://bit.ly/2Hw0zQl

The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography For Marketing Research in Online Communities: The author provides guidelines that acknowledge the online environment, respect the inherent flexibility and openness of nethnography, and provide rigor and ethics in the conduct of marketing research [6] https://bit.ly/29lOAB0

I want to believe: A netnography of the X-philes’ subculture of consumption: Studying fan such as the X-Philes as subcultures of consumption exploring the relationship between mass media programming and consumption adding to our understanding of the ways in which social values and attitudes are created, expressed [7] https://bit.ly/2Hx2eoW

Disclaimer

This method is likely to be against the Reddit’s rules of conduct, depending on the specific subreddit which you decide to use. Ethically, you have to settle for yourself — what questions you will ask? How will you use the information? Just do not over-use it or you’ll break it! Ultimately, it should help you to deliver a better product for the end-users — and that’s fine by me.

Sources used:

[1] Reddit. (n.d.). Where stories are born. Retrieved March, 2019, from https:// www.redditinc.com/press

[2] HurricaneXriks. (2017). [OC]The Results of the Reddit Demographics Survey 2016. All data collected from users on r/Samplesize. Retrieved March, 2019, from https://bit.ly/ 2HwVLua

[3] Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G., & Hamilton, A. L. (2013). Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research: Notes on the Gioia Methodology. Organizational Research Methods, 16(1), 15– 31.

[4] Mayring, Philipp (2000). Qualitative Content Analysis [28 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 1(2), Art. 20, http://nbn-resolving.de/ urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0002204.

[5] Bilgram, Volker & Bartl, Michael & Biel, Stefan. (2011). Getting Closer to the Consumer — How Nivea Co-Creates New Products. Marketing Review St. Gallen. 28. 34–40. 10.1007/s11621–011–0005–5.

[6] Kozinets, Robert V. (2002). “The Field Behind the Screen: Using Netnography For Marketing Research in Online Communities” (PDF). Journal of Marketing Research. 39 (1): 61–72.

[7] Kozinets, Robert. (1997). I want to believe: A netnography of the X-philes’ subculture of consumption. Advances in Consumer Research. 24. 470–475.