Latest / The Marketing Funnel Podcast with Fexingo: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action Stages / How Reddit Built a Marketing Funnel on Authentic Community
Transcript
- Lucas: So Reddit filed for its IPO in late 2021, and one thing that stood out to me was how they handled the roadshow. Most companies go in with polished decks and tight scripts. Reddit's roadshow video literally started with a user saying the site is 'a cesspool of humanity.' And they kept that in. Luna: They led with the criticism. That's either incredibly confident or a little reckless. Lucas: I think it's both. But it's also a brilliant marketing move, because it signals something really rare in business: honesty. For a platform whose entire value is rooted in authentic community, trying to sanitize that for investors would have been a lie. And lies in marketing funnels are usually exposed at the decision stage. Luna: Right — the AIDA model. Awareness, Interest, Decision, Action. So where does that kind of raw authenticity sit in the funnel? Lucas: At the very top. Awareness. Reddit's organic reach is astonishing. When a subreddit post hits r/all, it can get millions of impressions in hours, with zero paid spend. That's the top of funnel. But the real power is that those users don't arrive as passive viewers — they arrive with context, with a subreddit culture already baked in. Luna: So the awareness isn't just about seeing a headline — it's about being pulled into a conversation. That's a much stickier start. Lucas: Exactly. And that's where the Interest stage gets interesting. On Reddit, interest is almost entirely driven by subreddit communities. If you're a skincare brand, you don't just post an ad. You go to r/SkincareAddiction, which has 18 million subscribers, and you participate. You answer questions. You share formulations. The community vets you. Luna: And that vetting process is the interest stage. But it's also a filter — if the brand doesn't pass, the funnel stops right there. Lucas: That's the risk. But also the reward. There's a famous case — a small indie brand called Stratia. The founder, Alli, was a regular in r/SkincareAddiction for years before launching. She'd share her research, answer questions, build trust. When she finally launched her moisturizer, the subreddit essentially pre-vetted her. Her first batch sold out in days. Luna: So the community became her marketing funnel — awareness through her posts, interest through her credibility, decision through the subreddit's endorsement, and action through a direct link. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the Reddit funnel in miniature. But what about brands that can't spend years building relationships? That's where Reddit's ad products come in. Promoted posts and AMAs allow brands to buy awareness, but with a twist — the ads are often indistinguishable from organic posts. They have to earn engagement. Luna: I've seen some terrible Reddit ads. Brands that just repurpose a TV spot or a banner ad. They get torn apart in the comments. Lucas: Right, because the Decision stage on Reddit is brutal. Users downvote and comment, and that social proof is visible to everyone. A promoted post with negative engagement is worse than no ad at all. So the bar for paid media is actually higher than organic. You have to understand the tone, the inside jokes, the norms. Luna: So the decision stage is more like a trial by jury. But once a brand passes that trial, the action stage — conversion — can be incredibly efficient. A well-placed link in a thread can drive thousands of sales. Lucas: There's data on that. Reddit's own case studies show that products with high community affinity see conversion rates two to three times above industry benchmarks. Because the user arriving at the checkout page already trusts the brand — they've seen it defended by strangers in the comments. Luna: But here's the tension I keep coming back to: Reddit's entire value is its authenticity. The moment it feels like a billboard, users scatter. So how do you scale monetization without destroying the thing that makes the funnel work? Lucas: That's the billion-dollar question. Reddit's IPO documents actually acknowledged this risk. They said their growth depends on maintaining community trust. But they're also under pressure to increase ad revenue. In 2025, they rolled out more native ad formats, and users revolted in several subreddits. The r/ModCoord protests in 2023 were a preview. Luna: So the marketing funnel itself is fragile. The awareness and interest stages are powered by voluntary participation, not paid distribution. If that participation dries up because users feel exploited, the whole funnel collapses. Lucas: And that's why I find Reddit such a fascinating case study. The funnel isn't something you build and optimize. It's something you rent from the community. And the rent is authenticity. The moment you stop paying that rent — by being too corporate, too spammy, too manipulative — the community evicts you. Luna: It reminds me a bit of how we think about this podcast. The value comes from the conversation being real, not scripted. And the way we keep it that way is listener support. Lucas: Absolutely. If today's episode was useful to you, the reason it exists without ads interrupting every few minutes is because of listeners who chip in at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small thing that makes a big difference in keeping the conversation honest. Luna: Yeah, we really appreciate that. And it ties right back to what we're talking about — when the audience owns the relationship, the funnel works better. Lucas: So back to Reddit: one more interesting angle. The Action stage in a Reddit funnel often isn't a purchase — it's an action within Reddit itself. A subscribe, a save, a share. Those micro-actions feed back into the top of the funnel for other users. It's a loop, not a linear path. Luna: So the AIDA model becomes more of a flywheel. Awareness leads to interest, interest leads to decision, decision leads to action, and action — like upvoting or commenting — creates more awareness. Lucas: Precisely. And that's what makes Reddit's funnel so hard to replicate. Most platforms have a broadcast model — one-to-many. Reddit is many to many. Every user is a potential node in someone else's awareness stage. The brand is just one voice among millions. Luna: So for marketers, the lesson might be: don't try to control the funnel. Instead, find the communities where your product genuinely fits, and contribute before you ask for anything. Lucas: That's exactly it. The best Reddit marketing looks like it's not marketing at all. And maybe that's the real takeaway — the most effective funnel is the one your audience doesn't feel funneled through. Luna: I think that's a great note to end on. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. See you next time.