Latest / Sidekick's What Just Shipped / Reddit Ads in HubSpot: subreddit clicks become contacts | Shipped Aug 2026
Transcript
- Rob (AI host): Your Reddit ads might be finding buyers, but if those clicks never reach HubSpot, nobody can prove it. Dana (AI host): HubSpot's ads tool now connects to Reddit Ads, in a beta that any Super Admin can opt into. Rob (AI host): Today: the one role that quietly breaks tracking, which ad types work, the follow-up you can automate, why it matters, and a Monday plan. Narrator (AI voice): This is Sidekick's What Just Shipped, presented by Sidekick Strategies. Narrator (AI voice): Your hosts, Rob and Dana, are AI. Narrator (AI voice): The voices are synthetic, the research is real, and humans check every claim before it reaches you. Rob (AI host): Before anything else: Dana and I are AI hosts. Rob (AI host): We don't buy Reddit ads, and we haven't connected an account ourselves. Dana (AI host): And I'm Dana. Dana (AI host): Today I'm playing a demand gen marketer testing Reddit for a software product, with results in a separate dashboard. Rob (AI host): Here's the change. Rob (AI host): Connect your Reddit Ads account to HubSpot, and you can see campaign reporting next to your other ad channels, see which contacts and deals came from Reddit campaigns, and enroll contacts who interact with your ads into workflows for follow-up. Dana (AI host): What does it cost me in plan terms? Rob (AI host): HubSpot's help page lists all products and plans. Rob (AI host): A Super Admin can opt your account into the Reddit Ads Integration beta. Dana (AI host): And on the HubSpot side, who can connect it? Rob (AI host): You need Account Access permissions, plus Ads publishing permissions. Rob (AI host): If those come from a permission set, update the set to include Ads publishing. Dana (AI host): Okay. Steps? Rob (AI host): Open settings, then Marketing, then Ads. Rob (AI host): On the Ad accounts tab, click Connect account and choose Reddit Ads. Rob (AI host): Log in to Reddit, review the permissions, and click Continue. Rob (AI host): Tick the ad accounts you want, leave auto tracking on, and click Connect. Dana (AI host): You said one role quietly breaks tracking. Which one? Rob (AI host): The Analyst role in Reddit. You need Admin or Creator on the Reddit Ads account. Rob (AI host): An Analyst can still connect the account, but HubSpot won't be able to apply tracking to the ads. Dana (AI host): And nothing warns you? Rob (AI host): HubSpot explains why: Reddit doesn't expose role information through its interface for apps, so HubSpot can't check. Rob (AI host): The connection looks fine, and the tracking just isn't there. Dana (AI host): That's the kind of thing that eats a quarter. What else can break it? Rob (AI host): Two things. Don't override the account-level tracking settings, since HubSpot uses them to add its parameters. Rob (AI host): And if you use a link shortener or a third-party tracking template, it has to keep the query parameters on the way to the landing page. Dana (AI host): Which Reddit ad formats can HubSpot actually track? Rob (AI host): Free-form, image, video and conversation ads get tracking and reporting. Rob (AI host): Carousel ads are tracked only through the link on the first card. Rob (AI host): Product ads are tracked only through custom destination links. Rob (AI host): And Ask Me Anything ads get reporting, but no tracking. Dana (AI host): Why does any of this matter to the marketer I'm playing? Rob (AI host): Why it matters: our research calls this the difference between a channel you tolerate and one you can invest in with confidence. Rob (AI host): Once a Reddit click becomes a contact, you can follow that person all the way to a closed deal, next to Google, Meta and LinkedIn. Dana (AI host): And the follow-up part? Rob (AI host): HubSpot says contacts who interact with your Reddit ads can be enrolled in workflows. Rob (AI host): So a click can start a nurture email, or a task for a rep, without anyone checking a dashboard. Dana (AI host): Who should set this up now, and who can wait? Rob (AI host): Our research says teams already spending on Reddit with no HubSpot attribution gain the most. Rob (AI host): If Reddit isn't in your plans, this one can wait. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Hey, it's George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Full honesty, this is my AI voice clone, made with my permission. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Before you add another ad channel, find out whether your portal can actually report on the ones you have. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Our free HubSpot Portal Audit gives you per-hub scores, severity ratings, and detailed findings, without giving us access to your account. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): It takes about five minutes, and the findings come in plain English. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Find the Portal Audit under tools at Sidekick Strategies dot com. Dana (AI host): Okay, Rob. Where do our sources disagree, or go further than HubSpot? Rob (AI host): Our two write-ups tell different beta stories. Rob (AI host): August called it a private beta, and October said public beta from the fourteenth of September. Rob (AI host): HubSpot's help page only says a Super Admin can opt in, so check your own settings rather than trusting either date. Rob (AI host): Our October write-up also said Reddit becomes a value in your original source and other attribution properties, and that the multi-touch attribution report picks it up automatically. Rob (AI host): We couldn't confirm either on a HubSpot page, so test it with one campaign before you rebuild any reports. Dana (AI host): Anything else on the HubSpot side that's easy to miss? Rob (AI host): Yes. Rob (AI host): After you connect, you can add other users so they can manage and create campaigns for that account. Rob (AI host): With Marketing Hub Enterprise, you can also limit who has access. Dana (AI host): And if the account changes hands later? Rob (AI host): From the same menu, you can view details like auto-tracking settings and primary users, connect a Reddit user, move the account to a brand if you have the Brands add-on, or disconnect it. Dana (AI host): Good. Here's my Monday plan, as the marketer I'm playing. Dana (AI host): Step one: open Reddit Ads and check my role. Dana (AI host): If I'm an Analyst, I ask for Admin or Creator before I connect anything. Rob (AI host): Step two: have a Super Admin opt into the beta, and confirm you have Ads publishing permission in HubSpot. Dana (AI host): Step three: connect the account with auto tracking left on. Rob (AI host): Step four: list which formats you run. Rob (AI host): Anything that's carousel, product, or Ask Me Anything needs a second look before you trust its numbers. Dana (AI host): Step five: build one workflow for Reddit ad interactions, maybe a task for a rep, and watch who it enrolls for two weeks. Rob (AI host): Then compare those contacts with what the Reddit dashboard says. Rob (AI host): If the counts look thin, check roles and link shorteners first. Rob (AI host): Here's the takeaway: check your Reddit role first, then let HubSpot follow the click to the deal. Dana (AI host): Every link we used is in the show notes, plus more of our research at Sidekick Strategies dot com. Rob (AI host): Thank you for spending part of your week with us. Dana (AI host): Right role, real tracking, honest numbers. Narrator (AI voice): Sidekick's What Just Shipped is presented by Sidekick Strategies, with AI hosts Rob and Dana and AI-generated music. Narrator (AI voice): We're independent, and not affiliated with HubSpot. Find our research at Sidekick Strategies dot com.