What 3 Months of Reddit Marketing Actually Looks Like (For a Solo Dev)

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

There are a lot of “Reddit playbook” guides floating around lately. Here’s what actually doing Reddit marketing for three months looks like for a solo developer—plus the parts that sucked.

• Solo dev built a desktop tool for Reddit research.
• Zero budget. Zero audience. Needed to find users somewhere.
• Followed the typical tutorials:
  • Joined relevant subreddits ✅
  • Tried to be helpful ✅
  • Commented on posts ✅
  • Shared the journey ✅

Result: 12 website visits (three were probably me).

The problem wasn’t the strategy; it was the execution.

What I Was Doing Wrong

1. Commenting on posts with 100+ comments – the comment got buried instantly.
2. Spending ~40 min/day scrolling to find posts – inefficient.
3. Sounding like a marketer – obvious and off‑putting.

Breakthroughs (Around Week 5)

Low‑Comment Threads Are Gold

• Posts with 0–5 comments have little competition.
• Your reply gets seen, and if the thread blows up later, you’re near the top.

Batch‑Filtering with Reddit Toolbox

• Export low‑comment threads across multiple subreddits.
• What used to take 40 minutes now takes about 10 minutes.

Tone Adjustments

• Use short sentences, humor, and admit when you don’t know something.

Before (bad):

“Here are 7 tips for optimizing your Reddit engagement strategy…”

After (better):

“yeah tried that last week, here’s what happened…”

Redditors can smell marketing‑speak from a mile away.

Metrics

Reddit isn’t my biggest channel, but it’s consistent, and Reddit users tend to be more engaged—probably because they already hang out in my niche.

Takeaways

• Stop commenting on popular threads.
• Stop writing like a brand.
• Batch your research instead of endless scrolling.
• Patience is required; Reddit isn’t a quick‑win channel.

Call for Feedback

Anyone else using Reddit as a primary growth channel? I’m curious what’s working for you.