How to get first users with Reddit marketing

You launched your product. You’re staring at zero users.

Here’s what most founders do: they open Reddit, post something in the first subreddit that looks relevant, and either get completely ignored or get banned for self-promotion. Then they decide Reddit doesn’t work and move on.

Reddit does work. The problem is showing up in the wrong places.

This guide shows you how to get first users with Reddit marketing using a three-step AI workflow. By the end, you’ll have a clear map of which subreddits your customers are actually in, what you’re allowed to post where, and what kind of content lands in each community. I used this exact workflow and got a first paying user within 24 hours of launching.

Five minutes of setup. Here’s how.

How to get first users with Reddit marketing overall workflow

Step 1: Give your AI a proper product brief

Before you ask AI to help with Reddit marketing, teach it your product. This sounds obvious. Most people skip it anyway, paste “find me subreddits for my app,” and get useless output back.

Open Claude Code (or whichever you use) and paste this:

I'm going to give you a brief about my product so you can help me
with Reddit marketing research. Please read this carefully before
I ask you anything.

Don't give me any advice yet — just confirm your understanding.

1. The problem they're trying to solve
2. Who the ideal customer is
3. What the product does

Please confirm you've understood this by summarising:

---

Stage: [Just launched / in beta / a few early users / pre-launch]

Price: [Free / freemium / paid — and roughly how much]

How they find out about the problem: [Do they Google it? Complain
on Reddit? Ask in Slack communities? This helps me find where
they hang out.]

The core problem it solves: [What frustration or pain does your
customer have before they find you? Describe it the way they
would, not the way you would.]

Who it's for: [Be specific. Not just "small businesses" — e.g.
"solo founders who just launched a SaaS and have no marketing
budget" or "freelance designers who manage client projects alone"]

What it does: [1–2 sentences in plain language. What does a user
actually do with it?]

Product name: [NAME]

Ask AI to summarise it back before you move on. It takes 30 seconds and makes everything that follows sharper.

Expected output of setp 1 – AI summary of your product/service

Step 2: Generate Reddit search queries to find your first users

Now you want to find where your customers hang out. But here’s the thing: they’re not searching for your product name. They’re searching for their problem.

Someone who needs your project management tool isn’t typing “project management SaaS.” They’re typing “how do I stop losing track of client requests” or “just launched and completely overwhelmed by admin.”

Paste this next:

Now I want to do Reddit marketing research to find the subreddits
where my ideal customers are active.

Based on the product brief I gave you, generate 15 Reddit search
queries I can use to find relevant communities and conversations.

Rules for the queries:

- Focus on the PROBLEMS and FRUSTRATIONS my customers talk about,
not on my product or product category
- Think about what they type when they're venting, asking for
help, or looking for solutions — not what I would call my product
- Mix broad and specific queries
- Include some that are about the customer's situation or identity
(e.g. "just launched my app" or "no marketing budget"), not just
the problem itself

Format: a numbered list, one query per line, no explanations.
Just the raw search terms I can use with Reddit scraping tool.

What you get back is the actual language your customers use. That’s what makes the next step work.

Expected output of step 2 – list of search queries

Step 3: Find subreddits with Socialcrawl and get first users with Reddit marketing

This is the step that does the heavy lifting.

Socialcrawl is a tool that pulls data from Reddit by keyword. Instead of manually browsing for hours, you run a search and get back a list of communities where your customers are already talking.

If you haven’t set it up yet, here’s a video on how to set it up:

👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSotc1ouxA8&t=1s

Once it’s connected to Claude, paste this:

Your previous response has a list of keywords and search queries that my ideal users use on Reddit. 

Use these keywords and socialcrawl to find 20 subreddits that my ideal users are having conversations in. 

For each subreddit, I need a research summary to help me plan my
Reddit marketing. Please create a table with these columns:

1. Subreddit — the name
2. Community size — approximate member count if you know it
3. What it's mainly about — one sentence
4. Promo rules — one of three categories:
    - OPEN: direct self-promotion is explicitly allowed
    (e.g. weekly share threads, promo flairs)
    - SUBTLE: no direct ads, but you can mention your tool
    naturally when genuinely relevant
    - CLOSED: strict no-promo rules, community will ban you
    for self-promotion
5. Best content type — what kind of posts actually perform
well here (e.g. how-to guides, questions, case studies,
personal stories, tool comparisons)
6. Suggested approach — one specific tactic for how someone
with my product could show up in this community without
getting banned (be concrete, not generic)

If you're not sure about the promo rules for a subreddit,
flag it as "CHECK RULES" rather than guessing.

Format this as a markdown table I can copy and save.

Expected outcome of step 3 – summary of subreddits and posting strategy

Result: Your personal Reddit marketing strategy

Here’s what you’ll get back and what to do with each category.

OPEN subreddits often have weekly “share your project” threads or promo flairs built in. Post there directly and introduce what you’ve built. These are your quickest wins for Reddit marketing to get first users.

SUBTLE subreddits don’t allow direct promotion, but they’re often where your most engaged customers are. Show up by answering questions, sharing tutorials, or responding to someone who has the problem your product solves. Mention your product only when it’s genuinely relevant. One good comment does more than ten promotional posts.

CLOSED subreddits: don’t post anything promotional. But do read them. These communities tend to have the most honest, unfiltered conversations about the exact problem you’re solving. Use them to understand your customers, not to market to them.

This table is your Reddit marketing playbook to get first users without guessing. You know exactly which communities to start with, what you’re allowed to say, and what format to use.

Where to Start

Pick two OPEN subreddits from your table. Spend the first week just reading and replying before you post anything about your product. Reddit rewards people who show up as genuinely helpful.

One comment a day is enough to start.