Reddit ads through chat: campaign management reference

This page covers your own Reddit Ads account (Reddit Ads Manager at ads.reddit.com). AdWhispr does not research competitors' Reddit ads: Reddit publishes no public ad library to read.

Before you start

Reddit has three requirements that no launch can skip:

1. A connected Reddit Ads account. Say Connect my Reddit Ads account in the chat, or open Settings, then Connected accounts, in the dashboard. You grant access on Reddit's own screen.
2. A payment method on the ad account, under Billing at ads.reddit.com. Reddit does not let AdWhispr add one. A campaign can be built without it, but Reddit holds it until billing is in place.
3. A pixel on the account. Reddit requires one on every ad group, whatever the goal. Create it under Events Manager at ads.reddit.com. It takes a minute, and it does not have to be installed on your site before you can launch. Install it when you want Reddit to count purchases or leads.

Your ads are posted by a Reddit profile linked to the ad account, so the account also needs one profile under Business settings.

Connect the account

After you approve, every ad account in the businesses that login belongs to appears under Connected accounts, and in the chat when you ask what is connected.

Find the communities to target

Communities (subreddits) are what make Reddit different: you put the ad in front of people already talking about your subject. Ask for them before you launch, so real community names go into the campaign.

The same lookup covers interest categories, locations, your existing audiences (for retargeting) and the account's pixels. Keywords need no lookup; just name them.

Create a campaign

One request builds the whole thing, all paused: the campaign, its ad group with the budget and targeting, and the promoted post that runs as the ad.

What you can set today:

• Goal: traffic (default), sales, leads or awareness. Sales and leads optimize for purchases or leads counted by your pixel. App installs, video views and catalog sales are set up in Reddit Ads Manager.
• The ad, written from the chat. A Reddit ad is a promoted post: the first line you give is the headline (the post title, up to 300 characters), with your own image and a landing link. The image can be a link, or the name of an image in your Creative Library. Give two or more posts and they run as a creative test in one ad group. With no image it runs as a text post.
• Targeting on the ad group, in the same request: communities, interests, keywords, country or other locations, gender, and existing audiences.
• Daily budget, in the account's currency. Reddit's minimum is 5 a day.

Two things work differently from other platforms. An age range cannot be set from the chat (Reddit's API does not accept one), so it is left out and the chat says so; add it in Reddit Ads Manager if you need it. And the words of an ad cannot be edited once it exists: to change the copy, create a new ad and pause the old one.

Pause, resume, budgets and renaming

• Pause stops spend immediately, no confirmation. Pausing the campaign stops everything under it.
• Resume goes live and starts spending; the chat warns you and waits for your confirmation. Resuming also switches on the campaign's ad group and ads, which Reddit leaves paused otherwise.
• Budget changes are previewed, then applied. On Reddit the daily budget sits on the ad group, so a campaign with one ad group is changed directly, and a campaign with several asks which ad group you mean.
• Rename a campaign or ad group, on its own or together with a budget change, previewed then applied.

Performance reads

Ask how your Reddit ads are doing and the chat reads spend, impressions, clicks, click rate, cost per click, and the purchases, leads, sign-ups and purchase value your pixel reported, for the last 30 days or a date range you give. The same numbers live on the Ad Campaigns page in the dashboard, down to each ad group and ad. See reading performance and cutting wasted spend.

Reddit says its numbers can take up to six hours to settle, so today's figures may move.

When Reddit refuses

The chat shows Reddit's own message plus one sentence on what to do. The common ones:

• No pixel on the account: create one under Events Manager at ads.reddit.com, then run the launch again.
• No payment method: add it under Billing at ads.reddit.com.
• A community was not accepted: it may be private, closed to ads, or misspelled. Look it up in the chat and use the name it returns.
• The image was not accepted: use a JPG or PNG at a public link, at least 400 pixels wide.
• Access revoked or expired: reconnect Reddit under Settings, Connected accounts.
• The login cannot change the account: ask a business admin to give it an Ads Manager role in Reddit Ads Manager.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a pixel if I only want clicks?

Yes. Reddit requires a pixel on every ad group, including traffic campaigns. Creating one is enough to launch; installing it on your site is what makes purchase and lead counts work.

Can I target specific subreddits?

Yes, and it is the main reason to advertise on Reddit. Ask the chat to find communities for your subject, pick the ones that fit, and name them in the launch.

Can I edit the ad after it is created?

Budget, targeting, name and on or off can all change. The headline and image cannot, because they live on the post itself. Create a new ad with the new words and pause the old one.

Can AdWhispr run video ads on Reddit?

Not from the chat yet. Launches here use an image or a text post. A video ad can be added to the same ad group in Reddit Ads Manager.

What is the smallest budget I can set?

Reddit's minimum is 5 a day in the account's currency.