Grow Your Newsletter for Free with Reddit

Reddit is the most underrated place to grow your newsletter for free.

• Easy to get visibility
• You don't even need to post
• Users are hyper-interested in your topic

I spoke to @ericlamideas, who grew to 5k subscribers with Reddit.

Here's how he did it:

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

There are two methods you can use to grow your newsletter on Reddit:

1) Commenting
2) Posting

Note: When doing either, you can NOT use Reddit to shill. All posts and comments MUST add value.

With that, here's how to grow your newsletter with Reddit comments:

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

Strategy 1: Commenting

The steps to successful commenting are:

1) Offer valuable advice
2) Plug your newsletter

Not the other way around.

Additionally, a good rule of thumb is that comments need to be >100 words, and only plug your newsletter once. This keeps you honest.

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

Here, @ericlamideas comments on a post and plugs his newsletter.

This is a great way to piggyback off of existing attention.

His comment became the top upvoted comment and drove 100+ newsletter signups.

Make note of how long the comment is. pic.twitter.com/I31cJcTKTI

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

In another example, Eric compares his free newsletter to a paid option, while linking to both.

This does a great job of framing his newsletter as a no-brainer, while not seeming like an ad.

Again, this comment is thoughtful and adds value.

The newsletter plug is secondary. pic.twitter.com/4HU30HWroF

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

Strategy 2: Posting

Note: Eric states that when accounting for the level of effort required, he'd rather use his commenting strategy to grow.

That being said, it's still a viable growth option — if done correctly.

Here's how Eric does it:

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

When posting for growth, optimizing for visibility is crucial.

Eric can get a top post in his niche's subreddit 1 of every 3 times.

And over the next 24h, that often translates to 100+ signups.

Here's what your posts need to have:

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

All posts need:

• A captivating title
• Answers to the W5H of the story
• A way to subtly plug your newsletter

See the example post from Eric below.

Now, writing long posts like this may look daunting...

But ChatGPT can write 90% of them it. pic.twitter.com/28PW2GErDN

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

To write your post with ChatGPT:

Input your article into GPT-4, and ask “What happened? Explain to me like I’m in 10th grade”.

You'll need to swap some words to sound more human.

After, ask:

• What happened?
• What are the implications?
• What should we takeaway from this?

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

Now you have a post covers every angle of the topic.

This will drive link clicks and comments section, which helps the algorithm push your post to more people.

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023

Hope this helps!

Check out @ericlamideas's content for more reddit tips.

And learn more about getting subscribers from Reddit here:https://t.co/8UdVZMpYjc

— Matt McGarry (@JMatthewMcGarry) June 21, 2023