I don't know what thought process lead to me searching for shilling services but I was curious to know how much knowledge they actually have about the platform. It is just ridiculous how much misinformation they share in articles that are titled "ultimate guide to ICO marketing on Reddit" in many different variations.
First up, the "How To Promote Your ICO On Reddit" guide from a website called coinist. It even has a stunning subtitle that says
ICOs are promoted these days everywhere from billboards to celebrity Instagram accounts, but one of the most effective methods might be self-proclaimed “front page of the internet.”
The first few tips were actually on point.
HOST AMA’S (ASK ME ANYTHING)
CREATE A SUB REDDIT FOR YOUR OWN TOKEN
And that's all that they got right. After this, the guide continues to encourage ICO owners to buy upvotes and "manipulate Reddit's algorithm".
If a team’s goal is spreading the word on their token, they’d want positive posts to be upvoted. That’s where third-party marketing companies come in.
Whatever happened to "make sure that your project actually makes sense to the potential investors and that your vision/idea is actually achievable in the time period you outlined in your roadmap"? Then they end this guide with the worst tip of them all.
FOR PRICE OF __ YOU CAN BUY UPVOTES AND POSITIVE RESPONSES
A company can trade cash money to marketing firms for the coin to be promoted on Reddit. For X price, a post about your ICO will receive Y amount of upvotes. Positive responses will be displayed prominently. Negative or critical comments will be downvoted, or hidden entirely. Some companies claim to have moderators on the payroll,who can sway the positioning of posts. Sophisticated firms employ VPNs to disguise where upvotes come from. Many promise real upvotes, not just bot accounts. Paid users will link to the ICO’s website, subreddit, or thread on Bitcoin talk. All of these measures get the word out about your token.
The next expert advice comes from Oracle Times, that managed to get it all wrong right from the start.
Getting started
One of the most famous categories on the website is called Altcoin Discussions, and this is practically a messaging board made for various coins except Bitcoin.
Not only did they fail to realize that they are linking to a subreddit called /r/bitcoinmarkets, they also missed the fact that this subreddit is about 8 times smaller than /r/cryptocurrency and that it also has discussions about Bitcoin because it is called BITCOIN MARKETS. If they actually knew how to use the website they would realize that the most popular discussions in this subreddit are Bitcoin related.
These EXPERTS also had the same advice as the previous ones.
For a certain price, a post about your ICO will receive a number of upvotes. Positive responses will get to be displayed prominently and negative or critical comments will be downvotes, or hidden comp[lately.
There are sophisticated companies that employ VPN’s to disguise where upvotes come from. Such measures can get the word out about your brand new coin.
What fascinated me the most is this sentence at the closing arguments.
Anyway, the issue with how ethical it is to manipulate Reddit’s algorithms for promotional purposes is a controversial aspect.
NO! It is not a controversial aspect. It is against the rules of the website and encouraging ICO's to engage in this activity could potentially damage their reputation if they are gullible enough to trust these "marketing experts".
After plowing through this pile of bullshit I finally came across something juicy and promising! Just look at this title and tell me that you wouldn't do exactly ast they say, if you had an ICO to promote?
After reading a few opening sentences, this Carlo guy really sounded like he did his homework. He got a total number of visits the website gets per year, he pointed out some popular subreddits that you can use to promote your ICO and then, just like the rest of them... He fucked up...
Upvotes Can Be Bought
Reddit users can upvote or downvote posts they like or dislike. Posts with a high number of upvotes tend to feature at the top of the page, followed by others. If you want to spread the word about your token launch, your posts need to get upvoted. Of course, valuable content is the best way to garner upvotes. On the other hand, you can also buy upvotes from third-parties. For a specific fee, these third-party vendors guarantee a certain number of upvotes. These firms sometimes have dedicated people on their payroll, who manage the positioning of posts and also employ VPNs to disguise the accounts from where upvotes come from. If more positive responses are displayed higher than the negative ones, people will notice your project.
You might have guessed by now that all of these sources are somehow related. Their tips and guides have the same context but a different spin on words. All of this is done to promote one marketing agency that offers illegal ways to promote your ICO on a platform that strictly forbids this kind of behaviour.
Dear Carlo (if that is your real name), and the rest of you that worked on SEOing this pile of bullshit. I usually don't use strong language when I write but I do have to say this - FUCK YOU
Dear ICO owners, marketing consultants, content managers and whoever reads this post. Please, for the love of God, never-ever take any of these tips as something that will help you with your promotion on Reddit or any other platform. I know that Google may be suggesting these as the best results for your search query but you have to know this. Just as they are suggesting that you "manipulate Reddit's algorithm" for your personal gain, they have manipulated Google's SEO algorithm to put their content among the top results for low-competitive keywords such as the ones I used for this article.
I know that marketing is a business but you have to ask yourself, do these people have any ethics and moral? Do they even think about how bad it can look for a decent project to be called out for shilling in the biggest crypto communities on the internet? Not only would this damage your reputation on Reddit, but it would also drive any other potential investors as far as possible from your project because Reddit is the front page of the internet when it comes to cryptocurrency and word from this front page spreads fast.
If you are looking for useful advice, here is one that all of these experts failed to give you. Reddit has ads! I know, crazy right? Who would have thought that the top 20 website in the world offers actual advertisement? Instead of buying upvotes and hiring shills, please consider trying Reddit ads first. This way you will be reaching your targeted audience on a daily basis, you will establish brand awareness within the crypto communities and if your project is actually good you WILL get noticed.
Please note that I didn't include the links to these articles because Steemit has a great SEO rating and I don't want to give them even more "link juice". If you want to check them for yourself just do a Google search on "reddit promotion for ico projects".