Eric Lam claims to have gotten over 4,000+ subscribers for free from Reddit. Diving a bit deeper, the process is actually quite simple, this is how it works:

→Find the right subreddit: Choose a subreddit that contains your target audience, has 50k+ members, is highly engaged, and rapidly growing.

→ The Bait & Switch approach: Eric created posts that provided valuable content related to the subreddit's topic and subtly plugged his newsletter, leading to hundreds of upvotes, views, and newsletter sign-ups. Example:

Shoutout Growing Viral for the screenshot

→ Attention Jacking with comments: Eric's comment strategy was even more effective than posting.

He found posts where users asked for help in subreddits relevant to his niche, provided detailed advice, and promoted his newsletter as a resource.

🕵️‍♂️ How to steal it?

Identify which subreddit your audience is in

• Look for posts with some traction but not many comments yet

• Leave a comment offering real value and subtly plug your newsletter

One thing I’ve noticed about this approach is that everything was done in the third person, meaning Eric wasn’t promoting the newsletter as his but as if it’s someone else’s project, so if you want to follow Eric’s playbook, take that into account.

Sources & Resources

• Eric’s original post

• GummySearch (Reddit research tool)