Short answer: search for the problem your product solves, in the words a buyer would use, not your product name. Look in the subreddits where those buyers already ask, sort by new, and keep only threads from the last few days where someone is actually asking for help. Expect most matches to be noise: for our own product, about 1 in 15 conversations was worth a reply.
1. Write down how buyers ask
People rarely name a product they haven't heard of. They describe the problem. Collect the phrasings before you search:
- "is there a tool that ..." and "how do I ..." followed by the job your product does
- "alternative to ..." followed by the product people already know in your space
- the complaint itself, for example "spending hours finding where my users hang out"
2. Find the subreddits where they ask
Big general subreddits bury questions in minutes. Smaller ones built around your buyer's job keep them visible for days. Paste your site into Website to Subreddits for a list checked against Reddit, or start from a best subreddits list for your industry.
3. Search inside those communities
- Reddit search, limited to one subreddit, sorted by New.
- Google with site:reddit.com plus one of your phrasings, with the date range set to the past week.
- Save the searches that work and run them again every few days. Fresh threads beat a big backlog.
4. Keep only the threads worth answering
For each match, ask four questions. Launchpat writes these same four reasons on every conversation it rates:
- Audience: is this person someone your product is for?
- Intent: are they asking for help or a tool, or just talking?
- Brand risk: would a reply here read as an ad or as defensive?
- Freshness: is the thread recent enough that the person will read a reply?
5. Read the rules before you reply
Many subreddits ban self-promotion, set a karma minimum or require an account age. Check a community's own rules in the subreddit rules checker, and if your account is new, see when it clears the bar with the karma calculator. Answer the question first; mention your product only where the rules allow it, and say you made it.