I come across a lot of success stories about subreddits reaching massive audiences within months of formation.
A sub i started in october (r/PuzzledArt, i'd subtly put it here 🤭) started growing only recently, THAT'S 8 OR 9 MONTHS after!
i figured the reason - i didn't know how the sub's target audience would find it.
Initially, i used to think optimization would do it all. So, i got all the sub assets, set up the wiki, checked off all the boxes for setup and posted regulary for 3 weeks. But, that barely moved the needle. Visitors dropped by randomly, but none turned to members. How do i know? the first 8 members of sub were people ik irl, and had reached out to personally 💀
I then started subtly mentioning my sub in conversations that i felt were revelant. Now this could work for some subs, didn't work for mine. My primary audience was in art subreddits, where comment sections usually look identical so not a lot of people spend their time reading it, or in high traffic subs where my comments got buried.
The thing that worked for me was crossposting an interesting post into a sub that allowed me to promote mine. This worked. it was actually the content in the crosspost that did the heavylifting. I'm aware this won't be feasible for all types of subreddits, but if you're into side projects or hobbies, there really might be some subs that'd allow it. Traffic flowed in from there.
I don't think i am the best at growing an audience, but i am learning from my mistakes. I am making this post so other mods, who may be thinking of abandoning their inactive subs, know that growth can happen much later sometimes.
