How to Get Karma on Reddit: A Beginner’s Guide

Reddit now influences how people research, compare, and buy products.

Its threads rank at the top of Google. They shape what AI tools recommend. And they drive opinions long before someone visits your website.

But Reddit does not treat every account equally.

Karma decides who gets visibility, who gets ignored, and who is blocked from participating altogether. Low karma means your posts do not surface, your comments go unseen, and many subreddits will not let you contribute at all.

If you want to influence Reddit conversations, you need karma.

This guide shows you how to get karma on Reddit the right way. Seven practical strategies that help you earn trust, unlock communities, and contribute without getting banned or downvoted.

First, you need to understand how Reddit karma actually works.

First Things First: What is Reddit Karma?

If you want to influence your Reddit karma, you need to understand how it works.

According to Reddit’s official help documentation, karma is “a reflection of the upvotes and downvotes you receive on posts and comments you’ve made.” 

When people upvote your content (because they like it), your karma increases. When they downvote it (because they don’t like it), it decreases.

Reddit separates your post karma (from submissions) and comment karma (from replies) on your profile. 

You can view your total karma any time by clicking your avatar and selecting “View Profile” on desktop, or heading to the About tab on your profile in the mobile app.

A few important nuances Reddit notes officially:

• Upvotes and karma don’t have a 1:1 relationship — karma is an approximate reflection, not an exact count.
• Reddit advises users not to set out to accumulate karma, but rather to “be a good contributor and let your karma simply be a reflection of your legacy.”

Here’s what many guides miss: Reddit also tracks Community Karma — karma earned within specific subreddits. Moderators can see this metric when evaluating your account, and it carries more weight than overall karma from unrelated communities. High karma in r/memes won’t help you build credibility in r/sysadmin.

Reddit marketing expert Ken Savage puts it bluntly:

“If you have basically nothing, or less than a couple of hundred [community karma], they’re not even gonna sneeze on you. You need hundreds, if not thousands of community karma before moderators will consider your requests seriously.”

The exact scoring formula isn’t public, but the principle is straightforward: consistent quality contributions mean growing karma. Focus on earning trust within communities that matter to your goals, and the numbers follow.

You Need to Get Karma on Reddit Because…

For marketers and founders, Reddit karma signals trust. It influences your visibility, your ability to participate, and whether communities take you seriously at all.

Reddit Karma is Social Proof

Users check karma and post history before engaging. 

High karma signals you’ve contributed value over time. 

Low or negative karma raises red flags. It suggests your posts haven’t resonated, you’re brand new and unproven, or worse, you’re only on the platform to spam with your product or service.

Karma Builds Brand Credibility

On Reddit, credibility is everything. That’s true for brand accounts, brand representative accounts, and the subreddits they run. Nearly 50% of 1Password’s social referral traffic comes from Reddit. Tailscale’s subreddit drives 24,000 monthly visits to their site. These brands earned that traffic by building trust over time — not by showing up with promotional content on day one.

High karma tells the community you’re worth listening to. It lowers the barrier for people to engage with your perspective.

Karma Unlocks Community Access

Many subreddits set karma minimums before you can post or comment. If you’re researching customer pain points, testing messaging, or launching a campaign in niche communities, low karma literally locks you out of high-value conversations.

Karma Increases Content Visibility

Reddit’s ranking system favours contributions from accounts with strong reputations. More karma means your posts and comments surface more often, giving your content organic reach without ad spend.

Keep perspective: You can try to “growth hack” karma by swapping upvotes or using free karma subs, but that defeats the purpose (and can get you banned). Remember: your karma score is the byproduct of you creating genuinely valuable content. Focus on that, and the karma (and community trust) will come naturally.

7 Proven Ways to Increase Your Karma on Reddit

Most marketers ignored Reddit until Google’s algorithm began favouring it in search results. That shift means only a handful of people truly understand how to succeed on the platform.

If you’ve tested strategies to increase your Reddit karma but haven’t seen results, that’s normal. Reddit has a steep learning curve, and most approaches fail without insider knowledge.

At Foundation, we’ve been advocating for Reddit as a marketing channel since 2015 and are recognized leaders in helping brands navigate its unique ecosystem. These are the 7 strategies we’ve seen help marketers increase their Reddit karma and translate their Reddit participation into lasting credibility.

One important note before we dive in: karma is just an internet point, but the real goal is to engage positively with the community. Karma follows naturally once you do that.

1. Find the Right Subreddits (Your Niche)

One of the first steps to gaining karma is participating in the right communities. Reddit is divided into thousands of subreddits on every topic imaginable, so finding the right ones is essential.

Join Subreddits You Care About

Identify subreddits that match your interests and expertise — whether that’s r/technology, r/cooking, r/gaming, or niche communities like r/UrbanGardening. You’ll have more to say (and earn more karma) in topics you’re knowledgeable about.

To find them, simply search Reddit for a term that’s relevant to your business and take note of any dedicated subreddits or relevant groups where that topic is discussed. For example, if you search “cybersecurity” on Reddit, you’ll find a number of subreddits containing the term: 

• r/cybersecurity — 1.3 million members
• r/CyberSecurityAdvice — 112k members
• r/cybersecurity_help — 59k members
• r/CyberSecurityJobs — 51k members
• r/Cybersecurity101 — 34k members

Not to mention the other subreddits where the topic of cybersecurity is frequently discussed, like r/networking, r/SecurityCareerAdvice, r/Hacking_Tutorials, and more. 

When you’re active in topics you genuinely understand, your contributions feel authentic — and Redditors are far more likely to upvote them.

Start in New-User-Friendly Subreddits

Some subreddits restrict posting based on karma or account age, but many welcoming communities have low or no barriers. The subreddit r/NewToReddit maintains a curated list of new user-friendly communities that don’t impose strict limits on newcomers.

Smaller or niche subs typically have more lenient rules and friendlier engagement, letting you build karma without hitting restrictions.

Use Tools to Find Your Audience

Beyond Reddit’s search, tools like SparkToro, GummySearch, or Subreddit Stats can reveal where your target audience actually spends time. A marketing automation company might find better traction in r/startups than r/marketing.

2. Study the Community Culture

Once you join a subreddit, spend time scrolling through top posts before contributing. Notice what kind of content gets upvoted.

Every community has its own norms — some love memes, others prefer in-depth technical discussions or personal stories. Taking time to understand the interests, sentiments, and terminology of each subreddit makes it easier to tailor contributions to what the community actually appreciates.

Ross Simmonds’s Lurk, Listen, Leap Framework is a great approach for any brands new to Reddit and trying to establish their footing. During the “Lurk” phase, spend 2–4 weeks observing posts and comments to understand: 

• Which content succeeds and which doesn’t
• How moderators enforce the rules
• The language and tone used by top commenters

Pro tip: Search subreddits for your competitors’ names. How were those posts received? The response tells you whether the community tolerates brand participation.

3. Follow Reddiquette and Subreddit Rules (Don’t Get Downvoted or Banned)

Reddit culture has clear violations that get posts downvoted or removed by moderators. This could not only hurt your brand reputation but also get your account banned from the subreddit.

Here’s what you need to do to avoid downvotes and bans:

• Read the Rules: Every subreddit has specific guidelines. Breaking them gets your post removed and can lead to bans.
• Don’t Beg for Karma: Avoid posts like “Please upvote.” Karma must be earned.
• Don’t Spam or Self-Promote: Flooding subs with links to your site gets flagged immediately. The best Reddit marketers follow the 90/10 rule: 90% of contributions should provide pure value with no promotional angle; only 10% should mention your products or services — and even then, promotion should be secondary to value.
• Don’t Steal Content: Reposts and uncredited content get mass downvotes.
• Avoid Toxic Debates: Heated arguments mean downvotes. Disengage if things turn hostile.
• No Vote Manipulation: Don’t ask friends to mass-upvote or use alt accounts. Reddit’s detection systems are sophisticated — they track IP addresses, browser IDs, and interaction patterns across VPNs. Shortcuts genuinely don’t work.
• Respect Moderator Feedback: If Reddit mods remove your post with a reason, read it. Adjust and try again instead of fighting them.
• Don’t Underestimate Reddit’s Memory: Redditors remember patterns. Be consistent so you build long-term trust.

Tip for brand representatives: Disclose your affiliation naturally and upfront. “Full disclosure: I work for [Company]” in your first sentence builds trust. Burying disclosure at the bottom after a pitch destroys it.

4. Engage by Commenting: The Easiest Way for New Users to Earn Karma

Many subreddits that block brand-new users from posting will still allow comments, even if you have zero karma.

It’s a loophole you can use to your advantage. By commenting, you can participate almost anywhere right away.

A 2016 analysis by BuzzFeed Data Scientist Max Woolf found approximately 17% of top-voted Reddit comments (in threads with many comments) are also the first comment. Keeping this stat in mind, target posts that are fresh (recently submitted), especially in big subreddits. Being one of the first answers means more people see your comment and potentially upvote it.

To find fresh posts, switch the subreddit feed to “new” and look for a question or topic you can contribute to. 

Some of the best commenting tips to increase your karma are:

• Quality & Relevance: Share thoughtful comments that add real value. A sharp insight in r/AskReddit or a helpful fact in r/AskScience can earn significant upvotes.
• High-Traffic Subs: Communities like r/AskReddit, r/NoStupidQuestions, or r/AmItheAsshole have large audiences where good comments get visibility.
• Respond & Converse: Keep conversations alive by replying constructively. Friendly back-and-forth often earns extra upvotes.
• Give Upvotes Too: Supporting others builds goodwill and community reciprocity.

5. Post Quality Content (and Ask Good Questions)

To earn significant karma in one go, your post should either spark a reaction (laughter, insight, discussion) or provide value (knowledge, help, relatable experience). If you want to learn more about creating this type of content, brush up on the 4 E’s of Content — educate, engage, entertain and empower.

For example, a post titled Just Paid Off My $50,000 Student Loan in Full in 3.5 Years resonated in r/StudentLoans because it combined a personal milestone with practical lessons. By sharing both the struggle and the strategy, the author provided relatable value that directly helped the community.

From our Reddit marketing experience, we’ve found that certain content types consistently perform better than others for earning karma. These are:

• Open-ended questions that feel personal and invite conversation
• Helpful how-to guides that solve real problems
• Original visuals — memes, photos, or graphics that stand out from reposts
• Personal stories that resonate on a human level
• Data, charts, or interesting facts that spark curiosity
• Timely commentary on trending topics

Reddit rewards specificity and authenticity, while generic advice gets ignored (or puts you on brand defence). Detailed experiences with concrete takeaways are more likely to get upvoted.

6. Be Active and Consistent

You don’t have to post every day, but the more frequently you contribute, the higher your chances of earning upvotes.

Even 15–30 minutes a day commenting can make a difference. Many small gains accumulate over time. With daily participation, reaching 50 karma might take just a few days or a week.

If you’re a regular Reddit scroller, start commenting when you have something to add to the conversation. Don’t overthink it. Just share your genuine thoughts. It may feel awkward at first, but eventually you’ll get used to it, and sharing your perspective will contribute positively to the Reddit community. 

For brands, success on Reddit is built over time. Tailscale’s subreddit grew to 41,000 members through years of founder involvement, followed by intentional, professionally-managed moderation. The brands that win here do not chase short-term spikes. They build durable community infrastructure.

7. Boost Karma by Posting at the Right Time

Good content can eventually get upvoted regardless of timing, but strategic timing significantly impacts how much karma you earn.

Post at Peak Times

If you’re posting to a U.S.-based subreddit, consider posting between 8 AM and 10 PM Eastern Time rather than at 3 AM.

If it’s a global subreddit, early UTC afternoon might catch both Europe and America awake. Experiment a bit to find when your target community is most active.

Be Early on Hot Topics

When trends emerge —  on TikTok, in the news, or within a specific industry — getting into relevant Reddit discussions early pays off. And you know what that means? Reddit karma.

A case study from Cornell University found that during the GameStop (GME) short-squeeze phenomenon on r/wallstreetbets, users who engaged early with candid reactions saw their contributions rise to the top, earning massive visibility and thousands of upvotes.

Your one relevant, honest reaction to a trending topic could earn hundreds of upvotes.

Look for Daily/Weekly Threads

Many subreddits have recurring daily or weekly threads (for instance, a Monday “introduce yourself” thread or a Friday “random questions” thread).

• r/NewToReddit:  Weekly “Introduce Yourself” threads
  
• r/LearnJapanese: Daily simple questions threads
  
• r/NewTubers: Saturday self-introduction threads

If you participate early, your comment is more likely to be seen throughout the thread’s lifespan.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Do You Get Karma on Reddit?

You earn karma when other Reddit users upvote your posts or comments. The more valuable, helpful, or engaging your content, the more karma you accumulate.

How to Get 10 Karma Quickly

Comment something helpful in an active subreddit or post original content that resonates with the community. Quality engagement in high-traffic subs drives quick upvotes.

Why Am I Not Getting Karma on Reddit?

Common reasons include low visibility, posting in the wrong subreddit, content that doesn’t add value, poor timing, or being too promotional. Relevance and authenticity matter.

Is 2000 Karma on Reddit a Lot?

2,000 karma shows you’re active and contributing — a solid foundation. Long-time Redditors often have tens of thousands, but 2,000 unlocks most community participation.

Get Karma on Reddit the Right Way and Build Your Brand

Earning karma isn’t about chasing internet points. It’s about building trust. On Reddit, trust is what determines who gets seen, who gets answered, and who gets taken seriously.

For marketers and founders, that trust translates into access and credibility inside communities that influence real buying decisions long before a prospect ever visits your site.

The path is straightforward: show up in the right communities, respect the rules, and contribute content people actually want to engage with. Do that consistently, and karma becomes a byproduct of value, not the goal.

The discussions are already happening. Attention is already there. If your brand is not part of those threads, you are not part of the decision-making process.

Ready to build a Reddit strategy that drives real results? Contact the Original Reddit Marketing Agency to learn how Foundation can help you turn Reddit into a growth channel.