Reddit is a social media platform that is often viewed as the front page of the Internet. It contains tons of subreddits (communities) that center on specific topics, ranging from politics to humor. Millions of its users, mostly from the United States, participate in discussions, vote upon content, share their ideas, and get entertained on the platform daily.

At the same time, many people and companies use Reddit to win self-promotion. If you want to advance your personal brand or attract more customers to your business, you shouldn’t miss all the great opportunities Reddit offers. However, you need to know how to create a Reddit bot so that you can make the most of the platform and save your time.

This tutorial will help you understand how to create your first Reddit bot, as well as boost your engagement and increase revenue. So, let’s get started.

What Is A Reddit bot?

A Reddit bot is a program that can monitor posts, comments, and other users’ actions and autonomously respond to them. For example, you can create a Reddit bot that scans all the comments in the community r/funny, one of the largest subreddits, and reply to those containing the word ‘dog.’ It may provide the link to the picture of a cute puppy or the blog post discussing the topic related to dogs from your website.

Unlike many platforms, Reddit is actually bot-friendly. It even provides an application programming interface (API), which developers are encouraged to use while creating their bots. However, you need to keep in mind that Reddit has certain rules that must be followed to avoid being banned. Every subreddit also has some regulations, and your bot should be in line with them.

Different Functions Of Reddit Bots

Reddit bots can have a wide range of different functions. You can make your bot as simple or as complex as you wish. Everything depends on your goals, level of knowledge, and resources.

For example, a lot of bots are programmed to vote upvotes or downvotes on certain pieces of content, such as posts and comments. If you want to increase your brand awareness, you may need a bot that upvotes the posts and comments in which the name of your brand is mentioned. It has excellent potential to introduce more people to your brand.

Besides, bots that post comments are also common in most subreddits. You may have different ideas about what sort of content your bot should respond to. It may be the posts and comments in which your competitors or the type of product you sell are mentioned. Remember that you need to clearly define your goal before getting down to writing a script for your Reddit bot.

Other popular functions include subscribing to communities, content publishing, following or unfollowing, checking whether an account is active or not, post scraping, etc. Some advanced bots combine these functions, but many of them perform only one.

What Do You Need To Have To Create a Reddit Bot?

There are several things you need to have so that you can successfully write a script for your Reddit bot. However, don’t worry since they can be quickly obtained.

  • Reddit Account

Of course, you need to have a Reddit account to create a bot, which can work on the platform. It gives you access to the Reddit API that is essential in the process of making a bot. In addition, it is advisable to be familiar with the way Reddit works to be able to determine what functions your bot has to fulfill.

  • Basic Python Knowledge

Python is the programming language that destroyed the myth about the complexity of programming. You don’t need to have any background knowledge to learn it. It is interesting, simple, and highly functional. Several tutorials that can be easily found on the Internet will be enough to create a simple Reddit bot.

Finally, about an hour of your time and a little determination are necessary. Keep in mind your goals, stay focused, and enjoy the process.

How To Make a Reddit Bot?

  • Step 1: Check

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The Reddit API Documentation

You need to know the Reddit API access rules and respect them, especially if you are going to use the Reddit API for commercial purposes. Otherwise, you may be at risk of being banned.

  • Step 2: Create An Application On Reddit

You can create an application on this webpage by typing the name of your bot, selecting the option ‘script,’ providing some description, writing any random link in the box ‘redirect url,’ and clicking the button ‘create app.’ Then you will get ‘personal use script’ and ‘secret’. You will use them while writing a script for your Reddit bot.

  • Step 3: Setting Everything Up

You should install the latest version of Python if you don’t have any. Next, you need to download Python Reddit API Wrapper (PRAW) that allows you to log in to the Reddit API and interact with the backend of the website.

  • Step 4: Write A Script

You should start by importing the module praw:

import praw

Then create an authorized Reddit instance:

import praw

reddit = praw.Reddit(
    user_agent = "",
    client_id = "",
    client_secret = "",
    username = "",
    password = ""
)

You must fill in valid parameters so that you can run your Reddit bot.

‘user_agent’ can be anything, but the recommended format is <platform>:<app ID>:<version string> (by u/<Reddit username>)

‘client_id’ is your ‘personal use script’ from step 2

‘client_secret’ is your ‘secret’ from step 2

Now, you have to consider your goals, determine what function or functions your bot will perform, and be as creative as possible. The following script creates the bot that will send the submission in the subreddit r/dogs. Note that the method subreddit and the function submit() are used.

import praw

reddit = praw.Reddit(
    user_agent = "",
    client_id = "",
    client_secret = "",
    username = "",
    password = ""
)

title = "Cocker spaniel"
body = "I've found unusual info about cocker spaniels nameOfYourWebsite"
reddit.subreddit('dogs').submit(title=title, selftext=body)

If you find it challenging to write a script for other more complex functions, you can search for some examples on GitHub. There are tons of scripts that you will find helpful and inspiring. This tutorial is aimed to introduce you to the way Reddit bots are made.

Besides, you can seek professional help. They can create Reddit bots that will improve your engagement and increase revenue. Our team at Yojji comprises many skillful and experienced developers who are eager to build various Reddit bots that are effective and achieve even the most ambitious goals. They will help you save you time and resources, as well as promote your company or personal brand.

Conclusion

Reddit is a bot-friendly website where you can run your bots to achieve certain goals. Reddit bots are undoubtedly useful, as they automate a number of processes and save people’s time. You may want to increase your brand awareness or attract more followers and customers. Anyway, you will need to create a Reddit bot on your own or ask a professional to write a script for you in order to reach these goals.

Credit: goes to 

Vladyslav Havrylevskyj from Yojii

You should remember that even though Reddit is bot-friendly, its users can’t stand the content produced to sell something. Hence, be careful and creative while designing your own bot. You may face some difficulties or even get banned. However, these risks are secondary when you consider the enormous benefits and wonderful opportunities Reddit bots offer to businesses and individuals.