Jonny Waite is the Co-founder and CEO of RECHO, a full-service Reddit marketing agency helping brands grow through organic community management, paid advertising, and Reddit-native strategy. With 17 years of agency-side digital experience, Jonny built SEO, paid search, Amazon, and omnichannel programs for Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups. He helps brands navigate Reddit authentically, manage reputation, and improve visibility across search and AI-driven discovery.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:27] Jonny Waite’s background and RECHO’s approach to helping brands grow authentically on Reddit                                                                    
• [4:03] Why Reddit is becoming more influential in search, AI discovery, and consumer decision-making          
• [9:58] How Jonny sees community-driven conversations shaping trust and brand credibility      
• [14:24] What brands need to understand before building a presence and engaging on Reddit          
• [20:58] Jonny’s take on Reddit advertising, audience targeting, and opportunities for incremental growth                    
• [25:17] Why long-term community engagement can create lasting value for brands
• [30:00] Jonny’s outlook on Reddit’s growing importance and the advantage of investing in the platform early         

In this episode…

As AI-driven search changes how consumers discover products, brand-owned content is no longer the only influence on buying decisions. More people are turning to online communities for candid perspectives that validate what they find elsewhere. How can brands build trust when those conversations are already happening beyond their control?

Reddit marketing and digital search expert Jonny Waite explains that brands can earn credibility by participating in communities authentically instead of relying on overt promotion. Success starts with listening to how users communicate, respecting community norms, and contributing expertise where it genuinely adds value. Jonny emphasizes the benefit of pairing organic engagement with targeted advertising while recognizing Reddit’s long-term search impact, since indexed conversations can influence discovery and purchase decisions for years. A thoughtful Reddit strategy can strengthen trust, improve visibility, and create a lasting advantage across both search and AI-driven discovery.

In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant welcomes back Jonny Waite, Co-founder and CEO of RECHO, to build on an earlier discussion about Reddit’s rising importance and examine why every brand needs a Reddit strategy. Jonny covers AI search, community trust, and advertising opportunities. He also shares how authentic participation can create long-term brand value.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron Conant on LinkedIn   
• BWG Connect  
• Jonny Waite: LinkedIn | Email
• RECHO 
• “The Rising Importance of Reddit With Jonny Waite” on The Digital Deep Dive

Quotable Moments:

• “You have the crocodile effect of impressions going up, clicks going down.”
• “People are giving their unfettered opinion on this, and they say this brand's good.”
• “People are looking for, okay, are you going to be a brand that actually helps me solve my problem?”                                                                                                              
• “It can be the thing that builds the biggest ROI, but it's going to take a little bit of time.”
• “You can't just close your eyes and hope that things stay the same forever.”                 

Action Steps:

1. Treat Reddit as a long-term brand channel: Building a consistent presence helps brands shape trust, influence buying decisions, and create content that can remain discoverable for years.
2. Listen before joining community conversations: Understanding each community’s tone, rules, and expectations helps brands contribute authentically without coming across as promotional or intrusive.
3. Use Reddit to strengthen brand credibility: Providing useful, well-informed answers gives consumers another source of validation when they research products through search engines and AI tools.
4. Combine organic engagement with paid advertising: Using both approaches helps brands build community trust while reaching new audiences and testing Reddit as an incremental acquisition channel.
5. Invest before competitors catch up: Establishing an authentic Reddit presence now can create a durable advantage as the platform becomes more influential in search, AI discovery, and purchasing decisions.

About BWG Connect...

BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.

In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.

We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.

If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.

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