RECHO Archives - BWG Connect

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:

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.
Listen before joining community conversations: Understanding each community’s tone, rules, and expectations helps brands contribute authentically without coming across as promotional or intrusive.
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.
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.
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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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[1:13] Jonny Waite’s 17-year agency background and the launch of RECHO as a full-service Reddit agency
[3:57] Why LLMs, Google, and OpenAI licensing deals are fueling Reddit’s rapid rise in brand discoverability
[5:33] How Jonny sees brands misreading Reddit sentiment, competitor share of voice, and audience presence
[10:18] Reddit ad spend growth, test budgets, and where paid media dollars are shifting from
[13:49] What brands can use first to assess their Reddit footprint, target subreddits, and AI visibility
[24:37] Jonny’s take on future-proofing AI visibility through Reddit, SEO, PR, and long-term authority-building

In this episode…

Reddit has become a critical place where consumers discover, debate, and validate brands. As AI tools increasingly pull from Reddit conversations, brands can no longer afford to ignore what is being said there. What does it take to show up the right way before competitors, customers, and AI models define the narrative?

According to Jonny Waite, a Reddit and SEO expert, the answer starts with listening before engaging. Brands should first understand where they are being mentioned, how competitors are showing up, and which subreddits matter most before jumping into the conversation. Jonny explains that Reddit rewards authentic, consistent participation, not brand-driven responses that only appear when reputation is at risk. For brands thinking about AI visibility, Reddit is becoming a long-term authority channel where early, thoughtful engagement can shape discoverability and trust.

In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant chats with Jonny Waite, Co-founder and CEO of RECHO, about why Reddit has become essential for brand visibility. Jonny shares how LLMs are accelerating Reddit’s influence, why brands should assess sentiment before acting, and how paid and organic Reddit strategies differ. He also touches on budget ownership, PR, SEO, and future-proofing AI visibility.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“So everything is done the right way, not introducing more brand risk.”
“It's a homegrown, self-governed platform where people are having authentic conversations.”
“In almost every single instance I look at, the audience is there.”
“You don't have to run paid for organic to work.”
“So you need to build authority.”

Action Steps:

Listen before engaging: Understanding Reddit sentiment, competitor mentions, and relevant subreddits helps brands enter conversations with context instead of reacting only when issues arise.
Participate authentically in communities: Contributing useful, non-promotional insights helps brands build trust and avoid being dismissed as opportunistic or self-serving.
Balance paid and organic Reddit strategies: Treating ads and community engagement as separate but complementary efforts helps brands drive visibility while building long-term credibility.
Track AI visibility through Reddit: Monitoring how Reddit content influences LLMs and search results helps brands understand where their authority and reputation are being shaped.
Build authority before driving conversions: Establishing credibility first makes it easier for brands to earn attention, share links appropriately, and create meaningful long-term impact.