Reddit vs Community: Why Sonos Stopped Choosing
Hey everyone 👋
My session title has a "vs." in it and I'm going to spend 45 minutes explaining why I've never actually had to choose.
I look after both sides of that title at Sonos: r/sonos, where the moderators invited us in a few years back, and our owned Community Forums. Similar customers, same products, very different jobs. That became painfully obvious during our 2024 app launch, when Reddit set the temperature within hours and the Forums ended up holding the record.
What I'll be covering:
🏠 Rented land vs. owned land and what each one is actually good at
🧑💻 Why u/KeithFromSonos works where a brand account wouldn't (and what it costs)
🔥 What a rough patch taught us about showing up, including when your CEO posts on Reddit under his own name
🔁 The handoff: Reddit surfaces the issue, the Forums document the fix, search and AI send people back to it
📊 Measuring each channel on its own job and reporting them together
If you've ever been asked "why do we need a forum when everyone's already on Reddit?", this one's for you.
🎤 Session: Reddit vs. Community: Why Sonos Stopped Choosing
📍 Winning with Digital CS track, Monday 19 October, 15:45
See you in London!
P.S. Where do your customers talk about you most right now? Third party platforms, your owned community, or both? I'm polling the room on this one so consider this a head start.