Shrekfeet | Reddit Execution Strategy 2026

Reddit is not TikTok

Four rules that keep us welcome instead of banned.

TikTok rewards a good hook. Reddit rewards a good neighbour. Break these and the account gets downvoted, shadow-banned, or removed, and the name is harder to rebuild than it was to earn.

01

Participation beats promotion

Redditors value honest, helpful contribution and punish anyone who just drops a link and leaves. Success here is about showing up and helping, not selling.

Shrekfeet move: Ian is a helpful local lawn pro first. The business comes up only when it genuinely answers someone's question.

02

The nine to one principle

The old rule of nine helpful posts for every one that mentions your business still guides good behaviour. Moderators judge your whole history, not a single post.

Shrekfeet move: at least nine genuine answers or posts for every one that names Shrekfeet or links the site.

03

Transparency is non-negotiable

Hidden promotion gets you banned faster than obvious promotion. If a post relates to our business, we say so plainly. Redditors respect the honesty.

Shrekfeet move: when it is relevant, a simple line like "I run a lawn care business, for what it's worth" is enough.

04

Read the room first

Every subreddit has its own rules and tone. Read twenty to thirty posts, and the pinned rules, before commenting. Some are casual, some technical, some brutal.

Shrekfeet move: before touching a new subreddit, J reads its rules and recent posts and matches the tone.

How we engage

The step by step for J to run, with Ian as the expert.

J owns the day to day: finding threads, drafting replies in Ian's voice, posting and tracking. Ian supplies the expertise, records the transformations, and approves anything technical. One honest account, worked patiently.

Jruns it day to day

Twenty to thirty minutes a day. Help first, always.

Set up one honest account. A real, named handle such as u/Shrekfeet_Ian, Ian's photo as the avatar, a short bio saying who we are with the site link. One account, never several.
Join the communities and read the rules. Subscribe to the subreddits below, then read each one's rules and pinned posts before doing anything at all.
Warm up for three to four weeks. Comment helpfully with no links, build comment karma and a visible history. Many subreddits block new or low-karma accounts from posting.
Find the threads daily. Search each subreddit and Google for lawn problems, yellow grass, moss, waterlogged, dog patches. A Google search ending "site:reddit.com" surfaces them fast.
Answer properly, no link. Give the full, honest answer Ian would give, two or three clear points. Value first, every single time. Leave the link out unless it is genuinely needed.
Mention Shrekfeet only when it fits, and disclose. Roughly one time in ten, when someone asks for a recommendation or a local pro and it truly helps. Always say we are a lawn care business.
Post original value weekly. A before and after with the full process, a seasonal UK tip, or a lawn pro "ask me anything". Use keyword-rich titles, because Reddit threads rank on Google.
Handle leads and criticism calmly. Take genuine enquiries to a private message or the site. If someone is unhappy, acknowledge it, apologise, and offer to sort it in private. Never argue, never delete.
Track what works. Note which threads and posts drive profile visits and site clicks, tag any link with UTM, and feed the best topics back into the plan.

Ianthe expert input

A few minutes when J flags something, plus the odd job filmed.

Answers the tricky threads. When a question needs real soil-science depth, J drafts and Ian corrects it so the reply is genuinely the best in the thread.
Records the transformations. A quick before and after on real jobs, the raw material for the posts Reddit loves most.
Fronts the AMA. Once there is a track record, Ian hosts a "lawn care pro in Hampshire, ask me anything".
Signs off anything technical or commercial. Ian's name is on the account, so he approves the wording before it goes live.

What to follow

Reddit has no hashtags. Follow subreddits instead.

No #tags

The equivalents on Reddit are subreddits (the communities you join and post in), post flair (the label you attach to a post, like "Guide" or "Transformation"), and keyword-rich titles, because Reddit threads rank in Google search just like your blog does. Titles do the job hashtags do on TikTok.

Subreddit	What it is	How we use it
r/lawncare	The main lawn community, large and very active, mostly US	Home base for building the name. Answer questions and post transformations, strongest for karma and Google reach.
r/LawncareUK	The dedicated UK lawn community. Small, roughly a couple of thousand members, but every single one is our exact person	Highest relevance of the lot. UK grass, UK weather, UK products. The best place to become a known, trusted name to actual British lawn owners.
r/lawns	Lawn obsessives and transformations, mostly US	Share before and afters, our UK angle and chalk and clay soil stand out.
r/UKGardening	UK gardeners, our home turf	Very relevant for UK trust and local relevance. Help generously, tread very carefully on any promotion. (A separate r/GardeningUK also exists, so J confirms which is the active one before posting.)
r/gardening	Huge general gardening community	Occasional high-value answers and posts. Strict on self-promotion, so help only.
r/landscaping	Outdoor and garden projects	Answer the lawn parts of bigger garden questions.
r/DIYUK	UK home and garden DIY	Helpful answers on lawn repair, drainage and levelling.
r/HomeImprovement	Broad home-owner audience, mostly US	Lawn value, cost and "is it worth paying a pro" questions.
County subs	r/Hampshire, r/Surrey, r/WestSussex, r/Berkshire	Where real local leads live. Only ever help, never pitch. Disclose if someone asks who you are.
Town subs	r/Winchester, r/Southampton, r/Portsmouth, r/Basingstoke, r/Guildford, r/Woking, r/Reading, r/Bracknell, r/Farnham	Smallest and closest to customers. A genuinely helpful answer here reaches the exact person in the exact area we serve.

Watch out

The US namesake trap. Many of our town names have a bigger American twin, and Reddit will show the US one first. r/Portsmouth is often Portsmouth, New Hampshire, r/Reading can be Reading, Pennsylvania, and there are US Winchesters, Farnhams and Guildfords too. Before J subscribes or replies, check the sidebar and top posts confirm it is the UK town. A reply about British lawns on an American town sub is wasted, and can read as spam.

On Hampshire specifically: there is no dedicated Hampshire lawn care subreddit, and there will not be one. Reddit does not split that finely. Our local reach comes from two places instead: the county and town subs above, where people occasionally ask "can anyone recommend a lawn person near X", and Google, which surfaces our helpful Reddit answers when someone in Hampshire searches their lawn problem. That second route is the quiet win, a good answer in r/lawncare or r/LawncareUK can rank locally for years.

Member counts and exact sub names shift, so J confirms each subreddit's size, rules and self-promotion policy, and that it is the UK one, before the first post. The big general subs are strict, the local subs are small but closest to actual customers.

J's daily playbook

Monitor, draft, check, post. The exact loop for J.

Twenty to thirty minutes, most days. The job is not to be clever, it is to be the single most useful reply in the thread, in Ian's plain voice, without ever tripping a self-promotion rule. Here is the loop, step by step.

1

Find the threads worth answering

~10 min

Two ways in. Sort each subreddit by New and skim the top of the feed, and let Google do the heavy lifting across all of Reddit at once.

A

Sort each sub by "New"

Open r/lawncare, r/LawncareUK and r/UKGardening, switch the feed to New, and scroll the last day. Look for anyone stuck or asking for help, that is where a good answer lands hardest.

Shrekfeet move: answer the ones with few or no replies first. Being the first solid answer earns the most karma and the most thanks.

B

Let Google find them

A Google search ending site:reddit.com surfaces threads across every sub, including older ones still getting views. These rank, so a good answer keeps working for years.

Example: yellow lawn patches uk site:reddit.com or waterlogged lawn clay site:reddit.com.

C

Keep a keyword watch list

The same problems come round again and again. Watch for them by name, they map straight onto our blog topics, so J already has the answer to hand.

The list: yellow grass, moss, waterlogged, dog urine patches, bare patches, weeds, scarifying, when to feed, new turf, chalk or clay soil.

D

Work the inbox too

When someone replies to one of our answers, Reddit flags it. A quick, useful follow-up is where trust is really built and karma quietly grows. Do not leave a "thanks, that helped" hanging.

Shrekfeet move: reply to replies within a day while the thread is still warm.

2

Write the reply in Ian's voice

the recipe

Every strong reply has the same four parts. Follow the shape and it comes out helpful, expert and unsalesy every time.

Part 1

Show you read it

Name what you see in their photo or post. "That looks like classic dog urine scorch, not disease." One line proves you actually looked.

Part 2

Give the real answer

Two or three clear, honest steps. What to do, in plain words. No jargon wall, no ten-point essay. The fix they can act on this weekend.

Part 3

Add the bit most miss

The soil-science detail or the timing that marks a real pro. "On chalk it will always drain fast, so feed little and often." This is what earns trust.

Part 4

Mention us only if it fits

Roughly one reply in ten, and only if they asked for a recommendation or a local pro. Always disclosed. Otherwise, no link, no name, just the help.

Weak, gets ignored or removed

Post: "Help, my lawn has yellow patches all over"

"Sounds like your lawn needs some TLC! We're Shrekfeet, the top lawn care team in Hampshire. Check out our site shrekfeet.com or DM me for a free quote today."

Thin on help, straight to the pitch, undisclosed, and the same line could be pasted anywhere. This is exactly what gets flagged as spam.

Strong, the best reply in the thread

Post: "Help, my lawn has yellow patches all over"

"A few things cause that, so worth ruling them out. If the patches are round with a darker green ring, it is usually dog urine. If they are spreading and the grass pulls up easily, it can be chafer grubs. If it is general and pale, the lawn is likely just hungry after a dry spell. Give it a low-nitrogen feed now rather than a strong one, water the scorched spots well to dilute the salts, and hold off cutting too short. If you can post a close-up I can tell you which of the three it is."

Reads the problem, gives a real fix, shows expertise, invites a follow-up. No link, no pitch. This is the reply that builds the name.

3

Run it past Claude before posting

30 sec

A quick safety check catches a salesy line or a wrong fact before it goes live. J pastes the original thread and the draft into Claude with this exact prompt, and only posts once it says PASS.

Paste into Claude before posting

You are checking a Reddit reply before I post it as Shrekfeet, a UK lawn
care business. I am building a genuinely helpful reputation, not spamming.

ORIGINAL POST:
[paste the Reddit post here]

MY DRAFT REPLY:
[paste my draft here]

Check the draft against each point. Reply PASS or FIX for each, with a
one-line reason:

1. HELPFUL. Does it actually solve their problem, or is it thin?
2. IAN'S VOICE. Plain, honest, British. No marketing speak, no hype,
   UK spelling, and no em dashes anywhere.
3. SELF-PROMOTION. Is there a link or a Shrekfeet mention? If yes, did
   they ASK for a recommendation, and is it disclosed as "I run a lawn
   care business"? If they did not ask, tell me to remove it.
4. CORRECT. Is the advice right for a UK lawn and the current season?
5. TONE. Not preachy, not salesy, not argumentative.

Then give me a clean rewrite that passes all five, in Ian's plain voice.

4

The lines that get us banned

never

If a draft contains any of these, it does not go out, no matter how tempting. One spammy reply can cost the whole account.

Never post

"Check out our site" or "DM me for a quote" when nobody asked.
"We're the best lawn care in Hampshire" or any hype claim.
The same reply pasted into more than one thread.
A link with no real answer attached to it.
A fake happy customer, or any pretence we are not the business.
A discount code or false urgency, this is not a sales channel.
A comeback to a downvote or criticism. Let it go, or fix it in private.

Say instead

Just the answer, and let the quality speak.
"In my experience on UK lawns..." to show it plainly.
A fresh reply written for that specific person and photo.
The fix first, link only if they ask where to learn more.
"For what it's worth, I run a lawn care business" when it is relevant.
Genuine, patient help, the same on a quiet day as a busy one.
"Fair point, happy to help sort it, drop me a message."

Rule of thumb

If J is unsure whether a reply is too promotional, it probably is. Strip the mention, post the help, and move on. The name is built by the answers that ask for nothing back.

Content that works

Six formats Reddit actually rewards.

Transformation

Before and after, full process

Reddit's favourite. The dead lawn, every step, the result, and Ian answering every comment. Straight from real jobs, no polish needed.

Answer

The best reply in the thread

Find a struggling post and give the most thorough, honest answer there. This is most of the work and it quietly builds the name.

Guide

Seasonal UK guide

"What to do to a UK lawn in September", timed to the season with a keyword title so it ranks on Google long after posting.

Myth-bust

Honest myth busting

"No, you should not scalp your lawn before winter." A little contrarian, backed by the reasoning. Reddit rewards a well-argued correction.

AMA

Lawn pro, ask me anything

"I run a lawn care business in Hampshire, ask me anything." Only once there is a track record, and it builds real awareness.

Explainer

Straight technique breakdowns

Scarifying, overseeding, moss, the trade-offs told plainly with no product pushing. Expertise on show, nothing to sell.

Using video

Video works on Reddit, and we already film it.

A before and after plays far better as a clip than a still, and Reddit favours video posted straight to the platform. The good news is we do not need to make anything new. The footage from the TikTok clips is the same raw material, it just needs re-cutting for a different room.

Reuse

Repurpose the TikTok clips

Same job footage, different edit. Strip the TikTok-style hook, trend audio and fast captions, and let the transformation run plainly. On Reddit the raw version outperforms the polished one.

Native

Upload direct, not a link

Post the file straight to Reddit rather than pasting a YouTube link. Reddit shows native video in the feed and quietly buries external links, so the same clip reaches far more people uploaded directly.

Short

Thirty to sixty seconds

Fifteen minutes is allowed but almost never right. Dead lawn, the work, the result, done. A tight clip with an honest keyword title is what earns upvotes and keeps ranking on Google.

Silent

Assume the sound is off

Most people scroll Reddit muted. Burn in simple captions so the clip still lands with no audio. Skip the music, plain works better here than a soundtrack.

Keep it real

Same rule as every reply. Raw job footage with a plain title earns trust, a glossy clip with a logo splash and "Call Shrekfeet today" on the end reads as an advert and gets removed. Let the lawn do the talking, and disclose in the comments if anyone asks who filmed it. Native specs are in the table below: MP4 or MOV, under 15 minutes, under 1GB, 16:9 for a walkthrough or 9:16 for the mobile feed.

Image specs

Get the pictures right, sized for Reddit.

Reddit crops hard, especially on mobile, so wrong sizes look blurry or chopped. These are the current 2026 dimensions. Keep the key subject centred, and quickly verify in the upload dialog before launch, since Reddit adjusts these from time to time.

Asset	Size (px)	Ratio	Notes
Profile avatar	256 x 256	1:1 square	Shows as a circle everywhere. Upload at 512 x 512 for sharpness. Square crop of Ian's face, kept central. PNG, under about 500 KB.
Profile banner	1920 x 384	5:1 wide	Sits behind the name on the profile. Keep the logo and any words in the centre third, the edges crop on mobile. A clean green strip beats a busy photo.
Post image	1200 x 628	1.91:1	The safe default. Matches how Reddit and Google show the preview. Centre the subject, the feed also cuts a square thumbnail from it.
Tall mobile post	1080 x 1350	4:5 portrait	Fills more of the phone feed. Good for one strong before or after shot.
Gallery post	up to 20 imgs	1.91:1 or 1:1	Each image up to 20 MB. Perfect for before, during and after, or a step by step. Keep every image the same ratio.
Feed thumbnail	140 x 140	1:1	Reddit makes this automatically from the post image. Nothing to upload, just keep the subject centred so it still reads small.
User flair image	128 x 128	1:1	Optional little icon by the username. The green foot mark works well here.
Native video	1920 x 1080	16:9 or 9:16	Or 1080 x 1920 for vertical. Up to fifteen minutes, under 1 GB. For any before and after clips.

Checked

The two photos in the mock-up above are real shots of Ian. The post image is 1200 x 675 (16:9), close enough to the 1200 x 628 post spec to use as is. The avatar currently reuses the same photo, which is portrait at 576 x 1024 (9:16), so before launch J should crop a proper 256 x 256 square from Ian's face, otherwise Reddit's circle will cut it off awkwardly. Use JPEG for photos, PNG for the logo and any graphics with text.

Ground rules

Run every comment and post past this.

Always

Lead with genuine help, every single time.
Disclose that we are a lawn care business when it is relevant.
Read each subreddit's rules and pinned posts before posting.
Write in Ian's plain, honest voice, no marketing speak.
Use keyword-rich titles so posts rank on Google.
Take leads and complaints to a private message, calmly.

Never

Never drop a link and leave.
Never hide that we are a business.
Never pitch in a local subreddit, help only.
Never argue with or delete criticism.
Never run several accounts to upvote yourself, vote manipulation is a fast ban.
Never paste the same reply across different threads.

Reddit is a long game. Expect weeks of quiet helping before the first leads, then a name that keeps working, on Reddit and on Google, long after each post goes up.