Brent Csutoras has spent two decades in digital marketing, watching platforms rise and fall while the fundamentals of human connection remained constant. He founded OGS Media, where he focuses on social media strategy and community engagement, with particular expertise in Reddit, a platform that rewards authenticity and destroys brands who show up with traditional marketing tactics.
His approach treats Reddit like a professional conference rather than an advertising channel. You wouldn't grab the microphone on day one and pitch your product. You'd listen, contribute useful insights, and build relationships before ever mentioning your company. Each subreddit functions as its own community with distinct written and unwritten rules, and brands must earn their place through genuine participation rather than paid placement. The economics back this up: he cited a beef jerky company that generated $30,000 in sales from a single authentic Reddit conversation, and REI turning a potential PR disaster into a trust-building moment through honest community engagement rather than corporate damage control.
On the podcast, Brent argued that the 20-year-old digital marketing playbook is becoming obsolete. Keyword-chasing and algorithm-gaming tactics are losing effectiveness as AI changes how people discover content and make purchasing decisions. AI systems are increasingly using community sentiment, particularly from Reddit, as a trust signal when generating recommendations. This means the brands that invested in genuine community presence years ago now have a structural advantage that latecomers can't fake. Trust compounds while tactics expire. The companies that understood this early didn't just build better marketing. They built moats that algorithm changes can't erode.
The most future-proof skill isn't mastering AI. It's mastering human connection on platforms that punish inauthenticity.
