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Forums: How DO You Get People to Post!?
Running a web forum is no easy task. If you own one, you know how labor-intensive it is. You spent hours perfecting your forum. You thought up dozens of categories and topics. You customized the interface, set user permissions, sent out welcome emails. Tons of members signed up and logged in. Time for the payoff, right? Wrong. People log in to your forum daily, yet no one posts. Why? 1. People are lazy. They'd rather be entertained than contribute. Don't get discouraged because nothing's happening on your website forum. The time has come to take matters into your own hands. How? You're going to have to do some marauding as other people. "What? Sneak around and pretend to be a random forum poster?" YES. As an experiment, I set up a posting forum "just to see what would happen." I chose to make it a rant and rave forum; everybody's got something to complain or cheer about, right? It took me the entire Memorial Day weekend, minus time out for evening social events, to set this thing up. Within two weeks of putting it out there, I had ninety members. NINETY! That's a pretty decent-sized group. You'd think there would be lots of chatter, right? No! No chatter. Out of ninety, want to know how many people took the time to post? FOUR. One of them was a friend of mine, who I begged to help me out... and even she only posted twice. So, that was when I committed the dastardly deed. I began logging in as other people, posting fake stories and perspectives. This got confusing after a while. Was Jenny the all-lowercase poster, or the girl with bad grammar? Was I logged in as Joe D., but telling stories from some girl named Mitsy's perspective again? It didn't matter that much, as this was only a test anyway. But it did work. Once I got the conversational ball rolling, other people joined in. I even had to be controversial, pass some remarks that would incite people emotionally and jar them to action. That got folks posting as well. Here's a related story, but with an unfortunate ending. A girlfriend of mine joined an online group of adoptive moms. The forum leader, an experienced adoptive mother herself, generously offered an information exchange forum where all the moms could converge and discuss. A few months in, members noticed some weirdness on the forum, so they went snooping. What they learned was that the forum leader had multiple forum personalities! She would log in as one person, ask a question, log back in as herself, then answer it. All hell broke loose. A mass of email back-and-forths ensued. The forum leader cracked under the accusations and started spamming every member, begging for forgiveness. It was utter pandemonium. My friend relayed the scandal to me. "That's so dishonest!" she said of the marauding forum leader. Dishonest? Well, maybe a little sneaky, yes. But in rating Shameful and Admonishable Networking Behaviors on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a sin is it to incite constructive discussions for the betterment of a group? When you consider that, 1. the woman wasn't being paid, and 2. she only wanted to help other moms along in the confusing process, it really wasn't such a terrible thing that she did. I pointed out to my friend that this lady had smartly tapped into a marketing and communication tactic that's widely used and really works. Who do you think sought advice from Erma Bombeck, Dear Abby and Emily Post before they ran well-known columns? No one did... because no one new who they were yet! So with each new release of their respective publications, internal writers had to pretend to be advice seekers, fabricate dilemmas, and then solve them. Now, if your public forum is clearly a conversational hot spot, yet you're still logging in as five different people because "you're becoming attached"... well, I'd say that's a problem. Consider getting out more. But if things are totally stagnant on your forum, this is really your only alternative to get it going. I know a woman on one Ryze forum who asks nearly every day, "Why aren't you guys posting?" No one ever answers her. That's because she's not giving anyone an incentive. That incentive must be emotional, and it must come in the form of riveting conversation. If there isn't any existing conversation, well, you're just going to have to invent some. I wish I knew that adoptive mom with all of her imaginary forum friends. Because if I did, I would tell her, "Hey! You did a good thing." Who knows, I might even have hired her to run my web forum. Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved. Find out how crisp, targeted copywriting can make a world of difference for your business. Dina Giolitto is a Copywriting Consultant with ten years of experience. Visit http://Wordfeeder.com for free tips on branding, copywriting, marketing and more.
Latest News:Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (AP via Yahoo! News) French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. JCDecaux and News Corp. in talks to combine outdoor ad groups (International Herald Tribune) The News Corp. chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, has recently expressed nervousness about investments in Russia, where News Outdoor generated the bulk of its revenue last year. News Corp tightens grip on Premiere with new CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Rupert Murdoch tightened his grip on German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere by appointing News Corp executive Mark Williams as CEO in a move to get the company back on track. News Corp says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) News Corp. executive Mark Williams has taken over as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere in an interim capacity, News Corp. said after the move led to renewed takeover speculation. News Corp. says Mark Williams interim Premiere CEO (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Mark Williams, a News Corp. executive named late on Wednesday as chief executive of German pay-TV broadcaster Premiere, has taken over in an interim capacity, a News Corp. spokeswoman said on Thursday. UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News (UPI) Kanye arrested in paparazzi scuffle ... Report: Critic smacked Ebert with binder ... Cafe Tacvba nominated for 6 Latin Grammys ... Groban to perform TV songs at Emmys ... News from United Press International. United shares climb after news debacle (UPI) CHICAGO, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A computer program assigning dates to news stories was partly to blame for a sell-off of United Airlines stock Monday, a Google spokesman said. JCDecaux in talks for News Outdoor Group in Russia (San Francisco Chronicle) French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA said Thursday it is negotiating to buy Russian rival News Outdoor Group from global media company News Corp. In a statement, the global seller of outdoor advertising said it was in exclusive talks with Rupert... Column: Palin's Nomination Good News Even For Democrats In Alaska (CBS News) So, John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Let me just say, wow. That's not exactly what I repeatedly shouted out when I first heard the news, but it's close enough for publication. Like everyone else, my astonished reaction wasn't due to the event itself being inconceivable - I've heard pundits debating the likelihood of a McCain / Palin ticket for months. Get the latest news in racing (Daily Racing Form) In order to read Daily Racing Form's free daily news stories it is required that you have a DRF.com free membership. If you do not have a DRF.com free membership, please register here . You will NOT need to be logged in to read each day's free news stories. Site: news - Google News News roundup: Cool reception for automakers on Capitol Hill - USA Today
MORE RESOURCES: Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for forums Three candidate forums slated in Oct. (Cape Cod Times) The Cape Cod League of Women Voters, the Martha?s Vineyard League of Women Voters and the Cape Cod Times are sponsoring candidate forums this fall. Watch Mo. Candidate Forums Live Online (KCTV 5 Kansas City) Candidate forums are scheduled Thursday in the races for Missouri attorney general and Missouri governor. Click here for a link to watch them online live. Forums Set To Discuss Next West Hartford Schools Chief (Hartford Courant) The last time the school board sought input on the town's next superintendent, a handful of residents showed up at two public forums. Forums on for N.H. candidates (Portsmouth Herald) CONCORD and#8212; The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire announced recently that business forums featuring candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are confirmed for early October. Attend TGI political forums (The Garden Island) The Garden Island will host political forums for Kaua?i?s mayoral candidates on Sept. 25 and for County Council candidates on Oct. 16 at the Kaua?i Veterans Center on Kapule Highway. Doors open at 6 p.m. The forums start at 6:30 p.m. Expect a question and answer format with an opportunity for those attending to ask questions as well. Candidates to participate in lunch forums (New Hampshire Union Leader) Early October dates have been set for two midday business forums featuring candidates for governor and U.S. Senate. Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate business forums planned (Foster's Daily Democrat) CONCORD ? The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire announced that business forums featuring candidates for governor and U.S. Senate are confirmed for early October. Forums Offer New Hope For Homeowners (Eyewitness News 3 Hartford) The state is offering a series of free forums to help homeowners with sub-prime mortgages convert them to 30-year fixed-rate loans. Public forums planned for candidates (MPC Newspapers) Public forums, organized by the Benton County Task Force Government Relations Committee have been scheduled in the coming weeks. The first will be held Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 12:30 p.m. at the Belle Plaine Community Center. Crime forums give ethnic groups a say (The New Zealand Herald) Auckland's ethnic groups are invited to have their say on crime and listen to a police "action plan" for keeping them safe at meetings on the North Shore and at Greenlane tomorrow. Site: forums - Google News Governor's office hosting small-business survival forums - Denver Post
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