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The Ins and Outs of Forum Marketing

Yesterday Jake took us through Social Media Marketing and why it is so important to incorporate into your overall marketing strategy. Most of the time when Social Media Marketing is mentioned, we talk about large sites like Digg, Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon, etc. Today I want to discuss the benefits and strategies in using forums to your advantage.

Participating in forums can provide valuable insight to business owners. Not only for sales, but for some good perspectives from others in your industry as well as potential clients. Forum marketing is not always going to provide you with instant gratification though. It takes time to build a credible profile, and when participating in a forum you can wind up giving more information than you gain. I’m going to outline a few of the benefits of participating in forums as well as give you some basic tips for building a strong profile and using them to help your business.

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Test Audiences. There have been times where I am trying to communicate with a client to explain to them why they need to add more information in their product descriptions, or rework the order process a bit. Posting a link in a forum to get the opinion of people that are in the target audience of the site acts as a quick way to test a theory. There are times when I’ve been surprised at the response, but it is helpful to use as a starting point.

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Powerful Recommendations. Before making a big purchase, many users search out as much information that they can about a product as possible. I’ve got 2 personal stories to drive this point home.

  • Before we got our Charlie we researched everything we could about the breed and landed on an authority forum for Shar-Pei’s. Later when we had health issues we naturally posted looking for a vet. $6,000 later, Charlie is a very happy and healthy dog, and our vet has a good customer that will shout referrals from the rooftops.
  • When I was planning our wedding I was a little clueless about how to start. A year later, our entire wedding budget was spent on vendors found and recommended through a particular forum. That’s just from one couple, us. Multiply that by the millions of users forums have and you’ve got a targeted audience searching for your product and ready to spend. Having a good reputation in a forum will keep a business in front of the eyes of those searching for it’s products or services.

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Building a Network. I’ve talked about the value of running a concept by a large group of people, but another benefit to being involved in forums is creating a network for yourself to keep up with what is going on in your industry or in something you (or a client) is interested in.

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Direct Sales. Consider this an ancillary benefit. While many of our clients have seen direct sales come from forums, this is not the major intent of the participation. Although sometimes someone is looking for a product or service and asking for a recommendation. In that case, participate. Drop a link with a good story behind it.

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Introduce Yourself. Do not just jump in and start posting your opinions. Give a little background about yourself; let the users welcome you into the site. Let them know you are genuine and their to give back.

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Steer Clear of Personal Drama. Drama is inevitable in forums. By their nature, they are a place to have open discussions about topics. Posting your opinion on something is fine, but to attack others personally will establish you as a controversy seeker and backfire later. Remember that in forums and online; sometimes people come across more obnoxious or aggressive than they ever would in real life.

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Be Helpful When You Can. You may be on the forum with the main intent of promoting your product or service, but if you know something about a topic being discussed, by all means offer some help and insight. This is key when establishing yourself as a resource.

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Do Not Self Promote. Most forums have searchable profiles. If you mention a few times what you do (in a non promotional way), if someone is seeking you out, or begins to trust you, it is more than likely they will look up your profile to get an idea of what you’ve posted before. Seeing a ton of link drops to your site or blog is not going to help you any. It might actually get you called out for being a “troll”. Be sure to check the terms of use for the forum you choose to participate in. For some, self promotion can result in banning.

It takes time to build a connection and rapport within the community. The users of forums are protective of their environment. They don’t want it overrun with spam and link drops. They will not communicate with someone not trusted. Take the time to learn the “lay of the land” before jumping in.

Forums can be a great resource on many levels and may just provide you with the extra push that you need to get more in touch with your audience and industry.

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