Marketing through forum contributions

From: Mark Brownlow <mark_at_keepingthekey.com>
Date: Thu 07 Feb 2002 09:02:39 -0500

Alex Tillman <alex_at_webtillman.com> wrote:

> 1) Has anyone successfully used forum posting as a way
> to generate business?

In my old job, we once did a bunch of testing of this,
using unique signature URLs for each different discussion
list and poster. We were trying to drum up subscribers to
small business newsletters.

Conclusions (some based on interpreting the numbers, some
on intuition):

* Very little success at driving direct response (but see
  last paragraph).

* Despite the large numbers of members/readers claimed by
  a list or forum, the number of people actually reading
  a *specific post* can be a mere fraction of this total.

* Regular posting is ideal for building long-term
  credibility, which is especially useful if you sell
  things like consulting services or anything where
  expertise is critical (look at what the best-known
  posters to marketing lists offer!)

* Crafting valuable posts can take a lot of time, so be
  sure it's worth your while (ROI)

* Impact and frequency (I'm not an ad guy, but parallels
  to ad theory?) If you're not prepared to post regularly,
  then at least make sure your posts are short(ish),
  impactful, useful, engaging contributions...and a touch
  of personality helps, too. I dare say there's an argument
  for long posts, as in long vs short copy, but see the last
  point above.

* You'll do a better job if you really are genuinely
  interested in helping folks out and participating in a
  community. If you're not so motivated, you'll get caught
  out someday. Besides, regular posters who practice this
  are cut a lot more slack when it comes to self-promotion.

BUT it's actually difficult to draw general conclusions,
since so many factors are at play; audience, offer, quality
and length of posts etc. So other people might have
completely different experiences, especially in the
B2C arena.

Mark Brownlow, Author

The Keeping the Key Report
"How to give your email newsletters impact & influence"
http://www.KeepingtheKey.com/






Received on Thu Feb 07 2002 - 08:02:39 CST