| 5 Ways to Increase Forum Activity | | | | creating topics and keep your members interested in |
| Many board owners do not know how to increase | | | | what you have to offer. It's a simple concept: the |
| forum activity on their forums. They struggle to get | | | | more you post, the more potential you have that |
| their members to post and become active. The most | | | | others will post. The worst thing you can do is just |
| frustrating part is that they see that a lot of | | | | sit back and sulk at your inactive forum. |
| members login everyday, yet hardly post. So what | | | | 4) Advertise and Network your forum well - As a |
| can be done to make your forum more active? | | | | board owner, you are in charge of properly |
| Follow some of these great tips: | | | | advertising and networking your forum. How do you |
| 1) Create a contest - Competition can be very | | | | expect others to find your forum if you do a lousy |
| healthy for any forum as long as you do it correctly. | | | | job of advertising it? This does not necessarily mean |
| Find a good contest that can "fit" your forum's niche | | | | that you have to pay to advertise. Many forums, |
| and style. For instance, a graphics forum can create | | | | search engines, and directories allow you to "plug" |
| graphics contests and a gaming forum can try and | | | | your forum into their database. Plug your forum into |
| host some contests within some of the games they | | | | as many places as possible because there is a lot |
| discuss. Finding a great contest that your forum loves | | | | more potential that new members will see it and join. |
| can sometimes take a while, so don't give up after | | | | Don't just advertise on one place and expect a lot of |
| one failed attempt. Ask your members what they'd | | | | activity to come from that one source. Luckily we |
| like and create an enjoyable experience. | | | | have an article on advertising and networking your |
| 2) Use your forum's mass email feature - One | | | | forum that you can check out here: How to |
| overlooked feature that comes ready with many | | | | Massively Advertise and Network Your Forum. |
| forum hosts today is the mass email feature. Many | | | | 5) "Active Poster" groups - Rewarding your members |
| forum hosts, both free and paid, come with some | | | | for posting is a great way to motivate members. |
| sort of mass email feature that allows you to email all | | | | ForumBlogger has discussed one technique to |
| or parts of your member base. Use this to your | | | | implement this group for a new forum here: |
| advantage, most users do not log onto a forum | | | | Technique for a Successful Forum, but that only |
| every single day, and most come and go as they see | | | | works well for forums that have recently started. |
| fit. Using your mass email feature, you can then | | | | Forums that are more established should consider |
| notify your members of upcoming events and plans. | | | | creating a group for active posters, but the trick is |
| Notification is key on the internet. With so many | | | | to not make the post count needed to reach this |
| forums out there, make sure your members know | | | | group high. Reward those members that post daily as |
| you're still there and active by notifying them on a | | | | well as the ones that post weekly. How do you |
| regular basis. | | | | accomplish this? Create a few tiers of these groups. |
| 3) Post, post, and keep posting - Many board owners | | | | Perhaps your first tier is reached when the member |
| are discouraged to post when no one else is posting. | | | | posts 50 posts, then the second when he reaches |
| You need to realize that members post when they | | | | 300 posts. This allows you to reward all kinds of |
| see something that interests them, if a topic does | | | | activity on your forum and feeling rewarded feels |
| not interest them, then they will not post in it. Keep | | | | good wouldn't you say? |