Web forums can offer many of the same benefits to your business as social networks. In fact, I kind of tend to think about forums as the original social networks. They've been around and have been helping people much longer than MySpace and Facebook.
You've got profile pages, private messages, and public conversation. Perhaps they don't typically have all the frills of a MySpace or a Facebook, but the general concept is there.
Like social networks, there are a variety of ways your business can benefit from forum participation.
Help with Specific Problems
Perhaps the most obvious benefit is the ability to get a specific question answered. If you need help or advice with a certain aspect of your business, chances are that it is a problem others have encountered in the past, and will be able to help you out. This can be tremendously helpful in many cases, especially if it is something that is really holding your business back.
Networking
Like social networks, if you regularly participate in forums, you will be networking with other people and sometimes experts. This comes back to the "it's who you know" philosophy, and you never know how knowing the right people will benefit you further down the road.
Branding
A natural product of networking is branding. When you participate regularly, people will begin to remember and recognize you, and this together with an appropriate signature will brand your business and potentially even drive traffic to your site.
Being in the Loop
Forum participation (or even just reading them) is also a good way to stay up on current events in your industry. You get a sense of conversation that you don't always get with news articles (unless the article gets a big comment spike). For online businesses, forums like WebProWorld, WebmasterWorld, and Digital Point are good places to monitor.
For the Inexperienced
This is especially true if you are one of the many businesses that has not yet created an online presence. You can learn a lot from forums. You should always check multiple sources before following any advice on an important topic, because not all of it you will find is going to be the best. Forums are a good way to get a feeling for how others view any particular opinions anyway. If someone posts some controversial advice, someone will almost certainly be there to contradict it. Either way, it can open up options for you to think about and open your mind to different ideas.
Forums help people in business every day. Can you pinpoint a time where forum participation has had a large impact on your business?
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Comments
Business using social networks
Many of the social networks are now filled with networking 'gurus' and would be marketeers creating profiles hoping to increase their exposure by sheer weight of numbers. Provided you stick to the guidelines and don't get banned for activities which are blatantly spamming there is something to be said for this technique. Some sites like Yuwie and Zenzuu actually share the advertising revenue with the contributors as a further inducement to use their services so there are a lot of like-minded people taking part (half a million on Yuwie alone).
Like Cheers where everybody knows your name
I discovered forums as a result of a purchase back in '99. Since then, I've become a member of several forums in the areas of my intrests and businesses.
Forums are a small community of like minded people, that for the most part are always willing to help you out.
Right now with the eBay mess going on, an outstanding forum has to be MySilentTeam where the very un_guru like Jim Cockrum persides.
Once a forum member, it's wide open as far as marketing opportunities go. Everyone is receptive to at least your business and marketing ideas.
If you're providing goods and/or services that the forum members need...you've got sales and a loyal customer base.
Support Your Local Forums.
~~gourmet coffee snob~~
Always Drink Better Coffee
SpotaJava Coffee
RE: Like Cheers...
Forums - The Birthplace of Social Networking & Web 2.0
As a contributor to several forums in my field and areas of interest - I've found them to be an excellent way to build trust and brand my products.
With the rise in popularity of social networking sites and sharing (bookmarking) sites for promotional purposes, many marketers have forgotten or discounted the social marketing power of forums.
The traffic that comes from forums may not match the sudden stampedes possible with the hot social networking and bookmarking sites. BUT that forum traffic is incredibly Targeted, with a high likelihood of purchasing your product or joining your list - In other words, my experience is that the conversion rate from forum traffic is many times higher than more typical social sites' traffic.
Myspace, Facebook, Digg, and the like are certainly great solutions to add to your marketing and traffic generation arsenal - In fact if you're not doing it, you should be.
But the rank and authority you can achieve from a history of posting valuable contributions to a topic-related forum... It's a Traffic and Profits genenerating Powerhouse for any sites/products you promote there.
Thanks for such an excellent post on this topic, Chris. I always enjoy reading Honest, straight-forward into and advice.
Deb
Birthplace of Social Networking...
Enjoyed the article
Forums are a must in the technology area and I also find them very useful for artists as well. Most experts exist on forums; with Blogs have a lot of posers, you can’t really pose on a forum. That what makes them so appealing to me, you find an expert, and then you find his/her Blog.
Must social networking sites like Facebook and Linked-in are a basic waste of time for information. But I believe you need to have a presents on these sites, but spending time on them is a waste, setup your profile, and go be productive. Have a question; go to a forum that specializes in that area of expertise.
Finding Experts
Forums As Affiliate Marketing Help
Very good reminder
I am a Internet Marketer and for me Forum Marketing is extremely important.
Not only to offer some good products I can recommend, as well to research my market I love Forums. You told it, they are the grandfather of social marketing and I personally like them more then MySpace + Co.
You haven't posted it, but I like to use a cool tool like the one below to find high volume Forums. For me, the more people the better.
http://boardtracker.com/
There are others available, I can't remember now the URL's.
Use Forums, you will get to know a lot about your topic.
Google : Forum+yourtopic , and you find what you want if you don't like to use the tool above.
Cheers
Guido Mueller
A proud member of the Wealthy Affiliate.com University
BoardTracker
Great Tool!
I never knew about "Forum+yourtopic"on Google.com. I need to surpass my competition and this is another way I can do so. If you remember the other URL's, please pass them on.
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