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Forum Advertising: The Advantages and What Not To Do

Advertising your business is the best way to get new people to take notice.  While you can just use word of mouth, at some point you need to spend some money and start advertising.  And while some forums will not let you advertise the ones that do allow it can be a good start.

While some would say it is a bad way to advertise, you can easily add information about a product to a post on a blog.  But why would you want to?
  • First is the number of people who might see it.
    • While there is no current reports showing how many people are using Forums, reports from Warrior Forum and Quora that are about 5 years old show that a large active forum site could easily have over 100,000 users; and while not all will see the post you make on a subject, many can.
  • Second, forums don't charge to make post, so it is only as expensive as taking some time out of your day.
  • Finally, is that it pinpoints a group of people with a problem or looking for a particular type of product or service.
    • As long as people are following the rules that most forums have, you are not going to get people posting about cheese on a forum about Formula One.

That leads us to things you should not do.
  • Do not post on any forum you find.
    • This is one of the most important things to remember.  If you are posting on a forum that nothing to do with the type of business you have or your products, all you are going to do is annoy people. 
  • A number of forums do not allow advertising, or only allow it in particular portions of their forum, don't just post anywhere.
    • E-junkie for example has a section of our forum specifically to “Flaunt Your Store”.
  • When you are checking out a forum make sure to look at all the rules, the last thing you want to do is post in the wrong section and get banned from the forum site altogether.
    • Others may not allow you to post advertising until after you have contributed a set number of post, or until after a set period of time.  Keep track of these, they can still be useful and if the forum is related to what your business is about, you may want people to know about you anyway.
      • Some small businesses have even got started by people sharing what they created on a forum and others on the forum asking to buy the item from them.
  • Do not revive an old forum.
    • When you are thinking about posting on a forum, check the latest date, and maybe the last few dates.  You do not want to post on a forum from a while back, even a few months can be enough time that the forum is no longer relevant, if it is a year or more, forget it.
  • Make your post about more than just your product.  
    • Think of a forum post advert as a long for advertising.  You still want to keep the total words down, but you do not want jump to “Buy My Product!” Talk about what the post is about and how your product could help.
      • Something you may want to do, even if it is not about your product, if you know of a product by another company that can help someone on the forum, let them know.   You will be seen as helpful addition to the forum, not just someone advertising their product.

Forums are a great place to chat with people, share ideas and on some of them, share products.  If you think it might help you out, you should start posting soon, all it will take is time.

Good Luck and Good Sales