Post by Zimm on Feb 6, 2015 1:53:43 GMT -5
Promotion forums are a pretty popular forum niche in the online community. What is a promotion forum? A promotion forum is a forum or message board that offers advertising and other forum services such as: posting packages, forum reviews, member exchanges, etc. Basically a promotion forum provides services that help you gain members and posts as well as visitors.
Pros of Promotion Forums
Advertising
Most promotion forums allow members to advertise their forums on their website. Advertisements are good for your forum in the sense that they generate traffic to your forum. That traffic that comes from your advertisement may even generate new members, which leads to more content and activity on your forum.
Affiliates
Most forums, including promotion forums, offer affiliations. Basically, an affiliate typically includes an 88 X 31 banner that is visible somewhere on the main page of a forum and it links back to your forum. When people see your banner on other forums, they will likely click on it and view your forum. Like advertisements, this generates traffic to your forum. Typically, affiliations are a two way street. If your affiliate banner is included on another site, they will likely expect you to put their affiliate banner on your site.
Post Exchanges
A post exchange consists of members exchanging services amongst each other. Exchanges include, but are not limited to join for join, Active Member for Active Member, posts for posts, threads for threads, etc. Post exchanges generate traffic for your forum, help you to gain new members and content for either a short or long period of time.
Forum Reviews
Almost all promotion forums offer a forum review service. Generally, this service is completed by members of a review team and consists of a very detailed review of your forum. Forum reviews are designed to help you make your forum more appealing as many suggestions will be made to help better your forum.
Cons of Promotion Forums
Specific Member Types
Using promotion forums to gain members is harder than you think. Most users who are on promotion forums are doing the same thing you are: Hoping to gain members and activity for their forums. The problem with promotion forums is that the members of the forum are typically promoting the same niche. The amount of promotion forums advertised and promoted on promotion forums is ridiculous.
A lot of, or the majority of members of a promotion forum are looking for other promotion forums to advertise and promote their forums. If your forum is not about forum promotion, or another genre that the user is interested in, you may have a problem obtaining members, let alone getting them to remain active on your forum if they do join.
Pros and Cons at the Same Time
Posting Packages
A posting package is a service that many promotion forums offer their members. With a posting package, members of the staff team will join your forum and make a specific number of topics and posts on your forum per the request you have made. This is good because it helps your forum gain new members and it increases your post count and activity. This is also a bad thing because if you receive these packages, some of your members might not approve of such services, or the thought of paying for content on a forum. This may turn off guests from wanting to join as well as discourage members from posting on your forum.
Job Centers
A lot of promotion forums offer job centers, or job boards, for their members to announce when they are hiring for their forums. This is both good and bad for forums. Generally, this is good for your forum as you will likely find people who are interested in the positions that you announce. Typically, this is bad because even though people are interested in your job openings; they may not like the forum software you use, or they may be way under-qualified for the job you are offering. If you use promotion forum job boards to hire staff for your forums, make sure that you screen all applicants and be sure that they are very knowledgeable about the job they are applying for.
Conclusion
All in all, the pros of promotion forums outweigh the cons as there are more pros than cons. Generally, promotion forums are beneficial to forum communities as they help you make connections and meet new people. Ultimately, this leads to an increase in forum activity and members. Just be weary when using services, advertising and hiring staff via promotion forums.
Pros of Promotion Forums
Advertising
Most promotion forums allow members to advertise their forums on their website. Advertisements are good for your forum in the sense that they generate traffic to your forum. That traffic that comes from your advertisement may even generate new members, which leads to more content and activity on your forum.
Affiliates
Most forums, including promotion forums, offer affiliations. Basically, an affiliate typically includes an 88 X 31 banner that is visible somewhere on the main page of a forum and it links back to your forum. When people see your banner on other forums, they will likely click on it and view your forum. Like advertisements, this generates traffic to your forum. Typically, affiliations are a two way street. If your affiliate banner is included on another site, they will likely expect you to put their affiliate banner on your site.
Post Exchanges
A post exchange consists of members exchanging services amongst each other. Exchanges include, but are not limited to join for join, Active Member for Active Member, posts for posts, threads for threads, etc. Post exchanges generate traffic for your forum, help you to gain new members and content for either a short or long period of time.
Forum Reviews
Almost all promotion forums offer a forum review service. Generally, this service is completed by members of a review team and consists of a very detailed review of your forum. Forum reviews are designed to help you make your forum more appealing as many suggestions will be made to help better your forum.
Cons of Promotion Forums
Specific Member Types
Using promotion forums to gain members is harder than you think. Most users who are on promotion forums are doing the same thing you are: Hoping to gain members and activity for their forums. The problem with promotion forums is that the members of the forum are typically promoting the same niche. The amount of promotion forums advertised and promoted on promotion forums is ridiculous.
A lot of, or the majority of members of a promotion forum are looking for other promotion forums to advertise and promote their forums. If your forum is not about forum promotion, or another genre that the user is interested in, you may have a problem obtaining members, let alone getting them to remain active on your forum if they do join.
Pros and Cons at the Same Time
Posting Packages
A posting package is a service that many promotion forums offer their members. With a posting package, members of the staff team will join your forum and make a specific number of topics and posts on your forum per the request you have made. This is good because it helps your forum gain new members and it increases your post count and activity. This is also a bad thing because if you receive these packages, some of your members might not approve of such services, or the thought of paying for content on a forum. This may turn off guests from wanting to join as well as discourage members from posting on your forum.
Job Centers
A lot of promotion forums offer job centers, or job boards, for their members to announce when they are hiring for their forums. This is both good and bad for forums. Generally, this is good for your forum as you will likely find people who are interested in the positions that you announce. Typically, this is bad because even though people are interested in your job openings; they may not like the forum software you use, or they may be way under-qualified for the job you are offering. If you use promotion forum job boards to hire staff for your forums, make sure that you screen all applicants and be sure that they are very knowledgeable about the job they are applying for.
Conclusion
All in all, the pros of promotion forums outweigh the cons as there are more pros than cons. Generally, promotion forums are beneficial to forum communities as they help you make connections and meet new people. Ultimately, this leads to an increase in forum activity and members. Just be weary when using services, advertising and hiring staff via promotion forums.