How to Use Forums as Social Media Marketing Tools ?

In light of the current focus on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as a means for business owners to promote their companies, discussion forums come off as being old school. However, forums are still around for a very good reason: they are an effective means of engaging a community. You can harness the power of forums as a social media marketing tool to promote your business.

Target a Specific Niche

You may generate significant traffic initially with a “be all things to all people” approach, but for long-term, committed involvement, focusing your forum on a specific niche is the way to go. This is because niche targeting promotes a sense of commonality, and, in turn, a higher level of engagement for your forum. For instance, if you own a clothing store for fashionable mature women, which type of group do you think would generate interest and involvement over months, if not years: a group devoted to fashion in general or a group devoted to fashion tips for women over 40?

Post Content to Trigger Discussion

Even when members disagree among themselves, as long as the discussion remains civil, lively interaction among people who share a common area of interest often translates into a higher profile for your company. Using the previous example, you could post a link to an article discussing whether women over age 35 should wear short skirts. Invariably, some members will claim that short skirts should be reserved for younger women, while others will argue that women of every age are entitled to wear shorts skirts so long as they look good. Still others will insist that women should wear what they want no matter what other people think. Meanwhile, this lively discussion generates traffic to your forum and likely inspires discussion by forum members with acquaintances who are not involved with the forum.

Engage Forum Moderators

You can’t oversee your forum 24 hours per day, seven days per week. But shutting down discussion when you’re not around is not an ideal solution. Engaging forum moderators serves two equally important functions. First, forum moderators can act as your eyes and ears to maintain civility among forum members when you can’t be there to oversee things personally. Second, forum moderators often become evangelists for your forum, recruiting new members.

Link Back to Your Website

Your discussion forum should include links back to your company’s main website on the forum logo and attached to posts that you place on the forum site. This will help your company’s website rank better with search engines. However, be careful not to go overboard and insist on links back to your website attached to every post placed your members. Too many links on your forum pointing to your website might be viewed unfavorably by search engines, lowering your website’s rank in search results.

It’s Not Either Or

None of the above advice is meant to suggest that you should not incorporate social media platforms in your marketing efforts. Social media plays an increasingly influential role not only in page rank but in your company’s overall profile. A coordinated marketing effort can and should include both social media and a discussion forum.