I've been considering a contest idea recently and I'd love to get some feedback on it, from other Forum Promotion members. (Please note I'm currently considering this contest for another forum, not for FP).
The contest would run as follows;
Each month I would pick one or two Members of the Month.
Each member could only become a Member of the Month once - in other words if you were chosen as a Member of the Month in Sept you could not become a Member of the Month in Oct, or any other month.
Only people who were members of the forum for say two months and who had made maybe 100 posts, would be considered for winning the Member of the Month award.
At the end of the year, I would pick a Forum Member of the Year from everyone who was previously a Member of the Month. To be named as the forum Member of the Year would be a prestigious award and the winner would also receive a large cash prize.
So what do you think, is it a good idea? Would it encourage members to be loyal and contribute positively to the forum?
With a forum like yours, I see many loyal members. Helping other members is its own reward. Still, this could be a fun way to boost activity and encourage help. Who doesn't like cash prizes?
Thanks for the feedback guys. Like any forum we sometimes get quality members who visit, make a handful of posts and then don't show up on the forum again. Actually some of them surprise us and make an appearance many months later. I'd hope that a contest like this would encourage these members to stick around and participate.
I think that users will react better to a contest in which they know if they can win or not. If you're picking, there's nothing they can actually do to ensure that they win the contest. There should be set thing they need to do to get them to do it.
For example, most posting contests are '4 points for a thread, 2 points for a post - most points wins.' It's simple, but users know where they stand with it. And any user could win if they spent enough time, and that's the most encouraging thing for them. That is what will make them want to partake in the contest.
If you're just picking a member based on unspecified contribution to the site, members probably won't start contributing more to the site than they already were. Here's how I'd think of it if I was a member of your site,
"What do I get for being member of the month?" "What can I do to become member of the month?" "I'd have to spend a lot of time on the forum for a year to win an actual reward for it"
So what do I suggest you do? I think you should do some kind of posting contest, but not just posting with referrals too etc and have the vBExperience mod count it all up. Ensure users don't spam by threatening deducting points. Have one set prize, and you should generate more activity and good members than if you were to go ahead with this idea.
Thanks for the reply Jonathan, you make some good points there. My aim is to have members who are as helpful as possible to other members. I want members that make quality posts, not a lot of posts. My experience of posting contests is that they can result in lots of poor quality posts.
I agree with you on not making members wait a year for the prize and if I go ahead with the contest I will also give prizes to the monthly winners.
Well I see where you're coming from - sometimes posting contests can just turn into a spam fest to try to get as many posts as possible. It's a shame when this happens, and usually a minimum character count doesn't do much to see it justice.
If you want helpful members, you should tell your members that the member of the month will be the most helpful and will often help other members with their business etc., this way users know what to do and know that they can do it. You have to be specific in telling them what you want them to do, otherwise they'll end up confused as to why they did not win if they were, for example, posting a lot in the off topic sections.
Glad to see you're going with my advice too - I think monthly prizes will spark more interest in the contest. Everyone is looking for a prize now rather than later.
I agree with many of the points Jonathan makes, if they have something worthwhile at the end of each month it will keep their interest. I don't think post points would produce quality, how about people getting a positive rep for helpful posts? The one who gets the most reps at the end of the month would be the winner, maybe the reps could only be given by certain members or something to make it safe from cheating?
