Could business cards work for forum marketing?

[Shawn Gossman]

What do you think about business cards?

Print about 100 cards with your forum information on it. Put them up on tackboards and stores and whatnot that allow it. Leave them on tables and signs, etc.

Do you think this could help people find your forum?

Have any of you done this before?

 

[zappaDPJ]

I've never done it but I think there would need to be a compelling connection between the business card and your forum to gain any real benefit.

To put some context on it, if you were to hand out your card to a group of ramblers/hikers where the forum focused on that pursuit, I think you could well gain some visitors.

Hopefully that example explains what I'm attempting to convey 🙂

 

[Page]

Let's face it, who does business cards nowadays. I see that I will be wasting money and ink and paper by doing that to a gaming-related forum that most people won't even know the word "Forum" 😛

Walking down the street, Hay girl, you seem to be having fun playing that game app on your phone, He's my business card 🙂 I'm the company founder and manager and all details on how to join is on the card. The card will just have the website name and URL 😛

Doesn't work for everyone unless it's a real deal business that makes you real-time money. STILL - You can make and do online digital cards thought 🙂

Yet I can't even get my own mates and family and friends to even join and help out 🙁

 

[Katrina]

It could make sense if you hand out your business card in the right place. I don't think posting a gaming business card at a grocery store bulletin board would work and nowadays most places require permission first before placing such things on their boards.

I have a crafting forum and going to craft shows might benefit me in handing out something to advertise my site. I'm not sure how much it is worth it though for cost compared to how many actual sign ups I would receive.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Doesn't work for everyone unless it's a real deal business that makes you real-time money.

I don't necessarily agree with that.
I commonly go to fairs and events where I put up a booth to promote my local brand.
I use business cards with a QR code that they can scan to quickly get to my local hiking guides page, which is free to use. It's actually a hit!

 

[Page]

It could make sense if you hand out your business card in the right place. I don't think posting a gaming business card at a grocery store bulletin board would work and nowadays most places require permission first before placing such things on their boards.

Or going to gaming events 🙂 there are online centres or Liberty that you can place them 🙂 Or just posting online fo events and go to one 😛

 

[Deleted member 4320]

I've never thought of having business cards for a forum. I suppose it might work well if you network a lot.

 

[kolakube]

Outstanding idea! I have been planning a "People of..." series for a local forum I run and it will be way smoother to give out business cards than just the domain name (no matter how good it is...).

 

[Fait]

Let's face it, who does business cards nowadays. I see that I will be wasting money and ink and paper by doing that to a gaming-related forum that most people won't even know the word "Forum" 😛

Walking down the street, Hay girl, you seem to be having fun playing that game app on your phone, He's my business card 🙂 I'm the company founder and manager and all details on how to join is on the card. The card will just have the website name and URL 😛

Doesn't work for everyone unless it's a real deal business that makes you real-time money. STILL - You can make and do online digital cards thought 🙂

Yet I can't even get my own mates and family and friends to even join and help out 🙁

I have the same issue, none of my friends care about my site at all, The people that did I fell out with more like they was looking for an excuse not to support it anymore so they got rid of me.

 

[Page]

I have the same issue, none of my friends care about my site at all, The people that did I fell out with more like they was looking for an excuse not to support it anymore so they got rid of me.

I was able to get a couple of my online friends to join, But I had to really force them and tell them all the time. But they just hard and end of the day they are not interested LOL

makes me laugh how they are always asking me to do things for them or help them out and yet they do not in return. I'm a good mate to a streamer that has over 7K followers and we have been online mates for six hours 🙂 At that time he never joins my site.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

I have the same issue, none of my friends care about my site at all, The people that did I fell out with more like they was looking for an excuse not to support it anymore so they got rid of me.

I was able to get a couple of my online friends to join, But I had to really force them and tell them all the time. But they just hard and end of the day they are not interested LOL

makes me laugh how they are always asking me to do things for them or help them out and yet they do not in return. I'm a good mate to a streamer that has over 7K followers and we have been online mates for six hours 🙂 At that time he never joins my site.

I think that's why people struggle with forums nowadays. They're a very slow form of media and people crave instant gratification which forums just simply don't provide. It's very hard to get new people interested in them nowadays and I don't think business cards would help.

 

[Fait]

I was able to get a couple of my online friends to join, But I had to really force them and tell them all the time. But they just hard and end of the day they are not interested LOL

makes me laugh how they are always asking me to do things for them or help them out and yet they do not in return. I'm a good mate to a streamer that has over 7K followers and we have been online mates for six hours 🙂 At that time he never joins my site.

People are lazy tbh they prefer something quick like a poorly done app such as TikTok and that’s why decent sites struggle.

I think that's why people struggle with forums nowadays. They're a very slow form of media and people crave instant gratification which forums just simply don't provide. It's very hard to get new people interested in them nowadays and I don't think business cards would help.

People like quick garbage then something meanful like a forum.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

People like quick garbage then something meanful like a forum.

Yep, that's true. Immediate content has been pushed lots so it's all people want nowadays.

 

[Fait]

Yep, that's true. Immediate content has been pushed lots so it's all people want nowadays.

I’m thinking about going down the YouTube route again because I honestly don’t think my forum will take off it’s just where the internet is going unfortunately.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

I’m thinking about going down the YouTube route again because I honestly don’t think my forum will take off it’s just where the internet is going unfortunately.

Yeah I agree. I really don't think there is a future in forums generally speaking. I think they're okay to supplement something, but having simply a forum as a means of building a community isn't going to happen now. Social media has changed the landscape.

 

[Fait]

Yeah I agree. I really don't think there is a future in forums generally speaking. I think they're okay to supplement something, but having simply a forum as a means of building a community isn't going to happen now. Social media has changed the landscape.

I think there is but it won’t be traditional forums such as Xenforo sadly 🙁

I’m seeing how I can convert my site to flarium.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

I think there is but it won’t be traditional forums such as Xenforo sadly 🙁

I’m seeing how I can convert my site to flarium.

I did look at Flarum and it seemed good, but the installation was a pain. I might go back to it though.

 

[Fait]

I did look at Flarum and it seemed good, but the installation was a pain. I might go back to it though.

Turns out it’s coded in my own country Australia and it does look like a pain just to install it, once I get past that process I should be good.

Xenforo does a good job traditional forum wise but I do believe the internet is moving away and going Flarum style.

 

[Deleted member 4320]

Turns out it’s coded in my own country Australia and it does look like a pain just to install it, once I get past that process I should be good.

Xenforo does a good job traditional forum wise but I do believe the internet is moving away and going Flarum style.

Yeah Flarum seems like the way forward. Particularly with how Discourse is getting more popular. I think Flarum is based on that forum software.

 

[Fait]

Yeah Flarum seems like the way forward. Particularly with how Discourse is getting more popular. I think Flarum is based on that forum software.

Discourse looks pretty good as well.
So those two softwares have started something amazing I think! 🙂

As long as forums don’t die completely I’m happy with the change!