Forum Contests- Do they work for you?

[Scorpio]

So in the past I have hosted a few contents, one being a Design your own software competition with rewards via PayPal being sent out and another being a Posting challenge, neither really took off and very few forum users actually participated.

I was browsing a thread in the promotion top tips and Cosmic and a few others have also had this issue, so do contests generally work and if they do how do you promote them on your site?

 

[Reddyash]

I think having contests will work. I have few competitions running in my forum and it is giving good results. I think the members have to get attracted towords the reward they will win. If they are not interested in the reward then it will result in less participation.

 

[Reverse Flash]

Contests definitely work. Just make sure to set a cool prize and promote it well.

 

[Yoda]

I think as long as the prize is something that will interest/benefit your members then you should have no problem getting people to participate.

 

[Thomasss]

They do and they don't; I really think it depends on the contest and if there is enough interest, and then there's getting the contest noticed.

They work, just gotta promote them and do the right ones.

 

[cpvr]

It all comes down to your prizes really and how you market them. I'm a huge fan of running $100 posting contests.

 

[MasterA]

I was browsing a thread in the promotion top tips and Cosmic and a few others have also had this issue, so do contests generally work and if they do how do you promote them on your site?

I have done competition in the past that worked well. I think the important thing is to provide a very good prize and smaller forum tends to be more successful in my opinion given you have a good prize because the competition is lower so people are more likely to be engaged in it to win the prize. If your forum is big and there are lots of participants, then it gets so hard to win so people just don't bother. For larger forums, you probably need even bigger prizes or a prize for everyone so people would be engaged because they will win something regardless or whether or not they win top 3 places. Some appealing prizes includes, forum software licenses and large sums of cash.

 

[Deleted member 25872]

I have never done a contest on my forum.

 

[John]

I've done a few straight up posting contests, and they didn't work. I think the most important factor to a good contest is originality. The cooler the contest sounds, the better your results will be.

 

[Allenafaith]

I've never had a contest on mine but it seems like a good idea. 😀

 

[Forces of Steel]

For the most part, running an actual contest is a waste of both time and money. If that's your backup strategy to hopefully maintain your community, then that's a bad thing. You're better off shutting down your forum.

In order to attract new members and keep your current ones, you only need to worry about providing EXCLUSIVE content. You need to come up with content that hasn't already been provided on another forum or blog, especially if they drive more hits than your Web sites do.

 

[gamestoenjoy]

Yes it works great if you give the right prizes and create a interesting contest.

 

[Chris K]

It works wonders but soon after the contest much of the activity stops or slows down. I have gained a few active members and good content from contest. It's a hit or miss.

 

[ultraonlinereviews]

I do think obtaining contests works. I've got couple of games running during my community forum in fact it is giving good results. I do think your members need captivated towords your incentive they're going to win. Should they aren't keen on your incentive then this will result in less taking part.

 

[Cierra]

Posting contests are good for the short term but not for long term activity.