Relying on social traffic = setup to fail

[Shawn Gossman]

There are many forum owners out there that are trying their best to promote on and gain new members from social media.

These admins will put in a lot of effort to make social media work.

However, I wonder if they're setting themselves up for failure. Whether they're wasting time and effort on free promotion or wasting money on ads, most social media users don't want to leave the platform and while they may consume content from the page promoting the forum, most will not go farther than that.

How do you all feel about this? Do you think too much time is wasted on promoting a forum on social media or do you feel there is a strategic way of doing it to make it work better?

 

[Xyphien]

I am one of those, not going to lie. I started to build my social media a month ago to eventually promote my website I've been working on. I have $12k in retro games & equipment so I figured if I just showcase all of my stuff those who love retro stuff will eventually follow/subscribe and will eventually lead to authentic members for my intraweb site I've made. I personally feel like doing it that way, especially if you're working on a community of sorts is the best way to do it since you're actually building a community around your content. Ads on the other hand may bring a few in, but for the amount of money to user joining ratio I've never found it to be worthwhile.

 

[Uncrowned Guard]

I think a lot of admins misunderstand what social media actually is and what it’s good for. Social media promotion isn’t bad at all; it can be incredible, and for some forums, it becomes the single biggest promotional channel. But the trap many admins fall into is assuming that social media users want to leave social media and join their forum. That’s exactly the issue @Shawn Gossman is pointing out when he says most users “don’t want to leave the platform”.

The problem is that many admins treat social media like a promotional forum. They blast out links and assume that visibility equals conversion. But 99% of the people who see that link aren’t looking for a random community to join; they’re already on the community they want to be on. They’re invested in that platform, not searching for a forum to sign up for.

So in my opinion, you really have to treat your social media presence as its own community. Ask yourself: would people actually want to interact with your page or group? Or is it just a stream of outbound links with no real on‑platform value? If your social feed doesn’t stand on its own, it won’t grow; and if it doesn’t grow, it won’t send meaningful traffic anywhere.

When you build out your social media community properly, with content that belongs there, not just teasers for somewhere else, you start attracting people who genuinely like what you’re doing. Those are the folks who will eventually branch out to your other platforms, including your forum, and they’ll also help spread your content organically.

Social media promotion works best when it’s treated the same way you’d treat promotion on your own site: it should be an asset to the community, not just an ad. If you build something worth engaging with, the traffic will follow naturally. If you only post links, you’re not building a community; you’re just hoping someone clicks.

 

[Baw$e]

I don't spend money on social media advertising, but I've built a strong following over time, which has made social media one of my primary sources of traffic for my forum. It plays a key role in attracting new members and helping the community continue to grow.