Once a forum gets off the ground with thousands of posts, it's not so hard to convince people to join. But initially, with few forum posts (except those made by the admin or owner), it's going to difficult to get posting members onto a new forum as nobody wants to join a forum just to talk to themselves. So how do you find those first few members who will join and actively post until there is enough content to entice others?
A few suggestions might be:
Invite friends and family to post
Invite members of your regular forum (via private message when allowed)
Hold a content contest (most new discussions win, etc)
Swap forum posts
Pay for posts, with a hired admin or mod staff
Please suggest other ways to get your first few real members
Post exchanges are a great way of building new members, some stay and some leave..its the luck of the draw. Discussionhub has has success in the past whereby post exchange members stay on past their initial exchange which is great!
Social media is also a great tool if you are serious about making your forum succeed.
I always find that doing post exchanges really helps me to get my forum off the ground it also helps me to get a steady set of posts running whilst I work on promoting my forum as best I can to gain members away from post exchanging.
no one doing post exchange with me i really need some posts to become active my forum but don't have..
Any ideas??
i don't have enough FP Cash to pay per post
Yep. Meet people at bloggy techy offices and invite them.
Print leaflets and hand them out in public.
And as you say, speak to anyone you know about it.
Post exchanges cane be pretty helpful, as could the odd false member created by you on the forums, have them engage with people.. Eventually people will stick around as the forums wont look just dead.
I think offering something unique is a good way to build members. Maybe a cash prize for competition or prize draws. Tell your friends about the forum and do post exchanges.
