Marketing your Digiscrapping Business: Forums

This series is dedicated to a couple of friends of mine. The first posted at DST wondering out loud about how to get a forum pumped up. I really respected her for asking the question publicly. And the other friend is someone who has been encouraging me to gather my thoughts for awhile on this topic for her.

To start with I need to explain my fascination with the social interaction on the net. And digiscrappers are incredibly intense online. One year ago I was introduced to Web 2.0 thru a couple of library speakers. And I’ll explain what Web 2.0 is later too. (You already know but just didn’t realize it – so if you’re intrigued – sign up on the right to know when our blog is updated so you don’t miss out!). I will be covering SEO too (search engine optimization) – what people know as the goal of being prominently seen by search engines like Google.

Forums are all about people. And my saying is that for every one person posting, there are 100 reading possibly. So you have active people & lurkers & the question is how does one get people to come out & play? engage them if you will? Here are some ideas that I’ve used & once you get the ball rolling… it’s a exciting to see the forum take on a personality of it’s own!

1. Be present – as a site owner it’s important that you’re there, active & making people feel good – people will notice & respond. (It’s a great time to be charming!). Vicki Stegall does this so well. So check out Oscraps if you want to see a great example.
2. Engage the people that are active at your forum because they probably think you walk on water. (You know who they are – the ones that stalk you! lol) They’re you’re biggest fans & can help you greatly.
3. Create a motivational team from your inhouse fan club. Have them help with posting at DST & supporting your marketing efforts. (It took me a long time in life to realize it’s ok to ask for help… you don’t have to do it all yourself.). Those ladies will be so excited to help you. Have them help monitor the ISO threads at DST & paste up your great designs (with images).
4. Empower them – give them a private area in the forum & let them brainstorm. You’ll be amazed at what a group will come up with! Encourage them to keep it simple so no one gets worn out. Let them scrap with your kits & advertise your work. Have them help moderate, blog, etc. Have them choose a scrapper of the week/month if you have a gallery.
5. Establish a routine at your forum by trying the following -
   • encourage members to post their picture – this personalizes things (if they resist – offer a prize to all that do so & you’ll find it becomes the standard)
   • use your name rather than admin. for your username – admin is sterile
   • encourage people to come out of lurking -run a game or contest to see who is frequenting your forum. You maybe will be surprised!
   • if you have other designers selling, ask them all to post & get involved. Ask your CT to actively post at the forum.
6. Make your customers feel special. Assuming that you have a store connected with your forum, offer a coupon thru your blog, on the forum, etc. All of us love coupons.
7. Listen to your customers. This means ask them what they’d like to see in the forum, what typs of designs they’re looking for, what they’d like to learn, talk with them.
8. Ask yourself what makes your site unique? or how would you like it to be unique? If you wander around our site – my sister & I started this with a goal of reducing our typing when we were answering questions around the net. It’s not so much a social place, but it is very friendly. We respond to posts within 2 hrs during waking hours. And we do ‘housecalls’ – yes, when people are in need friends let us know where & we go to that site to answer questions. This evolved. This leads me to the next one… But first, consider what makes your site unique & focus on that. If you can’t think of something – then create a daily routine at your site. Your regulars will love it & more will join.
9. Be flexible…. and realize that sometimes you’ll have a great idea & oopsie, things don’t go as planned. But try try again. Be creative… watch what others are doing & gather ideas. I’m a people watcher, can you tell? And I love trying to figure out why things are successful. Plan ahead – this will guarantee success – and make you happier when you’re more relaxed in the execution of your plans.
10. Be transparent – say what you mean & mean what you say. You’ll gain far more respect with all those you work with. And this is obvious, but good business practices are absolutely necessary. Remedy customer service issues quickly & follow up. Meredith Fenwick gave me the BEST customer service back when I was getting started. People don’t forget that (obviously I haven’t!). The joy of the digiscrapping world is that people get such GREAT customer service. Designers are THE best at it!
11. Some other things in no particular order: offer a freebie, find ways to creatively get people moving thru your forum like a scavenger hunt (they’ll have fun while doing so too!), send a newsletter out to your members, create a blinkie for your loyal customers to wear & add a clickable link in the address – so when they wear it at other sites, you have people clicking over. (These stat’s are interesting to watch). Post instructions on how to get it into their signature.

I think what holds site owners back is that they’re afraid to take risks, but consider it an experiement instead! It can be great fun trying new things & going in new directions. My sister obligated us to a year & I thought – what if this doesn’t work…. and now we’ve grown so much in 3 months, it was the obvious thing to do! (We’ll see if she reads this!). But we’re having a great time & love our dedicated followers. Both of us learned digiscrapping online & we’re enjoying giving back to the community.

Here are some links that have interesting reading:

10 mistakes that will kill a forum

Top 10 lessons I’ve learned about managing a forum

10 tips for promoting your forum

Do you have more ideas for motivating a forum? Please post them here for others. I think the next topic will be blogging & SEO. Stay tuned….

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