5 Essential Forum Marketing Tips

I have been spending more time on some internet marketing forums recently and couldn’t help but notice how many people have no idea about Forum Marketing Etiquette. If you are going to be successful at making money online by branding and promoting yourself  in Forums there are a few BIG do’s and don’t associated with it.  Here are my 5 Essential Forum Marketing Tips.

Tip # 1: Don’t jump In with both feet   

The basic rule of thumb when it comes to forum marketing is that you never jump right in and immediately start promoting yourself or your business. It’s amazing the number of people I’ve seen join and immediately tell everyone what a great service or product they have.

This is considered bad manners and will actually drive your potential customers in the opposite direction. Not to mention the fact that the other forum members are not shy in coming forward to tell you so! In fact, you can get banned from doing this.

Basically a forum is a bit like your neighbourhood where the other members are your neighbours. People often use online forums as a way of meeting up to discuss a particular topic or problem.

As a forum marketer you should use forums to get information, ask questions, make connections and generally get known before you start to promote yourself.

Tip #2  Be A Lurker

When you first join a forum it pays to lurk around for a while before you start posting. Spend a few days reading the posts and get a feel for the other members thoughts, ideas and questions. Notice how others respond to the posts.

You will see an immediate difference between the ones who make really helpful posts and those who simply post an agreement to get their signature shown. Which person are you going to be more interested in?

It pays to post regularly to get your name or product known but people aren’t going to want to find out more about it if you are a bit of a lame duck.

It is also very important that you take time to acquaint yourself with the rules of the forum.

Tip #3 Your Signature

It is best to use only your signature line to promote your product, website or blog and use the content of your post to answer questions or offer help and ideas. Many forums don’t allow the use of affiliate links in a post so you have to confine them to your signature.

Think carefully before you create your signature as it going to be at the bottom of every post that you make and it is vital to the success of your campaign.

Some forums stipulate that you make a certain amount of posts before you can even create a signature line. This will give you the chance to start establishing a good reputation before you begin to promote yourself and your products.

Tip #4 Create a great Profile

When you join a forum you should take some time to create a profile page about yourself. This should include a good description about yourself and your business.

If other members get curious enough about you they can look at your profile. It really pays to make a good impression there.

It’s amazing how many forum members profiles I have looked up only to find that there was hardly any information about them. You are missing out on a way to promote yourself if you have not completed your forum profile.

Tip # 5 Establish yourself as an Expert

Next you will want to focus on building your reputation on the forum. Starting with your very first post, you can begin to build your reputation as an expert on the topics being discussed.

The first and most important thing you should do is introduce yourself. Then begin to help other members with their problems and quickly answer their questions.

Even if you don’t feel like the expert you will be surprised at how many questions you could answer simply by doing an internet search. People are often lazy or simply don’t have time to search for themselves.

At the same time, you need to make certain all of your posts are providing value to the other forum members. Don’t make your posts too brief or excessively long. Your goal inside your posts should be focused on helping other forum members with a particular problem or concern.

After you have made at least 50 posts you may even be able to steer them to your website in a subtle way, so that you can offer them an even better way to solve their problems.

If you carefully execute your forum marketing strategy using these 5 Forum Marketing Tips it can be a highly effective marketing tool for your business. The more respect you earn in the forum the more visits you will get to your website and the more sales you will make.  If you have any good tips that work for you just enter them in the comment box.