Dreamrage

Some marketers are quick to write forums off as being not good enough for marketing campaigns because they don't have any real impact on a marketing campaign. I don't think that's entirely true.
Most believe that forum profiles and forum signatures get you nowhere, some believe that its the only thing a forum is good for. I have said it many times before, but forums have a bigger impact on your marketing campaign than you think.

When you join a new forum, what do you do, literally jump in and start posting? Do you introduce yourself to the community and then start getting to know everyone? Do you try help others in your business sector that are stuck or have problems? You should. A forum is a community, first and foremost. Forum Administrators create these forums to form a hang out for people in their business sector. Where they can relax, find help and support, or just take 5 minutes out of their busy day to relax and have some fun. If you could tap into that, the possibilities are endless.

Let me use this example to explain:

Scenario one:
Someone signs into a forum, and they start posting, but its just saying thanks, or asking really no brainer questions that any n00b would know about, or they take every post and only find the negative side of it. They do not fill in ther profile, so people that visit it, don't know a thing about them.
300 posts into the forum, they have a signature, they have an attractive profile perfectly optimized, but they get very little traffic from forums, people don't talk to them, and they aren't ever given the opportunity to take advantage of product reviews.

That would not really be effective for any marketing campaign at all, and the person's web reputation would be non existent because people have already formed an opinion about him, and that is going to be hard to change.

Scenario two:
Someone signs into a forum, takes a good look at their profile (when they are permitted to), reads the forum rules, and then first thing introduces themselves to the forum. People notice, look at their profile, and already start to form an opinion.
At 300 posts, opinions are already formed, and they are quite popular. People are offering them product reviews, members value their help and opinions because they have seen all their previous posts.

That is good for a marketing campaign because it boosts web reputation, and in this online world, its important.

Many often forget that a company's web reputation is important online because it helps potential clients see how you deal with others, how you handle the good and the bad, and more importantly, how you deal with existing clients in sales threads. So, with everyone being able to see your every move on a forum, why not use it to your and the forums advantage by becoming a valued member. There are always rewards, even if its only to prove that you care about people and clients and to show that your company will do what they can to make sure their clients are happy. It's that open, honest approach that people appreciate, and tends to boost your marketing campaign beyond the power of dofollow backlinks.

Do you agree? I would love to hear your thoughts.