Word of Mouth (Best Form of Advertising?)

[Kirsty geek]

Well word of mouth is good but non of my friends are into the pirates of the caribbean role play they only do harry potter and lord of the rings. So its hard to start it up, so this is were Proboards support come in.

All our staff members are as friendly as they come, are very enthusiastic about what they do in my opinion and do log on every day and make sure it is all working properly and do take part the Role plays any one requests from them. There is a great sense of comunity on it I think.

[jmkgeb]

I'm definitely in favor of the word of mouth spread, but I've run into conflict where the same places and people that my friends would tell about boards are the same I've already gone to! I need to find a way to have word of mouth spread further. Hopefully proboards support can help. Its a great board, just lacking in places to advertise!

[spookygrl]

I think mouth to mouth is definitely a good approach to promotion. This is how I got a nice group of members right off the bat so this is great advice.

[tgirl]

I think both word of mouth and Google helps. Word of mouth is really the best way to go for forums, websites, movies, etc. You name it! ^_^ Positive feedback = recommendations just like in reviews.

[coolgamerdude]

yep, this is a great was to advertise. I already had some members on my site, and some of them told their friends to join, 1 got his sisters to join, and i manage to convince some of my friends on AIM to join. Along with advertising and google, word of mouth works great.

[Gylfie107]

I find that word of mouth does not help me. I have one friend who seems to join every single forum I make, and tells the world about it. But a) She's a friend of mine in real life. And B) Whoevery she tells does not tell enyone else.

I find add forums better. That's where I go if I should become bored. New people, new website. Its great. I also like afflaits and links in all my profiles. That seems to work for me.

[sam08]

Well I know of a lot of advertising forums, the best ones are

advertkand.co.cc
ad-revolution.net
directads.net

There's tons more.

Also, posting in your signatures is key, so you gain backlinks for your forum.

[The Other Side]

That is a great Idea but not all people may pass on the message or not go on the site. I still like the idea though.

[Boy_Wonder]

Although 'Word of Mouth' is a good idea it it also flawed.

It relies on you having the right people to talk to to give the link to. A link that's easily memorized and then the people you talk to and mention it remembering about it and the link and passing it onto their friends.

If any of those conditions aren't fulfilled it makes it a waste per se.

[Edwin Okli]

Generally, I feel that word of mouth is the only way I have actually managed to get any members. And practically all the word of mouth has been done by me, the problem with this is a forum of my close friends who I talk to on MSN anyway. Thus my forum becomes pointless and washed up.

I don't think word of mouth should be the best way to advertise. I think there should be other easier ways to get members to register.

[Cazzie]

All of my members came by word of mouth.

I told my friends, they told their friends, they told their friend, etc, etc. It has the benefit of everybody on the board knowing somebody when they first join, and maybe they even know something about us and the way things run. And it makes for a pretty friendly atmosphere overall.

We're a multi-genre/fandom roleplay board, so a lot of our members come from "Oh hey, I'm running this RP and.." So their friends will join for that RP and then stick around in general and join other RPs and eventually invite their own friends.

I do advertise elsewhere, but it doesn't seem to generate any lasting members. Maybe I'm too subtle, haha.

[Evil Inclination / / Jason]

Word of mouth works to an extent.

I tell people about my forum and it worked magnificently, I got 35 members in the next 10 days, however, about 30 of those people I told, not other people, which is irritating because I feel like I'm generally doing all this work by myself. Then slowly, the member count dried up, well it didn't, but it didn't go as fast as it had done previously. So I started advertising and putting links anywhere I can, and doing affiliates and submitting my site to every search engine I can find. So after 3 and a half weeks I have 58 members. So word of mouth works to an extent, it may give you the odd member here or there but slowly the member count will dry up and you have to explore other options.

[Pro—Poster]

I agree with Evil Inclination up here. Word of mouth does work, to an extent. However, the fact is not getting members whenever you are creating a site, but to the fact of getting members to stay. For example, using word of mouth I got tons of members, but then, after a while, the members left me, and I was abadoned. So it works, in a way, but there are others and better ways of getting more members.

[jonasbug]

Sorry if this thread is dead, but I would like to add my two cents here.

Word of mouth has really gotten me far! While I may not have the most members, the ones I have are friendly and active and we're all connected somehow. When I opened my forum I told a few friends about it and they spread the word, and now we're pretty active.

It's a success story for me because I've never really had a forum before, but the members seem to enjoy the activity and new ideas we implement daily.

They've even branched out and started telling friends of friends, so hopefully this forum is a success for years to come.

[Athene?]

I also would like to say word of mouth is also good.
I've joined many proboard sites that way.