Finding members

[liberty77]

I have started a new forum for Old Time Radio Shows. I dont think there is another on on the web,that i can search out anyway. But i know there are thousands of people who collect,love and listen to them. But i dont know any personally to ask to join. At a dead end i am afraid.

[Kami]

Apr 29, 2022 11:35:55 GMT -8 liberty77 said:

I have started a new forum for Old Time Radio Shows. I dont think there is another on on the web,that i can search out anyway. But i know there are thousands of people who collect,love and listen to them. But i dont know any personally to ask to join. At a dead end i am afraid.

What have you tried, as far as getting visibility to your forum?

[liberty77]

Left url in comments of YouTube otr videos.
Left url and invites on websites selling otr shows. Not much more to do.

[Kami]

May 2, 2022 12:20:35 GMT -8 liberty77 said:

Left url in comments of YouTube otr videos.
Left url and invites on websites selling otr shows. Not much more to do.

Well, that's not totally true.

Promoting a forum is pretty dissimilar from promoting a product or an event, because they're a place for community-reliant interactivity. Just dropping a random, unsolicited link on someone else's content is probably a bigger deterrent than help to getting members, as unless you're the originating poster, most people will assume (correctly) that you're piggy backing off of the success and visibility of someone else and/or that you're spamming your link for clicks.

Instead, you need to turn to other community-oriented groups.

Advertisement exchanges with other forums are the best place to start; there are plenty of forums in the "Advertise Your ProBoard" section here on PB Support that have sections open for guests to post their site's advertisements (bear in mind that each site will likely have a method / set of rules for people looking to post their ads, so make sure you follow them so you're not branded as a spammer).

You can also do affiliate exchanges on forums, which is similar to advertising but gets an icon linked to your forum that has pride of place on the forum's homepage. Again, there are rules that differ per site on this so be sure to read before posting. PB Support has the Affiliate Exchange board which is a great start, but you can also visit forums of your own accord and see if they have affiliate exchanges.

Next comes content: creating a forum isn't the be-all end-all. The adage "if you build it they will come" doesn't really apply to forums anymore since social media and instant messaging have taken prominence. You've been linked to the "Understanding SEO" article a few times in the last couple of years; it might be good to refresh yourself on the part about content.

You may also want to try creating off-forum content of your own that leads back to the forum; your own youtube channel, as a for instance, or a twitter or instagram account, and so on, that includes a link to your forum with every post.

You may also want to visit the Get Opinions About Your Forum section here on PB Support so you can get feedback from other folks on the current appeal of your forum and get suggestions on what may changes may be beneficial to improve its appeal.

Unfortunately though, I think you have an uphill battle ahead of you. Old fashioned radio shows are ultimately a niche interest to begin with. Even if there aren't other forum communities for this topic on the internet, that doesn't mean people will come flocking to yours (if, in the last ~20 years of internet communities and Google, not a single forum has been found and indexed, even if the forum is inactive, that probably shows an overall lack of interest in such a community). 

All you can keep doing is trying, in the long run, unless you have the budget to spend on aggressive marketing tactics.

[liberty77]

Thanks. Great advice and i will digest it all. I enjoy it and that's enough for now. I was picked up on bing search engine.....its a start.

[bigballofyarn]

In addition to Kami's awesome advice, I would encourage you to put up an avatar on ProBoards Support and post around this forum. A lot of people from ProBoards Support click on my signature. This happens more than they click on my advertisement thread. If you become friendly with people who already use ProBoards, they may be more inclined to check out your forum than a random person looking through Google. So, add your forum link to your signature on this forum.

[wildmaven]

May 2, 2022 12:20:35 GMT -8 liberty77 said:

Left url in comments of YouTube otr videos.
Left url and invites on websites selling otr shows. Not much more to do.

This kind of advertising is considered rude and spam by most and will do very little in getting you members. As was stated by others above, it is best to find groups with like interests on places like Facebook, Instagram, etc while having a link to your forum in your bio on those sites. People will get to know you, like you, and check out your bio to learn more about you. They'll see your forum link and head that way.