Developing Forum Communities

Greg isn’t sure how many of these concepts can be applied to forums. I suspect it’s most of them, and more.

Here are some things you can do on forums.

• Private Forums. Start forums that only certain members have rights or the password to post this. This lets you have groups. Give them strange names so only the people that are in know what really goes on.
• Create a “What would you tell someone doing…[activity]. Newbies get to some seasoned advice from experts.
• Member of the week profiles. Have a weekly member of the week probile. Chuck Westbrook does something similar via forums. Also consider regular interviews with your top members as a forum category.
• Invite VIPs. Arrange a VIP visit, create a category for her and let members send their questions in.
• Private message your top members. Be sure to direct message your top members often. See how you can get them more involved and what they want. Give them a place to discuss the meta (about the forums).
• Give top experts their own forum. If someone has shown true expertise in their field, give them their own forum, they’ll invite most of their friends and happily dispense out more advice than ever before. And it’s a great way to encourage other members to participate as much as possible.
• Introduce to single forums. If your community is as big as AbsolutespainForum.com, consider letting new members introduce themselves to specific fields/forums that interests them as opposed to the entire group.
• Add a blog. Add a blog that rounds up the best of the forum. Highlight the top posts/discussions and make it as simple as possible for a newbie to jump in and get started.
• Dummies Guide. Have one, make sure the same questions aren’t being asked repeatedly.
• Create an education course from your best discussions. If many people are coming for a specific reason, create a specific online course for them comprising of their posts (e.g. begin reading Bill’s post about Spanish property prices, then move to Jane’s threads about legal advice, now Mark’s posts and discussions on local schools…)
• Evolve. If you’re building up an amazing amount of knowledge, have a Wiki or website to store it all. Also consider letting members connect on Facebook or Ning.

Hope this helps Greg.

Comments

[Greg]

Hi Rich, wow I'm impressed! Thanks so much for those clarifications. Sometimes its difficult to fully comprehend theories without practical examples. Excellent work! I will be sure to implement as much of your knowledge as I can.

[Bryan Person]

Nice list, Rich: Here is another potential item:

Include an off-topic forum. A welcoming catch-all place where members can come and discuss topics that don't necessarily fit any of the other forums.

* On the Monster Career Advice Boards that I used to manage in a previous professional life, this is "The Break Room" - http://budurl.com/MonsterBreakRoom
* On the High Rankings forums, where members discuss best practices in SEO, there's a board called "The Pub" - http://budurl.com/HighRankingsPubc
* On the Playstation.com boards, there's a forum call, appropriately enough, "Off-Topic Discussion" - http://budurl.com/PlayStationOffTopic It's billed as "the place to get to know your fellow forum members outside of the gaming world."

One important note: this *doesn't* mean that off-topic forums are a place for shenanigans. The "rules of the road" or publicly stated community guidelines still very much apply there. Good behavior is still expected!

Hope this helps.

Bryan | @BryanPerson
LiveWorld

[ErzacaKrivsha]

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[Skelvedewbis]

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