Engagement Do you like doing post exchanges?

[Shawn Gossman]

Post exchanges are a great way to get new content and member engagement on a forum.

The question isn't about whether you do them or not; it's more geared toward those who already do post-exchanges.

Do you like to do them? Or do you try to focus on getting them done so that you can be done with it?

 

[Bryn]

I did these in the past, but would not do them anymore... I don't have the time nor drive to do them either plus the fact that I'd rather stay in a familiar circle of forums these days.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I enjoy doing post exchanges. I currently have two weekly ones that I've been doing for a bit now. I think they're great and if you really enjoy the community you may even make new friends.

 

[Cpvr]

I enjoy doing post exchanges because I like helping my fellow forum owners while also getting the chance to explore other communities and meet new people.



It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time, and I believe it’s a great way to engage if you have the time to participate in post exchanges.

 

[fdk]

When I first began to run forums many years ago, I did initially do some post exchanges. I quickly found that, at least at that time, the quality of the exchanges was generally not great, as people were rushing them to get more in and make their forums appear more active. Once I had closed my first two or three experimental forums, I stopped doing exchanges, and seemed to have more success in running forums without needing to do post exchanges. I just concentrated my time more on ensuring that I was available to engage in my own community. When my biggest forum closed, it had little over 20million posts, 400,000 or so of which were by me. That's quite a big number, sure, but overall, it's only 2% of posts. Given that some of those posts were automated ones made for things like moderation actions too, it's not bad.

So yeah, generally, I'd say it's better to focus your time on posting and building content on your own community. That being said, there are some circumstances where post exchanges absolutely offer value - in particular niches, or if you really struggle for ideas on content to add to your forum yourself.

 

[Daedalus]

I generally don't mind doing them. I try to balance out where I do my posts when doing the exchanges so that they don't seem like they're all pointless or wasted. Sometimes, I struggle to make them because of the genre of the community. I will admit there was a time where I didn't want to do them because I viewed them as a waste because unless they were a daily exchange, the person made their post/content and left.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I've always enjoyed doing them because I work hard to make really good ones, even if the exchanger doesn't do good ones in return.

I've always had a reputation for being a good post exchanger, and I take pride in that.

 

[InMyOpinion]

I used to genuinely enjoy doing post exchanges on other people's forums for the most part (some niches I wasn't as familiar with so it wasn't as exciting but I still enjoyed doing them). Now I would say I don't enjoy it as much because I'd rather be spending time on my own forum working and though I do enjoy posting on other peoples forums I enjoy it because there is no pressure to post a certain amount of times or a certain way or in certain areas/sections. I found when I did post exchanges before I would put a lot of time and effort into it and I felt like some of the other people I did exchanges with hurried up and posted basic posts (sometimes duplicates from what they've posted on other forums) so I kind of felt like I got cheated. I haven't done a post exchange in a while but I'd definitely be more picky with who I'd do the exchanges with.