In the years I managed forums, I always found that word-of-mouth is the best strategy to get members on your forum, as long as you know the person very well and trust them to bring in like-minded people for the forum itself to flourish that way. In fact, I even encourage it on an occasional basis.

 

What about you? Do you do this yourself and have you found the benefit of it? And do you agree that it's the best way for your community to grow and flourish?

 

Discuss...

Being well known helps tremendously in building a community. Networking is both on and offline a very important and underrated thing. So I definitely agree with you there.

Word of mouth is one of the best advertising methods. That’s why you should have banners and buttons that users can use to link back to your forum, as well as share buttons for users to share your content onto social media.

To be honest, I have no idea. I am not good at it and I am still learning how to do so. I just made affiliate thingy. I go from forum to forum and advertise it by putting data there. I also try with post exchange thingy but I don't find that fruitful enough other than pumping those numbers up.

Word of mouth can be successful if you have willing ears to hear your words. Otherwise it is just shouting into the void.

Otherwise it is just shouting into the void.

Reminds me of 90% of our conversations.

Only 90%?

Remember, even if you say it 100 times, it might be that 100th time that is the trigger to do something with it.

Word of mouth works, but I find promoting online to users that regularly use forums works better if you want members that contribute.

People tend to be more receptive of something if a friend told them about it. I think word of mouth might be the best way to get people to your community.

Word of mouth is certainly a great marketing strategy, it offers validation by someone and encourages the listener to take action. However, I do not think this can be beneficial in online marketing. Sure, you can get sales if you are running online store through word of mouth marketing but I am not surer if you can get users and activities on your site through word of mouth. You might bring users and activities through social proof but social proof is different from word of mouth.

I wouldn’t call it a great strategy. It has a very limited reach. Extremely limited, really.

I wouldn’t call it a great strategy. It has a very limited reach. Extremely limited, really.

Exactly that. How many of your friends tend to go on forums? Personally I don’t know anyone in real life that has interest in doing so.

 

Yes your online friends and acquaintancescan be brought over by word of mouth, but they would most likely join anyway.

Word of mouth is certainly a great marketing strategy, it offers validation by someone and encourages the listener to take action. However, I do not think this can be beneficial in online marketing. Sure, you can get sales if you are running online store through word of mouth marketing but I am not surer if you can get users and activities on your site through word of mouth. You might bring users and activities through social proof but social proof is different from word of mouth.

Exactly. In the past, word-of-mouth growth only applied to face-to-face conversations, but now it also includes social sharing and when users discuss your forum on other channels, such as social media, other websites, forums, blogs, and messaging apps.

Word of mouth can be an awesome way to grow a forum, but it works best when it’s paired with other marketing strategies. Word of mouth works because people trust recommendations when it's coming from someone whom they also trust. It also helps build a strong community because when people feel connected they naturally invite others. It also works because it attracts the right crowd and will bring in like-minded people. However, there is a catch to only advertising through word of mouth. For example, it can take forever to grow if you're only relying on word of mouth. Also, if the people you are recruiting to your forum aren't really big into forums or posting your forum growth can stall. Some of my favourite ways to get more people talking would be to make it easy to share, give members a reason to want to invite others, maybe create referral perks or exclusive content to those who refer your forum/website. Team up with influencers in your niche so you can attract the right people and help spread the word. The last way is of course using your SEO to your advantage. Make your posts/threads searchable so people can find your community when they're looking for answers.

 

At the end of the day, word of mouth is great, but you've got to give people a reason to talk as well as make it easy for new members to find you. I don't think word of mouth alone will work to create an active forum, however it is a very good strategy to use to get some people to join.

Word of mouth can be an awesome way to grow a forum, but it works best when it’s paired with other marketing strategies. Word of mouth works because people trust recommendations when it's coming from someone whom they also trust. It also helps build a strong community because when people feel connected they naturally invite others. It also works because it attracts the right crowd and will bring in like-minded people. However, there is a catch to only advertising through word of mouth. For example, it can take forever to grow if you're only relying on word of mouth. Also, if the people you are recruiting to your forum aren't really big into forums or posting your forum growth can stall. Some of my favourite ways to get more people talking would be to make it easy to share, give members a reason to want to invite others, maybe create referral perks or exclusive content to those who refer your forum/website. Team up with influencers in your niche so you can attract the right people and help spread the word. The last way is of course using your SEO to your advantage. Make your posts/threads searchable so people can find your community when they're looking for answers.

 

At the end of the day, word of mouth is great, but you've got to give people a reason to talk as well as make it easy for new members to find you. I don't think word of mouth alone will work to create an active forum, however it is a very good strategy to use to get some people to join.

I completely agree. One of the easiest ways to kickstart growth is by showing appreciation to the members who actively help spread the word. Even something as simple as a thank you thread or a small reward for referrals can go a long way.

 

It’s also smart to provide promotional graphics like banners, buttons, or even forum signatures that your members can use to link back to your community. A lot of people underestimate how effective this is — the more visible your forum becomes across the web, the more organic traffic you’ll attract.

 

At the end of the day, visibility is everything. If people can’t find you, they can’t join you. That’s why it’s so important to promote consistently, especially in places where your target audience already hangs out. When you combine that with strong word of mouth, it creates a natural snowball effect where members invite their friends, and those friends bring even more people in.

 

Word of mouth is powerful — but only if you give people something worth talking about.