What's new
By:
DiscussionHQ - General Discussions

DiscussionHQ is a general discussion forum that has opened December 2024!
We provide a laid back atmosphere and our members are down to earth. We have a ton of content and fresh stuff is constantly being added. We cover all sorts of topics, so there's bound to be something inside to pique your interest. We welcome anyone and everyone to register & become a member of our awesome community.

Advertising on Facebook

Smithy

Smithy

The Awesome One!
Administrator
Joined
Dec 15, 2024
Messages
1,306
Location
England, UK
@Cpvr suggested to me via private message it would be great to advertise on Facebook to gain more members.
As a lot of mature/oldies people use Facebook.

It might become expensive but it could be worth a try?
What do you guys think?
 
You can make a facebook page for the forum and it is free, @Smithy. We had one for our old forum, SeniorsOnlyClub. The forum owner posted snapshots of some of the most interesting thread conversations, and it was an easy and free way for more seniors to find our forum.
We often shared the link on our own personal facebook page, and that helped with exposure as well.
IMG_0550.jpeg
 
Yvonne Smith said:
You can make a facebook page for the forum and it is free, @Smithy. We had one for our old forum, SeniorsOnlyClub. The forum owner posted snapshots of some of the most interesting thread conversations, and it was an easy and free way for more seniors to find our forum.
We often shared the link on our own personal facebook page, and that helped with exposure as well.
View attachment 685
Click to expand...

Great idea, I will look in to it! :)
 
I was going to say don't waste your money on Fakebook for something you can get for free. Let the sucker's pay for ads a lot of people (like moi) won't see anyway. One thing I never do is turn off my ad blocker. Ever. If a website requires it, my brain says "Reject!"

At least 90% of the time I can find whatever I opened that website for somewhere else just as easily.
 
Axel Slingerland said:
I was going to say don't waste your money on Fakebook for something you can get for free. Let the sucker's pay for ads a lot of people (like moi) won't see anyway. One thing I never do is turn off my ad blocker. Ever. If a website requires it, my brain says "Reject!"

At least 90% of the time I can find whatever I opened that website for somewhere else just as easily.
Click to expand...

I think @Yvonne Smith has the best idea,m make a Facebook page and post interesting things for people to share.
 
Just keep it real, alright? Because I don't call it Fakebook for nothing. Mark Suckerborg has made $Millions from Fake News. Or would it be $Billions?
 
Yvonne Smith said:
You can make a facebook page for the forum and it is free, @Smithy. We had one for our old forum, SeniorsOnlyClub. The forum owner posted snapshots of some of the most interesting thread conversations, and it was an easy and free way for more seniors to find our forum.
We often shared the link on our own personal facebook page, and that helped with exposure as well.
View attachment 685
Click to expand...
This would work quite well as you're able to boast a post and advertise it to a lot of users. You're also able to select an audience that you'd like to target along with certain age groups or interests.

A small budget boasts the topic to about 500-1k people, but a budget of like $50-$70 for two weeks helps you reach about 3k-10k people, possibly more.
 
Cpvr said:
A small budget boasts the topic to about 500-1k people, but a budget of like $50-$70 for two weeks helps you reach about 3k-10k people, possibly more.
Click to expand...
But that still begs the question, why pay for something when you can do it for free? For a forum like this, I would just make a standard Fakebook account, tell all your friends that use Fakebook about it, their friends will tell their friends, etc. That is the best form of advertising there is, "Word of Mouth Advertising."

Actually, you don't really need Fakebook for that, but if you know people who use it, hook up with them, and spread the word. You can also take advantage of any form of Social Media. But however you do it, friends talking to friends is powerful advertising and it costs you nothing. Zero.

When I went to Yellowstone to work back in the 1978, they had all new hires go to a company orientation. While the speaker talked about living in the park, what kinds of jobs that were available, because even though everyone there already had a contract for a job, if that job wasn't "you", you had many other opportunities. The focus was Yellowstone Park Company business in the park.

Something the guy said that has stuck with me for almost 50 years was an analogy about if someone comes to the park and has a good time, they will go back home and tell a few of their friends what great time they had, etc., and that could mean future business down the road.

However, if they come to the park and they don't have a good time they will go home and tell everyone who will listen what a crappy time they had there, potentially costing the park a lot of future business. That is Word of Mouth Advertising in action.

Does Word of Mouth Advertising work for forums? Ask Yvonne. How many people did she bring here from other forums? I was one of several that I know of...
 
You can also make an account on X to share with people, and that is free as well, @Smithy . I do not know that it would gather as much interest as Facebook will do, but if you just make a free account, all it costs is your time to make it and add news every now and then.
 
Axel Slingerland said:
But that still begs the question, why pay for something when you can do it for free? For a forum like this, I would just make a standard Fakebook account, tell all your friends that use Fakebook about it, their friends will tell their friends, etc. That is the best form of advertising there is, "Word of Mouth Advertising."

Actually, you don't really need Fakebook for that, but if you know people who use it, hook up with them, and spread the word. You can also take advantage of any form of Social Media. But however you do it, friends talking to friends is powerful advertising and it costs you nothing. Zero.

When I went to Yellowstone to work back in the 1978, they had all new hires go to a company orientation. While the speaker talked about living in the park, what kinds of jobs that were available, because even though everyone there already had a contract for a job, if that job wasn't "you", you had many other opportunities. The focus was Yellowstone Park Company business in the park.

Something the guy said that has stuck with me for almost 50 years was an analogy about if someone comes to the park and has a good time, they will go back home and tell a few of their friends what great time they had, etc., and that could mean future business down the road.

However, if they come to the park and they don't have a good time they will go home and tell everyone who will listen what a crappy time they had there, potentially costing the park a lot of future business. That is Word of Mouth Advertising in action.

Does Word of Mouth Advertising work for forums? Ask Yvonne. How many people did she bring here from other forums? I was one of several that I know of...
Click to expand...
Word of mouth is hands down one of the strongest growth tools for any forum. It's been my go-to method for years. My own community grew steadily through word of mouth, links from niche sites, and members casually sharing it on social media.


That Yellowstone analogy nails it. A good experience spreads quietly but effectively. A bad experience? That spreads like wildfire and it gets people talking. But here's the catch: even negative talk creates buzz. Just like with movies or TV shows, people sometimes have to check things out for themselves, especially if the feedback is polarizing.


In marketing, they say “any publicity is good publicity”and sometimes, that rings true. If people are talking, there's awareness, and awareness is step one.

Of course, if you’ve got a budget to put behind paid promotions, that can help widen your reach too. Think of it like a multiplier, combine it with word of mouth, and you’ve got momentum. But whether you're going grassroots or dropping some dollars, it really comes down to what fits your strategy and goals best.
 
Cpvr said:
That Yellowstone analogy nails it. A good experience spreads quietly but effectively. A bad experience? That spreads like wildfire and it gets people talking.
Click to expand...
And now the Yellowstone Park Concessionaire is Xanterra. If they get a bad review from a guest, it can cause much more damage. They have Hotels and Restaurants all over the country, as well as Windstar Cruises and the Grand Canyon Railway, and a bad review about them could be very costly, to say the least. They have the concessions for Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Glacier and Rocky Mountain National Parks. So they have an invested interested in making sure everyone is happy. Specially for the prices they charge. One night in Yellowstone costs from $300 to over $1,000. Ouch!
 
Why cant you just be satisfied with the people that are on here and maybe follow from others? What was most enjoyable on SO was it was smaller amount of people, and much more personal . Pretty sure most were seniors also.
 
Hedi M said:
Why cant you just be satisfied with the people that are on here and maybe follow from others? What was most enjoyable on SO was it was smaller amount of people, and much more personal . Pretty sure most were seniors also.
Click to expand...

It's always nice to meet new people on forums.
More people who discuss/chat on forums the more fun it is I think.
 
Smithy said:
It's always nice to meet new people on forums.
More people who discuss/chat on forums the more fun it is I think.
Click to expand...

I agree with the more people type forums, I know one has some members that have been on it for about 25 years, it has several hundred members.
I can give you the name if you want.
 
Hedi M said:
Why cant you just be satisfied with the people that are on here and maybe follow from others? What was most enjoyable on SO was it was smaller amount of people, and much more personal . Pretty sure most were seniors also.
Click to expand...
I totally agree with you, @Hedi M , I also dislike the large forums, where you really never feel like you know anyone or make online friends. The reason I chose this forum was because it had only a few members, and it looked like it would be a place where we could enjoy chatting together like we were used to doing on SOC.
I have not had any answers from Ken for a long time now, so I do not think that he is going to make another forum, for whatever reason. If this one gets too large, I will look for another small one where we seniors can move to who enjoy the company of just having a small close-knit community. So far, this one has not grown a lot, at least with people who post every day; so it seems fine for now.
 
I think that in order for a forum to be successful, it needs a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of opinions. The problem with a small forum is that after a while everything that can be said has been said. And boredom sets in. Boredom is sure death for a forum.

Back when SoC was very active, there would be page after page of posts every day. We had people from England, Wales, Australia, Canada, and all parts of the US. Toward the end, the daily posts wouldn't even fill one page. Even the owner didn't aways post every day. Boredom had set in.

@Smithy , get more people here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top