Member Recruiting

[Shawn Gossman]

In the old days of running message forums, we used to be able to post a link wherever and people would join.

I think with saturation and social media dominance, that tactic is of the past.

I think individual member recruiting is now the right tactic. That's where you befriend, develop a relationship, and then invite to join your forum on an individual level.

That's right - one person at a time.

It sounds harder and daunting but I feel like it's one of the most effective ways to grow your membership. It just takes some effort and time and not many people are willing to donate that time and effort.

What do you all think about this tactic?

 

[Mike30]

Well, I got so tired of spam and scammers, that that's the route I like most.
I rather to spend the time creating relationships than cleaning spam.

I like the invite only method, where a the new member is somehow connected to an existing member.
Yes, it takes some time. But that as forum owner forces us to create more value so current members feel proud to invite.
At the end, it's way much more quality as a community.

Many years ago, I remember there was an admin community(I forgot the exact name) where I was invited, but It used to cost $100/year to join.
I regret not joining at that time. Today, I recognize that my admin career would have advanced tremendously.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Well, I got so tired of spam and scammers, that that's the route I like most.
I rather to spend the time creating relationships than cleaning spam.

I like the invite only method, where a the new member is somehow connected to an existing member.
Yes, it takes some time. But that as forum owner forces us to create more value so current members feel proud to invite.
At the end, it's way much more quality as a community.

Many years ago, I remember there was an admin community(I forgot the exact name) where I was invited, but It used to cost $100/year to join.
I regret not joining at that time. Today, I recognize that my admin career would have advanced tremendously.

I wish I knew what forum you were referring to, but I remember a webmaster forum that charged a fee to join.

I don't think I was buying much online back then, so I didn't buy into it.

But I always thought it was a pretty good idea.

 

[gwolf666]

It is an excellent tactic, but of course, it is much more difficult and denser, but when it works it definitely works.