I have been together with my boyfriend for about three years and in that time he has had about 3 different cars! For each car he has bought, he has joined a new ‘car’ forum for that specific brand and even car model! I’m not really a car person, so I couldn’t understand what exactly he could spend hours doing on a car forum when I have never joined one in my life!
But...it got me to thinking about the value that forums can have for a business. Forums provide an incredible amount of value by creating an online community. Users of the brand don’t even have to be members, but you can go online and read what other people have to say, ask questions and get answers. Some forums have incredibly large numbers of followers (hundreds of thousands) – and the one ‘link’ that unites them all is the fact that they have all purchased a particular brand!
The main value adding aspect of a forum is that it creates an online brand community where all these users can come together. I often don’t even realise it, but when ‘googling’ random questions I often end up in a forum, reading about what other people have to say. To me they seem like a portal into a world of people who are able to share information and communicate with a common denominator, and I feel that they add a lot of a value to a brand. More so, brands can actually see what their target markets are talking about and what is relevant to them – like a mirror into their brand community – what could be better??
A great post, Talya! Forums are a seriously under-valued eMarketing tool. The technology is quite old now, but millions of people still get involved via forums, often revolving around a specific industry or brand.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they can be very dangerous places for brands to enter, if you don't understand the rules of the forum. Often blatant promotional approaches will be strongly rejected by forum members, causing more harm than good.
VOGUE FORUMS!
ReplyDeleteThe simple and standard template does not undermine its value!