Ways to develop communities (forum)
In this topic, I will write my experience in the development of forums, from the initial stages, when it is still not alive, to the moments when the forum is already developed and needs to be maintained and further developed.
I also propose to join those who also develop various communities and share their experiences, their observations.
This experience is very interesting, it will help, I think, many startups. There is practically no information on this topic on the Internet, so this topic will help many.
Forum sections
Very often I see a big mistake in new projects. There is a forum with a large number of sections. This is very bad, because the user enters and sees a huge number of sections that are all empty or, at best, 2-3 topics in each. A much better tactic would be to create 2-4 main sections. That people came and immediately understood where to write. In the future, when the forum begins to grow, it is already worth dividing the forum into new sections, Temko transfer to the appropriate sections. During the development of the forum, you will come to the conclusion that you will have a forum with a large number of sections, but this should be in the development of the forum.
')
How to create the first activity
There are several ways. First, the best option is when you have a lot of friends who will follow you, whom you can ask to start writing on your forum, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, most often it happens that friends quickly begin to be lazy, or there are no friends at all who are ready to help :)
Secondly, there is a clone method. You clone yourself by creating at least 5-10 nicknames on the forum. People should be different in character, temperament, sex, age, profession. They should be united by a common interest (community theme). This may be a ridiculous option, and psychologists would say that this is partly a schizophrenic way, but he helped me a lot. It's hard, it's funny, but it works. A few comments. Your nicknames should be significantly different. And stock up with several browsers to not log out 100 times, but simply change the browsers. Plus, at the same time you will work on the cross-browser compatibility of your site.
Thirdly, there is an option (I have not tried it myself) to buy teams that, for money, you will create activity on the forum. Usually there is a payment for the number of messages. I found such people, read reviews, seemed to be pleased. If someone shares the experience of such a forum development, it would also be interesting to listen.
When the forum has already started working.
When the forum scored some mass of users who began to entertain themselves, create topics, write messages - this is the most crucial moment. What is worth doing at this time?
It is worth starting work on moderators. If you have the first skeleton, choose the most loyal person who is interested in the development of the site and like you personally (this is important). Offer him to become a moderator. It will be pleasant to the person, you receive the one who will help very much with your work. In the future, when new sections appear, it is worth delegating authority to new moderators. This way you can get a group of people who will help you in the project.
An important point in the development of the forum will be finding those people who will be professionals in your field. Example: a community of cell phone lovers. For such a site, professionals will be mobile phone manufacturers, software programmers for mobile phones, etc. It is very important to form a community of professionals in the framework of our forum, because these may ultimately be your advertisers. Such a community, in my opinion, is the most difficult to form, but it is very promising for the forum.
These are the main points that I wanted to voice in my note. If I am in something wrong, please write it in the comments. Also, please describe other methods of developing forums. As always, for the “Not a Startup” blog, please write those tips that you use in practice. Ways that you have not tested in practice, please note that this is a theory.
PS Taking this opportunity, I want to say that I am looking for moderators who are also ready to write their topics here for the “Not Startup” blog. Judging by the interest in all previous topics in this blog, it is relevant. Therefore, I ask you, owners of various popular projects, to join!
I also propose to join those who also develop various communities and share their experiences, their observations.
This experience is very interesting, it will help, I think, many startups. There is practically no information on this topic on the Internet, so this topic will help many.
Forum sections
Very often I see a big mistake in new projects. There is a forum with a large number of sections. This is very bad, because the user enters and sees a huge number of sections that are all empty or, at best, 2-3 topics in each. A much better tactic would be to create 2-4 main sections. That people came and immediately understood where to write. In the future, when the forum begins to grow, it is already worth dividing the forum into new sections, Temko transfer to the appropriate sections. During the development of the forum, you will come to the conclusion that you will have a forum with a large number of sections, but this should be in the development of the forum.
')
How to create the first activity
There are several ways. First, the best option is when you have a lot of friends who will follow you, whom you can ask to start writing on your forum, at least temporarily. Unfortunately, most often it happens that friends quickly begin to be lazy, or there are no friends at all who are ready to help :)
Secondly, there is a clone method. You clone yourself by creating at least 5-10 nicknames on the forum. People should be different in character, temperament, sex, age, profession. They should be united by a common interest (community theme). This may be a ridiculous option, and psychologists would say that this is partly a schizophrenic way, but he helped me a lot. It's hard, it's funny, but it works. A few comments. Your nicknames should be significantly different. And stock up with several browsers to not log out 100 times, but simply change the browsers. Plus, at the same time you will work on the cross-browser compatibility of your site.
Thirdly, there is an option (I have not tried it myself) to buy teams that, for money, you will create activity on the forum. Usually there is a payment for the number of messages. I found such people, read reviews, seemed to be pleased. If someone shares the experience of such a forum development, it would also be interesting to listen.
When the forum has already started working.
When the forum scored some mass of users who began to entertain themselves, create topics, write messages - this is the most crucial moment. What is worth doing at this time?
It is worth starting work on moderators. If you have the first skeleton, choose the most loyal person who is interested in the development of the site and like you personally (this is important). Offer him to become a moderator. It will be pleasant to the person, you receive the one who will help very much with your work. In the future, when new sections appear, it is worth delegating authority to new moderators. This way you can get a group of people who will help you in the project.
An important point in the development of the forum will be finding those people who will be professionals in your field. Example: a community of cell phone lovers. For such a site, professionals will be mobile phone manufacturers, software programmers for mobile phones, etc. It is very important to form a community of professionals in the framework of our forum, because these may ultimately be your advertisers. Such a community, in my opinion, is the most difficult to form, but it is very promising for the forum.
These are the main points that I wanted to voice in my note. If I am in something wrong, please write it in the comments. Also, please describe other methods of developing forums. As always, for the “Not a Startup” blog, please write those tips that you use in practice. Ways that you have not tested in practice, please note that this is a theory.
PS Taking this opportunity, I want to say that I am looking for moderators who are also ready to write their topics here for the “Not Startup” blog. Judging by the interest in all previous topics in this blog, it is relevant. Therefore, I ask you, owners of various popular projects, to join!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/57285/
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