The Danger of Forums

OK, perhaps the plural is fora, but for the sake of ease of use I am going to refer to them as forums. But what is the danger of forums? I am not going to write about problems with misrepresentation or real risk to individuals (that's a whole other topic) but about what makes a really good, worthwhile forum for business.

For example, I recently signed up to a training forum that was associated to a provider of training services and I am one of a whole 29 members! Today I received two emails with 'You have been greeted by VISISTOR' on your profile.

It was, I am sure, just a device by the forum owner to get me to revisit the forum. VISITOR was, I am guessing, a member of the company who owns the forum and went on as a visitor to create some activity on the site. The site is extremely quiet! The last two posts are mine, from last week.

So, the value of forums? Where they are associated to a provider I fear they run the risk of being seen as nothing more than a trap to capture your details and create a proprietary sales environment. It's certainly one reason why we haven't put a forum on the Complete Trainer website as yet.

Independent forums that are associated to an industry support body such as an institute or even a publication have far more validity, in my opinion. To get people active and participating in a meaningful way on a forum you need to ensure that what happens on the forum is relevant and interesting to the visitors, then they will convert to members.

I am highly active on some forums, for example:

ukbusinessforums.co.uk where I find lots of useful business advice, and:
www.mywriterscircle.com which has both a personal and business relevance to me. These forums both give me something, so in return I contribute and give back.

Forums take management, you can't just host one on your site and expect it to magically populate and become active and productive (whatever your goal for productive may be!). They require a lot of work, effort and dedication - most especially from select users (not just the site owners) who are prepared to be forum moderators.

The danger of forums? They seem like such a good idea - create a community of your clients and prospects! The danger of forums is that you run the risk of catching someone's interest and then disillusion them with inactivity or just being seen as a plain sales opportunity. Very, very few users I'm sure join a forum just so they can be sold to!