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How to Use Groups & Forums to Market Your Small Business

ByJudith Updated on Reading Time: 5 minutes
Sharing WordPress and Online Business Knowledge

With the cacophony of noise online, how do you get the word out about your business and website? The simple but not-so-easy answer is to be proactively, consistently out there every chance you get.

Site owners have to use everything and anything to build awareness by taking action. You cannot wait to rank well enough to get search engine traffic. That could take months if not years. The fact of the matter is that relying on organic (free) search engine rankings alone is not a good business plan.

Email lists (How do you build that list without site traffic in the first place?) and social media are the first two things that come to mind for most site owners. But most stop there.

One commonly overlooked and underestimated venue is groups and forums. Forums are still powerful for showcasing your expertise and building awareness of what you offer. Not only that, but they are also a great way to build your brand and be perceived as someone folks want to work with and trust.

But it takes time, consistency, and only if done correctly!

Be Helpful and Share

Using groups and forums doesn’t mean you post all about your business and how great you and your products or services are, with links to your site. You don’t want to be viewed as self-serving.

What you do lurk in the background for a segue to promote your offerings. See a question you can answer or a conversation you can contribute to? Do so, but you only mention your business if someone else asks.

And then it’s best to note for the inquirer to PM (private message you). This shows you respect why the group exists—to share and collaborate, not for opportunities to promote yourself.

I hear you… “How is that marketing my business if I don’t mention my business?” So here are the three basics to start with:

Forum Marketing Basics

  • Find groups and forums to share your business or personal experiences. You want to participate in a way that helps others by sharing your experiences. Doing so puts your expertise on display while, if at all, soft-selling your business.
  • Complete your forum profile with a photo of yourself, noting what you do and why you do it to entice folks to visit your website. Most profiles allow you to add a link to your website. Take advantage of that.
  • Create a two-line signature file that includes your name and a link to your website. That’s it! No hyperbole, no long-winded about you. No list of links to all your social sites.

Next, a few other things must be implemented and kept in mind as we participate.

Tips on How to Market on Groups & Forums

  • Note the questions asked repetitively, write an article solving that issue, and add it to your blog. When the question arises again, you can link to that helpful article from the group or forum to the article on your site.
  • Use a photo of yourself, not an avatar. You are the face of your business; don’t hide that. Instead, let members know you are real and humanize your interactions.
  • Select a forum username that reflects what you do. Think intuitively and professionally!
  • When responding, always start by using the username of the person you are helping, preceded by the @ sign (@username). Most forums will then notify that user that a reply has been posted to their inquiry.
  • In your response, only mention your services or products if they match what the group member wants. Then, after providing your advice, briefly mention your site and link to it for more details.
  • Refrain from posting generic responses that are thinly veiled excuses to mention your business or get your signature file published. You are there to help, not promote.
  • In your responses, link to other sites and resources so it’s clear you are not there only to sell your wares.
  • You don’t have to stick with business-only groups and forums. Instead, find forums that discuss your hobbies and non-business interests and have fun. Then, make a short and sweet (one-sentence) mention of your business in your forum profile. People like doing business with people they know, have grown to trust, and have similar interests. You never know who may reach out.
  • Start a forum (or community) on WordPress. BBPress and Peepso WordPress plugins help you create a forum on your WordPress website. You can also choose other stand-alone CMS options, such as phpBB, Simple Machines, and VBulletin.
  • Last but not least, show your personality. With all the competition online, there is only one you. Use that to your advantage!

One more thing…

While groups and forums can help build awareness for your website, brand, and reputation, they can also help generate leads. As with anything online, this takes your commitment to developing your profile and showing other members your priorities.

Are you there to help or only to pump up your business? Forum and group members can see right through any deception. Don’t squander that opportunity by being too self-serving, aggressive, or sales-pitchy.

All groups and forums have posted guidelines and rules that all members are expected to abide by. Seek those out, read them, and live by them. Ignoring the posted rules is the best way to lose credibility (or get banned).

So, follow the rules, be helpful and kind, and share your knowledge and experience. It does take time to do correctly, but you’ll become part of a community that will be there if you need help, which is also invaluable.

At your service,

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