Brainstorming: Promoting a Forum / Social Network -> get the critical mass

[Marcel1986]

Hey guys,

always love to read here and get out some tips and im sure in the future i can give some of my knowledge to others too...

Following Situation:
- got something like a Social Network / Forum
- it consists of 2 parties -> businessmen & clients
-> so 2 target groups.
- one does not really work without the other -> businessmen like to see clients on the page
-> clients like to see businessmen on the page.
- the site lives from the activity of its members.

how would you promote this site without ad budget / small ad budget ?
( even if there would be big ad budgetits hard to advertise to a certain target group as nearly everyone could use it from 18 to 88 )

My Ideas so far ( which im actually doing )
- writing eMails to businessmen ( will they be even read !?)
- crossposting / sharing on social networks such as Facebook
- write people directly through messages on linked in / facebook and co


-> this is very exhausting and i dont know how fast this will lead to the critical mass

-> as soon as the critical mass will be achieved the benefit for everyone is clearly visible it should be a lot easier to approach businessmen and gain word of mouth advertising. But before this stage i would love to hear some creative ideas

Thank you very much for every suggestion

 

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[Kernow]

Hi,

We are in a very similar situation in regards to trying to establish an online marketplace and need to achieve critical mass.

Like you say one needs to attract both buyers and sellers and needs each group to see the other using it for them to consider it worth wile investing their time in using the site.

Social media will allow word of mouth advertising to spread effectively but is useless without that first interest to get the ball rolling.

We are getting started with google pay per click, SEO and facebook paid advertising. However beyond these obvious (and not free) methods we are struggling for ideas.

What we do have is:
Direct contact
Encouraging sellers/users to self promote their page/products on the site
Attracting local media attention

We also intend to start the ball rolling by being a seller on our own market place - this will let potential buyers and other sellers see that there is already activity on the site, can you do this for yours?

If anyone has any suggestions we would be very appreciative, a discussion on here would also help Macel1986, plus however many people that may read this but not reply.

Regards,

Sam and Vicky

 

[SemiSentient]

The chicken or the egg?

The best way to handle this would be to build a nice warm, inviting nest and fill it with eggs. Then the chickens will be running to your door to care for the eggs.

I would focus on the social media side first (eggs/nest). Add some features for the clients other than the ones dependent on having businessmen (chickens). Make the social media side fun. Make it so they can post pictures, discuss your topic of focus, leave reviews, maybe even have some games or something. Leave a message on the site to the effect of;
"we constantly update this site with new business to serve you. If you know of a business you
would like to see on here, please contact us and we will reach out to them. Thank you for
your patience".

This way clients know the list of businesses is always being updated.

After getting 1000's of users (or whatever you deem to be critical mass), it will be much easier to go to the businessmen and say, "Look, I have X number of users registered that are looking for a product like yours". Having this social proof is about the only way the businesses will consider signing up, especially if you are charging the businesses to advertise.

Entry is very high with this business model. Good luck!

 

[Marcel1986]

Hey guys,
thanks for the input.
The thing is we wanted to promote the idea by sharing interesting stuff on the social media -> people think very useful -> after seing it 2-3 times register and participate.
But this is barely the case.
People like the stuff we share but it didnt make them register and participate. More likely that they discuss the shared stuff on facebook ( so they are interested in it but sure.. easier to just comment/discuss where you see it -> facebook ).
I

I would focus on the social media side first (eggs/nest). Add some features for the clients other than the ones dependent on having businessmen (chickens). Make the social media side fun.

yeah get this point, but we thought leave people their "fun" stuff on facebook and get the serious stuff on our page.
Sure we got registrations ( not enough in my opinion ), but many of them are just passive ( not posting / interacting on the site ).

I speak to people directly ( through private messages ) and tell them the idea, and we adjusted our introduction text many times, to make it easier to understand what the benefit of our page is and how to use it , there is def. a need but either people dont understand it ?!? or dont want it !??
or im just making myself crazy for nothing because its normal that just one out of 30/50 people register anyway.

We are now online for three months and my goals ( month1: x user month 2: y user , month3 z user is rubbish )
So might be that it just takes one !? year to get a critical mass and everything is normal till now

but one thing definetily didnt work which was word of mouth / going viral by sharing on social media ( which was the plan )

 

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[tafy]

The mass market is already covered by facebook/twitter

Unless you go niche like this forum its going to be very hard to build any kind of following, even facebook started off as a niche then built outwards

 

[Marcel1986]

The mass market is already covered by facebook/twitter
Unless you go niche like this forum its going to be very hard to build any kind of following, even facebook started off as a niche then built outwards

yeah i got this, so we concentrated on a niche.. its expats, but still we dont get the result.
Im thinking of ways to make people DO something ( many people tell me its a good / interesting idea, but then barely register or even use it )

so im thinking of ways to make them acting / "addicted", maybe they dont see the benefit of our page because its not visible at the first sight. so they use facebook groups for example, to interact in the way we want it on our site.

I thought a Facebook Login might make things easier !? But i guess there have to be other possibilities to spread the word and get the critical mass than advertising on Facebook or getting in Contact with other FB Users !?