Digital marketing is always a balancing act. Marketers must weigh the need to raise as much awareness as possible for their brand against the competing need to make sure only likely customers visit their site. Bring in too many visitors and a large portion of them won’t buy anything, harming your SEO. But attract too few and even if 100 percent of them make a purchase, you won’t earn nearly enough revenue to make a profit. Putting a forum on your site kills both birds with one stone. By inviting discussions relevant to your product, you attract attention while making sure those who visit are highly engaged.

Discussion Diligence

Forums are spaces on your site where visitors can hold discussions. Such discussions are typically sparked by some highly anticipated or controversial development in your industry. By providing a space for people to express their views on this development, you encourage consumers who are engaged with your industry to visit your site repeatedly. Such consumers are especially likely to purchase your product.

All publicity isn’t necessarily good publicity, so it’s important to lay down ground rules when you create a forum. Make sure discussions on that forum do not involve:

  • Racist, sexist, ableist, or other discriminatory language
  • Vulgar or offense language
  • Threats of violence
  • Posts that violate other users’ privacy
  • Posts that are overtly political, religious, or otherwise alienating to customers who do not agree with those views
  • Promotional posts
  • Posts that link to insecure or unidentified websites
  • Posts unrelated to your brand, product, or industry

The better you are at cultivating safe, accessible, and engaging discussions on your website, the easier it is to attract and hold potential customers. For more information on digital marketing strategies, contact Intrackt today.