Encouraging new members to post

Currently on our forums we notice new members signing up daily and quite a few never post at all. It sometimes make you think why register? especially when there is no hidden or extra content when logged in other than full forum posting capabilities.

What are your own feelings and thoughts about members who sign up and never post once? I really wish I could ask each one of them nicely without looking crazy why they never contributed, it would be one hell of a great piece of information for us all I bet

Does anyone have any good ideas to encourage newbies to your forums to contribute? We have plenty of content daily which a lot is very interesting, new members each day, a friendly welcome message directing them to the intro forum and as many forum aids we can think of minus the default FAQ which is replaced with our own preferred replacement.

 

They probably join just to see the hidden content, use the search feature to find answers to their questions, etc. Some join, customize their profile, add links, and leave... I don't know- I wish I could ask a handful of people who do that!

 

I get this too! Frustrating. Hoping some one has a answer lol

 

Sometimes...I do that too...because you sign up thinking that it's friendly...but most forums just don't have friendly moderators and administrators.

 

I think that first post can be really scary. I would argue that some people may be afraid to post something because they might be wrong about their assumption or feel that the advice they offer is wrong, etc.

Is there a way to make this "first post phobia" a little easier to deal with? Perhaps you could ask a poll question that never goes away that is something easy... that just asks for their opinion.

To that end, I would say that it is important to to answer them the first time that they post (if they actually make a comment). Is there an alert with Vb that will let you know as an admin or mod that somebody has made their first post?

Hope that helps!
RR

 

When a person looks around your forum they have to feel good/comfortable with the area.

The only reason a person would be 'afraid' to post on your site would be because he/she feels that others would judge(?) or just pretty much that their first post would make a fool out of them. So, that being said, you have to make sure the content + the way your forum is viewed for guests is friendly enough for users not to be 'afraid' to make that first post, but enthusiastic about it.

 

Same here, I got people who joined up almost from the beginning and has yet to make their first post. They log on but only read the threads. But I my content is available to all guess. My only suggestion is to post a lot of different content and do promotions. I got one guy to make his first post when I posted an article about chickens. This person went about 5 months without making a single post until I posted that one article. It turns out this person in his spare time raises Chickens and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Now he pot semi regular and even won a promotional giveaway.