50
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
Give them a reason. Just "I miss you" is boring and is ignored.
Do you know why the people left your forum? Or are there any improvements since then? Maybe you changed your design or you ...
- 978
30
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
I've found that the most successful way that's least perceived as spammy and annoying (meaning I won't stab you thru the internet for it, probably) is to send an update to everybody about a new ...
- 402
16
votes
Accepted
Attracting experts to a young site with little expert content
First think about what you can offer:
Why should experts of any topic come to you?
Why should they answer questions or discuss on your site?
What is the advantage of being active on your site?
The ...
- 3,795
14
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
I think it is perfectly fine to do, as long as:
You have not said you wouldn't do this – at sign up stage, in your terms, etc.
You allow a way within the email that is simple and clear
to unsubscribe ...
- 331
12
votes
Starting a community from scratch - how to create initial userbase?
Start small
First of all, you don't want to have "thirty or more sub-fora" when there's nobody on your site to begin with. You can always categorize later. If you have thirty or more sub-fora, ...
- 1,346
11
votes
Accepted
How can a marketer participate in technical community without being rejected as a spammer?
In my experience as an ordinary participant (not as a moderator or company representative) in technical communities, you've identified the main concerns. Technical communities tend to like it when ...
11
votes
How do I advertise without spamming?
Etiquette varies between communities, but generally speaking, you need to be a member of the community first and a vendor second.
Your priority is to get known as a helpful member of the community. ...
10
votes
How can I promote my site/forum?
Word of mouth, spread it to your friends and get them interested. Get it put on social media and ask your friends to do the same, get it to your friends, friends so that it starts to push out. If you ...
- 1,436
9
votes
How do I advertise without spamming?
Definitely approach the admins / owners of the community. Ask for their permissions to advertise your software. It will help if you're a member of the community.
But you have other options available ...
- 1,436
9
votes
Accepted
How can we attract more women to our business-focused Q&A site?
First, let me qualify my answer: While I appreciate your desire to have gender balance, there is very little I dislike more than to have a group fall all over themselves trying to get me to join their ...
- 414
8
votes
Accepted
How can we retain users who came for a special event?
Perhaps recommend to the users that they look at some of the "real" Q&A, related to the silly content. For example:
If you found this question [What is the Torah preferred brand of cell phone?, ...
- 196
8
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
It works best if you take the time to personalize the message with something that interests them. E.g. 'hey, this question "insert question about [topic]"' needs an answer and I thought you might be ...
- 379
8
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
Can it possibly hurt? Not really. It may be perceived as spammy by some, but it will be perceived as a reminder of fun times gone by for others. If you can incorporate a new feature announcement of ...
- 5,993
7
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
Another option is to draw them back into conversations that you believe they would be interested in.
This is harder, but if you can evaluate the kind of conversations they participated in previously,...
- 171
7
votes
How can I promote my site/forum?
As a moderator, you need to be especially weary of promoting the site that you're moderating. Moderation is a strong affiliation, and promotion from you is likely to be considered spam in many online ...
7
votes
How can we retain users who came for a special event?
Yours is a question marketers consider all the time: change product, tweak conversion rates, or just the number of potential people to convert.
First of all, congratulations on having a popular draw ...
- 1,800
7
votes
Accepted
Best practices to promote a private beta SE site
I see that your site is now in public beta, but since you asked about private beta I'll talk about both phases.
I've been involved in the private-beta phase of a few Stack Exchange sites, and what I'...
- 10.7k
6
votes
How can we attract more women to our business-focused Q&A site?
You can't force people to turn up to the site, but what you can do is make sure that the site is welcoming to new visitors of all kinds.
For example, make sure that things like sexist names and ...
- 6,595
6
votes
Recruiting sponsors for a community gathering?
Finding appropriate sponsors is hard. Let me tell you something first: in your case, you don't approach companies, you approach local companies.
Events with 2000 participants are events which are ...
- 3,795
5
votes
Accepted
How can I promote my Mumford and Sons Fan Group?
Your question is quite broad. I'll copy and paste you an answer of another question which is essentially the same: How can my community grow?
Now we'll head to the disappointing part. Even if you do ...
- 3,795
5
votes
Starting a community from scratch - how to create initial userbase?
Have a speciality
If you want to start a forum, be sure that you have a real topic to talk about. Don't bother other people with the third-million-cat-picture-forum but talk about something special. ...
- 978
5
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
There's something I'm surprised other answers don't address directly.
Use your content - content is king
You're essentially re-marketing your site to what in relationship marketing might be called '...
5
votes
Best practices to promote a private beta SE site
If you've identified influencers among your pre-holiday user base, consider reaching out to them individually and asking them to help you out by posting questions in the forum. I do not advocate under ...
- 413
5
votes
How to reach tech talent interested in developing countries?
Now that more and more work is being done remotely, lots of global talents are "freed" from their local restrictions and work for clients worldwide on freelance platforms such as Topcoder....
- 201
4
votes
How to say "We miss you, please come back!" properly?
Having this problem means that your community has room to grow, and in all honesty, all communities can benefit from this. Sending people "We miss you!" messages will get ignored unless ...
- 728
4
votes
How to reach tech talent interested in developing countries?
There's a movement in wealthier countries like the US to use vacation time for volunteer activities. And there are multiple programs/websites that list these opportunities and work to connect people ...
3
votes
How can I promote my site/forum?
The first step is to ensure your site has a reason to draw in outsiders. Have great content and continue to provide great content. Have a community surrounding your site that can answer questions, ...
Andy♦
- 6,902
3
votes
How can I promote my Mumford and Sons Fan Group?
You want "the full range of fans" but don't seem to know the qualities of that range of fans. Even if everyone is truly a potential Mumford and Sons fan, there is a difference between being open to ...
- 1,523
3
votes
Accepted
Placing a short announcement of our community in a professional journal
Securing an endorsement, especially if it's a "cold call" on your part, is going to take some work from you. Your goal in the process is to sell your community. How do you do so?
Have a community ...
Andy♦
- 6,902
3
votes
How can a marketer participate in technical community without being rejected as a spammer?
These are based on the ways intended to spot hidden spams, where marketing itself isn't considered spam. But maybe things can't be that bad at the beginning if they didn't intend to spam. I think ...
- 259
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