Forum marketing has some tough competition now that social marketing such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (just to name a few) is on a steady rise on the social networks.

I see so many promising networking possibilities on Twitter as I log in each day as much as time will allow me to. I also see my friends and forum owners state that the other social media...Facebook and MySpace are quite effective as well.

So...what is this doing to forum marketing?

Message board posting has resulted in some amazing success in the past and continues to do so. But I have seen first hand that some of the forums have indeed experienced a slow decline in activity. I also have seen forum members that have actually made the statement that the social networks are slowly taking over.

I personally feel that forum networking will continue to be an effective way to market your business but...it will take some hard work and consistency. And it is true...as a forum owner myself and from personal experience, the social networks are proving to be some controversial competition these days.

However, networking on forums will certainly NOT be effective if the member participates in the following manner.

* Sign up on a forum and immediately start making posts without making an introduction post

* Spam the boards with ads and leave

* Spam the members with ads via private message

* Don't participate in discussions and get to know the other members

* Continually answer numerous posts with just one word or two and not contribute any good-quality information. For example: Great post or I agree.

* Includes their website or affiliate links in their posts when not allowed to

* Ignore all community rules

* Make posts with foul language or posts with offensive content

I just don't get how some people believe that the above examples will yield them sales or website traffic. In fact...doing these very things in most cases, will get their account deleted and banned. Do they not realize this?

I do believe in not putting all your eggs into just one basket...meaning don't just use one form of advertising. Using the many promotion resources given to you and utilizing them properly will give you the desired results.

I was just reading on one of the forums and found this quote: "The forum market is pretty much over-saturated." I know this topic will and can be controversial...people have distinct opinions and they are entitled to have them.

So what is your opinion? Do you think forum marketing is on it's way out? Do you think it's a waste of time?

You be the judge.

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Forum Marketing is a Complete Waste of Time?