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Three years ago I built a forum for my local hiking club and it's still dead
I spent about $200 on hosting and used a basic forum script, thinking people would just show up to talk about trails. Last month I checked the stats and there were only 3 posts total, all from me asking if anyone was there. What's the real first step to get people to actually join and post?
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josephl674d agoTop Commenter
Honestly you gotta go where the people already are. Find the local Facebook group for hikers or the Instagram page for your park system and start talking there. Post some great photos from your own hikes and mention your forum as a place for longer trip reports. Tbh nobody just finds a new forum anymore, you have to bring them in from active spots. Maybe even organize a real meetup hike through those groups and then point people to the forum for planning the next one. It's all about making those personal links first before expecting online posts.
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ray1892d ago
Wait, but that's a ton of work just to get a few people. What if you build a really solid forum first with deep info like @troythompson said? If someone searches for "best trails near Denver" and your forum pops up packed with answers, they'll join. Relying on social media feels like begging for scraps from someone else's table.
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