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Competing with an established forum

by AdamJ85
7 replies
Hi everyone,

I've just started a forum in my niche. I realise how difficult it can be to get a forum started (no posts, so nobody joins, so nobody posts, etc!), but I've fortunately started to build a bit of momentum.

After three weeks, I'm up to 150 members and 600 posts with somewhere between 25 and 50 posts appearing each day now.

The thing is: there's already a big forum in my niche. It's been going a long time (10 years or more) and has thousands of members, lots of sections, and even paid sections that appear to be active.

Is there anything I can do to actively compete with them?

Or should I just not worry about what they're doing and focus on trying to grow my own membership as quickly as I can?

I think there are two advantages that my forum has over theirs:

(1) Friendlier (they're quite strict about rules and can be intimidating to newbies)

(2) Nicer, more modern, mobile responsive design
#competing #established #forum
  • Profile picture of the author David Tugwell
    Three things come to mind straight away (I may be back after I think about it)

    1. Market your forum like anything else, people will come, see your forum and (hopefully) stay
    2. Post on the other forum with your forum advertised in your signature (if this is within the rules). Don't directly plug your forum, just post like you would on your forum and people will be curious...
    3. Use a refer a friend promotion of your forum to encourage your members to reach out to others, you may even be able to extend this to get other members to use your forum link in their sigs on the other forum.

    Just some quick ideas... I'm sure there's plenty more out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author kazim
    I think you should worry about your competitor forum. Especially when you competitor forum is 10 years old. I think you need to focus on your forum. You need to think how can you increase participation on your forum. If you don't have enough content and thread on your forum, you can hire few content writer. Also you need to promote your forum on relevant forums and website.
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  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    Why are you making a forum in the first place?

    If it's to answer questions for your customers, then you don't need to worry about other forums and you don't need to worry about traffic.

    If it's to promote your business, then just include it in your advertising as a resource.

    If it's because the 10 year forum has a bunch of asses there, then promote that you're the small, specialized forum for great people.

    If it's because you have experts and people with more knowledge, then you promote it from that angle.

    If your forum has nothing better to offer than the established forum, then just sit back and give it time. Rome wasn't built in a day.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    Yes, focus on doing your own thing, of course. Just because there's a bigger competitor, doesn't mean people won't be interested in the conversations you have on your own forum.

    And it may never grow large enough to surpass your competitor. And that's okay. I know a forum that's small, yet very valued by advertisers because the people there are genuinely interested in the discussions and very active, so a good source of eyeballs for their products.

    Focus on quality. Always quality. And then people will come. And with them, advertisers. (I'm assuming that's how you monetize it.)
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
    Why would you create a forum in a market that already has a large, established player?

    This is an important piece of missing information.

    I certainly hope you have something unique to offer. Whether it is zooming in on a specific sub-niche, or bringing a level of expertise that is not on the other forum, or providing access to data or information that is missing in the marketplace, or something else that provides extraordinary value to those willing to give your forum a chance.

    Find your USP (unique selling proposition) and focus hard on it. If you don't explicitly tell people why they should visit your site instead of (or in addition to) the other one, and if that message does not resonate with the conversation already going on in their head, then you will always struggle to succeed.

    If you don't have that unique angle yet, I wouldn't even bother trying to get people to move. Retool your message and build your value around that message, then restart your marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author msabihj
    Blue ocean strategy is a business strategy that talks about creating a new business in a new market and making competition irrelevant.

    Since you started a new forum a few days back and there is already a giant in this market, you need to seriously think, at this stage (though a bit late), of ways to make competition irrelevant. If you differentiate your forum from your competitor's forum so much that you move into a new market (with no competitor), things will get easy - else you will always stay 10 years behind your competitor unless you take a leap worth a decade.
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  • Profile picture of the author AdlerSEO57
    Banned
    I don't think it's important to worry about the other forum's success. But yes- do compete with their strict rules. Many people do not feel comfortable on a forum where there are a lot of rules and 'pushy moderators'. The fact you've focused on creating a nicer environment already has you on the right track to competitively marketing against that forum.
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