Hi,
I've just launched a new Drupal social network (http://drupalsn.com) and i'm now actively promoting the site, but i'm hoping to spark some debate as to how everyone out there promotes their social networking sites so we can share ideas and strategies and see which ones work best!
My personal view is social networks can be hard to promote, because you obviosuly want to drive traffic to your site but you also want sign ups. Does traffic automatically mean sign ups or do you need a more specific strategy?
here's a few things i'm considering/using:
- Forum write ups on related sites - drupal.org forum write springs to mind and i guess any sites related to the content of your site.
This seems to be a good way to get initial feedback and testers but may not get the site moving proper. -
Article or content/blog writing - this to me is a key area for SEO, writing related content to help your page ranking as well as build interest about your site.
Problem here is many social networks may not have scope for articles so may find it hard to fit articles of content in and much of the content maybe user driven. - Links swap/partners - this is a simple technique to build partnerships with other related sites but i'm not sure how effective it really is?
- Submit your code to Drupal - this is something i'm just coming to not just for site promotion but i also feel i now have enough knowledge to be able to give something back to Drupal for all its given me (bit cheesy i know), has anyone found this as an effective means of promotion?
- Showcase sites - submitting your site to showcase sites or flickr or youtube (if you have the content) i've heard can be a good promotion tool.
- Paid advertising - for most of us on small budgets this is a last resort and something that really needs planning as there are so many options out there, how do you choose where to put your money?
- Offline promotions - again may need some funds behind this but i've heard it can be useful for some niches.
Ok i've probably bored you to death already, but be great if we can spark some debate here, it's something i'm fairly new to and very interested in as i guess everyone who runs a social network is.
cheers
Tom
Comments
Viral marketing
Tom, from my experience, the best way to promote a social network is viral marketing. It allows users to invite friends and share knowledge. Building specialist networks or groups within your website where they can collaborate and share information.
A good tool for us was the invite friend tools. A previous project gained 20K users in the space of 2 weeks as users rushed to import their address books and notify their friends.
Dee :: iScene Drupal Agency
Dee :: iScene Drupal Agency
i also think so Viral Marketing is best
as the users themselves promote and are more bonded to us..
I have tried to promote Fireworks E-commerce site using the Youtube videos to promote
though its just a begining but videos got average hits..
Can anybody suggest what all could be an idea for Viral Marketing.. for eg. a Students portal..
Hi, Totally agree about the
Hi,
Totally agree about the viral stuff but wouldn't you say you need some initial marketing to get the users there in the first place before viral stuff can start to work?
Regarding the youTube video, i know someone who actually ditched using adwords in favour of youTube because posting his videos on youTube got him more hits for free than paying of adwords! he was selling video tutorials but i guess with some niches it's well worth the time to make a video or series of videos as a means of promotion.
keep the comments coming!
Tom
http://drupalsn.com/user/thomjjames
http://drupalsn.com/user/thomjjames
Yes, I'd like to get some
Yes, I'd like to get some ideas as well. There is quite a bit of literature on promoting blogs - creating squidoo lenses, hub pages, posting on other (relevant) blogs/forums etc., but not that much on promoting social networks.
HG
http://www.outdoordesi.com
HG
http://www.outdoordesi.com
You Need a Good Concept
In my experience, not all social networking concepts are created equal.
I think the more passion that exists around a concept, the more quickly you will reach the tipping point where viral marketing takes over. Eg, alumni sites seem to grow quickly. Dating sites can grow quickly, and other sites where considerable passion and prexisting relationships exist.
I looked at your site and have a question along the lines of passion.
How is your site different in concept from groups.drupal.org? I'm not saying it is NOT different, I'm just asking you to clarify. Because if it is perceived that the same can be accomplished on g.d.o. then thats where people will go to expend this 'passion'--not to a startup site.
I can well see your site as a more personal site where Drupal friends get together and talk about whatever--Drupal, or otherwise. Thats not something that can be done on g.d.o. I have a social site that is for technologists, but primarily for networking purposes and secondarily for technology discussions. The most successful way I've found to grow such a site to the tipping point (where (viral) the site invite feature) takes over, is this: Get a laptop equipped with an aircard (or just download/upload the site between your laptop/server) and take the laptop to a Drupal conference. You should easily be able to get 100 signups in a weekend. These would be people that you know. Once the conference is over, do a mass email to members and encourgae them to extend their conference networking experience to an online forum by inviting the people they met at the conference to join your site.
Another thought to consider: the 20/80 rule applies to viral marketing. This is why the tipping point concept is important. Not everyone who joins your network is a networker, or hub. Many geeks don't have much social capital, and are therefore merely nodes--not hubs. When I look at my networks to see who is doing the inviting, the major hubs are a small subset of the members. Somewhere between 50-100 members, I tend to find my first major hub who has a big email list and the inclination to invite 20-100 people, and then follow through with persistence. When you see that happen, I believe you are on the way to web 2.0.
IMHO