Hi, I was wondering how much do you know about the topics you start forums on?
You have forums of many different topics, are you an expert at all of them?
If not how do you compensate for the lack of knowledge?
I wanted to try catching up on some of the recent mailbag questions I have received, and will start with this set of fantastic questions. Any time I start or purchase a community, I want to have at least a basic knowledge and a good level of interest in the genre. I don’t have to be an expert nor do I claim to be one. With SprintUsers.com, it was a perfect fit as I have been a Sprint PCS customer since 2000 and enjoy their service and phones. With CruiseLineForums.com, it was great because my wife and I have been on a couple of cruises with plans to take more in the future. With Guitars101, it was great because I had just begun taking periodic lessons within the pas 6-8 months learning to play the guitar. As you can see, I have been able to do well with knowing something about my topics, and having enough interest in them to stay involved and build something special.
Due to the fact that I don’t claim to be an expert on any given subject my forums cover, I have always tried to build a team of volunteer staff that do know a lot about the topic of discussion. Not only are these types of staff members going to be solid contributors, but there dedication to the forum and the topic is very solid. This is much of what I look for when bringing on new moderatros.
Lee, how do you create incentive for a launch team to dedicate to forum growth? I can imagine people wanting to contribute to an existing well-populated forum but can this also work with a new forum?
This is where you MUST have a team of people to help you populate the forum, whether they be friends, family, moderators, or a combination of them.
I think that having deep knowledge of the topic of your forum is a must when you start a community.
We all know that in the beginning you will be the one to post replies on other people’s posts, so you have to give them some good answers.
When you buy a forum, there are allready some people there know about the topic, so the only thing you have to do, is to find a way to keep them in the community.
Do you agree with that?
I don’t think a “deep” knowledge is required in the very beginning. When we started CruiseLineForums.com I had been on 2 cruises, but that doesn’t make me an expert. I think we are doing pretty good there today. It definitely took other people, but we did start from scratch.
I don’t think you need *knowledge* on the topic, but you better at least have an *interest* in it. I would think it would be like pulling teeth to spend hours working on something that you have no interest in. It wouldn’t be like setting up a niche site and leaving it - new forums need constant attention and nurturing, and if you are trying to drum up support and enthusiasm with a small staff, you will need to be a major part of it. I would imagine that burnout would come very quickly…
Laura
Having knowledge in your sites topic is a plus in that may allow you to fill in certain niches that haven’t been populated but good leadership can overcome any obsticles.
I do not think that it is vital, but it will surely help you if you have interest and knowledge in your topic.
I always recommend people to start forums/sites on something they love.
// Andreas Bard