Hi guys I am thinking about doing a competition to get my forums moving. I use phpbb as my forum system and currently have in place a ranking system. The highest rank being 1500 posts. So I was wondering if I could give away 1 free game based solely on the highest ranking person after say 3 months or something. But I need to work out the conditions, which is what I need help with. Bottom line is I want several hundred-thousand posts on my forums as well as several hundred active forum members. So how could I do that with only spending £40 or $$ equivalent on a game of the winners choice. AKA what competition terms should I include. So far this is what I have got: the first person to hit maximum rank - aka 1500 posts and PM that they have done so will result in them being the winner. If nobody has achieved the highest rank then I will base it on who has the most posts. But I was wondering what you guys thought. How I could make this better for every part involved. But please give me your thoughts on the matter!
That sounds possible. Cash would be better I think. You can check out the rules I am using on my contest http://www.webcosmoforums.com/webcosmo-forums/12728-contest-dec-10-2009-jan-10-2010-a.html
You cannot buy activity. Especially not with hopes set this high. I've held a contest with over $500-600 value in prizes (with three winners) and we don't have anywhere near that much activity. At our current rate, I suspect we will achieve 100,000 posts by sometime early next year, making our forum almost one year old. Perhaps that will put things into perspective for you.
To hold a contest, and for it to work, you really need some kind of member base. Just having a contest is not going to draw members - because you do not have anyone to advertise the contest to.
Sorry it wasn't a 100,000 posts I meant a couple hundred or couple thousand. I have told some of my friends and hopefully they will start to post a little. Even if I got a couple of active forum members then I would be really happy.
I would want about 10-20 active posters from a competition. That would be brilliant, then I could just grow the forums far more easily with the help of those posters.
Comparing his forum to your forum is not putting anything into perspective especially when you are running a forum that is very very niche (correct me if I am wrong). Some forums can be very viral, based on what the forum is and others can be ones that require a long time to mature and gather moment over time. So comparing forums, especially when they are different in topic, on a one-to-one basis won't put much into perspective! Granted, his figures are slightly ambitious but he didn't mean that amount.
At least a few hundred total members and several dozen active members. Keep in mind, the more people have to do, the less will enter. I held an article writing contest that gave away a $200 prize - 2 people entered. At the time my forum had around 800 members, but the contest was a difficult one. Not too many people want to write an article, post a video on youtube to go with it and post pictures - and that what one guy did. Once everyone saw what he did, nobody else entered. Referral contest are good, forum posting allow everyone to get into the act,,,, there are lots of possible combinations.
Thanks Kev... Its been a little slow around Christmas / Holiday time... im not sure if this is normal.. but im gonna wait til after the new year to start any kind of contest. Im gonna try the forum posting contest first.. i was thnkin of $300 Gift Card for the Grand prize , $150 2nd place, and $75 for third -C