Breaking Unwritten Laws
November 14th, 2009 | 
Author: Forum marketing is a good way to give your site a boost. You create links to your site via your signature and you get yourself and your message in front of the right audience. Getting it done, however, requires the ability to play by the rules.
Of course, that means following the official, written rules of the forum. You need to read the stickies, the terms of use and every other rule in the book. But that’s only half of the issue. You also need to obey the unwritten laws.
Every forum has them. These individual communities develop traditions, expectations, conventions and mores. Those who break them can suffer the consequences—the most obvious of which is blowback and reduced marketing effectiveness. Instead of making friends and influencing people, you might accidentally create a few foes and turn others off to your message.
If you want to use this potentially powerful marketing technique, you need to learn how to assess the environment and to understand how the “locals” treat their hangout. Otherwise, you might be wasting your time while accidentally breaking unwritten laws.
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