How do online forums promote business?

Answered by Priya Chetty on April 6, 2012 Leave a comment (0) Go to comments

Boone and Kurtz (2011, p 118) describe that online communities can take most forms but all of them provide particular benefits to organizations and users alike. Online forums are referred as online discussion groups. Users log in and participate by sending queries and comments or receiving information from other forum users.

Forums may serve as electronic bulletin boards, libraries for storing information or even as a kind of classified ad directory. Organizations often use forums to ask queries and exchange information with customers. Levinson (2003, p 79) has defined that online forums are discussion groups that focused on a specfic topic such as Barbie dolls or hang gliding. Unlike newspapers, which are simply discussion groups, online forums may also consist of libraries of files posted by users and chat rooms where users can communicate things live. Users may even have their own classified areas to advertise their products. Safko (2010, p 120) says that forums are always referred to as message boards, chat rooms or bulletin boards. The forum is the application of website that handles and offers a medium for ongoing online discussion on specific subject. The users are a group of people or contributors along with a moderator who participate in the conversation. In several online forums participants are needed to sign and register in to participate in a conversation. However anyone is allowed to view them since anonymous visitors are restricted from participating. Online forum marketing can make the online business renowned. Online forum users are usually net and tech savvy and the users often like to buy things online. The online forum helps organizations to make better impression of their products and services in front of influential and knowledgeable users thereby helping them to promote their products all over the world.

Thus, it can be understood that business could be effectively promoted with the help of online forums that has emerged in the recent times, with the advent of internet.

References

Boone L E and Kurtz D L (2011), Contemporary Marketing, Cengage Learning, USA, p 118.
Levinson J C (2003), Guerrilla marketing for free: 100 no-cost tactics to promote your business and energize your profits, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, USA, p 79.
Safko L (2010), The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, p 120.