Ram8349 Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 I've tried $50 contest for the one who post most. It didn't go well mainly due to the lack of participation. The goal wasn't reached at all because only one person met the minimal requirement. I need more options to stimulate activities. Not only to increase posting, but also to encourage pass by visitors to sign up to participate. I have a Facebook fan page of over 800 fans for my forum, but I have a hard time to convert them to join the forum. So I would like to have a contest or event that can actually attract these lazy people lol... They used to "like" the wall post of the contest, but none took action. What ideas do you have? What successful contest have you run? Quote
ridwan sameer Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 When you run a contest you need to try to advertise that contest for people to join. If you have the money, an Idea I have is to Use Postloop for about a month... and then While still using postloop.. Run the contest. That way people who have come from postloop will like to take part in the contest aswell Quote
Ram8349 Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I know I should take advantage of any kind of post exchange. Running a contest during that time can be extra effective. However, what exactly contest would you recommend? I am also thinking about multiple smaller prizes instead of a single bigger prize. Something like 3x $15 prize instead of a single $50. Do you think it will give people a feeling that they actually have better chance to win something? Or will they just feel it's not worth their time because each prize is smaller? Thomas 1 Quote
ridwan sameer Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Do Something like what Developer base does... Small Prizes that extend for a longer period of time. 3x 15$ Prizes sound good aswell Quote
Victor Leigh Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 I know I should take advantage of any kind of post exchange. Running a contest during that time can be extra effective. However, what exactly contest would you recommend? I am also thinking about multiple smaller prizes instead of a single bigger prize. Something like 3x $15 prize instead of a single $50. Do you think it will give people a feeling that they actually have better chance to win something? Or will they just feel it's not worth their time because each prize is smaller? There's one problem inherently wrong with posting contests, though. After some time, it just becomes a contest among a few top posters and that's not exactly what you would want. I would suggest installing a virtual currency in your forum. Members can earn VC (virtual currency) in many ways. Like making posts, starting new threads, referring friends, posting pictures, etc. That makes the forum activities more rounded and not just concentrated on posting alone. You can assign the VC value differently for different activities depending on your priorities. Maybe for a start, give more VC for referrals and starting new threads. Maybe even make it VC offer of the month so that you can change every month as the need arises. There is actually an addon which rewards the OP for responses made to his thread. This would encourage OPs to nurture their threads instead of just starting one and abandoning it. I am not so sure about referrers getting any credit from VC earned by referrees. Then make just one big cash prize available by auction every month. You can even link the size of the prize to a set target. Let's say, for example, you put the prize at 20usd but, at the same time, announce that, if the forum hits, say, the 1000-post milestone, you will up the prize to, say, 50usd. VC will be used to bid for the cash prize. This way winners will have their VC used up, giving a chance for those who didn't win the auction to have a headstart for the next auction. In this way, even members who post at a slower but steady rate will eventually accumulate enough VC to win an auction. You can even generate more activity on your forum by starting a services section where members can offer to provide services for VC or offer to pay VC for services. Of course, members can always donate VC to other members whom they like. Like if they like a particular response to a thread they can show their appreciation with a VC donation. You can also donate VC to members whom you think deserves it. What do you think? Thomas, Shole and Nathan 3 Quote
Ram8349 Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 My last contest wasn't about total post count. It's about daily average. I set the minimal requirement at 5 per day. But only 1 person met that requirement. Disappointing. The virtual currency sounds great, but I have no idea how to proceed. Is there a plugin for MyBB based forum to have virtual currency? Victor Leigh 1 Quote
bryce12 Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Apart from overall top poster contest, you can also have contents for new members having maximum number of posts in their first, second and third month. This will ensure that people continue to post even after their first few months. Of course it will require a lot of monitoring at the back end but the rewards would be worth it. Quote
tetutato Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Wait what is your forum specifically? It's nice to do a targeted contest meaning if you're hosting a gaming forum, a game prize. Quote
ridwan sameer Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Im pretty sure he runs a pet forum. I dont think he can give out a pet Quote
Shole Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 There's one problem inherently wrong with posting contests, though. After some time, it just becomes a contest among a few top posters and that's not exactly what you would want. I would suggest installing a virtual currency in your forum. Members can earn VC (virtual currency) in many ways. Like making posts, starting new threads, referring friends, posting pictures, etc. That makes the forum activities more rounded and not just concentrated on posting alone. You can assign the VC value differently for different activities depending on your priorities. Maybe for a start, give more VC for referrals and starting new threads. Maybe even make it VC offer of the month so that you can change every month as the need arises. There is actually an addon which rewards the OP for responses made to his thread. This would encourage OPs to nurture their threads instead of just starting one and abandoning it. I am not so sure about referrers getting any credit from VC earned by referrees. Then make just one big cash prize available by auction every month. You can even link the size of the prize to a set target. Let's say, for example, you put the prize at 20usd but, at the same time, announce that, if the forum hits, say, the 1000-post milestone, you will up the prize to, say, 50usd. VC will be used to bid for the cash prize. This way winners will have their VC used up, giving a chance for those who didn't win the auction to have a headstart for the next auction. In this way, even members who post at a slower but steady rate will eventually accumulate enough VC to win an auction. You can even generate more activity on your forum by starting a services section where members can offer to provide services for VC or offer to pay VC for services. Of course, members can always donate VC to other members whom they like. Like if they like a particular response to a thread they can show their appreciation with a VC donation. You can also donate VC to members whom you think deserves it. What do you think? This is great as an idea I mean this is the perfect contest(that's what i will be starting soon) since virtual currency can be earned with posts or exchanged for something so you will get posts and who knows maybe some active members for the future. That's at least what I am hoping to get from my upcomming contest . Victor Leigh 1 Quote
Victor Leigh Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 My last contest wasn't about total post count. It's about daily average. I set the minimal requirement at 5 per day. But only 1 person met that requirement. Disappointing. The virtual currency sounds great, but I have no idea how to proceed. Is there a plugin for MyBB based forum to have virtual currency? I believe so. It's called Newpoints if I am not mistaken. The developer of that plug-in has his own site to provide support. I think you need to be a subscriber to get support. It's just 7usd per year the last I checked. Quote
ridwan sameer Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Actually I think the points system is free (newpoints) at mybb-plugins Quote
Victor Leigh Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Actually I think the points system is free (newpoints) at mybb-plugins Yes, the plug-in is free. It's when you need support that you have to be a subscriber. Quote
Victor Leigh Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 This is great as an idea I mean this is the perfect contest(that's what i will be starting soon) since virtual currency can be earned with posts or exchanged for something so you will get posts and who knows maybe some active members for the future. That's at least what I am hoping to get from my upcomming contest . This is not an original idea from me. I have been on an active forum where this idea was implemented successfully. I think that forum set some kind of new record for posting milestones. Actually that forum also made money out of the auction. This is how they did it. They sold VIP memberships. The main perk of the VIP membership is that VIP members get more VC than the regular members. For example, a regular member gets 1VC for each post made. A VIP member gets 2VC for each post made. So definitely VIP members can accumulate VC very much faster than regular members. On top of that they made VIP memberships very attractive by making the monthly subscription less than the cash prize for the auction. If I remember rightly, the auction prize was 50usd and the monthly VIP membership subscription was only 1.5usd per week. Anyone who can do simple arithmetic would consider that to be a fair deal. Investing just 1.5usd to have a chance to win 50usd is well worth a try. The best part of the VC is that, like I mentioned earlier, members who win the auction will have their VCs deducted, of course. Which means that those members who didn't win will have a lot of VC in hand to try for the next auction. In a way, using VC kind of levels the playing field a bit, unlike the normal posting contests where the active members are always so far ahead that new members don't even feel like trying at all. Incidentally the admin of that forum also said that the forum met the Adsense thresh-hold for payouts every month. That thresh-hold is 100usd if I am not mistaken. Worth putting some real thought into making this work for your forum, isn't it? Nathan 1 Quote
dexterlablab1 Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Almost any contest that gives away something tangible can stimulate good forum activity. But keep in mind, that's a double edged sword, because your members may start to expect that sort of thing to be routine and ONLY come around when something like that is going on. Quote
Marc Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 Anything at all the promotes activity... And you dont nessecarily have to give anyone anything but status, icons, titles etc. Example of what I have (which ironically would be quite usable on your site due to the kind of site) Husky of the month photo (you could have pet of the month photo) Husky Video of the month (again pet video of the month) Caption competition Photoshop contest The photo and video ones I usually show on the sidebar for a month. Them and the photoshop one we usually have some kind of theme each month dexterlablab1 1 Quote
dexterlablab1 Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 Anything at all the promotes activity... And you dont nessecarily have to give anyone anything but status, icons, titles etc. Example of what I have (which ironically would be quite usable on your site due to the kind of site) Husky of the month photo (you could have pet of the month photo) Husky Video of the month (again pet video of the month) Caption competition Photoshop contest The photo and video ones I usually show on the sidebar for a month. Them and the photoshop one we usually have some kind of theme each month Wow....I can't believe I didn't think about the video contest thing. Even though this wasn't for me. You may have just sparked the next idea I plan to use for my own site lol. So let me say thank you Marc 1 Quote
Administrators Nathan Posted June 11, 2012 Administrators Posted June 11, 2012 I never even gave much thought to the points system. I've seen the plugin, but never imagined to use it in this way. I think I may give it a go to level the playing field for the contests. Thanks Victor! Quote
Victor Leigh Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 Anything at all the promotes activity... And you dont nessecarily have to give anyone anything but status, icons, titles etc. Example of what I have (which ironically would be quite usable on your site due to the kind of site) Husky of the month photo (you could have pet of the month photo) Husky Video of the month (again pet video of the month) Caption competition Photoshop contest The photo and video ones I usually show on the sidebar for a month. Them and the photoshop one we usually have some kind of theme each month Say how about a link to that site of yours? I don't have a Husky but I like them so anything to do with Huskies is interesting to me. Quote
Marc Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 Sure www.husky-owners.com Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2 Quote
Victor Leigh Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 Sure www.husky-owners.com Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2 Thank you. Just went over to have a look. You certainly have a flourishing forum. Just curious. How much time and money did it take you to get that far? Assuming it's not a trade secret. Quote
tetutato Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 Im pretty sure he runs a pet forum. I dont think he can give out a pet It's possible. I mean if he was able to ship me a dog, I'd join. :3 Quote
deadmauslov Posted June 11, 2012 Posted June 11, 2012 I have an even better question than that? Out of the forum owners who do 50$ contests how often do you do it? And why? If the forum is not making any money off of adsense or whatever why do you do contests? Quote
Administrators Nathan Posted June 11, 2012 Administrators Posted June 11, 2012 I have an even better question than that?Out of the forum owners who do 50$ contests how often do you do it? And why? If the forum is not making any money off of adsense or whatever why do you do contests? Every two weeks here and no it is out of pocket at this point. Quote
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