I have visited some sites that are just loading slowly. I do not waste time to leave, I do not have that patience and I am sure I speak for everyone as well. Slow website loading drives users away.
I have two of them that I am active on, they are X and Facebook. I have never been a fun of image based and video based platforms, I like texts mainly.
You can use a forum that has a lot of members to market your products. You can do so by buying adspace or using signatures. If you do it right it can help with your marketing.
I do not really condemn ads on forums. Forums that have a lot of members and activities can make money from ads displayed. What I just do not like is littering the forums all with ads that it becomes impossible to navigate
This is mostly due to the fast rising of different social media platforms. So it is hard to compete with other sites which even pays their users. Forums do not generate income for members.
Free staff can only do little. Since they are not paid even the owner of the forums cannot say much to them. It is more of volunteer work, so what lever they do will have to be accepted.
I will say that social media is still the most preferred for online communities. We cannot compare the number of forum users to that of social media in any way.
Forums where members don’t stick to the rules and regulations need more staff to moderate the activities. Even forums with small members can need many moderators while large members need just few. It’s all about the activity of the members.
But when your accounts gain more visibility and many are signing up it will be tedious. I think there is a plugin that detects spam and blocks them while auto approving real accounts?
Many people are like me, we listen to radio programs when we are on commute to anywhere. Radio ads can reach the ears of people like us and if your services is what we need, you have potential clients.
If the newspaper is a widely known one then you can try that out as well. People still read newspapers, especially in the evening when they are relaxed. It is a good way to get your services across to them.
This largely depends on your contents. If you contents are not engaging enough you will find yourself losing your visitors. You should have captivating contents to keep your visitors hooked.
Follow popular social media accounts and also be on track with the happenings that are trending online. Follow wholesome topics and discussions and drop your genuine take. The more you do this the more visibility you will get.
Even if your business is strictly online, you still need to put effort in offline branding for you to have maximum success. So I will say paying attention to both is important.
Social media can be used as a leverage to reach many people with your services. But to achieve that you to be active in your use of these media and also interact well with your audience.