Encourage new signups to post

[medicMe]

Hi all,

Quick question: I get plenty of signups (hundreds) but few of these members are actively posting (~10% actually post, the rest lurk with 0 total posts.)

These aren't spam bots or the like, I filter them out already with various tools, these are actual people. And I don't require signups to view or download attachments, so it's not like they are signing up once to get some download then never returning... many of these members are actively visiting and revisiting the site.

So what have you done that's helped convert lurkers into posters?

I'm open to ideas.

Thanks!

[medicMe]

(wow.. 900+ reads within an hour and no responses.. smf community getting bot sc/raped or something?)

[Aaron10]

Are you sure they aren't bots? On my 1.1.X forum I get a ton of signups that are bots but never post and occasionally return.

[medicMe]

Are you sure they aren't bots? On my 1.1.X forum I get a ton of signups that are bots but never post and occasionally return.

Yes. I'm sure. Because of reasons mentioned (there's processes involved during signup beyond just mods that filter registrations for known spam bots,) and because I've been able to track where they are signing up from given specific campaigns (not quite ads and such, but sources tracked, partnerships, specific inbound links, etc..) combined with some more esoteric knowledge displayed by them upon signup.

That being said, it's not just 0 post count members I want to engage more, but a lot of members who will post once or twice then just lurk... I'd like to get them more involved too.

[Aaron10]

Well on my forum for this month I'm running a giftcard competition which encourages people to post (the most posts = the more entries into the raffle at the end). See here

We've had 4-5 registrations so far this month with people continually posting, so I'd recommend starting some sort of competition with a 1 month duration to give people incentive to post and be active.