Contest Ideas

[KahneFan]

As a lot of others, I have a couple of forums I'm trying to get traction in. I've been told contest can be a good way to get people coming back. So, what are some contest you've tried (that work)?

[ApplianceJunk]

I've been told contest can be a good way to get people coming back.

I have not found this to be true.
Contest have never worked that great for use at ApplianceJunk.com

A good niche and some SEO work did wonders for our forum.

[thebofh]

I run a Mountain Bike forum and have some stickers and t-shirts available through CafePress. I ran a competition to design a mountain bike track using a game called Freerider 2, then ran a poll to see whose track was the most popular. The winner got a t-shirt and the runners up got bumper stickers.

[pinoypetfinder]

the best way to get people coming back on your forum is just to simply keep the friendly atmosphere later on you can run a contest,  a simply way to say thanks to those loyal members you have [works for us anyway

[Looking]

Money is a good incentive for everyone!

[vbgamer45]

Money and contests usually don't work tell you get an active forum.
The bad part about paying people to participate is they keep posting usually not great posts either. Then once the contest is over people just leave. Seen it happen a couple times.

[Looking]

Other things may need to be considered like amount and requirement.

[Ricky.]

I've been told contest can be a good way to get people coming back.

I have not found this to be true.
Contest have never worked that great for use at ApplianceJunk.com

A good niche and some SEO work did wonders for our forum.

I agree.. me too have similar experience.. tried various contest.. no gain..
Only content and SEO is the king.!

[Looking]

I would very much to see some of these 'failed' contest ideas. Please post the exact requirement and remuneration here so I can see what you were doing. Thanks,

[Ricky.]

Well.. my initiatives were to attract more ppl to get active..
1 contest I made was for best poster of the month.. my criteria was simple, whomsoever made most post shall be considered same but quality will also come in place.

another contest was for submitting some articles ..

Another one was to pay per article .. but got lots of stolen junk

Paid articles rates were $1-3 depending upon quality and number...

Other contest prizes were mobile phone and similar gadgets..

But as of now.. no one bother to make more that 2-4 posts on that very month..

[Looking]

Articles for $1 to $3 only?

How much did you give for the person that posted the most?

[Ricky.]

Well.. I got lots of submission, was headache for me to find out the original and genuine article so only 3-4 made to posting.. rest were stolen work.. so another flop incentive/contest.

[Looking]

I think I am getting a better idea of the kind of people in your community now and why the response is such.

[RATR]

Well I can give you a definitive answer sometime after the 6Th of next month. Just started a contest for best picture posted to the gallery. The prize is $50.00 USD for the best picture that relates to the uniqueness of China which is part of the forum content. My forum has been going for nearly a year, just updated the theme (well Smoky did) and want to get members more active in putting up photo's and getting used to the new addition of the gallery.

[Looking]

$50! I wish I were in China taking photos right now. That is what I call a contest!

[KahneFan]

Makes my $20 look tiny


Guess we all start somewhere

[Looking]

What do you have for $20? Did you get your forum fixed yet?

[KahneFan]

There's a referral link in each member's signature, plus there's a referral box upon registration; both will track for registrations for 60 days. Whichever member gets the most registered (and posting) members (minimum 5) by 1-16-08 wins.

I'm still unsure what might be causing the error. Do me a favor and register on my other site http://www.heyhays.com (same theme, same SMF, many same mods) and see if it lets you log in.

Also, you can try logging into ipostyoupost with smf/smftest and see if that will allow you to login for some reason.

[RATR]

Well the $50.00 is not out of my pocket, it came from donations and other revenue. So I thought I'd give some back to the members and achieve something I wanted to be used more on the forum. I'm not going to start doing regular competitions, they will be random and spaced apart and mainly used to get members to use more of the new features and build even more content which is the main aim. That's what keeps the regulars and get others interested in joining the forum. Which has been said many times throughout this forum.

[Ryanator]

On our new forum, http://www.sicshooters.com/forum/, we had a Find The Drunkest Person On Photobucket competition. No prize involved (well, maybe some extra karma for funny pics). Got the post count rising a bit. Not the most responsible way to get people posting but it was funny nonetheless!

[KahneFan]

That IS a pretty funny contest.

I've heard of sites who ask people to post pictures where you can tell someone snuck in the background.

[RATR]

Update on the contest I'm running mentioned in an earlier post. It is successful and growing, plenty of submissions and some by the quieter posters. Nearly all have stated they intend donatiing the prize but we will see what happens when they get the money in their hands. 

[RATR]

Well the competition I mentioned in an earlier post has now closed. A newly created directory for the competition now has 44 photo's in it but there are now dozens of users albums that have been created and being used. As to an increase in users, we have gotten approx 12 since it began but there is no data on whether they joined for the forum or the competition but they all have become active posters. I would term it as a success, based on the use of the gallery alone, posting has increased and a new board added on photography tips as members started asking questions on how certain photos were taken etc. I think the $50.00 was cheap for a result I am more than happy with.

[ApplianceJunk]

$50 for 12 new members?
Seems expensive to me.

[blondeamon]

I run a monthly contest "Member of the month" where ppl vote for their favourite person and i personally interview him with questions that the members posted and wanted to know.

We post a picture and 10-15 questions about the persons we talk with behind a faceless avatar and we see the real person behind it.

It works great and it keeps rising every month its participation members.

[RATR]

$50 for 12 new members?
Seems expensive to me.

Gaining the extra members was an unexpected bonus, the competition was never aimed at that. The success I based it on was the increased use of the features and increased activity and the request of the members to have a new board opened on photography and a whole lot of new pictures in the gallery and more each day even though the competition is over.

[~Killer~]

Well I'm a registered user on KahneFan's forum, I Post You Post, and the contest he did then surely did get many people posting ^_^ Ofcourse I won *cough*spam*cough* But all of the other members were posting aswell. For that mere $20 he got about 500 posts out of it, and made me want to go back for more ^_^

[KahneFan]

That was actually  a different contest. Since I crashed my db and had to start over, I ran a competition for the first person to 200 posts got $20. And yes, I realize that many of you and Scar's posts were short, but they all had a little substance in them (somewhat)