How do I get new active members? (used to have a pretty active community)

[themavesite]

Hi.

I own http://forums.themavesite.com/index.php

In our best year (two years ago) we had close to 50 000 post in a year, which was awesome, there would be an average of 100 posts a day.

Now the last few months, many of those people have joined reddit, and lost interest in a good old forum.
Now I myself post an average of 20 topics a day, and I bump interesting topics like wallpaper threads, gif sharing threads, cinemagraphs and etc every single day.
Example of daily posted content (if nobody replies, I bump them every 24 hours)


So there is a LOT of new content daily, but my active users has declined to about 5-7 people.


I'm never giving up on my forum, this August it will be 5 years old, I'm nearing 45 000 post and have started over 13000 topics.
Now it's just hoping that one day I get new active forum members.
Now my question is, where do I get new members, not just new people, I need people who like forums. If you like forums, you will like my forum.
I post new content every day, I ensure fresh news, pictures, videos, forum games, discussions, jokes,...


Any help OR registration to my forum, would be highly appreciated.

I thank you 

[ApplianceJunk]

Now my question is, where do I get new members

I get all my members from the internet.

[xrunner]

Now my question is, where do I get new members, not just new people, I need people who like forums.

Go to other forums and steal the members by inviiting them.

Can I register at your forum now?

Truthfully, I don't have an answer - I've tried it all - advertising, Facebook, twitter, You Tube ... I think maybe the internets are over-forummed, over-blogged, over You-Tubed, over-everythinged. There's so much material out there it's very hard to stand out.

[themavesite]

Now my question is, where do I get new members, not just new people, I need people who like forums.

Go to other forums and steal the members by inviiting them.

Can I register at your forum now?

Truthfully, I don't have an answer - I've tried it all - advertising, Facebook, twitter, You Tube ... I think maybe the internets are over-forummed, over-blogged, over You-Tubed, over-everythinged. There's so much material out there it's very hard to stand out.

I would steal them if I could 
And sure you can register, it would make my day.
Something else very frustrating is that every now and then people do sign up, but they only introduce themselves, never to be seen again.

Thanks for you reply, I hope someday my forum will get active people again.
In the meantime I'll keep bringing fresh content.

[ApplianceJunk]

Good luck

[themavesite]

Good luck

Thank you.
Also changed my signature on this forum, you never know 

[xrunner]

Something else very frustrating is that every now and then people do sign up, but they only introduce themselves, never to be seen again.

Yep. I've seen that before. I don't know why people do that. I presume they have looked at the forum for a while before joining. They feel they have something important to say - but never say it.

Then I've had members who joined and logged in all the time - but never posted anything. For years. I evem PMed them as to why and got no response.

Don't ask me what's going on. I don't know.

[ApplianceJunk]

People, will never figure them out.

[themavesite]

Something else very frustrating is that every now and then people do sign up, but they only introduce themselves, never to be seen again.

Then I've had members who joined and logged in all the time - but never posted anything. For years. I evem PMed them as to why and got no response.

Exactly! I have some old members, members that have ~10 000 posts that never post anymore (not one post in the last year), but they visit every day.
If only they would post again, other people might be more encouraged to register.

[xrunner]

Exactly! I have some old members, members that have ~10 000 posts that never post anymore (not one post in the last year), but they visit every day.

Did you try asking them? Tell us what they said and we'll both know.

[Irisado]

Truthfully, I don't have an answer - I've tried it all - advertising, Facebook, twitter, You Tube ... I think maybe the internets are over-forummed, over-blogged, over You-Tubed, over-everythinged. There's so much material out there it's very hard to stand out.

There is quite a bit of truth in this.  I think that blogs, and social media in general, are taking traffic away from many fora out there too, which makes it even more difficult to attract new members.  Once experienced forum members run out of things to say, or move on, the number of contributions falls, because the number of new members coming through to replace them is not what it once was.

[Dream of Omnimaga]

I think today people are too lazy to register on multiple sites. The only way to convince them to register seems to be to have Facebook/Twitter login or whatever, so they can use the same account on every site without entering all their info over and over. Some people still prefer using the old way to register, though.

But yeah nowadays Facebook takes a lot of users away, same for Twitter. The site I used to run now tweet every new topic posted, but it's still a constant battle. This is why some communities have switched over to Facebook forums or now use Facebook comments for their news articles.

[SimpleJoe]

Sometimes it helps to look for some value you can offer to new members. For example I know I blogger forum that lets people post their newest blog entry on the forum. Of course what you can offer may very depending on the subject of your forum, but people are often looking at "what's in it for them."

[Raths Rants]

You might try a Facebook page that displays your posts from your forum. Then use a mod like Social Login. I am experimenting with this now.

Only reason I suggest Facebook as it has the largest most widely used install base. Then promote the Facebook page which displays posts from your site. They click the shared link and end up at your forum. If Social Login is setup correctly they just log in with Facebook.

Food for thought 

[ApplianceJunk]

but people are often looking at "what's in it for them."

That's the only thing people are looking for.

[lurkalot]

You might try a Facebook page that displays your posts from your forum. Then use a mod like Social Login. I am experimenting with this now.

Only reason I suggest Facebook as it has the largest most widely used install base. Then promote the Facebook page which displays posts from your site. They click the shared link and end up at your forum. If Social Login is setup correctly they just log in with Facebook.

Food for thought 

And a Twitter page. I seem to get better result from that to be honest.   Then again, I have my twitter pages linked to my facebook pages, so I post on twitter and it posts automatically to my facebook page.  Likewise if I share a post from my forum, which I do regularly, it shows up on both FB and twitter.

[Rust]

Truthfully, I don't have an answer - I've tried it all - advertising, Facebook, twitter, You Tube ... I think maybe the internets are over-forummed, over-blogged, over You-Tubed, over-everythinged. There's so much material out there it's very hard to stand out.

It is indeed a crowded market place, even for niche topics.  We've found that even with a lot of marketing (on the web, in print, etc.) and contacting related media (blogs, sites, etc.), its hard to keep activity at even replacement levels.  There are die-hard members, but its replacing those that join and disappear that is the real grind.

[TheListener]

And a Twitter page. I seem to get better result from that to be honest.   Then again, I have my twitter pages linked to my facebook pages, so I post on twitter and it posts automatically to my facebook page.  Likewise if I share a post from my forum, which I do regularly, it shows up on both FB and twitter.

I have the same setup as Lurky.

I have also setup a Youtube page too.

Will soon be covering all the local newsagents and supermarkets with business cards (car boot sales too).

I may even contact local supermarkets and request a couple hours at weekends to stand at the entrance handing out flyers.