How to Market Your Product on a Parenting Message Board

Message boards, also called online bulletin boards, forums, or communities, have become an increasingly important--and well-trafficked--part of Internet communications and activity. Message boards are built based on shared interests, from DVD fans to wireless robotics hobbyists to home and garden aficionados. Each message board has different policies for marketing and advertising. Most message boards wish to earn money to support the board by selling advertising. However, there are clever ways to avoid paying for product placement on message boards, and even to sell your product directly--but discreetly--using message boards. The trick is to make your product seem like a seamless part of your post on the message board. This is much harder than it sounds. Learn how to market your product on a parenting message board and boost sales and exposure.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer with internet access

How to Market Your Product on a Parenting Message Board

1. Know your market and choose parenting message boards that fit well with your target market. A cloth diaper isn't going to sell well on a message board designed to help parents with teen issues, for instance. You want to make sure that the target message board ties in well with the product you want to push.
2. Learn as much as you can about the parenting message board. Some message boards are highly moderated, such as Mothering Magazine's message board. Others are nearly unmoderated, like Sybermoms. The rest fall in the middle, such as American Baby, Inciteful Mamas, iVillage, AmityMama, and so forth. You do not want to try to market a product, especially a product with an affiliate link or referral ID, on a highly-moderated board.
3. Register for about ten target message boards. Your registration date makes a huge difference in establishing credibility on parenting message boards. "Newbies" lack credibility, so even if you register and don't touch the account for six months, you are establishing registration date credibility on your target boards.
4. Post a few basic posts. The easiest way to start in a parenting community is to go to the "welcome" forum and post a brief "hi" there. Then, seek out threads where people are wishing others Happy Birthday, congratulations for life events, or "sorry" for negative events. Post on these threads--these are easy ways to increase your post count and appear more credible.
5. Search for topics in threads related to your product. Do a search for "cloth diaper," for instance, if you sell a cloth diaper product. Do a search for posts, and if those threads are relatively recent (no more than 2-3 weeks old), craft a post that offers help or advice and includes a link to your product. Something simple such as "Hey, have you tried Cloth Diaper (insert link)?"
6. Check the parenting boards on a regular basis. Make sure that no more than 1 out of 10 posts on any message board include links to your product. To avoid being labeled a "troll" insert links to other sites and products as well.

Tips & Warnings

• Be conversational and friendly.
• Don't "post and run." Your post will be ignored but also remembered, ruining your credibility on that board and possibly others.