Marketing the Forum

[Lateralthinking1]

Just a thought but the forum is at it's most quiet during the night hours. I am not quite sure how/if it is moderated then but my guess is that any moderator prefers a steady stream of posts to longish gaps. One possible solution might be to promote the site in other parts of the world where there is known interest in Radio 3.

I note just for starters that people here occasionally post links to the official site for NPR. I have also dipped into the site for ABC, among others, so such things happen. Many who are abroad particularly appreciate the BBC's traditional core values. This obviously ties in well with the stated objectives of FoR3 as a whole.

[Spatny]

If you want other members from other parts of the world, I suggest you need to put the robots follow on. The forum is gaining a lot of content, and google loves content. The forum will easily appear for many classical search keywords. For example the http://www.avforums.com forum is highly rated on google for any hi fi related search keywords.

I am a very experience adwords user. I am happy to spend say £50 on a small adwords campaign using BBC radio 3 type keywords.

[french frank]

Lat, Spatny, I think we should put this on hold. It's the kind of issue I would like to have generally discussed and it can be brought up at the first 'committee meeting' which I hope will be later this week (though virtual committee meetings being what they are, it may last for a week until people have got round to reading the posts and responding).

I'm a little doubtful. A worldwide campaign could attract people with a general interest in classical/jazz/world/arts programmes but no history or knowledge of listening to Radio 3 (or the Proms). I think this forum should be different from, say r3ok, in keeping its focus on R3 - promoting it as well as offering criticism.

As you know, FoR3's main purpose is to be a channel for listeners' views and presenting them to the BBC. We have no objection to forum members here disagreeing vigorously with what FoR3 campaigns for. That's healthy. As long as there is listener debate here, the BBC will be looking in from time to time. If the focus gradually drifts away from that towards general discussion, social networking &c, neither the BBC nor FoR3 will have an in interest in it. The R3 website and BBC MM should(?) be, in my view, our first main targets.

[PS What has Mark's upgrade done to the new smileys? <<< =snowball]

Comments welcome.

[salymap]

It's called "Stop it I like it!"

Not at all. i tried to get the dratted black cat because I wanted to see if I could do it. I can't see any advantage for me and I'm obviously thick as a plank so I don't want it.
You would have to be a woman to understand that. [laugh]

[mangerton]

You would have to be a woman to understand that. [laugh]

I have no immediate plans for that to happen.

[doversoul1]

I think the Forum’s top priority should be the link to Radio3. At the moment, that is only in our minds but if the Forum becomes less focused, it will make it more difficult for the link to become reality.

[PatrickOD]

I agree with doversole's view. I joined the R3 Messageboards as a guest, if you like, of the BBC. I joined FoR3 because I agreed generally with their aims, and I now consider myself a guest on their Forum. Radio3 is the common factor.

[french frank]

It's not merely a question of 'what FoR3 wants', but on the internet there are loads of other forums - there's r3ok, there's Philidor's Bright Cecilia, there's Gramophone, to mention three which are pretty close to our community in different ways. And there's the BBC MM. In the end the individual members will decide which combination of subjects and members best suits them. But The Radio 3 Forum won't make a lot of sense if it doesn't do what the old BBC boards did well enough for most of us to have posted there. It had a good mix of R3-type material and place to meet and discuss anything else informally. If that isn't what the community really wants, the forum will evolve - though as I said, the basic function for the BBC and FoR3 will be reduced. I can't stress too strongly, though, how quickly I want the community to take over the basic running of the messageboards ... :-/

[Lateralthinking1]

Yes, it isn't a point I would want to push. I'm comfortable, Frank, with the more focussed remit you and several other people here prefer.

[Zucchini]

A worldwide campaign could attract people with a general interest in classical/jazz/world/arts programmes but no history or knowledge of listening to Radio 3 (or the Proms). I think this forum should be different from, say r3ok, in keeping its focus on R3 - promoting it as well as offering criticism.

If the focus gradually drifts away from that towards general discussion, social networking &c, neither the BBC nor FoR3 will have an in interest in it.

I think it will be best to progress slowly on the recuitment front. At the moment there are issues such as use of images rather than links, type size & colour, avatars, message content to resolve. It's important that newcomers should quickly sense & post within informal protocols of content & conduct. At the moment those are vague to outsiders, so an influx of new posters could derail the whole thing. I would think that if any endorsement is to be offered by the BBC, that will only be after these boards have been kept squeaky clean & relevant to R3 for an extended period.