Create Great Message Board Content Easily: Tips From Top Publishers!

While all message board owners would love to preside over a thriving community engaged in provocative dialogue, it takes some planning and execution to get there. To that end, think about defining the content and perspective that your community will promote. It’s worth mentioning that while this task is often overlooked in the planning process, the more clearly you define the core “personality” of your community’s pre-launch, the easier it will be to market your site and attract members in the future.

A clearly defined topic provides two distinct benefits: By promoting a niche of interest, it increases your message board’s visibility in search engines as a specialized “authority” site: Second, it makes it easier for people to determine if their interests they are the same as yours. Niche communities, while often small, tend to have a more passionate following where enthusiasts will seek out your forum rather than others. you have to find them and attract them.

Once you’ve decided on the identity and theme of your message board, the next step is to decide which themes will best support that identity.

The first topics you post on your board should be limited to a short list of the most interesting and compelling topics that relate to the central theme. Resist the temptation to create many topic categories until they are needed or requested by members. When visitors see a message board with a huge list of categories, it can be off-putting and discourage them from engaging.

Also, excessive categories can dilute the number of threads and posts, making the forum appear less active.

content creation

If you’re passionate about your message board topic, generating that first piece of content should be effortless and even enjoyable. Consider choosing a topic that you would have liked to read about when you first became interested in the subject. Next, create content that is a bit more provocative and insightful. Maybe write about current events or developments related to your meeting topic. As you continue to post content and market your site, your forum community will grow and begin to offer considerable content for users to explore.

On a side note, try to make posts long enough to be informative but short enough that readers don’t get sidetracked or lose interest.

To help generate a constant stream of engaging content that keeps people engaged, we’ve put together a list of ideas top publishers use to beef up their offerings. Consider using some or all of the following suggestions as they apply to your community:

• Develop an editorial calendar.: A useful technique is to think longer term about content management. Consider setting aside time on a weekly or even monthly basis to review the content of the board and map out a direction and timeline for the introduction of new topics. Checking current discussion trends on your message board will also help you stay on top of your community’s interests and brainstorm new topics accordingly.
• Schedule Topics in Advance: To expand on the tip above, scheduling topics in advance gives you the opportunity to develop ideas more fully over time so they’ll be better when you eventually post them to your community.
• Make a list of interesting things you discovered about your topic– Whether it’s a funny YouTube video, a provocative article making the rounds on the internet, or some fantastic discovery in the news, collecting a few interesting links in a bulleted post is a fun way to keep your dashboard up-to-date without spending a lot of money. time or energy.
• Map ideas (mastermind)– Start with brand new content ideas or refer to interesting topics previously discussed in the forum and then brainstorm how those topics can be expanded into new topics. Then take those new ideas and think of ways they can be expanded into new and different posts as well. This technique can help you identify countless new topics to write about.
• Turn research into content: Every time you walk by looking for answers or information related to your message board topic, take notes of everything you find and turn it into content. If this information is valuable or persuasive to you, it is likely to be meaningful to others who share your interests.
• Review posts made by forum members: Not surprisingly, this can often be a goldmine of new content ideas. By reviewing your forum member’s posts, you can often find information or opinions that spark ideas for compelling new discussion topics.
• Interview with an expert– Invite a recognized authority in your niche to drop by your forum for an interview to share their views and experience with your community. This is a great way to give your readers the opinion of a relevant expert and maybe even learn something about the topic yourself.

While the list above is not exhaustive, it will hopefully equip you with some new tools to continue creating content. As an added bonus, the list below outlines different types of perspectives forum editors take when formulating new posts. Experiment with a few of these and you may find that they open up the hidden writer in you. Sift through this list for ideas for creating additional new content:

• Instructional Publications: Instructional posts explain how to do something. Try adapting this perspective to your writing and you might be surprised at the response. Instructional content is some of the most searched and viewed content on the internet.
• Reviews: Another highly searched term on the web is ‘review’. Reviews come in all varieties and can cover a wide range of topics. Provide an insightful opinion on a topic related to your dashboard and ask readers for theirs.
• Top 10 lists (or 5, 7, etc.): One of the easiest and most provocative posts to send out are leaderboards. They are popular with readers, can be easily expanded upon in subsequent posts, and are always reliable in stimulating responses from the community.
• profiles: Pick an interesting personality in your niche and do a little research on them to introduce them to your readers. Shine light on how they got to their position and write about the traits and habits they have that others in your niche would like to develop.
• Classification:GRAMand passionate, say what is on your mind and tell it like it is. Rants are great discussion starters and can be fun if done in the right spirit. Just be aware that they can also cause a burning thread. Be sensitive to your community but have a little fun in the process.
• Link Posts: The ‘link post’ is always popular and is simply a matter of finding a quality post on another message board or blog. Link to it with an explanation of why you’re linking to it, and include a personal comment or quote from the post. Adding a comment makes these posts more engaging and useful to your readers.
• ‘trouble’ posts: Another popular topic constantly searched on Google is the problem/solution format. If there is a genuine problem related to the main topic of your forum, bring it up and start a discussion about possible solutions. This is where the power of the community can shine as people contribute suggestions, observations, and personal experiences related to the “issue” you’ve brought up.

Now that you’ve reviewed some “best practices” for generating new forum content, it’s time for the real fun to begin. Start your engines and start typing!

We hope this article has provided a future reference for the continued creation of engaging content for your message board. Stay tuned for our next installment in this series on creating a successful and self-sustaining forum where we’ll discuss more tips, tactics, and strategies. Click here to view previous articles in our Building Forum series. Thank you for reading!