industry forum marketing

[pagetta]

I've been tasked with reviewing and remaking a website for a group in the telecomms solutions industry. They are not-for-profit, and exist as a special interest group to discuss and develope operational, technical and business issues.

The current site works but isn't used - I have to look at what to do with it so that it is a great resource for the group and attracts new members, looking at functionality, who will use it, its design etc etc.

Does anyone know of any similar sites that are successful in doing this? or can anyone offer any advice where to start with this? how to attract new members to such a niche market group?

any tips would be great even just ideas for how to move forward with this - thanks guys!

[Tim_Myth]

As a telecom tech, here's things would interest me:

1. Someplace that offered solutions. Even if they were completely fictitious scenarios, being able to read through case studies of how various hurddles were over come would be great. Perhaps you could get "advertisers" to create solutions that you propose. For example, 'Here's how Avaya was able to meet the needs of the Big Joe's Fish and Chip's chain of restaurants.'

2. Someplace where I can contribute (and get advice!). I just spent 3 weeks trouble shooting an issue with antiquated echo cancellers because the point to point circuit they resided on carried voice, data, and tdd data at the DS/0 level.

3. Editorials and announcements of upcoming technologies and standards. All I can say about that is "Toys!" and if you don't understand, you're not a geek.

4. Similar to both 1 and 3 but subtly different would be a section about "repurposed" technology. Maybe show stories about how developing nations are able to take our aging telecom equipment and provide services to people who have been without. Or, maybe there is some enterprising kid who, oh say, figures out how to unlock iPhones so they can be used with different carriers for example. I find it very interesting to read stories where people make technology do things it wasn't designed to do.

5. A must for any highly technical site is a dictionary of acronyms. My Newton's Telecom Dictionary is getting quite worn out. A wiki would be ok, but I've never found wiki's very readable so...

Depending on the clout of the organization, some free certifications or even just self test would be cool too. Most technical geeks like testing their knowledge, so even just a puzzler or "how would you..." would be cool.

Try hanging out with a few members while they have a beer and see what they talk about. These are the items they contribute to their peers, and these are the types of things they'd likely be interested in online as well.

Hope that helps.

[pagetta]

Very very helpful thank you tim you've given me some ideas to mull over there!
an acronyms glossary/techinical terms etc is a great idea would definitely be a traffic generator

[bobchrist]

Some time it is easiest to create buzz through the existing members if motivated properly they can refer others, also networking with local telecommunication firms and organizing workshop may help you on this.