It might seem so 1999, but the message board was one of the most successful social media tools in 2010, reports Cynthia Boris at Marketing Pilgrim. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research found that 93% of Inc. 500 firms who used the old-school platform reported it a success—compared to the 85% who reported they’d had success with Facebook.
The beauty of the message board is that there’s one for every conceivable interest—bargain hunters, work at home moms, illness support, sports fans, legal advice, etc. Chances are there are message boards out there right now where your target customer is having a conversation you need to hear.
As Cynthia notes in her post, message board spam guidelines can make it tricky for brands to jump into the conversation. At minimum, message board activity is yet another argument for comprehensive social media monitoring.
So are you listening to the voice of the customer? If not, maybe it’s time to break out the Prince cassette and travel to 1999. What do you think?