Competitor Promotion Policies in Your Community - Yay or Nay?

[Cedric]

Lately, I've been exploring various online communities, and one thing that has caught my attention is the diverse approach to competitor promotions. In many spaces, there's a clear line drawn – no promotions from direct competitors. However, others seem more open to the idea, viewing it as encouragement.

I'm curious, where does your community stand on this?

Do you have explicit rules against promoting direct competitors? Why or why not? If you do allow it, are there any guidelines or restrictions in place? From a community growth perspective, do you believe that allowing (or disallowing) competitor promotions impacts your community's growth, engagement, and overall atmosphere?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

 

[Debashis]

I don't run a forum atm but if I had, I would allow the direct competitors to promote their stuff same as any other forum we are allowing on our place. Won't keep a specific rule just because they are our direct competitors, instead take inspiration from it and work on making our content better & forum more engaging than theirs - like a healthy competition you know.

 

[Tracy]

However, others seem more open to the idea, viewing it as encouragement.

I'm curious, where does your community stand on this?

I think this should be fairly clear where I stand.




Both competitor sites.. and notice who created the Link Directory entries.
I'm all about getting data out to users. And yes, I realize I'm somewhat an oxymoron in the field of running a forum.

 

[Joeychgo]

My basic thinking is that -- if its a forum owner or associate trying to deliberately draw my members away - that is frowned upon.

However, linking to a competitor site to assist my members in getting what they need is completely okay with me.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I allow competitor sites to be promoted on my forum. In this day and age forums aren't as popular as they were and I think all of us should stick together as much as possible so that our communities can thrive. I feel like back in the day it was probably more frowned upon.

 

[Nomad]

I have no rules against promoting a competitor. However, I am against posting links that are inappropriate or are affiliate links

 

[Spartan]

as long as it’s not being spammed I have no issue!

 

[SDL]

I don’t have a problem with this, of course it might mean losing activity to the competition however that will drive me even more to improve the community so that members don’t want to switch to a competitor. I’m all for supporting other forums, provided they play fair and don’t start private messaging people to join or spam the forum etc then carry on - I’ll even sign up myself!

 

[Reverie]

I always allowed competitor sites to advertise. I think at the end of the day it makes you look better for being humble enough to allow others to try and advertise to your fellow members. If you have a strong memberbase at the end of the day, they will not take much from you in the end. I know admin forums who wouldn't allow advertising at all and that just seemed weird to me. I get the point is to possibly discuss running forums and etc, but wouldn't you also think advertising would fall in line with that? I've also been on other promotion forums who wouldn't allow other promotion boards but it was due to them fearing they'd lose activity from their users.

I think having strict guidelines would also support you if you wanted them to not always advertise. Daily advertising (every 24 hours at the least) - update with content and not just the stats.

Now a days - there isn't enough competition for it to particularly matter in my opinion.

 

[veloman]

I don't see any harm in it, if it is done tactfully and follows the flow of conversation (so not hamfisted in).

If I was feeling mischievous, and if it is inappropriate (or the users themselves are nasty) I could always sneakily edit the links...