Engagement Strategies Site merch?

[Smokey]

Do you think offering site branded merchandise can help a site grow in popularity? Things such as t-shirts, bags, mousepads, phone cases?

I've seen this done in the livestreaming space and I got to thinking if it'd be something worth investing in for one's website or forum depending on it's size?

 

[Arantor]

I think it really depends on the size and whether you’re going for just-in-time manufacturing or not.

e.g. Getting 100 t-shirts printed up will be cheaper per t-shirt than going to a print on demand place, but then you have to deal with storage and shipping yourself etc.

And if people aren’t interested… that’s then just awkward.

 

[Darth Cognus]

If you've got a forum where people are loaded, maybe. If you've got a forum that attracts broke people, kids with a non-unlimited credit card to yank or otherwise stingier crowds you're not going to get far. Basically know if doing this makes sense for your audience, decide and design from there.

 

[Arantor]

I should add, there is a forum I am a member of. It had official branded mugs.

I want one. But the shipping for it is so ungodly expensive, it's flat out unreasonable to obtain. Like, $100 in shipping expensive.

 

[Darth Cognus]

Yeah, that's all part of the feasibility question. If you can do it in a way that doesn't break the bank and some people get a kick out of it, great. But I think that comes down to circumstance and community.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I never thought to make merchandise for my communities. Gex Forums is based around a franchise that I'm sure I'd get in trouble if I made merchandise for, and my general chat forum isn't too popular so I don't think anyone would purchase shirts. I might get a few made for myself to promote Thee Zone though.

 

[NeoMetallix]

I never thought to make merchandise for my communities. Gex Forums is based around a franchise that I'm sure I'd get in trouble if I made merchandise for, and my general chat forum isn't too popular so I don't think anyone would purchase shirts. I might get a few made for myself to promote Thee Zone though.

I've thought of this too. I was told as long as there is nothing Sonic-related, only forum related, we would be fine. Although I'm not a lawyer.

So if you did mugs with your web address(or name) and no gex font, logos, etc that would work. We talked about it like 10 years ago but it takes 3rd party software to set up and would just be a headache.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've thought of this too. I was told as long as there is nothing Sonic-related, only forum related, we would be fine. Although I'm not a lawyer.

So if you did mugs with your web address(or name) and no gex font, logos, etc that would work. We talked about it like 10 years ago but it takes 3rd party software to set up and would just be a headache.

I know Sega is usually okay with rom hacks and stuff, but I know Sonic the Cosplayer got in trouble for selling cookie cutters on Etsy. But there's also the person who made the Not Enough Rings comics and sold copies of them and they didn't get in trouble. It's complicated lol.

 

[Cory]

If I were to advertise my resource board with merchandise, it would be more like advertising for the forum software itself since my board caters to the needs of the forum software. So ultimately, with that being said, I don't think it would work out for all types of niches.

On a similar subject, I did see a girl wearing a PornHub hoodie inside Walmart once.

 

[Nomad]

I do not think offering site merch will make your site popular but I believe if you have loyal users, you can generate some revenue.

 

[Uncrowned]

I feel like you have it backwards. Merch is not going to help a site grow as why would random people join a forum to buy a shirt with an unknown brand on it. The site needs to be thriving and then merch can be sold as an income stream.

Perhaps on a mega scale, once thousands of people have purchased merch, then it can lead to organic advertising and such, but this is a big leap.