Member Avatar for lilprincess

I own a website and in next two weeks I'll be launching a forum for the site. To promote the forum I have decided to have some contests on the forum. Do you have any forum contest ideas?

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A quick frame: choose one clear goal (signup volume, first‑time posts, longer threads, or member retention) and design contests to move that metric. Set a short pilot (2–4 weeks) with measurable KPIs (new accounts, DAU, posts-per-new-member, retention at 7/30 days) so results can be judged objectively rather than by impressions alone. Tie rewards to the forum’s niche so prizes feel relevant and useful rather than just noise.

For implementation, build simple guardrails up front. If running a content contest (as suggested by ), require a judging rubric (originality, usefulness, formatting) and a minimum post age before eligibility to avoid drive-by submissions. For a forum scavenger/treasure activity (inspired by ), make clues require reading pinned posts or using search terms, deliver answers by PM to a moderator, and announce exact timestamps and prize windows so claims can be verified. For referral or activity-based contests (echoing ideas from and ), use delayed validation (new member stays 7+ days and meets minimal engagement) and cap daily points to prevent farming.

Spam and fairness controls are essential. Enforce minimum character counts for contest posts, weight points by community reactions (likes/accepts) rather than raw post counts, log IPs and timestamps for suspected abuse, and add a human review step for top winners. Transparency prevents disputes: publish rules, judging criteria, timelines, and how ties are broken.

Prize ideas should match budget and brand: niche digital rewards, site credits, exclusive roles/titles, swag, or modest gift vouchers (as mentioned). For low budgets, recognition + a permanent profile badge often gives the best long‑term community value. Run a single small pilot, measure the KPIs against baseline, then iterate rules, prize types, and cadence based on what actually increased quality and retention.

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Member Avatar for AussieWebmaster

You can assign points for posts and use them for prize drawings... you can have prizes for random thread numbers drawn every week etc.

Members can vote for the best thread and the starter gets a prize.

Member Avatar for bobchrist

Depend on your budget, I think Amazon gift certificates may be worked out.

Member Avatar for invisal

What is your website about? How about article contest? Who write the best article will recieve the special award.

Member Avatar for Dani

Contests for contributions are definitely good. Anything that gives the contributor a rewarding feeling regardless of the contest/competition.

Another idea that works in smaller forums is a treasure hunt, where riddles are posted in different sections and users have to read threads and search the forums in different ways in order to be the first one to reach the treasure. It's a good way of getting lots of users familiar with your site and investigating everything you offer.

Member Avatar for 010081

it all depends on your budget and your forum niche...

Like posting contest for money or for something give away for post "that prize must relate to your niche".

Member Avatar for articlegenesis

You could start a blog focused on weight loss and document your experience and what helped you along the way and what kept you motivated. If you have truly exceptional content and are passionate about this, then your blog could start to attract a lot of readers over time. We get a bulk of our business by now from our blog.

Member Avatar for marketingworld

Another idea that works in smaller forums is a treasure hunt, where riddles are posted in different sections and users have to read threads and search the forums in different ways in order to be the first one to reach the treasure. It's a good way of getting lots of users familiar with your site and investigating everything you offer.

I like this idea. :cool:
It will help users become familiarize with your site...

Member Avatar for mackone

Treasure hunt will be a good idea, again depending on your niche, there are different prizes that are appropriate. For example, video game forums would likely give out video games.

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