forum_marketing v1.0.0

name: "forum_marketing" description: "Run value-first forum participation marketing: pick forums, learn each one's rules, contribute before promoting, keep signatures clean, disclose affiliations. Use when planning Reddit or forum outreach, drafting forum posts, or checking whether a promotional post is safe to make." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }

Forum Marketing

Purpose

Win customers on forums (Reddit, Discourse, vBulletin-style boards, niche communities) by being the most helpful person in the room first and a marketer second. Forums punish drive-by promotion and reward long-term contributors: one genuinely useful, rule-compliant contribution can send referral traffic for years, while a single spammy post can get an account silently banned.

Workflow

1. Pick forums, not people

Choose 3 to 5 forums where your buyers already ask questions. Smaller, on-topic communities beat big ones: a 5,000-member specialty board converts better than a 2M-member general one, and big boards enforce stricter promo rules. Lurk for a week and note:

• What questions repeat (your future answer templates)
• Whether anyone self-promotes, and how the community reacts
• How active the moderators are (fast mod responses = rules are enforced)

2. Do rules literacy before your first post

Every forum has its own rule set, and "I didn't know" is not a defense. Read before writing:

• The pinned rules / sidebar / FAQ of each forum and its sub-sections
• Whether self-promotion is allowed at all (many subreddits ban it outright; one 2026 survey found 39-61% of founder-adjacent subreddits do)
• Signature policy: line limits, link limits, affiliate-link bans, minimum membership days before signatures unlock
• Post in the correct section. Never hijack someone else's thread with your topic.

Details per platform live in references/platform-rules.md.

3. Warm up before promoting

New accounts that promote first get flagged as spam. The norm across forums:

• Reddit: 2-4 weeks of genuine participation in a target community before any promotional post; keep promo at or under 10% of your visible history (the 9:1 rule: nine value contributions per promotional one). This ratio was once a site-wide guideline; it is now a community norm, but mods and spam filters still enforce it. Reddit also states that accounts whose history is "primarily links to a business you benefit from" should be thoughtful about frequency or use ads.
• Traditional forums: signatures often unlock only after a minimum post count or membership age (e.g. 90 days on some boards). Earn them by answering questions, not by farming short replies.
• Everywhere: if a moderator has to ask "are you a marketer?", you promoted too soon.

Track your ratio with the included helper:

python3 bin/promo_ratio.py log --type value --note "answered threading question on r/python"
python3 bin/promo_ratio.py log --type promo --note "launch post, r/smallbusiness" --url https://example.com/launch
python3 bin/promo_ratio.py report

The report blocks you from logging a promo that would push the rolling 30-day ratio above 10%. It is a guardrail, not a license: 10% is the ceiling, not the goal.

4. Post value first

A forum post earns attention when it does one of these:

• Answers a real question with specifics: commands, settings, prices, timelines, mistakes you made. Generic replies ("great post, thanks") add nothing and read as sig-farming.
• Teaches something once: a guide, teardown, or checklist that becomes the thread people link to later.
• Asks a sharp question: shows you are in the niche and invites the experts out.

When the post mentions your own product or link, disclose the relationship in plain words inside the post ("I built this", "affiliate link: I earn a commission"). The FTC requires clear disclosure of any material connection, close to the endorsement, in the same medium. See references/platform-rules.md.

5. Keep the signature clean

The signature is your billboard. It works only if your posts are worth reading.

• One link, to your own domain. No affiliate links in sigs (a common bannable offense).
• Under the forum's line and formatting limits. Keep it under 5 lines.
• Make it a value offer, not a demand: "Free guide: how I cut our churn 40%" beats "BUY MY COURSE".
• Rotate it monthly. Update profile bio the same way.

6. Measure and prune

Add UTM parameters to sig and profile links (?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=<forumname>). Once a month, drop the forums that send no traffic or no conversations, and double down on the ones that do. One engaged community beats five dead ones.

Output Contract

When asked to plan, draft, or audit forum marketing, return:

1. The 3-5 target forums and why each one fits (with promo rules quoted per forum)
2. A warm-up checklist per forum: what to read, first 5 value-post ideas, promo readiness date
3. Drafted posts or a signature line, each tagged value or promo, with disclosure included where needed
4. A measurement plan: UTM scheme, what gets reviewed monthly, when to prune

Operating Rules

1. Never post a promotional thread before reading that forum's current rules. No exceptions.
2. Never paste the same reply in multiple threads. Templated text gets filtered; personalize every post.
3. Never use alt accounts to upvote yourself. That is vote manipulation and ends accounts.
4. Never buy or use URL shorteners in forum posts. Many filters remove them automatically.
5. Never hide your affiliation. If you benefit, say so, in plain words, in the post.
6. Value posts carry no links by default. Link only when the link is the most helpful thing in the room.
7. When a mod removes your post, do not repost it. Read the removal, adjust, and ask the mod once if unclear.