Online Forums ? Finally, Social Media Advertising with Proven Results, According to New White Paper from PostRelease

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PostRelease (www.PostRelease.com) today unveiled a new white paper aimed at introducing ad agencies and brands to the value of online forums as the most targeted and effective channel for reaching highly influential consumers.

?No other medium ? online or offline ? gives advertisers as precise a target as forums do. The people there are motivated buyers, in many cases actively seeking product information. If you participate in the discussion in a transparent, authentic way, you can make a powerful connection.?

The paper demonstrates why a brand?s most valuable audience can be found in online forums, and shows how to reach that audience with relevant messages that engage and inspire action. Download the white paper for free here: http://postrelease.com/pdf/PostReleaseWhitePaper.pdf.

In a forum ? unlike Facebook and Twitter ? product conversations are not intrusive, they?re integral. Those conversations are often a consumer?s only reason for being in a forum in the first place. Instead of ?I?m having PB&J for lunch? or ?I?m in line at Starbucks,? consumers post such pointed questions as ?What to look for in a car stereo? and ?Can someone recommend the best tire??

?In other words, forums are a communicator?s dream ? the ultimate way to target,? said Justin Choi, PostRelease president. ?But it?s not as simple as just jumping in and starting to participate in the forum conversations. There are challenges, rules and best practices that agencies and brands should be aware of. The purpose of this paper is to help demystify the world of online forums and give them their due as one of the best ways to reach consumers already predisposed to be interested in what you say.?

Forrester Research reports that 28 percent of U.S. consumers read online forums ? making it the second most popular online activity, second only to watching video.

The paper examines:

• How forums work ? their structure, and current advertising opportunities;
• What makes forum users such word-of-mouth powerhouses for a brand;
• Why participating in forum discussions can boost SEO rankings, with posts that continue to drive traffic indefinitely ? increasing by an average of 100 percent one year after a paid campaign has ended;
• The importance of transparency and of following the rules and guidelines when participating in a forum community; and
• How to be effective in forums by dispensing useful information, not promotional messages.

Forums are online gathering places for people who share a similar interest, communicating with each other by posting messages. PostRelease enables companies to insert clearly labeled sponsored posts as relevant content into targeted online forum discussions. PostRelease posts offer a hybrid approach ? an ad unit that can serve as an editorial or communications vehicle ? making forums useful to advertisers, marketers and public relations specialists.

The Armory Marketing Group, based in Irvine, Calif., uses PostRelease to get several of the agency?s clients in front of relevant forum audiences. One recent campaign saw a 40 percent conversion rate from clicks to landing page, which is a ?business as usual? experience with PostRelease, according to BJ Birtwell, Armory Marketing Group president.

?From a hyper-targeting perspective, it doesn?t get much better,? said Birtwell. ?The most unexpected result was the speed and position of organic placement of our client?s content on major search engines. We?re talking first and second pages within a week. This result had many of our clients begin to pull dollars out of their SEO/SEM budgets, and throw it into PostRelease.?

?Online forums should absolutely be at the center of every agency and brand?s strategy for using social media to connect with consumers,? said Choi. ?No other medium ? online or offline ? gives advertisers as precise a target as forums do. The people there are motivated buyers, in many cases actively seeking product information. If you participate in the discussion in a transparent, authentic way, you can make a powerful connection.?

About PostRelease

PostRelease® (www.PostRelease.com) is the first effective solution for online forum advertising and influencing word-of-mouth forum discussions. It enables companies to insert sponsored posts into targeted online forum discussions. PostRelease empowers marketers to become part of the conversation in forums, at a time when opinions are being formed and purchase decisions are being made. PostRelease is a spin-off of Cie Studios, a Long Beach, Calif.-based ?digital lab? that combines compelling user experiences with cutting-edge technology to build next-generation interactive entertainment and rich Internet applications.