Recruiting New Members....How to

[LotusJoe]

Over the last few days we have reach 40 members. Our little community is growing, but how can we get more members? I posted a thread on Lotus Talk and The Yahoo Group telling those there that we now have community devoted to the Europa. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated.

I currently have the board set up to approve all new members before they can post. I did this to keep  away. The first couple of weeks the forum was live, I had a few spammers each day trying to join. Since I made the change it has dropped off considerably.

As we grow I would like to recruit members to be moderators of specific boards. So if your interested in being a Moderator please let me know.

This forum belongs to all the members, so if you have any suggestions or input, please speak up.

[Pete Gossett]

Good question Joe. I'd say based off the recent ownership age poll on yahoo it's going to be a tough struggle. It's a niche vehicle from a small manufacturer, with an aging ownership. So I'd say anything that promotes the Europa to a younger crowd will draw in the next generation of owners. I also wonder if reaching out to Dave Bean, RD, et al and asking for some cross-promotional assistance would be mutually beneficial?

[LotusJoe]

Contacting Dave Bean and RD makes a lot of sense. I will drop them an email.

[EuropaTC]

Hi Joe,

Personally I think the forum is growing well, although I can understand why you've posted this thread. As Pete says, the Europa is a much smaller market than the 60's Elan if only because the Elan has both the 2-seater and the 2+2 owners to go at. Hence the potential membership will always be lower than something like LotusElan.net.  (this is where I say "it's quality not quantity that matters"  )

Like most of us, I  read other forums as well and here's an observation which might interest you. I subscribe to "Classic & Sports Car", a UK monthly comic for us old car nuts, and around 6-9 months ago they started a forum.   Now this is a professional website with a publishing house behind it and has a couple of very good journalists who are keen owner-mechanics-drivers (one has an Elan) and they have put a lot of personal effort into getting the forum started.   Pretty much every few days they start a "what do you think of...." type of thread and I've got to give them 10/10 for effort.

But whenever I log in I find only one or two new posts, and I must admit that these days I only look every few days rather than daily.  That's from a potential membership of thousands just based on the subscribers alone, and yet I think it's fair to say the bulk of the activity is spurred on by the journalists. I think for the first month there were about half a dozen posters, if that.

Contrast that with what you've achieved;  it was slow at the start but now there seems to be a core with new posts or comments daily. It's a pleasant format, easy to read and we can post pictures to liven things up. I think you're doing pretty well.

Ok, how to get more PR ? I found out via the UK forum "Pistonheads" but there are only a couple of Europa owners there that I know of.  We've already posted on Lotustalk & the Yahoo list but as we all know some folks just prefer the newsgroup format so take-up from that source will be slow. I'd really like more to come and post because this format is so much better to communicate with (just think how much better the recent "brakes" thread would have been with pictures ?)

You've already got Dave Bean & RD over your side of the pond so I would suggest contacting Richard at Banks Europa, that might be significant for UK owners. I also use Paul Matty occasionally, he has a website but is not a Europa specialist like Richard at Banks.

Just thinking about it I wonder if it's worth contacting the UK classic car magazines ? Some of them often have a "club" section and we might get a link printed, especially if they are a bit short on column-inches       If you are in agreement I don't mind writing out some emails to see if we could get a mention ?

Brian

[cal44]

Joe,

I agree with Pete and Brian.  Consider when you and I were talking last June at C&C and you mentioned to me your website.  I thought gawd............finally someone has done it and brought Europa talk into the 21st century.

I also am a long time subscriber to Classic and Sportscar (Shelby called them sportcars) and find their website a little on the slow side as to forum boredom. 

You may have forty people now but in June you had what?........the beginning.  So I think this is going well.  Remember, there are many lurkers that never write a thing. 

The Europa Groups people have had their site and that was all there was for chat.  I can understand that it takes a while to move from the comfort zone.  So, like you, I go back and forth.
This site will be the Europa destination..........

Mike

[Pete Gossett]

You also might contact Tim Suddard over at Classic Motorsports and Grassroots Motorsports magazines. He's always willing to help where he can, and I've had quite a positive response from my not-yet-started-build on the GRM forums.

Maybe we can get them to run an article on the Europa(I think they did one 20 years ago or more), and they always publish links to vendors and online communities when they publish those.

[benbeames]

I was just looking at some numbers on the yahoo forum and though it says there are 2,433 members (though on a different page it told me just over 1,800 members) the last completed poll, the one about age only had 98 entries.  That's a much smaller pool of actually active member, or at least those who bothered to do the poll.   So again, your 40 members is pretty good for such a short time.  As some more of the yahoo group migrates over, what i consider its major draw, the expertise there will be added over here.

That said though, what I've liked here is that have had more enjoyable conversations. That although I may go to yahoo for a strict technical question, I come here to enjoy talking about Europa's. The idea of posting topics and polls regularly really appeals to me. If we can keep a friendly and fun decorum (which this forum has excelled at) I think conversation starters would be a lot of fun.

[Bainford]

I, too, feel the forum is growing at a good pace. Having dealt with the message board type of forum in the past, I was dismayed when I bought my Europa to find that the primary web location for discussing these cars employed that type of forum. I hoped like hell that someone would soon start a more conventional type of forum, and  turned to elan.net for my online Lotus fix. I was most relieved when I met Brian on that forum, who directed me here.

I like what you've done here, Joe. It's a nice tidy forum, and I think there are some good suggestions for increasing membership. Getting people to switch is always difficult, but eventually more will gravitate in this direction. I think perhaps one of the biggest gains in new membership will come from new owners. Faced with a choice I believe new Europa owners will choose this forum due solely to its format. However, the forum must remain lively for this to occur. Right now it seems to be doing very well, and I feel that as time goes on it will become the Europa forum of choice.

Hats off and a big thanks to you Joe. You've done well 

[3929R]

How about simply moving the "NEW" Forum link on the main web page to near the top of the list? 

[cal44]

I agree, the "new forum" needs to be brought way up.  "we are not animals........"

Another thing is the home page. 

Joe, "don't tase me bro",  perhaps a nice photo of a Europa, no newer than '74 every one to two months. Mix it up with street versions , race versions even ones that are under restoration........or even a Ztec engine conversion.

Example is the Porsche 356 Registry.  I consider that to be one of the top notch car websites........period as I belonged for years.  They have a different 356 every month on the homepage.......or was that every two months...........hmmmm.
Visit that site and see what I mean. 

If I am speaking out of school then I take it all back.
Mike

[benbeames]

Pretty much every few days they start a "what do you think of...." type of thread and I've got to give them 10/10 for effort.

Joe doesn't have to be the one with this responsibility.  Some of us can brain storm some topics and start posting.  Can you give some examples of topics you thought were interesting form the Sports and Classic Car site?

[EuropaTC]

Can you give some examples of topics you thought were interesting form the Sports and Classic Car site?

 To be honest Ben, I didn't find them that interesting 'cos they were never about my cars   

I only mentioned it because despite all the money & efforts put in by those guys (who do it for a living)  I still reckon this forum is progressing faster. In fact talking about it I went over to check it out again yesterday - there were only 2 or 3 posts all day across all topics, which for something that's been running for so long is almost "tumbleweed time".

But you're right, livening up the board isn't the responsibility of a single person, it should be all of us. I'll have a think.......

[benbeames]

Just spit balling here:

How did you come to own a Europa?

What was the first time you saw a Europa?

What is your favorite Lotus (and if the Europa, what's your next favorite)?

What's your favorite not Lotus car?

What do you think of what Danny Bahar was trying to do and what happened to him?

What do you think about the possibility of VW owning Lotus?

What's your favorite form of Motorsport (either as spectator or participant)?

What's your favorite aspect of your Europa?

If you could change one thing (as in wish it and it's done) what would you change about your Europa?

whats the farthest youve ever driven your Europa?

What's the worst problem you've had with your Europa?

How often a you under your Europa?

How does your significant others and or neighbors feel about your Europa?

If you could buy any new car today, what would it be (and if it had to place your Europa?)?

What "project" have you done on your Europa that you're most proud of?
 

[Mecky]

I will post a hint to our Forum in the German Lotus Forum. Perhaps we can get some more German members.

My idea for the Forum is:

1.) When here are some more members and more postings per day, the Garage can be divided into single Garages for the different types. One for Type 46, one for Type 54, one for Type 65 (or Type 54 and 65 together), one for TC and one for Special. If there were about 20-50 posts a day, that could be helpful to hold the Forum clearly arranged.

2.) And maybe there will be some guys, who are interested in Lotus 47, as well. Maybe the Paddock could be divided into "Racing with Europa Renault", "Racing Europa Twin Cam" and "Racing with Lotus 47". But that won't be necessary before the forum has much more members.

[EuropaTC]

Hi Joe,

I've taken the liberty of emailing Classic & Sportscar (UK) to see if they'll give the forum a plug, either on their website or in the "clubs" section of the magazine. They did a buying guide for the Europa a couple of years ago and one of the staff owns an Elan, so we might be in with a chance. I'll keep the thread posted with anything that results.

Brian