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Post by rusharp on May 14, 2017 15:34:06 GMT -5
It's no secret. The use and popularity of this message board (and many other message boards) has been on the decline in recent years. I noticed Winthrop has launched a new Board with some success, and they have a thread that discusses it. winthropfans.boards.netI wonder if there's anything we can do to jumpstart this site and bring it back to reasonable prominence? I've found this Board to be effective when I wanted or needed information, and to fill a knowledge gap when something pertaining to Highlander sports needed explaining. Does anyone have any thoughts or idea? I think our forum has value but for some reason it's not being utilized.
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Post by NYCLander on May 25, 2017 11:03:28 GMT -5
First, do people even know this site exists? I found this by trying to find a Highlander sports blog to follow back when I was an undergrad. I know many of my friends don't even know this forum exisits.
So how do we grow our following?
I think it's a combination of social media, technology, and passion. As a whole Radford Athletics has been on the rise, with baseball's recent success, soccer's great run, and great moments from other sports, it's no secret that we shouldn't at least have an active forum to keep fans engaged. I think the best way to do that and start getting people engaged would be to run your own opinionated Twitter account for the forum. Share news and updates that the Athletic Department doesn't share (ex. recruiting visits, thoughts on strategy, etc...). Then after building a following and try to convert them over to the forum. Another way, if you're really passionate would be to buy advertising. A simple targeted ad to Radford graduates/students on Facebook would probably be the best way. Or an ad in the Tartan.
Building an active forum is the hard part. With so many different ways to connect and build a forum, I'm not sure if ProBoards is the answer. When you look at this site versus other sites, it looks old and outdated. There's so many new technologies out there, many researching and starting over many by wise. Many people on here are a part of other forums and blog sites for their teams, and it's fairly easy to see what tools could be utilized in the future. It would be nice to have the Tartan sport's section run a forum, but that's wishful thinking on our part.
But this all ties into my last point of passion.
Are people really passionate about Radford Athletics? I think this speaks to the culture of the campus and how that relates to athletics. Outside of big games, Dedmon always seems empty, the baseball and softball stadiums remain half-full. It's hard to get people to care when they don't show up. Harder to reach alumni as well, when we have our own teams we care about and are more engaged with.
Other schools can make it work, I don't know why Radford can't.
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Post by rusharp on May 26, 2017 19:20:40 GMT -5
Lander- you've definitely put some thought into your response. Excellent ideas. I hope the administrators of this site will chime in at some point. I posed my question at close to the end of any Highlander sports season (baseball is still going on), im going to watch our highs hopefully win their 2nd game on the BSC tourney here in a few minutes) so not many people are trolling this site at the moment. Hopefully we can figure out how to jump start this site with your ideas and help from the admins in short order.
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