Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Is social media doing as good a job as your forums did? If not, then the problem might not be one of the forum, but an underlying problem. What are people turning to when they turn away from you? What are those things doing that is better or different than you?

People will put up with bad tools if there's a good benefit for their efforts. If you're seeing declining participation, then perhaps you need to increase the value of your forum. Also, if you have the right "mix", consider adding a gamification component to your forum (here's an article I wrote on this topic: https://www.manygoodideas.com/2012/11/01/make-marketing-a-game/).

You keep people engaged with relevant content that speaks to their needs and compulsions, not with tools. You use social media to drive traffic TO your forums, not to siphon it away.

Remember that the tools and you use are just that - tools and systems. That's not what attracts participation. The fullest possible engagement occurs when a motivated audience sees vigorous discussion or debate on a topic in which it is interested.

Perhaps use of multiple tools or systems that are not linked or aggregated ina user-friendly way may drive down engagement. If I have to look at three or four apps, websites or messaging systems, defragmenting the threads into a coherent meaningful conversation becomes too hard.

Modern life creates vast opportunities for distraction - are your systems distracting the audience and driving down engagement?

I would look at how your systems and tools function together. Perhaps post some examples or links where, and the community can try them out to see what they think.

Being everywhere may not be the answer. Just being in one place where people expect to find you may help your key stakeholders remain engaged..