How well can a local business survive in the post Web 2.0 World?
Front Porch Forum is a local business in Vermont hoping to turn a profit, using content provided by a small subscriber base (See ‘Hyper-Local Lifeline‘).
The business is, as the name suggests, a forum where residents sign up, then join their own community and post content that relates to their neighborhood. It’s free to join.
Would you donate to keep a local forum alive? With major newspapers suffering, it makes me wonder how a for-profit local news business can survive, especially by asking for donations. Some of the reasons I question the FPF strategy is because:
- For-Profit Business and Donations Don’t Seem to Mix
- The Content is ‘Locked’ (Must be a subscriber to view ad supported pages)
- Content is Already ‘Donated’ — Why Should I Donate Money?
Just to clarify, FPF is not staffed by a newsroom, it relies on local community members to post content. In other words, FPF is the content aggregator, not creator.
Unlock Your Distribution Network
Feel free to call B.S. on this post if you feel the donation strategy used by a for-profit business is the way to go. Readers of this blog want to know your perspective, so leave a comment below.
What if FPF unlocked their content?
What I mean is, why not actively promote the service on social media networks instead of locking it behind a free subscription wall? See, FPF is supported by display advertisers, so it makes sense to me that more links on the social net will lead to more views and thus more ad dollars.
But that might not make up for the gab in cost to maintain the site as a business. After all, people across the U.S. and New England aren’t visiting, just Vermonters.
Other ideas for driving revenue:
Local Contests: Actively seek financial support from local advertisers in exchange for sponsoring contests that promote word of mouth marketing and viral PR.
Curated Advertising: Allow advertisers to ‘take over’ the pages for topics relating to their business and consider the inclusion of simple Web Video promoting sponsors.
Change the Business Model: What if instead of selling ads for a local forum, FPF started a revenue model based on teaching local governments and businesses how to run a compelling forum of their own? This would be a distribution/syndication business.
These are just some quick brainstorm ideas. What ideas can you share to help a local business like FPF survive in the competitive hyperlocal market?