At first I must apologize, because I am not sure if this question is valid for webmasters topic. I deal with the problem as being webmaster, however, i think this question is more related with marketing. Nevertheless, I was searching for marketing stack-overflow at meta stack-overflow and did not find such page.BackgroundFour days ago, I launched a portal with database of barber salons at which people can find a salon through various criterions, see its photos, details, and also put a comment with their own opinion. The development took me half a year and it took me other 2 months to fill the database with information about barbers (I've also hired another three people to this job).I have not a big problem with getting people to my portal, I pay for PPC, comment on barber discussions etc.. In past four days I've reached a satisfactory number of visitors.ProblemI deal with fact that everyone wants to search and read comments, but no one is willing to put her/his own opinion to barber.So I've tried following (2 days ago):Made comment anonymous, no one has to be afraid of compromise her/his identity with a salon ownerI prepared a competition for users in which they can win a cosmetic package if they comment on at least three different salonsI payed for PPC campaign on facebook which is telling people about the competitionI registered competition on 20 portals for competitionsAnd the result:People are commenting on facebook that the competition is a good ideaThey are giving likes on facebookBut no one put a single comment to a barber salonI am getting little confused about what am I doing wrong. I will be thankful for any advice.
How to motivate visitors to comment
marketing;visitors;comments
I would think the simplest option would be to contact barber/salon owners and inform them that your site exists, that their business is listed, and that as an owner, they have the opportunity to have their satisfied customers post a positive comment on your site to increase their customer base.Bare in mind that you will need to make this really simple for them- something like a code to enter that will take them to their profile instead of a complicated URL. As well, you can offer the business owner the opportunity to comment on their own business to better define any unique value proposition (marketing speak) they may have such as discounts for service members and so on.Also, know this. I have a friend that has a barber shop, sadly- I no longer need a barber, but he gets a ridiculous number of calls trying to sell him something, telling him about online opportunities such as business listings, and so on each and every day. It will be hard to crack that nut. But I suspect a friendly e-mail or letter would go really far. Emphasis the win-win opportunity for both of you. Gentleness/kindness encourages people to participate as a kindness back to you, however, business speak will not.You can also make it easier with a simple rating system for those who are reluctant to comment. You can target a potion of your PPC ads and offer a coupon/rebate of anyone who leaves a comment. Something like: Love your barber? Tell us!I am sure there are many other ideas. These are just a few. Good Luck![Update]Here is a fun idea! How about hosting a humorous haircut contest above or in your comment section. You can offer a cash reward for the funniest haircut- you can split the reward to the poor soul wearing the unfortunate haircut and the barber/salon owner who can cut it gain (if they want) with any employee. Site visitors can vote on the haircut and the highest vote count wins. Of course you will have to regulate voting a bit with one vote per IP address, CAPTCHA, and an other check to prevent gaming. Alternatively, you can use the comment section for votes too! This is an opportunity for actual barber/salon customers to participate. You can encourage commenters to not only comment on the haircut, but their experiences with the barber/salon too. It is too late for me to participate, but it could work for others! As well, you might end up with some unique content that may attract new users. Who knows?