Sounds like a good idea . Although the dealers may get alienated when people start slagging them off for bad service etc.

yeah that's true, may be worth a try though, We could even have the fiatforum flyers, and they all have the dealers names on them wherever the flyers are. we advertise them, and you never know in the future, they could advertise us a little bit.
I dont know why, I woke up this morning thinking of it, I must even dream about fiats!, God i must have a problem haha.

I like the idea. I might see our local dealer.

Only issue is that in the Garage section of the forum we have a list of bad dealers. and i think the one in Wakefield is quite well mentioned

But it could work both ways, they see whats going wrong through our forum, notice there getting a bad rep and work harder. If they get advertisment from it too..

I dont think alot of dealers would like it as it would be steering customers away from using the Official Fiat forum (which is crap and hard to use)(http://www.fiat.co.uk/community/?id=3188). However, guerilla advertising could be used in this case and placing flyers in the glove box or under the wipers of all the cars on the forecourt and running away would get FF some decent new user flow?

Cheers
Tom

Russ126 said:

I like the idea. I might see our local dealer.

Only issue is that in the Garage section of the forum we have a list of bad dealers. and i think the one in Wakefield is quite well mentioned

But it could work both ways, they see whats going wrong through our forum, notice there getting a bad rep and work harder. If they get advertisment from it too..

Click to expand...

if your going to go to your local dealer, then I might approach mine, if the forum leaders agree. before approaching, we should perhaps make some prototype flyers?
I think your right about the dealers, its their way of getting good honest feed back, and customers view of their garage/service. it could even work for the better, as if they are viewing the forum for feedback on them, if they get negative press, they might even 'compensate' the concerened person leaving the feedback.

ysidfa said:

I dont think alot of dealers would like it as it would be steering customers away from using the Official Fiat forum (which is crap and hard to use)(http://www.fiat.co.uk/community/?id=3188). However, guerilla advertising could be used in this case and placing flyers in the glove box or under the wipers of all the cars on the forecourt and running away would get FF some decent new user flow?

Cheers
Tom

Click to expand...

haha, I can imagine the local news 'local fiat dealers are keeping an eye out for a group of people who are leaving flyers in their cars'

maybe a better way forward. would be for a good few boys on the forums to have flyers in their gloveboxes ready for when they see some fiat cars, when your cruising along then, BAaaaaaam wiper a flyer, job done

Sounds like a good plan, but whats wrong with our current flyers?

Call me silly, but most people who own whatever type of car aren't really all that interested in posting on a forum. Even the average person who buys a 500 and comes to the forum only hangs around to get the information they want and then generally sods off.

I think a better idea would be to target people who obviously like the Fiat's and have something a bit out of the ordinary or who have modified their car.

306maxi said:

Call me silly, but most people who own whatever type of car aren't really all that interested in posting on a forum. Even the average person who buys a 500 and comes to the forum only hangs around to get the information they want and then generally sods off.

I think a better idea would be to target people who obviously like the Fiat's and have something a bit out of the ordinary or who have modified their car.

Click to expand...

Agreed, hence why the official FF stand at the big events will always be the best method to source new members, people who will stick around and contribute because they are enthusiasts.

As I have mentioned previously, despite a summer of leaving flyers under car wipers I have never seen anyone come on here and say it was because of that they became aware of the forum and conseqently joined.

It would be great if flyers were given out at dealerships - in theory this would help them (the dealers) out - as if their customer had a problem, they might be able to find the solution online rather than need to take the car back....

As said though, whether they would want to do this is another matter entirely.

Freebo said:

Sounds like a good plan, but whats wrong with our current flyers?

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I wasn't aware we had FF flyers .
I agree 306maxi that most people aren't interested in cars, forums etc, (that's probably why they bought a fiat haha). however, there may be some, when I bought my grande early 2009, I didn't really know about this forum, I only found it one day by mistake, and that lead to me being a (usually) frequent poster.
I do see your point though, and alot more will ignore it, than come check out this site.
If fiat were to back it, so this became an official fiat recognised forum, and the flyers advertised this forum for a social, and solving fiat problems on behalf of fiat, i think it could work well.

They already have an official forum, despite it being a bit rubbish - to this end I doubt we'd ever get Fiat UK onboard entirely.

Freebo said:

Sounds like a good plan, but whats wrong with our current flyers?

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i think we nearly run out of the small size?

Ive seen a few member join here saying some one at a dealers recommended us,

Would you even want it to be an official forum?

is anyone on her actually on the official fiat forum? im not lol.

I noticed this earlier on and was somewhat shocked....



More than 400 people without accounts viewing the forums and only 37 people logged in.

Its almost as if people are not bothering to make accounts.. and they just use us for the information they need and bugger off...
Something needs to be done.

Tom

ysidfa said:

More than 400 people without accounts viewing the forums and only 37 people logged in.

Click to expand...

Well, some of them are search bots and spiders.

Also, I know I regularly search for information via Google and may find my answer on other forums, for instance for PC issues. I read what I need and sorted. I never tend to register on those forums, why should I ...

ysidfa said:

I noticed this earlier on and was somewhat shocked....

View attachment 97247

More than 400 people without accounts viewing the forums and only 37 people logged in.

Its almost as if people are not bothering to make accounts.. and they just use us for the information they need and bugger off...
Something needs to be done.

Tom

Click to expand...

a lot of members say they view as guests and only log in when they have some thing useful to add

[URL="https://www.fiatforum.com/members/ysidfa" said:

ysidfa[/URL]]Its almost as if people are not bothering to make accounts.. and they just use us for the information they need and bugger off...

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People do just pass through the forum. its natural on all forums with technical and helpful info.

Type a quick search into google relating to a common Mk2 Punto fault say "Fiat Punto Coil Pack Failure" and the first hit is Fiat Forum, out of around 43,500 results, around 1,150 are from FF. you would just find the info you needed an leave.

However, if you cant diagonose the fault, you would ask a question on the forum.

I can see plenty of posters on the Punto and 500 section with only 2 posts next to their username. i wouldnt class these posters as helpful or even members, just people who needed help and forgot.

I used to have a Punto, and did the exact same search above. brought me to FF, i posted, and im still here after a year. and for 6months of it i havent even owned a fiat... after selling the Punto in May and buying the 126 last month...

Now is the expansion about getting more members, or getting more useful posting members, or just long term retention of members. I just dont see the need to create a new account to make one 1 post, regardless.

dave said:

a lot of members say they view as guests and only log in when they have some thing useful to add

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Exactly what i do. I see no point in logging into the forum if i dont need to post. i can access all the forums i view as a "guest" & i recieve emails if i have a notification