What do we want this discussion board to be used for?

[Scott]

Hi Everyone,

When we created the new listing of discussion forums they were intentionally streamlined a bit. We sort of expected that this discussion forum (Promoting) would be more of a how to type of place; it could be a place where people could ask questions, or perhaps people might want to share an anecdote or advise. Maybe someone will ask for advice on how they can do better. Stuff like that.

Our approach here is to have the Show Me forum handle all of the threads relating to product sharing. This includes affiliate requests as well as the usual proactive sharing of products. This will allow all shared products to be found in one place, and leave an area set aside for questions and advise relating to promoting.

I hope this clarifies things a bit. If you have any feedback for us here please leave it below. If there's some compelling reason why we should split affiliate requests out from Show Me then we'll consider it.

(and after proofreading my post I hit the Post button and noticed that we require a label, and one of the choices is "product request" which is a relic that must have carried over from our testing environment. Oops! That's probably where the confusion is coming from here. I've removed the label requirement on new posts. Sorry about that one...my fault for not removing the labels.

[WHS_Designs]

@Scott, I have no problems with this, but please revamp the description of Show Me on the Creators | Zazzle Community page to explain that it allows creators to showcase their product designs *and* covers affiliate requests as well.

Ditto for the Promoting section description (may be to something like best practices for promoting your Zazzle store/products/designs).

In fact, all the [generic] descriptions for the Creator forums need revision.

Thanks! 

[Windy]

Agreeing with THIS: In fact, all the [generic] descriptions for the Creator forums need revision.

[ElizabethR]

My sister and I used the old Affiliate Design Request forum heavily. It kept our requests from being lost in the Show Me Forum. We are serious about our Affiliate Design Requests. In the Show Me Forum, someone will create a pink with purple polka dots  flask that is retro 50s and run over to the Show Me Forum and find or start a thread inviting others to post products with those characteristics and post the one product in all those threads. Then, someone else will create multiple products with the same design, then they will go to the Show Me Forum and post everyone of those products in a different product thread. The goal is not to promote but to be used for being seen.

If someone posts an Affiliate Design Request, within a few hours it is on page three. My sister and I don't have time to come and try to keep our requests on the first page if it were allowed. This is detrimental to those trying to promote and those looking for promoters. This is why the Affiliate Design Request forum was created.

Here is our Pinterest boards and a section of the blog we just started.

https://www.pinterest.com/marilynscreativ/boards/

https://marbethhomearts.weebly.com/entertaining----blog-posts

We also tweet. After we get our blog active, we are going to build our LinkedIn and maybe TikTok.

We also want to address something else that has to stop that also occurred again in this forum. The creators on Zazzle are a community but they are also competitors. The forum isn't a playground for some designers to try to own or control. It is a serious part of conducting business on Zazzle from getting information to promoting. Some creators have a history of trying to chase certain other creators off of the forum or get them kicked off. When that happens, it is interfering in a competitors ability to conduct business. The interesting thing is when we were challenged about posting Affiliate Design Requests in this forum, the challenger had made a similar post with an offer for people to apply to be featured on her blog. In addition, two others had posted affiliate design requests. Nothing was said about those posts. In addition, the challenger had posted a promotional, Show-Me-Forum-type post in this forum for a new line of invitations. This makes us feel targeted.

[mylittleeden]

I agree I often don't post because whatever I post is buried quickly. The show me in the past also had a lot of similar threads set up which I found frustrating. I have gone in and set up a couple of new show me threads here on them I am seeing if adding some information and a bit of writing will help generate more people to join in. The design request boards never used to have a lot generally and were often out of date. I can see how they would help you but from a creative side it was often a waste of time and they were time sensitive but remained long after the promotional request was forgotten about. However if we tag our show me posts will that not help you find things quickly? I am still working my way around how this works but seems like it is more powerful than the previous version and must be a possibility.  Hopefully someone else can chime in on this. I am still very much on a steep learning curve. But love the fact we can add tags to our posts hopefully this will help both of us find each other 😁

[Windy]

Regarding OUT OF DATE boards. Please, @Scott , reinstate the option to delete a post when it is no longer relevant. I am SO glad  we won't ever again see the Squidoo Lens threads and the Google Plus threads which are gone now with the old forum's demise. But people kept posting products in those defunct threads for many years after the two sites were closed down. 

This will happen here as pinterest boards are deleted and as people close down their blogs, and we need to be able to delete a thread when we are done with it so that people will not keep posting to those threads for another ten years.

[jamies]

I completely agree with everything you said. I as well took my affiliate design request thread seriously and did promote heavily from it. 
I also agree with your comments of chasing designers off, I've seen it happen

[TheFrogFactory]

Affiliate design requests tend to get buried in the show me forum. If we could have it placed in a conspicuous place that would make life easier for both affiliates and those who want to work with them. In the old forum I would often refer to the affiliate design requests to post specific products. Many of my sales are the direct result of the work affiliates have put in and this is an invaluable part of the forums.

[KeegansCreation]

Wouldn't How To discussions go in the How To forum?

Show Me posts and Affiliate Design Requests are meaningfully different.  Show Me is people posting their own designs and hoping one of them interests an Affiliate. Affiliate Design Requests are a promise from an affiliate that they WILL be promoted so long as the designs meet the stated criteria and come in within some reasonable time frame after the thread starts. These two thread types are so different that they really need to be in separate forums since the Show Me posts so radically outnumber the Affiliate Design Requests by about 10:1. It makes more sense than having two forums for How To requests. How To questions and answers should be centralized to reduce the amount of forums people have to pick through looking for an answer.

[PacifierCity]

I have not yet figured out how to get back to threads I started.  When I bookmark something there is no quick and easy way for me to get back to it.  I have to go through my settings to find my bookmarks.  Perhaps I'm supposed to subscribe to my initial post.

That would help me get to my affiliate request posts, of which I've made none yet in the new forum)... but that does not stop an affiliates request post from falling way down the boar board as described by another above.  It seemed the show me forum was a place for people to blanket post anything they wanted to as many posts as the product fit... is SHow me your mugs, show me what you last created, show me what you made today, show me something pink.... a person could easily post the same product to all four of those... do that with a few products and someones affiliate request is hard to find and unless you know it exists, won't be found by new designers to post to. 

One nice the about the affiliate request board of old was that someone had to post where something was being promoted.  So you could post a few of your things to it, then go and check to see if your stuff was being promoted.  You knew if your designs worked for that promoter, and knew if they did not.  With the show me forum, you have no idea if posting there is worthwhile.  Promoters that use the show me forums get to do so without ever having to reveal themselves or where they post to.  I get that some or many may like that, but as someone "showing" products, you don't know that your efforts are paying off, or which thread is generating more views, etc.

I would also think that the old affiliate request forum was not heavily used.  This is probably because request are relatively specific AND because many affiliates don't wish to be known in the community.  It stops people from contacting them directly and begging to be promoted.  As someone who had requests in the old forum, I can say that I appreciated being able to make requests and was fortunate that only once or twice did someone reach out that was unwelcome... in 2+ years of using it.  I was disappointed that it was not included in the new layout.  We adapt and change with what is offered to us, but I would make use of the Affiliate Request forum again, if it is created.  

Thanks for reading ,

PC

[Windy]

I strongly believe we need an affiliate requests forum. The show me forum attracts a very general kind of sharing. I want to know at a quick glance who is ACTIVELY AFFILIATING and I want to see a link to where they do so. When I see this in the AFFILIATE forum, I immediately try to respond, because I know my product is actually going to be posted, or at least heavily considered for posting in a visible spot on the web, by an active affiliator.

Posting in The Show Me Forum, where you have no idea if anyone is actually collecting that type of item,  is more like pissing in the wind. 

[WittyBetty]

I'd really prefer Affiliate Design Request to be a separate forum. Much easier to spot topics where my designs would fit, and much easier to find out that the affiliate actually promotes them (if the old requirement to post their website or pinterest board remains).

[PAZP]

Scott,

I'm going simple here. Can you just add an "Affiliate Requests" forum, move all the current requests from here to there and leave this for the discussion it was intended? Then rename the "Promoting" title to something more specific to what you want. I don't have a good title name to offer right now. 

[Windy]

I am not sure the old Affliate board got as much action as it could have. I think the name could be clearer. 

One forum could be HOW TO PROMOTE

The affiliator forum could be entitled ACTIVE PROMOTER REQUESTS

[Barbara]

It appears Scott has listened to everyone, and there's now a separate board for affiliate requests. Yes!

[Scott]

Literally just added this a minute ago. Nice catch!

Hopefully today I'll have time to move over all of the existing requests threads over to the new forum.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! If there's ways that we can make our tools more helpful to you then please let us know.

[PAZP]

OUTSTANDING! Thank you so much. 

[KeegansCreation]

Yay! Thanks for the new board. This helps.

[Windy]

Rock on!

[ElizabethR]

Thank you!

[CreativeLeahG]

Awesome, great job thankyou @Scott 
I am personally loving the new forums and see even greater potential as they evolve. I know you have a ton of work on your hands transferring info and updating everything, doing great so far.

[PenguinPower]

I agree that the Promoting forum sounded more like it was supposed to be for posting about how to, where to promote effectively (not for promoting your own stuff...)

I also agree that Show Me and Affiliate Requests should be separated.

[SandyMDesigns]

I have been looking into Promoting because I would like those to promote my products. The Show Me does make more sense for this. However, when I have seen Show Me, I have no way of knowing if that person is looking to promote products. Does it make sense to have a thread for a Show Me but for those who want to promote products of others?

Or at least for those who have a thread in Show Me mention that they are looking to promote those products.