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Thread: What can we do to get this site kicking again?

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    BluRT00's Avatar
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    Default What can we do to get this site kicking again?

    Like the title states? This place is a ghost town with a few of us grouchy folks roaming around, with a sprinkle of new. Do we have a idea on how to target the facebook community? I've seen plenty of crappy tech handed to those new guys on facebook and it's a flash back to early days of these trucks. Yes I know we get tired of new people, but they are what will keep this club going. It's sad the only time we can get more traffic and activity is when a poo flinging fest starts. Do I need to insult peoples momma's to get some life pumping in this place?

  2. #2

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    The reality is people like using facebook now. And the club will have to decide in January if spending thousands on this forum is worth it for a few posts a day.


    "The journey is more fun than the destination"

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    Give away free stuff.
    11.27 @ 118.23
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    What todd says, I truly think its easier and faster to reply and update on FB. I've mentioned it in the past, and I think Sam and Pete have talked about relinquishing the FB page to the club... or we can just make our own.
    - Josh

    2000 Solar Yellow R/T - Cam Only Truck
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    BluRT00's Avatar
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    If we go strictly Facebook then you might as well forget the knowledge database we already have on here. Plus Facebook sucks on keeping stuff pinned and easy to find. That will kill whatever we have for information. How about the registration stuff gets streamlined and doesn't take days and weeks. Cause I remember seeing some facebook users saying that. Come on guys lets make a effort, not saying you aren't. Just feel like we all are sitting back hiding in our garages and not giving a crap about making this place big like it once was.

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    KTK00R/T's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BluRT00 View Post
    If we go strictly Facebook then you might as well forget the knowledge database we already have on here. Plus Facebook sucks on keeping stuff pinned and easy to find. That will kill whatever we have for information. How about the registration stuff gets streamlined and doesn't take days and weeks. Cause I remember seeing some facebook users saying that. Come on guys lets make a effort, not saying you aren't. Just feel like we all are sitting back hiding in our garages and not giving a crap about making this place big like it once was.
    I wouldn't say get rid of the site entirely, but it's obvious the majority of folks like the convenience. Try this. Time how long it takes to open your phone, open face book, navigate to the group, and ask a question - see how quick and how many responses you get. Now try and open your phone, navigate to DRTC.com, find a forum, post that same question and see what you get.

    My point is, I don't think you are going to drive people here, without having a presence somewhere else, and pointing to a forum from facebook isn't really going to get it either.

    That being said, an option would be instead of a group page, we could look at a formal page like a business. Then posts made by the "club" are on the front, IE your announcements, and posts made to the page are view able by members?

    Throwing topics out there, but you gotta follow the people, not just hope they go to a forum and sign up.
    - Josh

    2000 Solar Yellow R/T - Cam Only Truck
    1987 Buick Regal T-Type - WE4 and Blackout
    2008 GMC 1500 Quad Cab
    1989 Jeep YJ - Real Jeeps have Square Headlights
    1971 Buick Skylark - LS SWAP THE WORLD

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    Steve '02CC's Avatar
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    This site is a better format for handing the kind of content it handles. A Facebook page is highly disorganized in comparison because a thread asking for the best spark plug gets the same priority as everything else and then a day or two later it's gone. A Facebook page feels like McDonald's while a site like this feels like a sit down restaurant.

    I think this club needs a presence on the trendy social media sites, but sometimes it seems like people think that the internet is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (and is ugly yellowed blurry square photos), and nothing more.

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    I don't and won't do facebook

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    Duner's Avatar
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    I don't do Facebook.

    I will admit that my enthusiasm for this site got killed during the last regime.
    i'll try to make more of an effort to visit and post.
    Duner
    4.7 Turbocharged CC in white - 12's
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    blackknight's Avatar
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    No Facebook!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Duner View Post
    I don't do Facebook.

    I will admit that my enthusiasm for this site got killed during the last regime.
    i'll try to make more of an effort to visit and post.
    What you said... And, people are so critical of what is being posted anymore. It's hard to be enthusiastic when you know your post is going to get pissed on!
    99 DA CC R/T
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    DRTC #311

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    Facebook and this forum are different animals. As a member here, I would rather that the riffraff noob questions get contained on Facebook and not dilute the integrity of the forum and the database we've already built. It works well for that purpose. People join the FB pages, either out of general interest, or because they're new to a truck and have a simple question they know they'll get a fast answer to. Facebook makes it easy to ignore that stuff if you don't want to see it. You simply just scroll past it, or setup no notifications from the page. You can be sure, one of the few thousand members will feel at liberty to answer whatever simple question was asked. There are enough OG regular contributors there that keep the misinformation to a minimum. If you're a true R/T enthusiast- you belong on this forum. As someone stated, this place is a sit-down restaurant and FB is a drive-thru. Each have their utility. We did offer full, no strings attached control, of both the Classifieds page and the Owners Group page to the DRTC but the topic was indefinitely tabled. I told my rep the offer was good until the end of October, and haven't heard back about it. So, Jason Weltch and I (sam quit) will just continue to do what we do: Approve members, delete spam, and try to keep the pages on topic. Many people join both pages simultaneously, but our visibility on Facebook is 2,359 for the Owners Group, and 2,208 are on Classifieds. If a goal of the DRTC is to increase membership, there is not a single better place to do it than Facebook, it's just that no one really does. I welcome any club member or exec to jump onto the page to promote the DRTC, its meets, or merchandise.

    If you haven't stopped by, you are missing out on some awesome trucks you won't see on the forum. Every so often we do a photo contest, and some beautiful works of art come out of the woodwork.

    This is the R/T Owners Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dakotart/
    Here are the R/T Classifieds: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DakotaRTpartsPage/

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    Quote Originally Posted by blackknight View Post
    No Facebook!
    x2, I only go on there once a week to delete all the stupid notifications... I am a member of other FB Dakota pages but I also never go to them, except of course to delete the stupid notifcations I get... not even sure why I have facebook really
    1995 Dakota Club Cab, 408, 5spd, 8 3/4 rear end

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    No Face book here.
    1999 R/C Solar yellow

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    Glad to see I'm not the only one that feels that way. I just see guys putting effort in clothing, calendars ect on the facebook pages. When we need new blood like that to be on this site and keep people coming back. Not causing a shit slinging battle, about the past group leaving a bitter taste in some of our mouths. We need to kick some of the OG guys in the ass and get them back on here. Both sides have seen each others points and are working to move along. Hell I GOT BANNED!, and am back and trying to get this sites interest like it used to be few years back. So Pat kick that fluffy guy with the huskies in the ass and get him back on here. Blaine I know you work a bunch, but it would be nice to see you back on here posting on what's happening with the black beast.

    As for the facebook pages, what if we had the DRTC logo as the banner with the website address? The facebook crowd has a bad view of this club and site, and I've seen some really nice trucks on there that are not on here. So let's keep the idea's flowing.

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    DRTC #311

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    The ownership of these trucks has shifted from decently well-off people that bought new or slightly used years ago, to being picked up for a few grand by teenagers as their first car. The club needs to figure out how to appeal to and absorb 2nd, 3rd, 4th owners of these trucks.

  17. #17

    BluRT00's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete102580 View Post
    The ownership of these trucks has shifted from decently well-off people that bought new or slightly used years ago, to being picked up for a few grand by teenagers as their first car. The club needs to figure out how to appeal to and absorb 2nd, 3rd, 4th owners of these trucks.
    Well looks like so far we need to figure out how to have a better post notification option that is easy to enable to the newer people on here. Also seen a thread on here where some of you guys are making a FAQ pinned type post for generic answers. If we got something that well organized, I bet we can get more people to come here to read up. I did like how you put this place is like a FSM. I did see some saying they think this place is strictly Dakota R/T's only allowed.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pete102580 View Post
    The ownership of these trucks has shifted from decently well-off people that bought new or slightly used years ago, to being picked up for a few grand by teenagers as their first car. The club needs to figure out how to appeal to and absorb 2nd, 3rd, 4th owners of these trucks.
    Budget go fast parts. With how far turbos have come, I really feel we're still over paying for boosted applications. I think we can come up with something better.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Osee View Post
    Budget go fast parts. With how far turbos have come, I really feel we're still over paying for boosted applications. I think we can come up with something better.
    It's called the Mopar tax mixed with the Dakota tax. It blows, and in time things will get cheaper for these trucks I'm sure. Hell FlyinRyan is trying to put a turbo kit together for our trucks.

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    There is some redundancy between the two groups, and I think part of the reason some people are Facebook-only is that there's an urban legend going around that you have to pay to partake in this website. I even know someone who claims to have tried to sign up but was blocked by a step requiring he pay to join.

    I know it sounds like imposing work onto someone else, but I think the DRTC needs to create a profile on all of these social media sites even if it doesn't use them heavily. We at least need to have control of the obvious names so that someone else can't grab it. You never know when someone might get disgruntled about this club and create a group under this name on one of those sites to cause trouble. Hell, maybe this could be a new board position "Social Media Director" or whatever and their job would be to update and manage the social media sites. For example, they could post club-oriented tweets on Twitter of things like upcoming events, votes, group buys, etc. Maybe vBulletin has a way to post recent activity on these sites on the homepage. The Dakota RT is so old it has reached the price point of young drivers, and youngsters today are all about that Facebook.

    Members also need to ensure they reach out to others in their area that they spot by at least putting a "You've been spotted" card in their windshield.

    I think this club is a long way away from the inactivity of sites like dakotausa.com had in the years preceding its deaths, but we should take advantage of the relative health of the club to get things going again before it cannot be reversed.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve '02CC View Post
    There is some redundancy between the two groups, and I think part of the reason some people are Facebook-only is that there's an urban legend going around that you have to pay to partake in this website. I even know someone who claims to have tried to sign up but was blocked by a step requiring he pay to join.

    I know it sounds like imposing work onto someone else, but I think the DRTC needs to create a profile on all of these social media sites even if it doesn't use them heavily. We at least need to have control of the obvious names so that someone else can't grab it. You never know when someone might get disgruntled about this club and create a group under this name on one of those sites to cause trouble. Hell, maybe this could be a new board position "Social Media Director" or whatever and their job would be to update and manage the social media sites. For example, they could post club-oriented tweets on Twitter of things like upcoming events, votes, group buys, etc. Maybe vBulletin has a way to post recent activity on these sites on the homepage. The Dakota RT is so old it has reached the price point of young drivers, and youngsters today are all about that Facebook.

    Members also need to ensure they reach out to others in their area that they spot by at least putting a "You've been spotted" card in their windshield.

    I think this club is a long way away from the inactivity of sites like dakotausa.com had in the years preceding its deaths, but we should take advantage of the relative health of the club to get things going again before it cannot be reversed.
    I'd be down to help with the posting of the media stuff if no one else in a higher position doesn't want it. Though you are dead on with your thoughts Steve.

  22. #22

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    It also probably wouldn't hurt to try and make a group appearance at some local cruz-ins in your areas. I know when I go to any around here I'm the only Dakota there. Doesn't draw much attention. But if you had a small group together then It will be more noticed. It worked for a VW club I was a member of in the past. ('67 convertible, fully custom). We would meet at a given local then arrive all together. The crowds would instantly flock around and that gave the perfect opportunity to promote the club.

  23. #23


    Steve '02CC's Avatar
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    The other day I saw a Chevy SSR got curious about their community. I did a little research and found a lot of similarities between it and the Dakota RT - it had a small production of only about 24,000 trucks, had a distinct look, was considered overweight for a race truck, released for only a few years, and has been discontinued for around a decade. Of course the SSR didn't have different variations that were produced in hundreds of thousands of units like ours or a popular SUV that stole its front end, but there are still a lot of similarities.

    Their forum, http://www.ssrfanatic.com/forum, seems similar to ours but it seems to have a lot more activity and it also seems like the enthusiasts get together a lot more than here. It just makes me wonder what is going on over there that makes them more active than we are. I kinda want to talk to one and pick their brains and find out what seems to work for them.

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    Quote Originally Posted by DreadPirateBanjo View Post
    It also probably wouldn't hurt to try and make a group appearance at some local cruz-ins in your areas. I know when I go to any around here I'm the only Dakota there. Doesn't draw much attention. But if you had a small group together then It will be more noticed. It worked for a VW club I was a member of in the past. ('67 convertible, fully custom). We would meet at a given local then arrive all together. The crowds would instantly flock around and that gave the perfect opportunity to promote the club.
    Kinda off topic, but about 5 years ago I knew someone who was a VW fan and told me about an upcoming meet in Daytona Beach, and I decided to go see it. It was really fun because there had to be between 100-200 Bugs and vans all around decked out in different ways. My favorite was a Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine van. It was a groovy event!

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    A younger member pointed me in a direction of a car forum that is very active. Yes I know it's for a newer model car, but claims it has the tapatalk feature for the forum(Mobile friendly software). Also is linked to facebook ect... and has a bunch of active members. If any execs want to check it out, check out http://www.focusst.org/

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