How brands use forums for marketing [Content Asset Example]

Explore how brands use community platforms for their brand marketing — without being obnoxious

Forums aren’t dead. They’re where attention, intent, and trust still live — yet most brands treat them like outdated relics.

This issue breaks down how top companies actually use forums to build awareness, grow audiences, and drive revenue — and how you can apply the same principles without annoying the community.

Instead of high-level theory, this report focuses on real examples, real tactics, and repeatable patterns drawn from forums like Reddit, niche boards, product communities, and more.

What you’ll learn in this issue

• Why forums still outperform many socials for authentic engagement
• The marketing mechanics that make forum traffic sticky, loyal, and high-intent
• Examples of brands using forums to:
  • Launch products
  • Generate UGC
  • Create evangelists
  • Fuel SEO and backlinks
• How to participate in forums without being “that brand”
• A simple framework to find the best forums for your audience
• How to turn forum activity into measurable business results

Who this is for

This issue is perfect if you are:

• A founder or marketer building a community-driven brand
• A content lead or growth lead looking for non-ad traffic channels
• A newsletter writer or strategist who wants deeper engagement
• Anyone who’s tired of chasing algorithm changes and wants real audience spaces

If you’ve ever wondered where smart brands get their early advocates — this report shows you exactly how they do it.

Why this matters now

Social platforms change fast — but forums don’t.

People go to forums with questions, opinions, and buying intent. That intent is gold for brands that know how to participate thoughtfully.

This issue shows you how to be useful, visible, and valued in community spaces that still matter.

Part of the Media First Brand newsletter series

Feel free to subscribe to Media First Brand for more such content marketing strategy case studies and interesting content asset examples.

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About Merrative

At Merrative, we aim to build a collective of writers, analysts, scholars, and journalists to create and discuss thought-provoking content.

We aim to create a one-stop place to access human expertise to publish thought leadership content — starting with newsletters.

Based on your content strategy, we can help you publish below 4 types of newsletter formats:

• Case Studies Newsletter – Breaks down real wins and success stories to demonstrate authority.
• Data Stories Newsletter – Turns industry data and trends into clear, actionable insights.
• Industry Expert Interview Newsletter – Extracts frameworks and lessons from expert conversations.
• Content Curation Newsletter – Curates the most important ideas with takeaways and links so readers don’t have to.

Check our portfolio newsletters for samples

We can pull this off, because we ourselves run a portfolio of newsletters for these formats:

Media First Brand:

Type: Case Studies Newsletter shared twice a month

Join 1400+ content marketers and founders learning from our content strategy case studies and content asset examples across the internet.

Read Media First Brand

AppliedAI Trends:

Type: Data Stories and Trend Analysis Newsletter shared twice a month

Get one-pager AI trends intelligence reports on AI-impacted jobs roles, AI tools adoption trends, AI-first business ideas materialized, and noteworthy benchmarks.

Read AppliedAI Trends

Founder Leverage:

Type: Industry Expert Interview Newsletter shared once a month

Monthly briefs on how capital, ownership, and structure quietly shape business outcomes.

Read Founder Leverage

ReadTreats:

Type: Content Curation Newsletter shared every week

Join 6000+ readers receiving books, articles, films, videos, podcasts, and anime recommendations based on theme of the week

Read ReadTreats

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We can build end-to-end newsletter system based on original data and insights that get recommended by your target audience.