Pick Up New Members With a Membership Drive

I decided to provide an enticing incentive for members of my social networking site, Triangle TRACKS, to invite their friends to join. I'm currently holding a membership drive with prizes for the members who produce the most joined invited members through Nov. 12. The prizes come from local businesses, and I've offered each business a 2-month homepage ad in exchange for their prize donation. This only costs me web space, and I'm getting a great boost in the rate at which members typically join my site. So, two days in, this membership drive has been a big success for me!

Because Triangle TRACKS offers 1,800-plus links to children's resources in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill region of North Carolina, the people who join my site are local, and they invite locals to join. However, a membership drive could also work for social networking websites covering larger areas; just make sure your prizes are easy to mail! (Gift certificates would be perfect.)

If you try this idea out, please let me know how it turns out for you!