It is always a smart thing to have a plan for how you want to tackle things in business and this also means forum marketing. You can reach many of your goals, but you need to know what they are and what forums can give you. Successful marketers get that way by using this train of thought. First, they learn as much as possible about different marketing strategies. Then they take that knowledge and figure out the best ways to leverage it.
Most forum members act according to their personality. Others will be more extrovert or even introvert. So, unless you are a rude person, just be yourself. If you are the shy type, you don't have to start contributing right away. This behavior is called lurking and lots of people do it all the time. Creating a new post may intimidate you in the very beginning. Just respond to the other threads that people have created.
Don't just comment on existing threads. Start your own threads as well. It's quite common to feel a little bit shy about going out there and starting threads of your own. Just remember what you have to offer and want to share with the forum and begin your own thread. You can encourage people to reply with posts by asking questions.
A great way to get comments is to make a controversial statement. Of course there's a fine line you don't want to cross by saying something that's irresponsible or judgmental too. Just make sure, above all else, that you start threads that fit with the theme of the forum.
Don't even think about networking on a forum until you know who the 'top dog' on the forum is, so to speak. In general, there are a few people who carry a lot of sway on the boards. There is some influence to this based on the sheer number of forum members too. The longer a forum has been around and the more members it has, the larger the pool of influence on that forum is likely to be. So it just depends on the particular forum, and with some forums unfortunately it can be a moderator who has this strong influence. It's usually easy to recognize the people who are 'leaders' on the forum as they are the ones others are trying to get the attention of. These are the people you want to work to build a relationship with. Forum marketing will help your company click to read tremendously, but you will not see results automatically. But, it might happen sooner depending on the forum and your product. Some forums will allow marketing, which will make you plenty of quick cash.