COMMENTS
Oh man Mike it cracked me up to read this post and find there were no comments. Clearly you just posted it and I was quick on the draw. On the actual topic....I wish I had a big enough blog to obsess about this topic. I am happy for any and all comments. Interestingly, I realized recently that I feel really grateful to the folks who leave them, and connected to them in a totally unique way. I must be deeply insecure, no?
I am surprised that you discussed openness to comments without discussing comment spam and negative comments. I think that beginning bloggers have a lot more to worry about in those realms than in quantity of comments.
What are best practices for managing online communities? For B2B and B2C businesses, isn't community management marketing and customer service?
"When it comes to who's in charge," former Community Manager
Jeremy Owyang says "Control is in the hands of the participants, often yielding seemingly unpredictable results." Owyang, a senior analyst for Forrester Research, believes that marketers must surrender the reigns or risk brand backlash.
What are your forum guidelines and rules of engagement for blog commenting?
@Jules Pieri: I feel the same way and I don't think that's insecurity. Engaging with commenters definitely adds a new perspective to your relationship, and is important to have.
Yet obsessing over the number of comments you receive is not healthy. Beginning bloggers shouldn't worry too much about that and should concentrate on the quality of their content. Authentic engagement will develop gradually.
Hi Magdelana,
It's Dan Ronken (the guy who posted the original question). Thanks for posting this as it really has changed my perception on how I view blog comments.
I would never want to place a 'gag order' on anyone who wished to speak their mind. Agreed, it should be left to the reader to decide whether they would like to contribute to the discussion.
It seems to boil down to creating remarkable content and let the 'chips fall where they may.' If you provide value, they will come.
(Subtract a point for me) Sorry for butchering your lovely name by the misspelling, Magdalena.
(Add a point for me) At least I didn't confuse you with Mr. Volpe. :)- Sorry Jules, I guess you had to take one for the team there.
Man, I gotta go to bed! My penmanship is getting sloppy. The smiley face next to Mike's name wasn't supposed to have a tongue sticking out. lol Good night!
Ha, ha, that's easy for you to say, don't worry about number of comments: you get quite a few interesting ones in every post!!
We certainly could do with more comments in our brand new blog :)) I guess it takes some time.
Now seriously, thanks for another juicy post.
@John White: yes, spam is always a worry, I learned there is even a word for that "splogs" (spam blogs). Usually Wordpress or Blogger help wiht that and also introducing a Captcha is big help to avoid those slipping the blog provider security system (we had to do that in our museum blog).
@innova2
I must say I disagree with the last one (Stop Anticipating Comments) as I find it pretty useful to keep commenting community in mind while writing your blog posts.
All of my blog posts that had a clear call to action for response had much more response then posts that did not.
If the topic of a blog post is something that really should be discussed or it would be interesting to hear other experiences on it, simply include the call to action at the end of a blog posts. It works.
Typo?
"Leave them open," advised
him forum participant Brian Rogers.
Conxa, I clicked your link to check out your blog, but didn't find you. Could be part of the problem?
@Dan: Thanks for thinking of this wonderful discussion topic! I really identified with it and saw it from different perspectives.
I also feel somewhat disengaged when I see a blog with many posts but few comments. Yet you have to start from somewhere and be consistent throughout. That's the conclusion I reached.
I wasn't going to comment.
I read the piece from beginning to end, and found it very helpful - just didn't have anything to add. Nonetheless, I read it.
I'm commenting just to let you know that this happens all the time: people read posts, find them useful, agree with them, share them, take them into consideration in practice, recommend you as an author, dig deeper into your blog, take a look at your services - all without ever commenting on any pieces. It's ok!
I couldn't agree more. I've seen bloggers who stopped blogging because they weren't getting any comments.
Better to take a look at your readership, how long they are staying on your site, bounce back rates etc as evidence of engagement.
Plus, blogs can be a pretty easy way of augmenting your lead nurturing program content. In a recent post on my site, I suggest using blogs as a way to save time and address common sales questions.
I fully agree with you here; let people comment or not, but at least let them have the option. A friend of mine just told me Garry Conn has stopped allowing comments on his blog, and he speculated it's because suddenly his blog wasn't getting the high number of comments it was getting before. Then again, he's the one who decided to change the focus of his blog, so if that's the case, then it's all on him.
I totally agree with Luise. I have been reading blogs for quite some time but never commented. I am now discovering that there is a different joy in commenting. And it is a nice way to say 'thank you' to the blogger.
I agree that you shouldn't shut out blog comments - whether good or bad. When readers (first timers on your site) see a whole lot of blog comments, they'll be more interested because it signifies the popularity of the blog, as well as it's quality.
I think comments are great for the blogs. It gives feedback and lets clients stay in touch. Everyone wants to stay connected these days and allowing comments to be published allows communication to continue.
today, the answer to this question varies dramatically according to who is answering. For companies such as electronics company Cisco, the answer is ‘very significant’ – Cisco sell $9 million worth of hardware using the Internet each day. For fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies such as Unilever the answer is ‘insignificant’ – the majority of their consumer sales will occur through traditional retail channels in response to promotional campaigns in traditional media. In 1998 advertising expenditure for Internet placed adverts was estimated at £8m, compared to £3 billion for TV and radio adverts.