Mack wrote 40 ways to get more blog comments on one of his recent blog posts. Although the headline said 40, Mack actually listed only 31 methods to get more comments. Mack, how could you trick us?! Jokes aside, I decided to write and search for 9 other methods to get more comments that some bloggers are actually using today.
I wanted to find 19 but it was tough to crack another 19 different methods which is totally different from what Mack wrote, so I came up with 9 and the last remaining number 10 is for YOU. Share your methods and we’ll have them featured in a future post with credits to you.
1) Reward Comments
Showing love for someone is one great way to get their attention as well as getting more comments. This is one way that sprout social is currently using. Every Friday they have a column called “Fan Friday” where they list 4 different people and thank them for their comments. What a great way to flatter someone and show your appreciation and get them to come back and “compete” for another spot?
I actually did! I commented in another 3 blog posts after that and I made it into their Fan Friday on their second week. After posting the blog post, @sprout_insights tweets the post and mentions people who are listed in there too.
Example:
Fan Friday: Sorry, You’re Not The Center of the Universe
2) Top X-amount of [niche]
Who are the top people in your niche? Who are the new people in your niche? Who are the upcoming people in your niche? People love to be mentioned because they feel appreciated. This is one method to get more attention from bloggers as well as getting more comments, as they would comment to thank you and share it with their friends.
Example:
Top 50 social media blogs
40 Bloggers to watch in 2011
3) Weekly roundups
I like weekly roundups, and I find that many bloggers are doing them these days as it allows them to showcase the best blog posts that they have read in the week. Sort of like a summary of great blog posts. It’s a good way to get attention from other bloggers too.
Example:
SuperPost Sunday – Weekly Roundup #19
Fetching Friday – Resources Mashup & Partners in Crime
4) Mention them on social networking sites
You’ve mentioned someone in your blog. One way to get them over to your post is to actually mention it on social networking sites just in case they have missed it. That is what I did at my Friday column at iStrategy. Every Friday we have a Q&A session with our followers and I answer their questions on a blog post. After posting, we’ll send out tweets to all of them mentioning that we’ve responded to their questions. We have a 75% rate of responds (well… 3 out of 4 is 75%… clears throat).
Example:
5) Send a personal thank you email
Recently I commented on one blog, and the user sent me a thank you email for leaving a comment. What a great way to show your appreciation to someone. Did I reply? I sure did.
Example:
6) Personal Follow Friday… on a blog post
A great way to showcase someone’s talent is to write about it on your blog. Gini Dietrich is doing it at her blog, where every Friday she personally recommends one person for her readers to follow. Two weeks ago, this blog was recommended by her. The entire team thanked her and we continued to comment on her blog later on.
Example:
#FollowFriday: For Bloggers, By Bloggers
7) Write thoughtful comments
There is a difference between commenting and writing a thoughtful comment, I have seen a lot of great comments that really stands out. One who is doing very well is @nittygrittyblog, who we can see puts a lot of effort and thoughts into a comment whenever she leaves a comment on a blog.
Example:From @nittygrittyblog
Hey Aaron,
Well your strategy certainly seems to be working for you my friend. I should really think about mimicking or “at least” trying a few of the things you do more often 🙂 .
In all honesty – I do quite a few of these things – just a bit differently at times maybe. I engage a heck of a lot – but they’re not always new people – although they are at times. I do a lot of thanking (at least more than 10 a day) – especially for RT’s and comments – whether to new folks or to ones I already know. Doesn’t matter – a thank you to anyone that’s done something nice for you is well worth it. But then again – you already know how I feel about that right 😉 ?
The one thing I don’t do – which I really should consider – is follow enough people. I’m one of the twitterers that wait for someone to follow her and then I decide if I’m going to follow them back or not. I should actually make more of an effort to search for like-minded individuals to follow, learn from and engage with on Twitter instead of simply waiting for them to get to me first.
This is some good tips to take into consideration. Thank you for sharing your ways Aaron. You’re a great example to follow.
Enjoy your weekend.
Cheers
8) Be controversial
I realized that being controversial is a great thing – one of my recent articles I posted last month about ‘which social network will die first, Facebook or Twitter?’ had tons of people talking about it on Facebook and on Twitter. Of course no one could tell if both will ever “die”.
Example:
Which will die first? Facebook or twitter?
9) Stalk them everywhere
Stalk the people you want to leave a comment everywhere, on Facebook, Twitter, fan pages, Linkedin… everywhere. Scary…but it works.
Example:
@askaaronlee (true stalker… beware)
Hopefully I’ve given you enough examples, share with us what other methods that you’ve seen gain a lot of attention and comments. Share with us below. We would love to learn from you.