How to Make Effective Comments that Build A Following
Disclaimer: Like my other guides, this is based on my experience on whats worked for me. I've only just got my first 40 followers!!
Nobody disagrees on the role of comments in building a following. Commenting is an easy way to engage with your audience and to gain followers. So lets look at some examples.
"Upvoted, followed and resteemed, plz foll.."
Wait! Before you submit that comment lets think about it. Is your goal to increase your number of followers on the hope they will engage (upvote/comment/resteem)? Or do you want to create a following who really interacts with you and your content because they want to?
But surely you can create an engaged following from them?
Anyone following are going to follow out of obligation. As far as reasons for doing things is concerned, obligation is barely above pity. Obligation is the mandatory greeting at the supermarket checkout. Its the minimum required politeness. Do you read a blog of a person you followed because of obligation? Are you going to use one of your 10 upvotes on that persons next article? Probably not
So how do I build an engaged following through comments?
I generally follow these three steps
1. Find stuff that grabs your attention.
Where do you find stuff?
I prefer the new tab (the trenches) for content. Its got a lot of interesting but usually unloved stuff that I love bringing to the attention of others. Its also full of shit but for me finding the gem in the shit is worth it.
Maybe you don't have the patience/time, Narrow it down to a topic and/or go through hot/trending/promoted.
What am I looking for
Find something that grabs your attention. Quickly before you change your mind, read it. Did you enjoy reading it? Check the comments. Do you feel like you can contribute something?
2. Make your comment add something
I have a rule for commenting (and life)
"If your comment wont add something, don't comment"
Example story:
I was scrolling along the new feed, and I stopped at this:
The thing that made me stop was the red lips & how vividly red they are! It stood out, I had to know more. So I read her intro, had all the usual "I like travel and finding myself" but I noticed down in the comments section no-one had mentioned her crazily red lips. So I did.
I didn't feel like I could add any more then she did in her reply, so I didn't add anything. I like to believe I made a difference in her day by noticing & I gained a follower, which brings me to my next point
3 Notice the shit people do
You know when you get a comment that brightens your day? Especially if its totally out of the blue, unprompted and with no expectations of reciprocity. It may of only taken a couple of seconds to think up and say but that one simple action that makes us feel appreciated can mean the world to the person.
So how do we make it count?
Make it specific to the articles intent
Doing this means that you cared enough to read the article. A simple comment can be as effective as a complex and well thought out one, its more about intent.
Be authentic
The modern world has trained peoples bullshit detectors so well most people can spot bullshit at a glance. It isn't worth it if your goal is long term engagement, being inauthentic can cost you in the long run.
Avoid critiquing
Even a well constructed, non-bias critique from someone you trust is a hard pill to swallow. From a stranger, at best its a waste of time, at worst you aggravate someone for no gain. Its up to the individual to see where he lacks and improve himself, your time is better spent doing basically anything else.
What will all this stuff achieve?
A good comment is like a taste & people will naturally follow you to see what other tasty things you have to offer or even just to reciprocate the warm fuzzies. Share with them more cool gems you sifted through shit for and you'll gain a rep for offering up the good stuff and the gems will get more love from your followers. This is getting too mushy for me, so I think i'll end it here.
To Recap (or TL;DR)
Don't spam, find interesting content, read the content and write authentic comments that adds something. The person feels warm in their feelings and then follows you. You resteem the interesting content and your followers get more interesting content and you get warm fuzzies for unearthing and sharing stuff you think is cool!
Avoid critiquing is always good. Great comment you gave to that girl
Yeah critiquing is a game best left unplayed, few if any winners. I've said my fair share of comments that I shouldn't to girls so anytime I come out unscathed is good! Thanks for reading the article!
oh, and I meant to say, that I tried giving kind-hearted critiques of people's work at the start, but as you pointed out, it doesn't go down too well.
A couple of times it was good, but I gave it up quickly, as it back-fired too many times
Couldn't agree more, you got to critique with empathy and understanding for the person & even then it's a minefield. Almost impossible to do with a stranger using text. Not to mention you don't know what their goal on here is!
so true, especially that last bit.
I left a comment on one today who was saying maybe somebody will tell me how to improve it, or something like that, but I left a comment asking them to assure me they are really asking for critisism, and they haven't come back to me yet.
I find this the easiest way to gain not even just followers. But in the end friends on Steemit. It is through thoughtful commenting, and truly engaging in someone's post or content. It shows the respect and appreciation for their work.
Plus, leaving great comments would encourage the people who post you commented on to visit your profile to do the same. Asking for comments, likes, and shares will get you nowhere on here.
It is better to have 100 real followers than 1000 fake followers.
Great article, my friend. Keep educating. :)
Thanks for the thoughtful comment! Hell if people read it and gain something from it then it was worth the time navigating my scatterbrained thoughts to push out an article!
I agree with you brother. Sometimes when you put a lot of work into writing a good article you like to be recognized. So hopefully, I will not be the only one commenting and upvoting. You have some great advice for users here. I hope some of them will read and listen because there are lot of spammers on here.
The spammers will stop when it's not profitable to spam. The only thing we can do now is find and upvote good content and wait for changes in steem that make it unprofitable to spam.
Well, I think it is not profitable for them right now. I think next step for Steemit is to ban any accounts which have more than 5 accounts from the same IP address. Because they are upvoting their own spammy posts. That is how they are successful on here.
Not much point since it only affects steemit and no other services that work with the steem blockchain. I tested randowhale and got roughly 1 dollar for 50c so it's still profitable. Guess we will wait and see what changes they make to the steem blockchain
well I can't say I have been here for that long but I joined Steemit before the fork and ppl were anticipating big $$ AND IT WAS SPAM CENTRAL , to the point where I didn't bother to even post or write anything for a few weeks cause it would instantly disappear .Although there is still too much spam content, plagiarism and abuse, it is getting better tho, like you said ,they give up after a few weeks once they realize it's not profitable and Steemit isn't a get rich quick platform. There are also some users outing the spammers one at a time ( thankfully).
Rather spend my votes promoting good content. But as you said it's good to see people downvoting spam.
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STOPhey, foloow me and I foooloooow you long time.
lol
good post, I have been trying to do this since the start and I have found it certainly helps get followers.
I have found it hasn't done as much to get eyes on my articles though, but I understand as it is hard to visit everyone's blog and keep up.
just keep slugging away I suppose
I'll definately acknowledge that creating an engaged following is difficult and it's fucking disheartening to see your posts go mostly unread. Seeing that, I can definately understand why some people turn to the dark side.
But I'm in it for the long haul, so I gotta learn to make shit people want to read. Which means admitting my articles might suck and finding out where they suck and fixing it. Which results in less suckier articles! Yay
I spend more time commenting on blogs than I do writing them. I just wish half the blogs here weren't about crypto currency because I don't have anything to add to those conversations.
This post has received a Bellyrub and 2.45 % upvote from @bellyrub thanks to: @chatman. Send SBD to @bellyrub with a post link in the memo field to bid on the next vote, every 2.4 hours. Be sure to vote for my Pops, @zeartul, as Steem Witness Hope you enjoyed your bellyrub!
Being very new here I appreciate hearing from more experienced Steemians such as yourself. The idea of earning money by posting content is certainly attractive, but belonging to a community that one wishes to be a part of is more important to me. Steemit gives you the opportunity to get know people from around the globe in a way that is difficult to find elsewhere. THX for the great post! 7-3's!
Your welcome, yeah I love how it connects people. I'm addicted to the stories of the random people you meet in here & I love giving them exposure!
Great post,nice work done !!followed and upvoted you...if you like latest designs,please follow me!!