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The Ultimate Online Social Strategy | Which You Won’t Do

Just one simple thing. Big impact.

Here’s something I’ve been challenging clients with for the past couple of years during internal strategy workshop sessions.

A simple action that if done properly will produce the following:

  • more views to your website
  • deeper relationships with your audience / market
  • greater influence in your community / sector / industry
  • broader / deeper understanding of the space you serve
  • quicker connections to industry insiders / leaders

…and I guarantee hardly any of you will do it!

What is it?

Commenting.

Simply adding value to existing digital content out there.

Not a “hey yeh man, great post” but a “great post, really made me think about X and wanted to share this great book / video / quote with you which I thought was fitting. Thanks for creating it and looking forward to more related stuff from you.”

The simple truth is as creators of online material (whether it be blog posts like this one, videos, a tweeted image, slideshows etc) it’s extremely validating to receive a comment. And one of the first things we do is click through the digital breadcrumb to check out the persons background who took the time to connect.

Personally, loads of friendships to inspirational souls have been formed this way.

This one action also scales massively.

Just imagine the accumulative impact of every individual in your organisation / company leaving one comment, once a week on a piece of digital content out there… (a very small strategic commitment).

Imagine the gain in engagement if a council / a startup / a design firm / a theatre / a charity etc did this!

If you’re not adding value into the community by recognising their work then why should you expect them to give you their attention when you produce content?
Me

SMALL PRINT: I’m taking for granted what you have to offer in terms of your service / product etc is of quality and you know that by engaging it means genuinely conversing and not promoting.
Published

15 comments

  1. First – you made me laugh with the video! (Thank you – laughter is a lovely way to start the day!)

    Then I pondered. What makes me comment… Or not comment… I realized it’s a desire to connect with the person who shared an idea, or an opinion. If I feel they’re genuinely reaching out to connect with me, it just feels wrong not to respond. (Like ignoring a hand held out to shake – or a smile from a stranger.)

    Thank you for the laugh and the thoughts. Nice to meet you!

    Ps – I love the word ‘imagine’ – that word engages my brain.

    1. It’s a great video :-)

      That desire to connect is integral to the human condition which doesn’t go away when we use the web (if anything it heightens) – appreciate the comment!

  2. Oh wise one! So true and why don’t I comment? Usually because I get put off by spam bots – I just cant read those letters and number combinations! But I will leave comments from now on as I trawl the web in my various roles looking for links and articles worth sharing : ) Thanks DK

    1. Oh those captchas can sometimes be a tad tricky you’re right although nicer blogs don’t have them (like mine) ;-)

      Happy commenting as you definitely have a great deal of value to offer to folks!

  3. This is the most profound thing I have read in ages. Then again, the simple things often are! It makes such sense to translate the behaviours you would normally do into digital behaviours. There’s a cool cycle of communication model from coaching guru Myles Downey that goes: “Initiate – Respond – Acknowledge”. Most of us initiate and respond in everyday conversation, so why not digitally too? It’s great that you did an acknowledgement DK, completes the full cycle. Da iawn!

  4. I rely on those comments to do my job half the time. As a software developer, most of the useful troubleshooting knowledge I find on the web is in forums and comments to people’s questions. So it makes sense that I should be embracing this idea and doing it as easily as breathing. So, step one – leave a comment. Check. Thanks DK.

    1. Fantastic to have your voice / thoughts here Nigel on this – especially as it’s such an insightful contribution and something I missed in my original post (regarding the impact of knowledge sharing on others plus the karmic responsibility of adding back into the pool of knowledge from which we all drink). Comment on :-)

  5. Very interesting blog post! I find I rarely comment on blog posts, even when I find value in them. Why? I suspect it’s because I’m in a rush to move onto reading the next blog post and the next and the next…

    Commenting on a blog post is not only a great way of thanking the author, but I think it encourages you to slow down and consider your thoughts about what you’ve just read before sharing those thoughts.

    Thanks DK – I’ll be working to leave a comment a day on blog posts I enjoy from now on! :-)

    1. Good to see you here Richard – thanks for taking the time and totally appreciate it takes a little commitment to stop and leave some thoughts somewhere (especially as there’s so much good stuff out there). As you stated though, there is reward for the commenter as well :-)

  6. Hi DK. What a great topic! Thank you for sharing. I have told my clients numerous times to comment!!! And engage. I am going to share this others.
    Thanks again!

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