I often talk to people who truly believe that if a blog doesn’t have any comments, then they’re not worth checking out.
But wait…check out Social Media Today, an extremely popular social media news website, and look at how many comments they get per post.
Usually, they get zero. Or just a few, depending on the popularity of the author and topic.
But most of the time, you’ll see zero comments.
However, if you look at how many times a post has been shared, it’s usually in the hundreds.
This happens to a lot of well-known individuals across the web. They’ll have hundreds, if not thousands of shares, but zero or very little comments.
Comments don’t necessarily dictate popularity anymore.
In fact, whenever I head to a website, I always look at how often their blog posts are shared, rather than how many comments they have.
In this digital age of social media, we’re relying on our friends & followers & connections to share information with us that we may find interesting.
So what does this mean to you?
1. Make your social sharing buttons visible. I can’t tell you how often I go to a website and see absolutely no way to share an article. Make your social sharing buttons visible on every post & on every page. I use the plugin for WordPress called DiggDigg, which floats next to my post.
2. Make sure that the sharing buttons are configured correctly.Configuring the tweet feature of your social sharing buttons so that it @mentions YOU and not @AddThis or nothing at all. By having your Twitter handle show up at the end of the post that they’re sharing, it let’s you know that your content has been shared AND it allows the sharer to follow you if they so choose. Every plugin or feature of a theme should have the option to input your Twitter handle.
3. Choose networks that you like. You don’t have to have every single social media sharing platform known to man available on your website. If you look at my sharing buttons, I only have a select few, there are dozens more that I can choose from, but I personally use these networks which is why I chose them. I haven’t had any complaints so far! So choose the networks that YOU like, instead of trying to please everyone (because you can’t please everyone).
4. Don’t disable comments. While sharing is becoming more of the ‘norm’, comments are still very much used and you should encourage that people comment and share. Sometimes I’ll come across a site that has disabled comments, but they have clearly visible sharing buttons. However, I get discouraged because even if I didn’t want to comment, seeing that I don’t have the option, makes me shy away from the entire page, making me think they don’t value my opinion as much.
5. If you don’t see sharing buttons, tell the owner. Sometimes the owner of the website/blog may not even realize that you can’t access their sharing buttons or that sharing buttons are so important or that they aren’t configured correctly. A simple, friendly email informing them of your struggles is all that’s needed. Some people will heed your advice, some won’t. But at least you took the time to tell them a concern of yours.
That’s about it! Comment, share & engage!