This post was inspired by @acidyo’s question What's your comment to post ratio like?
I thought it was rather interesting and wanted to know what mine was. With 14,000 comments and 550 posts mine averaged out to be 1:25 meaning 25x more comments than posts. If you’d like to know more about this and how to find out your ratio please visit his post.
There were quite a few people in the comment section responding that they wanted to improve on their comments and engagement. It was nice seeing that people wanted to make more of an effort to connect with others.
So why don’t they just do it?
There could be multiple reasons why, one being that they may not have figured out a strategy that works with their schedule. Another could be they struggle with finding the words to say to make their comments meaningful and genuine.
Everyone has different levels of comfort when it comes to communication. For some it’s easy peasy and comes out naturally while for others it may take some extra effort.
I thought it would be a good idea to expand on this and come together as a community to help each other out.
For those of you who have figured out a way to publish content and comment on a regular basis your input would be greatly appreciated here. This includes responding to comments on your posts as well as commenting on other’s posts.
I will start with sharing my own strategies:
I publish my posts in the mornings right before my kids awake and it’s time to get ready for the day. Some days are slower than others and I might have time to respond right away but most of the time I respond to comments during my breaks. If I don’t get to them on my breaks I’m reading and commenting back after dinner.
I really don’t like getting so far behind on replying to comments. When this happens I end up missing some that I totally forgot were there 🤦🏽♀️. To help with this I decided not to publish a new post until all the remarks have been answered on my previous one.
This has really helped me keep up better. Of course I still fail at times and may miss some in between but my goal is to always try my best to get back to them as soon as I can.
If I don’t have the time to respond or can’t find the words to say I will upvote a comment to acknowledge I have received it and show my appreciation for their time and attention to my post.
I go by one general rule when commenting on other’s posts and that is:
Comment how I would want others to comment on mine.
One of my biggest pet peeves when reading comments is when it’s clearly obvious a person didn’t read a lick of the post. Maybe they read just the title and tried to find a way to comment that would make sense but it still doesn’t. 🤨
If I am commenting on your post that means I have read your entire article and am clear on what the article is about in order to make a relevant response. Putting thought and effort into your response really stands out. Authors can easily tell those who really enjoyed and appreciated their work by the feedback they provide.
I manual upvote everything so sometimes when going through my feed I’ll upvote posts from the authors I’m following and then come back later when I have time to read and leave a comment. If I can’t find the words to say that I think would be supportive and beneficial I’ll just leave it at an upvote.
IMHO it’s better to not comment at all instead of leaving no effort generic responses that will only get ignored by authors anyway. If you think a post is great please don’t just respond “Great!” How about give a reason or two why you thought the post was great so your comment won’t be mistaken for spam but instead be valuable feedback for the author ;)
I’ve talked enough. Now it’s time for you to share your comment strategies if you will!