Social Media Writing, Week #3
Now that we’ve talked about personal blogging and book blogging, the best way to finish off this week on social media writing experiments is by talking about comments on blog posts. This is one of those hot topics that has its set of supporters and protestors. There are pros and cons to the issue of leaving comments on blogs. For our purposes, we will focus on the positive. Your job is to read a bunch of blog posts and leave detailed, thoughtful comments for the bloggers (and you).
Creative Idea Gal’s Thoughts
My journey with blog post comments has paralleled my journey with writing a blog. I started off strong, was proud of my efforts for sustaining it for so long, and am now comfortable relaxing my standards and starting new experiments. When I first started blogging, I was under the impression that I had to leave comments on blogs because blog owners liked them. It was the right thing to do and provided benefits all the way around.
The responses I’ve gotten from leaving detailed, thoughtful blog comments have been mixed. In some cases, people have sincerely appreciated my insight, whereas in other cases, people either didn’t grasp my thoughts or did not reply at all. Receiving anything less than stellar replies to my detailed, thoughtful comments has definitely stymied me and inspired me to become increasingly selective about leaving detailed comments.
If you go into this project as I did, believing that the act of leaving detailed, thoughtful comments will somehow translate into increased traffic, better numbers, more followers, etc., you will probably be as deflated as I was. A better approach, and one that suits my style better, is the educational approach. Continue reading blogs and leaving well-written comments for bloggers. Then, save the link where you left your comment and save your comments as a distinct word processing file. Eventually, you’ll have a nice collection of your own comments which you can then expand into feature blog posts on your own blog and turn into a book. (That is how you write blog comments for you.) Neat idea, huh?
Helpful Resources
“The biggest piece of advice that well-known bloggers give newbie bloggers, especially those looking to attract comments and build a following, is to read other people’s blogs and comment on them. Commenting on other blogs means adding to the conversation in a way that contributes to the community.” – Heidi Cohen, for HeidiCohen.com
“For people who may not know how to comment on a blog, I hope this will help you. I read – and comment on – a number of blogs every day and I’ve compiled some instructions (with picture examples) below that may help you, I hope.” – Blogger Darragh, for his blog
Writing Prompt 045
- Step 1: Do basic Internet research and find blogs to read. Plenty of folks are blogging on all kinds of interesting things. Read, read, read!
- Step 2: Start leaving comments on blog posts you’ve read. Try to avoid the two-word compliment that is ubiquitous: “nice post.” Go for the hearty and the meaty comment instead. Take the time to explain thoughtfully why you agree or disagree.
- Step 3: Take things one step further. In addition to writing comments for bloggers, write comments for you by taking the time to save your comments in a separate file. Accumulation of your own detailed, thoughtful comments will bring you more creative inspiration than you could imagine!
Please be sure to leave comments about this writing prompt. We want to hear from you!
About the Author
Amanda M. Socci, J.D., is a freelance writer with 14 years of experience writing professionally. Socci currently cuts her blogging chops on her personal portfolio blog, the Creative Idea Gal blog, and on an online news site, Mount Vernon Patch. Inspired by Nina Amir’s Write Nonfiction in November writing challenge, she created a unique 10-month training program for Writenonfictionnow.com and Writenonfictioninnovember.com blog visitors.
Grab the badge of honor and upload it to your blog. Follow the prompts three times a week (M-W-F) right here.
It’s the ‘nice post’ or ‘you really write well’ or ‘some great ideas here’ that really irritate me, especially when they’re followed with something like: ‘check out my blog at xxxxxx.com. If I didn’t think it was a nice, well written post with some great ideas, I wouldn’t have bothered to write it. Tell me something I don’t know or something that says you actually read my post if you want to have a chance I will ever check out your blog.
Beyond that, I haven’t been posting on many blogs, although I have been reading a few. For some reason it hasn’t occurred to me that if I want love, I should start by giving it. Thanks for this post. Beyond that, where did you get this ‘Speak Your Mind’ comment box?
Very interesting avatar, Robb. Thanks for stopping by and adding your comment. Try to comment on other blogs from time to time. It’s a pretty interesting way of building an audience for your own blog.
I hope you had a chance to enter our Rafflecopter which is ending tonight. Nina Amir, the owner of WriteNonFictioninNovember.com, purchased the premium version of CommentLuv. It’s a pretty neat commenting mechanism.
There is nothing worse than a short comment “good post” … if we want to comment, it’s worth giving something from yourself!