Book: Blog Commenting - Part 2

Continuing from last week's book posting about Blog commenting...

Communicating and Marketing in Blog Comment Sections
Like message boards and online forums, blogs are micro communities.  The comments that follow each blog post represent the interaction within that micro community that is centered around the blogger and his or her topics.  That community tends to be mostly dedicated readers of the blog and they often feel a sense of pride and ownership in their reading and responding of that particular blog. Understanding that is critical.  Here are some tips to properly communicating within Blogs and their corresponding commentary sections.

• What are you selling? What ultimately do you want to promote?  Are you trying to sell a product or are you trying to integrate yourself into a community to showcase knowledge in a specific area and thus create exposure for your product?  Hopefully it is the latter.  Many blogs are moderated by the blogger.  Your comments will need to be approved by the blogger before they appear in the commentary section.  If you come right out and promote your product, the blogger will most likely not approve your post and it will never appear on the blog.  If the blog comment section is not moderated then your post will either be ignored or you will be inundated with negative comments and labeled a spammer. 
  


• Get to know the blogger.  Understand that when you comment in a blog, you are trespassing on the blogger’s property.  Think about it in those terms.  If you come to someone’s house, do you want them to invite you in or shut the door in your face?  Your first comment is like knocking on the door for the first time; make sure you say hello politely and show earnest care for their property.  Try to locate the blogger’s contact information on his or her blog and send them an email telling them you enjoy their blog.  Make sure you spend time reading through many of the blogger’s posts to familiarize yourself with the overall theme of the blog and what message the blogger is trying to convey.  When you actually make your first comment on the blog, try to stay positive.  If you agree with what the blogger has written, tell them so.  This will endear you to the blogger and will give you a nice introduction to the commenting community.  If you disagree, try to retain a positive outlook and ask a question rather than simply criticize the blogger.  Comment in several blogs over a several week period before you begin to promote your own message.


• Engage the community.  As you read the blog, you will notice that similar people post comments.  Engage with them.  Acknowledge good points made in the blog commentary.  Praise the individuals posting comments the way you did with the blogger.  Follow their links to find out more about them.  Understand the people within the community so that you understand what interests them.  As you did with the blogger, if you disagree with a comment made as a response, keep a positive tone and pose the issue as a question.  


• Promoting yourself and your product. The key to all marketing in conversational marketing is to allow yourself time.  It is nearly impossible to ingratiate yourself within a community immediately and start promoting your product.  You need to build trust and that takes time.  Once you have spent several weeks observing and commenting in blogs, you may then begin to post information about yourself and your area of expertise.  You may say something like:
  

I agree with what you are saying.  I work for a marketing agency that promotes products like X and I’ve found that if you do it this way, it will result in Y.  That’s just my opinion.  What do you think?