If you've ever posted anything on social media this applies to you.
Even though it seems like a small thing, comments actually shape a person's experience when reading an article online. It also influences their opinion of the actual topic being spoken about as well.
Which is why it is important to moderate and participate in the conversations around your content after it has been posted. Your experience does not end with the "submit" or "post" button. Replying to your comments is a really important way to show that you have great customer service, not only for your services online, but for everything your business represents, including yoru content. Some people may have follow up questions in the comments section which need to be answered.
It's also good practice to thank people for leaving a positive comment, so to encourage more to do so. It also makes the person that has taken time to comment, feel heard.
Sometimes the greatest discussions arise out of comments, but it's also your job as the author of the article to steer discussion away from off topic conversation. By being absent you may have a flame war going on in the comments section of your article without realising. This really disrupts the experience of your future readers and can have a negative affect for your content.
Luckily at SavvySME we haven't got a community that likes to "troll" each other. Trolling basically refers to throwing in comments with the intention to start heated discussions that are off topic, and are not beneficial to the author's original point. However I want to encourage you all to leave a thank you comment or something nice to thank the original author of the article!
If you have authored any blog posts or articles and have comments that have no replied to, I encourage you all to go back, spend a few minutes and reply it! Even a simple "thank you" is enough. This also shows that future comments on your articles will get some form of response, encouraging further activity!
I also hope that you readers enjoyed this blog post and leave a comment down below :) Otherwise it will be such irony.....
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Wendy Huang, Full Time Blogger and YouTuber at A Custom Blog in 4 Minutes
Wow thanks for the great story Peter. It's amazing how many people you can affect by posting things up online and not even know it. I'm glad that guy got in touch with you :) also shows the personal branding touch "the hat" you've been using is working really well :) And I agree sometimes coming back and sharing how much the original poster has helped you with your business really makes the "giving" action all worthwhile for the original poster :)!!
Peter Montgomery, Founder / Host at The Peter Montgomery Show
there's nothing more rewarding when working hard to create something that you believe to be valuable and sharing it online (Here, I made this - Seth Godin) than to have someone tell you how much it helped them and how much they appreciate your work and effort. You just don't get to hear about most of the action around your content. The other day I had a meeting with this guy whose main thing is assessing businesses and finding the right investor for them. He found out about me through someone I don't know and had never heard of, showing him my work online, and saying you should check out this guy's work. He did (but didn't comment on my stuff so I didn't know) I went to Entourage in Sydney and as always at Q and A time I stood up and said my first and last name and asked a question in front of 1200 people. It was a good question that I wanted to know the answer to and would add value to the situation but really I asked it for the purpose of saying my name out loud in front of 1200 people in case someone who knows of me might recognise me and come up and introduce themselves. That guy was there and he did recognise me ( I was wearing my hat) (on purpose of course:) but he got held up in another conversation and by the time he was ready to come and say G'day I'd disappeared. (I didn't know all this at the time) Later that week he found me on Linked in and connected with me mentioning my question at Entourage (real world comment) and we had a couple of back and forth messages about what we liked about the event and exchanged phone numbers. We set up a phone meeting and on that call set up the lunch meeting the other day where he told me about the guy who showed him my stuff online. He told me his name and I said I don't know of him and actually said out loud (in an excited, WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL? KINDA WAY) "If he saw my stuff and liked it he should have commented". Comment on people's stuff and shorten the time it takes to meet the people you're destined to meet. Then we can get on with it all a lot faster and have more fun!