Blog Comments = Social Visitors

 By Sean Donahoe

We have spoken about the many advantages and disadvantages of social media and social marketing, and everyone is pretty much resigned to the fact that not only is it the future of the web as we know it, but it is also evolving at an alarming rate.

We are at the point now where we can inform all of our connections, regardless of which social network they are part of, about everything we are doing, what we have written about, and what we think is worth sharing with the world with absolute ease and synchronicity.

One great way to share your information is to install plugins on your blog etc. which will fire out bulletins to your social media accounts.

Another great way, is to allow people to do the same thing – which is a lot like the “tell a fried” features on websites over the years. One fantastic way to share information about your blog, is to not only share your post – but also your comments. I know a few people who had scripts and plugins written especially for this job, because there was a lack of free plugins available. 

You don’t have to do this now, thankfully, as there are some great plugins available, due to the popularity of social media. This is a catch 22 that has been removed.

IntenseDebate have great plugins, making your WordPress blog pretty much Web 2.0 Futureproof, and enabling your participating visitors to seek out new visitors on your behalf, and get them talking together on your blog. This can only be a good thing, and it splices social media with blog interaction nicely.

If you are struggling to see the connection between getting traffic and blog commenting, here’s a nifty example. Let’s say you had a blog about the NFL and the amount of money being spent on publicity. 

Your post goes live, and hits the RSS feeders, who visit the blog and start commenting. One or two people comment, and then share on Facebook. Their friends, who are likely to have views which agree or disagree with their comment, click the link to your blog, read the article, and then comment on YOUR blog. 

They are not commenting on Facebook – they are actually visiting your blog to participate in the conversation. People love sharing their point of view, even if it is to agree with the subject matter. The trick is, giving them a platform they can use, and making it part of your business.