In the game of social media strategy, there are several components to keep track of in order to ensure success! This includes like count, reach, views, impressions, and of course, comments. In fact, comments are 50% of what the algorithm considers “engagement”, and with better engagement comes a better chance that your posts won’t fade into the background on the timeline.
Why Aren’t People Commenting?
As the landscape of our content gets more and more busy, many accounts are finding that followers aren’t taking the time like they used to do leave a comment on a post. This is likely because commenting takes a full extra step, which takes the user outside of their scroll flow, unlike a like that takes minimal effort. People may also feel discouraged from commenting out of fear of being judged or confronted by online trolls who want to prove others wrong.
Another reason you might not be getting comments is (and we’re sorry to break it to you!) maybe your content isn’t inspiring any reason to comment! We recently came across this post by @prettylittlemarketer and we found it super inspiring. Yes, sometimes we have to swallow our pride and admit that we’re not doing everything perfect on social media, but it’s truly the only way to grow.
So, how can you level up that comment section? Here are 4 things (plus a bonus!) to consider that should help you bring up your engagement rate and help your account beat the algorithm.
Content
Point blank; if your content isn’t inspiring or intriguing, people won’t comment on it. The solution? Use one of our aesthetic videos to grab people’s attention during their scroll and add a call to action (also known as a CTA) right on the post using a beautiful font. Another great way to inspire comments with content is using a carousel of two pieces of video and asking your followers which one they prefer? You could even select specific emojis to represent each piece of content, so that all they need to do is leave the appropriate emoji as a comment.
Caption
The caption of your post is a great place to be a bit wordier, but not too wordy. Reiterate your CTA in the caption and break it out into different blocks so that the reader isn’t overwhelmed by a large amount of text. We recommend starting with an intriguing first sentence that either directly features the CTA or inspires the reader to keep reading.
CTA
CTA’s can be questions, interesting facts, or prompts to leave a specific emoji. However, they should be chosen wisely. The only real rule we can recommend to you is to keep it as simple as possible. Don’t ask your followers to think hard about a respond or write a detailed paragraph. Instead, make your CTA possible to respond to with 1-3 words or an emoji. For example, you could start your week by saying “Tell us your morning ritual with one emoji”, which your followers may be inspired to leave a coffee emoji, a newspaper emoji, or a running emoji.
Shareability
Want more reach and, in turn, more engagement? Make a post that your followers who have already commented will want to share in their stories. This can be done by making the post universally appealing. Perhaps you can ask a question that many people might be curious to know the answer of, thus leading them to the comment section to read other comments and maybe even leave their own!
Create an incentive
While it can’t always be done, one of the best ways to encourage comment engagement is with an incentive. This can be through a giveaway (aka leave a comment and be entered to win!) or with a secret incentive (comment YES to get something sent to you via DM).
So, are you ready to get more comments in your comment section? We can’t wait to see your engagement rate spike! Leave a comment to let us know which strategy you’ll be trying first!
…see what we did there? *wink*