How to Avoid Awkward Silence in Your Comment Section

by Andrew Hanelly on June 21, 2011

avoiding awkward silence in your blog comment section

There are a lot of lurkers on the web.

You know, those people who visit websites, consume content, and move along. We’ve all done it. (You’re probably doing it right now!) 

People may Retweet and Like your stuff, but they aren’t depositing their two cents in the comments section as often as we might like.

Even some of your favorite blogs – especially corporate blogs – can sometimes feel like ghost towns.

Getting someone to visit is step one, and getting them to share your content on their network is nice, but getting them to leave a comment is the holy grail. It means they cared enough to not only read your post, but they also took their time to think about a response and post it to your site. Having this to happen is more elusive than it might seem.

Like a police officer playing by the rules, you can’t force anyone to talk, but there are some things you can do to encourage more conversation on your organization’s blog or website:

1. Forget global, start local.

Many of today’s most successful businesses started as a few bucks and a big dream. In a lot of cases, entrepreneurs field-tested their ideas among their own social networks (i.e. people they knew in real life) before they got in front of the rest of the world.

Even Facebook started as a site for students of Harvard only, so don’t worry if the only people commenting on your blog (at first) are people you actually know.

Sharing your content with people you know might feel tacky, but they likely care more about you than the average web user does. And generally, they won’t mind if you ask them to check out your stuff (the first time, anyway).

Think beyond mothers and grandmothers and tap into your own social network by asking people you are friends with (or Internet friends with) to check out your content and leave their reaction. Tell them to be brutally honest and not to sugar-coat it. This will help you get real feedback and develop thicker skin. (Pro tip: Don’t abuse your personal network.)

The snowball effect starts with people you actually know and that’s how it gets started. Recipes work this way; first shared among friends and then blossoming into something a restaurant might serve to the rest of the world. Besides, this will help you:

2. Get it started.

Nobody wants to be the first to jump in a pool – or a conversation on the web – because there is greater perceived risk than reward. People are unsure of protocol and instead of diving in, they’ll choose to sit on the side … or leave.

tip jar commenting

People are more likely to leave one when there's already one in there.

When I was slinging sandwiches for a living, we’d always seed the tip jar with a few bucks to break the “I don’t want to be first” effect.

People were more likely to tip when they saw that others had tipped because a norm had been established.

Getting people in your own network to break the ice for you can help onlookers realize that other real people are actually reading and will encourage them to jump in.

Besides, they might say something controversial and prompt someone else to chime in with their opinion.

Conversation breeds conversation on the web.

3. Ask them and make it easy.

You tend to get more answers from people when you ask them a question. They might have made it all the way through your post but most people aren’t inclined to write up a paragraph celebrating your work. If you want them to take part in a conversation ask for their opinion.

4. Don’t leave them hanging.

Ever said something and have a whole room go quiet? It’s the quickest way to make you feel like a complete moron. When someone does take the time to comment continue the conversation with them. Hey, they did it for you.

Plus, awkward silences are just, well, awkward.

What do you think? What makes you comment on a post? And why are you about to close out this window without saying anything? I don’t blame you, I just want to know!

[image: shyald]

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Andrew Hanelly

Written by: Andrew Hanelly

Andrew is VP of Digital Experience at TMG and for one semester in college, was a sociology major. Follow him on Twitter and Google+.

  • bill

    Out of pity, I’ll kick things off :)

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Thanks Bill. It was getting pretty awkward in here …

  • http://www.koozai.com Koozai

    A few over ideas:

    – Tweet people on your list who have an interest in a topic and ask what they think
    – Allow pingbacks as comments, you’ll at least get the spam scrapers adding to the debate
    – Allow people to subscribe to followup comments to keep the debate going
    – Thank people after they post a comment, either with a thank you page or email.

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Koozai – Those are all great ideas. I think we need to add a “thank you” page to this site, that’s very smart.

      Thanks for adding such a smart comment.

  • http://www.yinkaolaito.com yinka olaito

    Great post, i think when a blogger only copy and paste, and assume people out there do not read stuffs elsewhere, this may make them ignore the conversation on your platform

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      There’s definitely a premium on original content on the web – I try to always link to or have conversations on the original version of any piece. Scrapers do make this difficult and sort of spread thin conversation around a post.

      Thanks for dropping by, Yinka!

  • http://hotspotpromotion.com Darlene

    I think we fear that what we’d like to say isn’t important enough to actually write on a blog…

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Darlene – I think you’ve probably hit the key issue on the head.

      I think it’s up to the blog author to break down that barrier as much as possible by urging all comments – no matter their “importance” – to be posted. Every viewpoint of a community counts. It doesn’t need to be a counterpoint or an additional argument, sometimes it can just be a job well done message. The sites that make you feel like your contribution matters – regardless of your own perception of it – are the communities with the best, well, community!

      What you’ve said here is definitely important enough to write on a blog, btw :) Thanks for dropping by.

  • http://insightsandingenuity.com Heather Rast

    For an avid reader, I’ll admit that I don’t deeply consume as much blog content as I used to. I scan and skim, gleaning enough to determine if it’s “share worthy” – ie, something I think might interest or be use to the people in my networks.

    Sometimes my two cents gets tacked on to the short URL when I share and doesn’t take the form of a full-on comment. Is it laziness? A habit stemming from being overloaded and an interest in being efficient? Not sure. But good things to reflect upon. Gotta run go comment somewhere…

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      First of all Heather, I’m honored you decided to drop a comment on this post!

      I think your point underscores the “new” importance of comments. In an era of skimming and sending, stopping is a rare occurrence. So when you’ve had someone do that you’ve done something right.

  • Ann Donnelly

    Great idea about starting local!

    Main thing is to make sure that it’s not a technical nightmare to post. I’ve written a couple brilliant (of course) longish comments on posts just to be passed to a ‘page not found’ on submitting. The visitor probably won’t bother again or to tell you about the problem. Test it yourself and have friends test on various mobile devices.

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Testing is a brilliant suggestion. In fact, I think I’m going to incorporate that suggestion into an upcoming post for this week. Thanks for dropping by with your brilliant comment :)

      • http://e-business.ie Ann Donnelly

        =^_^=

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  • http://Www.graspingforobjectivity.com Rachel @ Grasping For Objectivity

    Great tips!! I think that non-bloggers have absolutely no idea how important comments are to us – that it fuels us to be better writers, encourages us, and keeps us from spiraling down in a pathetic mess of self-pity. But other bloggers do typically understand this, so I also try to treat others like I want to be treated. If someone cares enough about me to comment on my blog, I make the effort to visit theirs and do the same. This also helps breed both conversation and relationship.

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Amen – it starts the reciprocal relationship but it also delivers valuable audience insight. You get the knowledge from what they say, but you also indirectly learn what really spurs people to engage and can mold your content approach based on that.

      Thanks for dropping by, Rachel!

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  • http://justinbeeman.wordpress.com Justin Beeman

    Man, can’t tell you how many times this has happened on my blog! Admittedly, have found the time to put up new content in like a month, so not much blame room right now. Thanks for the advice!

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