Comments on: Apathy: The Web's Worst Enemy

By: Jason Kaminsky

Jason Kaminsky — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:37:20 +0000

Content Writer: I actually agree with your comment about opinionated posts. Using the word “may” is misleading. I do agree that strong opinions can deter some viewers from commenting, but it can also spur a lot of debate and response. I guess that my point should have been: Pay attention to what works and be open to change your tone if necessary.

Thanks for the responses.

By: content writer

content writer — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:55:52 +0000

I think what’s especially important, and this took me a few years to work out, is that you need to have at least some motivator for your audience to share your content. I have the social buttons on a couple of my blogs and they’re barely ever used unless I offer some kind of incentive (even if it’s really small) for my readers to talk. I have to disagree with you on the opinionated posts point — my most successful posts, at least in terms of social media sharing — have been ones that were very opinionated and somewhat controversial.

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:00:06 +0000

Though none of us like to admit it, it can be really hard to get responses – on Twitter, blogs, etc. The one thing that I find that works for me (at least on Twitter) is to ask other people for their expertise. When I was looking for jobs, I sought out high-powered social media users who could give me advice. When I’m in another city looking for a restaurant, I throw a request out to those who know the city. Sometimes I even ask individual people, like @PhillyAdKids Which Jose Garces restaurant is your favorite?

Blogs, though, can be totally frustrating. My blog post that got the most attention was for a great branded iPhone app that I only saw once. I decided to share it and other people passed it along and retweeted it! So in that respect, I think the best way to get responses is to provide UNIQUE content. Anyone can say “The Old Spice guy on the horse is so funny!” But it takes a good eye to see the value in an ad for a product with less visibility or a more serious (or regulated) message.