If you want more sales and more engagement from your followers on Social Media then a great way to do it is by building an online community. It’s simple to do, it can be done without any cost – all it requires is a little of your time.
First of all…
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO ENCOURAGE COMMENTING?
The more people comment on your post, the more they’ll see your brand on Instagram. This is because the Instagram algorithm ensures people see more content from the accounts they engage with over accounts they don’t engage with. This in turn gives you more of an opportunity to turn those people into customers. Engagement is a key metric that tells the Instagram algorithm to delivery your content to followers and non-followers more frequently.
As you may already know, I am a BIG advocate of brands engaging back with customers (check out my blog on ‘The secret to growing your Instagram organically’). Engaging daily with your followers makes the business seem more human, adding authenticity to your Instagram presence and connecting with audiences.
There are several ways that you could encourage your commenting on your posts. Here are a few examples:
👉Include a CTA (Call To Action) and tell followers how you’d like them to react to your post. Example – “Write ‘YES’ in the comments below if you want to know more”.
👉Ask followers for their opinions on a colour, product shape, branding. Example – “Which colour do you like the best”?
👉Ask for feedback from those who have already bought from you. Example – “What did you think about our new flavour”?
👉Invite followers to reply with an emoji to express their feelings about something. Example – “Reply with the emoji that best describes how you feel about this right now”.
👉Ask people to tag a friend in who would love your product/services. Example – “Tag a friend who you would love to share this with”.
…to name just a few,
HOW DO WE TURN THESE COMMENTERS INTO CUSTOMERS?
It’s simple. ENGAGE with what your customers are saying! Don’t leave comments unanswered. Your brand should appear responsive and engaging. An engaging brand responds to ALL comments left by people. If they have taken the time to leave a comment on the post from a brand they love, show how much you appreciate them!
Friendly banter with commenters might not immediately result in sales, but it’s a step closer to creating a community, loyal customers and building a relationship with people. And a loyal community brings not only sales, but valuable insights into your services and/or products and also customer retention. Commenting can bring you data that can help you make decisions about your next NPD project or your next content creation.
Replying to questions in comments can turn concerned followers that need that little push, into happy customers.
And don’t forget, you can start up a conversation on other accounts’ content, adding value outside of your own profile. Leave relevant comments on influencer posts, User generated posts that include your products/services or on a like-minded brand’s post – providing support, getting exposure and growing brand awareness. You may even want to leave a nice comment on competitor’s posts to get in front of their audiences.
And the beauty of all of the above? It costs nothing but a little of your time. 20 minutes a day is enough to start building traction and building your own online community. It is an important part of my strategy for the clients I work with.
Going forward, you can use your engaged Instagram followers to build a foundation for custom audiences such as ‘Lookalike audiences’ when looking at generating more leads and sales through paid campaigns.
CONCLUSION
A thoughtful commenting strategy can bring a lot of success for your social media accounts and ultimately for your revenue figures, attracting more customers to meet your organic social media marketing goals.
Written by Helen Dobson – Core Social Founder
