Man chasing word bubble with net

Comments: More than bottom dwellers

Comments can be hard to catch.Build your brand! Get people talking! Love those comments and respond to them right away!

The drumbeat of advice for growing your page views is nothing if not consistent. But if you dig a little deeper — say to the bottom of the page — you’ll find that there’s more than one way to skin this particular cat effectively.

Build a platform. They will come.

Take Disqus. It’s a free, networked community platform that takes the comments section of your blog or site and basically supersizes them into a larger whole. Its features are many, and all are designed to tap you into a broader network, get people to your site, build brand awareness and more.

For example, the Disqus integration with social networks means that a commenter can not only post to your site, but also link that comment to his or her social network profile. Poof! Your page viewer leaves you some feedback, and you also get mentioned on Facebook or Twitter.

Comments repurposing: More is better.

What’s the value here? Mainly that you’re capitalizing on what is already, to some degree, a captive audience. According to Chartbeat, a content analytics provider, 66 percent of page readers spend most of their time low on the page — where the comments live.

It’s important not only to see what those viewers are saying and to interact with them by way of replies.  Why not also collect them as a group and turn that merry band of readers into brand advocates? Once that’s done, you can continue the engagement through customized messaging, special offers and more. And this community will build upon itself, so you’re not out trying to recruit new members (although you certainly can).

Recycling for fun and profit

It’s good to be talked about, but a post on your page is just … a post on your page. Why not work to make comments, especially positive ones, speak a little louder? It’s just one more way to gain more value from the hard work you put into your online presence, and a fairly easy way to push your message out beyond that of your competitors.