I recently received a thank you note on my desk from someone for whom I filled in at the last minute and taught a class. I’m not a card sender by nature, which makes it all the more special when I receive one – I know it takes effort.
As a blogger, you have a community / tribe / flock for whom to care, sometimes in little ways. In fact, sometimes the little things are more noticeable than the big things. Here are four simple things you can do in less than five minutes that will take you miles in the sense of building and encouraging the community that gathers around your content.
By the way, I know the word should be commentator but commenter
Email A Recent Commenter
No, don’t spam them. Don’t pitch them anything at all. Just thank them with a personal word. I use a plugin to respond to everyone on this blog, but occasionally just choose one person who has left a comment just to personally respond and interact with them.
Click a Commenter’s Link And Do Something to Help Them
When you arrive at their homepage, join some kind of group, fan page, etc. Or perhaps promote some very worthy piece of content, or leave a comment in return.
Publicly Praise Someone
Don’t offer empty flattery, but if you’ve noticed an accomplishment by a community member, recognize it publicly via a Tweet or a Facebook comment.
Solve a Problem for Someone
Be a resource collector so that when someone expresses a problem, you have reference material to fall back on. I don’t know how many times someone will ask me how something is done and I’ll quickly search my delicious bookmarks and ask “have you seen this tutorial?
What have you seen work for you in building up your community?
photo credit: Roby Ferrari
About Brandon Cox
Helping others is appreciable act in humanity. With this act you can build on line as well as off line community.
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Brandon,
Is the email a violation of the double opt in requirements?
Brad
.-= Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Should Christians Bring Their Religion to the Workplace? =-.
I wouldn’t think so since you’re not adding them to any kind of list – just like emailing a friend for the first time.
However, I should note, since authoring this post, I’ve disabled the plugin that sends the thank you note, just in case.
I completely agree with all above except e-mailing. A commenter doesn’t expect to get a personal e-mail just because he commented, in my opinion and experience it would seem weird to him. And auto-responders are kind of not very far from spam.
.-= Eugen R.´s last blog ..The appereance of Nagahara Aiko and our meido syndrome =-.
Eugen, I see your point, so please accept my apology for the multiple auto-responses you’re going to get for commenting here, haha. It’s a fine line, but I think the difference is that with spam, you’re trying to sell something. With this personal email, it should be more of a very brief thanks and no pitch whatsoever.
You don’t need to apologise since I didn’t get any auto-responders at all. Only new comment notifications, to which I subscribed on my own free will.^^
I still can’t imagine e-mailing my commenters though… Well, not the ones I’m befriended with at least.
Excellent, short, sweet and to the point.
I really recently started taking advantage of the email tip and it’s been doing excellent for me, I am seeing new contributors constantly.
.-= Extreme John´s last blog ..WP Plugin Best Posts Summary Goes Nuts =-.
These truly are very simple things. Sometimes we just have to step out of our own “movie” and make others the star.
.-= Ms. Freeman´s last blog ..10 Reasons Teenagers Shouldn’t Work =-.
Twitter: Ileane
says:
Hi Brandon,
I never really thought about emailing a commenter, great idea. I’ve tried all the others you listed here and they are indeed very effective.
I’d like to mention that it is also a great idea to Stumble someone’s post and give it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon – or add it to Digg. It is a nice treat for someone, especially if they are not a regular Stumbler, they will appreciate getting the unexpected new traffic.
I’m using Diigo to save my bookmarks instead of Delicious. With Diigo you get the added benefit of being able to highlight important text and leave sticky notes on the page that anyone who goes to your bookmark can see.
Thanks for this post, and I will vote for this at BlogEngage.
@Ileane
.-= ileane´s last blog ..Top 5 Blog Topics =-.
No problem, and thanks so much! Glad I offered a new idea.
The points that you mention here are very valid. Every blog owner should follow this guide, especially if you are just starting out.
.-= Design Informer´s last blog ..Wallpaper of the Week – Cosmic Shapes =-.
Thanks so much for that!