The introduction of online platforms for content creation, communication, and community building has helped to accelerate and expand the power of marketing. 

Content you create and share showcases what your company stands for and how you can support your audience, as well as helping you to expand your reach in easier and more accessible ways.

In other words: how you show up online is a direct extension of your brand. 

This goes beyond what you’re posting on your business social media accounts, or on your company website and blog, and also encompasses any comments you decide to share online.

When you show up authentically and positively, engaging with other brands and content in appropriate ways, it can do wonders for your company's growth. 

On the other hand, if you find yourself regularly commenting on posts (whether it’s on your business or personal account) without taking pause first to consider how those comments might be perceived by your audience, you might end up regretting that moment of keyboard courage* where you argued with an Internet troll or spoke too soon on a topic without first doing your research. 

*Keyboard courage is a relatively new term in the online space that describes the inclination of so many to make more drastic, argumentative, and/or potentially controversial remarks online because they’re not face-to-face with the person or people they’re interacting with. In general, these comments would likely not be made if the writer was in-person, but there is a sense of self-righteousness or false bravery online. 

Your interactions online matter which is why you likely need to spend more time developing the engagement piece of your marketing strategy. 

Engagement is a great way to increase brand visibility  

Engaging with content online is a great way to develop audience trust and boost visibility as a brand. This is an area I personally want to do more in (and have for a long time).

On your own posts, engagement encourages conversation, humanizes your brand, helps people to feel seen and heard, and can increase brand loyalty by building trust with your audience. 

On other people’s posts, leaving kind or thoughtful comments and questions can help draw attention to your account, expanding your reach and potentially bringing the eyes of like-minded users to your account. 

However, these positive benefits can only happen if how you’re engaging is aligned with your brand.

The content of your comments matters

Regardless of the post you’re commenting on, or the account you’re using to write your comments, everything posted online has a relatively permanent digital footprint. 

Comments can be screenshotted and re-posted by others, saved, or pulled up years later and used against you. Cancel culture has many unfortunate examples of this. 

However, comments can also be a beautiful way to interact with your audience, showcase your company values, and increase visibility. 

The difference in these two extremes comes down to the content of your comments. 

You can use these questions as filters for how you interact with content online: 

1. Are you engaging in ways that represent your core values as a company? 

2. Are the comments you’re making going to attract others to your business? 

3. Are you adding value with your comments? 

4. What is the intention behind your comment? 

How you show up online can either draw people into your company or turn them away.

When you might not want to comment 

Comment sections allow for the exchange of ideas. When used appropriately they can help people connect, facilitate a collective community, and support people in clarifying their own thinking or testing ideas. 

The reality is though that not everyone uses the comment section in these constructive ways. Here are a few examples of instances where it might be better not to engage. 

When you’re clearly engaging with an Internet troll

There are many users (or Internet trolls), who are simply responding for the sake of responding, to start an argument, and/or to get attention by any means possible. 

These users are better left ignored or blocked, rather than engaging with them and prompting further unhelpful (and often offensive) comments. 

Most readers will know to look past these bullies and won’t fault you for not responding to them. 

If it’s on your own post, and a comment is racist, derogatory or inappropriate, consider reporting the poster, deleting the comment, and blocking that account so they can’t continue to share these comments on your future posts. 

When it’s engagement only at a superficial level

While it can depend on the platform and the intention of the post itself, in general it’s often not helpful or impactful to comment at a superficial level (for example, leaving a comment about a woman’s appearance when they were posting about a job promotion). 

Read the post’s caption. What is the person sharing about? How can you add value or share your perspective as it relates to their content or caption? How can you engage in a way that continues the conversation they’re trying to create? 

While I’m not here to dictate your every move, my personal opinion is that you should be focused on commenting on the actual content of the post.  

When it’s simply to fuel your own ego 

With the unrestricted access we have to other people’s content – especially content that might completely oppose our own beliefs – it can be tempting to respond quickly and maybe somewhat ferociously to share your thoughts when you don’t agree with something or see something you don’t like. 

While sometimes this can be supportive for continuing an important conversation or correcting misinformation, it’s not always necessary or helpful.

Instead of immediately posting your thoughts when you see something you don’t like, take a moment to pause. Maybe even take a few deep breaths if you feel like you need it. 

Then ask yourself why you feel the need to respond. Is it to share important information or correct misinformation (are you sure you have the right information)? Is it to show support for an important cause? 

Or, is it to prop up your own ego or provoke an unhelpful argument? 

Creating a thoughtful engagement strategy 

A moment of pause, intention, and reflection can do wonders in helping people show up online more authentically and appropriately. 

Here are a few steps to follow to begin developing or refining your engagement strategy.

1. Get clear on your company and personal values. 

Your values are a key element of any marketing plan and strategy. They help you decide where and how to show up online, based on what’s aligned with your company.

Why did you start your business? What value are you trying to bring to the marketplace and world? How do you hope to create change? What’s important to you? 

Gaining clarity on your values can help you to determine where it might be valuable for you to share your insights and opinions, and where it’s best to keep your comments to yourself. 

2. Keep your audience in mind, and respond thoughtfully and regularly to comments. 

You’re likely online to reach new potential customers by expanding your visibility, and to interact thoughtfully with current customers (answering questions, providing value, sharing information about your product or service, etc.). 

So, keep these people in mind when you are commenting online. Customers typically appreciate when businesses seem human, and are showing up online authentically. 

Engaging thoughtfully with comments is a great way to showcase that you are both of those things:  

• When responding to a negative comment on your own account, try to appear positive and helpful whenever possible so your audience feels they can reach out to you openly with questions and concerns. 

• When it makes sense, move conversations from public to private so issues can be discussed further away from the public eye. Commenting something like, “thank you for bringing this to our attention, we will send you a direct message so we can discuss this further,” can be extremely helpful for keeping the peace in your comment section, while still showing that you are committed to resolving the issue. 

• Acknowledge positive comments with a thoughtful response or a simple thank you so your audience feels heard and appreciated. 

Responding to comments on your own posts in particular, is an element of your content marketing strategy that can’t be overlooked. 

If you are regularly posting content, but comments and private messages are going left unacknowledged, it’s a bad look for your company. 

Not only does it look like you don’t care about customer service, but it will also likely discourage your audience from commenting in the future.

Lack of comments and engagement with your posts can result in posts being pushed out less by the platform itself as it appears as if your content is not relevant or valuable to your audience. 

To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, try setting aside an hour every few days (depending on the size of your company you may need to do this more or less often), to respond to comments. 

The quicker you respond, the more genuine it can feel – especially if it’s regarding complaints or customer issues. 

Let people know that you see their comments. Respond appreciatively to positive comments. Answer any questions. Resolve any issues. And do this often so that people know you are actively listening and accessible. 

This back-and-forth allows your brand to (over time) create a community of audience members who feel they can come to you with questions, concerns, and feedback. From here, these users are more likely to feel inclined to purchase from you because they trust you and your business. 

3. Use CTAs to encourage additional engagement. 

Beyond responding to comments that are already there, try encouraging additional engagement on your posts by including call-to-actions in your captions. 

These can be fun prompts for starting a conversation, or a more formal ask for feedback on something business related. 

Here are a few more ideas to boost engagement via comments.  

4. Find like-minded accounts to interact with. 

While this element of your engagement strategy isn’t as pressing as ensuring your content and comments on your own account are up to par, finding like-minded accounts to interact with is a great way to increase brand visibility. 

For example, if you own a fitness coaching business that targets young women, it’s likely that there are some nutrition accounts online with a similar demographic that might also be interested in what you offer because they likely hold similar values of health and wellbeing. 

Leaving encouraging or supportive comments on profiles like that might help to draw attention to your account (without blatantly promoting your business). 

5. Avoid commenting without first gaining clarity on the context of the post. 

As a reminder on when not to comment, be sure to read the caption of any post first, before commenting. 

What is the post about? What is their call-to-action? Who is posting the content? Are they someone you even want to be associated with? Are they worth arguing with if you don’t agree with their perspective? 

Do a little research before you mindlessly post a comment that may or may not be relevant to the narrative of the post itself. 

And, before you hit post, re-read your comment to ensure it accurately represents your brand, what you stand for, and how you want to be seen. 

If something in particular has you fuming at your keyboard, take some time away from your screen before you make any drastic comments you may later regret.

6. Ensure your comments are aligned with your brand.

People want to support companies who are authentic, and who align with their own values. I wrote about this extensively in my blog post about creating a brand activism strategy.

While you can’t speak on every topic/ problem/ cause out there, you should have a clear idea of the causes and issues that you do choose to speak about, as well as how you approach them as a company. 

It’s also important to be aware of and sensitive to the current climate so you can avoid putting out messaging that’s insensitive. 

Stay informed, but also have clear boundaries in place around when it’s appropriate to comment and when you’re better leaving some things unsaid. 

How are you showing up online?

I hope this post serves as a reminder of the importance of being thoughtful with how you show up online. 

Whether you’re posting on behalf of your brand, or are on your personal account, your digital footprint is large, impactful, and relatively permanent. 

How you’re showing up online is directly linked to your brand, regardless of the account you post it on. 

So, take some time to consider how you’ve been representing yourself and your company.

Are you intentional and thoughtful when it comes to commenting and responding to comments online? Or, could your engagement strategy use a little refresh? 

Every day is a new opportunity to reassess, learn, grow, and shift how you approach your marketing.