Monday, April 29, 2019

7 Ways to Encourage Conversation on Your Blog


by Edie Melson @EdieMelson

Blogging is a great way to build relationships with your audience. 

But a lot of people forget that, just like building relationship in person, we have to work at building bridges. It’s never a good idea to talk so much that others don’t have a chance to share their thoughts, and that holds true in blogging. 

There are things we can do to make sure our posts encourage conversation. And there are things we can do that discourage interaction.

7 Ways to Encourage Conversation on Your Blog
1. End every blog post with an open-ended question. It’s not enough to ask a question at the end of the post. We must make sure the answer to the question isn’t just yes or no.

2. Make sure the question posed doesn’t have an assumed right or wrong answer. This will shut down conversation even faster than a yes or no question. If we ask a question that has a definite right or wrong answer, very few people will be willing to risk the wrong answer. And after several have answered the question correctly, we’ll find no one else is answering because they feel like everything that needs to be said has been said.

3. Ask readers to share an experience that relates to the post. Sometimes a blog post won’t lend itself to a question. In those instances we can encourage our audience to share their experience. 

4. Ask readers to add to a list of suggestions or tips that have been shared. I do that a lot on here. (And I’ll do it at the end of this post.) Again, if a question isn’t appropriate or feel right, ask them to contribute to the topic already introduced.

5. Avoid using the pronoun you. This is especially true if the post is pointing out something negative. Using the word you carries a finger-pointing connotation that we want to avoid. For example, in point number 1 above, I would never say, “you must make sure the answer to the question isn’t just yes or no.” Instead, I phrased it, “We must make sure the answer to the question isn’t just yes or no.” 

6. Share your own personal experience. If we’re asking someone else to share, we need to make sure our blogs are a safe place for that. Going first rarely feels safe. So I always try to make sure I share my own experience before asking my readers to share theirs.

7. Always try to answer blog comments. This doesn’t mean every single comment has to be answered individually, although I do try to do that. It’s important that your readers don’t feel like they’re commenting to nobody. 

These are the main things that I try to do with every post I write. I don’t always do it right, but my goal is to make this a fun place to hang out, learn from each other, and share the writing journey. 

Now it’s your turn. I would really like to know what you’d add to my list. Or maybe share some of the things that inhibit you from commenting on a blog post.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

TWEETABLES

14 comments:

  1. Great tips Ms. Edie. Thank you ma'am. Do you know of any benchmark studies on Social Media effectiveness for authors. How do we interpret all the data points we can collect this days? How do we know we're effective or not? Would welcome your sage counsel.

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    1. Jim, first, this is a post about blogging, which is a different category from social media. That doesn't mean your question isn't relevant, I just want everyone to understand that blogging and social media are two different things.

      Now, to answer your question. The effectiveness for authors on Social Media is a tricky thing. If your question is, Does social media sell books, the answer is NO, not specifically. Social media is for building relationships. Then, after the relationships are made, we can invite those connections to buy books.

      If we skip the relationship building part, then all we're doing is advertising to people who don't want to be advertised to.

      So yes, there are studies on the effectiveness of Social Media for authors, and they're all over the map because many don't focus on the reason for social media.

      How do we know if we're effective or not? I gage that by the interactions first, the numbers second. If I have a growing number of interactions (comments, likes, subscriptions to my blog and to my newsletter) then I know I'm making a difference in the world. Second, if my numbers are growing (and it's a back and forth thing, some days they grow, some days they shrink. I look for a monthly benchmark an a quarterly benchmark to judge growth) I know my name is becoming more well known.

      I think the MOST IMPORTANT thing about social media and blogging is this: Know WHY you're doing it. If you're doing it to make money, then your evaluation will look very different than someone who's doing it only as a calling to serve God.

      That's a very long answer for a short question. I hope it has helped! Blessings, E

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    2. Hullo Edie, no formal studies on my part, but I "stumbled" onto something on Facebook. I've noticed others posing questions, nothing earth shattering or soul searching, but I started sharing them, too. And I've gotten so much interaction. Also, fun innocuous posts seem to garner lots of fun responses. You are so right about building relationships - it's one of the things I love so much about being an author!

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  2. Edie - can you or someone publish HOW to post, consistently, on this blog? I read it every day and post comments often. Some of mine make it, some don't. I wrote a comment just now and it went into cyberspace. It never shows my name. I'm OK commenting as anonymous, but I'm clearly doing something wrong and no clue how to correct it.
    Jay Wright; Anderson, SC

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    1. Jay, I'm so sorry for your frustration! First, I would ask what browser you're using. If you're using anything but Google Chrome, you're going to have odd issues. For a while, even though it's my site, I couldn't post a comment through any browser except Google Chrome.

      Second, make sure you're signed in to Google and if you have more than one Google account, don't be signed in with one email account and try to post using a different email. That will cause the comment to disappear or go to spam.

      Third, it's odd. I have a "waiting for moderation" folder full of anonymous comments, but I rarely find one of yours in it. Yours is the only Anonymous that blogger seems to recognize as legit without moderation.

      I don't know if any of this helps, but I hope it does. Blessings, E

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  3. Thanks for the tips, Edie.
    I agree with you, we need to bring back the 'social' aspect to social media.
    I noticed controversial topics get lots of views and comments but, do we want to divide our audience?
    I don't think so.

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    1. Ingmar, thanks for sharing your thoughts! Blessings, E

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  4. Edie, I have learned so much from you regarding blogging, and social media, and . . . well, in general. :) Thanks for these suggestions on how to encourage conversations on our blogs. I do ask two questions at the end of each of my blogs, but I don't often think to ask others to share their experiences. Thanks for that idea!

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    1. Jeanne, sometimes it helps stimulate new comments when we change it up a little! Blessings, E

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  5. Great message. I always learn something new from you Edie. Thank you.

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    1. Melissa, thanks so much for being such a great encourager! Blessings, E

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  6. Thanks for these blogging tips, Edie. It gets pretty discouraging when there's NO interaction on my blog posts. I'll have to try harder to get some conversations/discussions going using your tips. Thanks, again.

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    1. Peggy, if you've been at this a while and your audience is used to reading and not commenting, you can enlist some help. Ask a few friends - writer buddies seem to be able to help the most - to jump in for the next 6 weeks and leave a comment. As others see comments, they'll often jump in too. It's a lot like "salting the tip jar" at a restaurant. Blessings, E

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  7. Great tips, Edie! I definitely need to up my game with my blog - finding the time to write consistently these days is a challenge!

    Blessings,
    Edwina

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