ENGAGE!

It's often time consuming to make comments and it can be a tedious task if you are forced to do it. If you are interested in the subject, feel that you have something to add or if you simply want to thank the author with some fine words for his contribution, it's fun and rewarding at the same time. It's actually so easy that literally anyone can do it.

With the latest Weekly Stats, we can see how well we are doing in terms of engagement. Taskmaster is the king of commenting on LeoFinance with nearly 500 comments in a single week. I was lucky to see myself at the bottom of the list. Sitting at 81 comments in total. I had 124 comments last week so it's easy to see that I haven't been doing as much commenting this week..

I have decided to step up my game though, and I decided to do that even before I saw the weekly stats. This post was in a way already planned, but I figured I wanted to change things due to those stats.

There is no need for me to explain why engagement is important. I have talked about this many times before and I am not alone. Taskmaster is also doing some serious heavy-lifting in terms of stressing the importance of engagement. You shouldn't have missed that.

However, as I often "play around" with numbers, I wanted to crunch some numbers regarding my results to get a better picture of this whole thing. The first thing I did was to make some comments. I realized after about an hour that I had managed to write 16 comments.

16 comments in 1 hour.

That's an average of about 3.5 minutes per comment. I would say that the majority of my comments are of decent length so I am not surprised to see that it takes me an average of 3.5 minutes to make them. My articles probably takes me an average of 2.5 hours, so 3.5 minutes for 1 comment is totally fine by me.

However, 3.5 minutes for 1 comment equates to 350 minutes for 100 comments. It would take me more than 5 hours to make 100 comments at that pace. But while I was crunching these numbers I was also looking into other things as well..

First of all, I realized how I could up my game easily by changing only 1 thing from my current approach. I also figured out that I could greatly increase the number of comments I make by doing that change, as it will increase the overall engagement as well. More comments obviously means more engagement, but commenting back- and forth leads to great discussions, which often sparks more interest and leads to more comments as well.. So it was a winner and nothing sensational by any means, but I actually didn't fully realize how much easier things would be if I did this..

The Full Potential.

While taskmaster4450 seems to have fully realized this from the get go, it took me a little longer to fully grasp it. You see, I usually reply to all the comments I get on my articles, and it should not come as a surprise that most people make one comment if anyone at all. That being said, if I get 10 comments on one of my articles, I respond to each of them which equates to 10 comments.

When I comment on other articles I often make one comment, the author might or might not reply and that's usually it. It usually ends there. I have obviously replied more than once a few times, which increases the numbers of comments I make. In general though, it is usually 1 comment and 1 reply. It has become some sort of "standard".

Taskmaster4450 on the other hand, he does something entirely different. He often makes one comment, waits for the author to respond and he replies back again. That's 2-1 taskmaster in terms of comments, right off the bat. Due to how taskmaster responds it often leads to yet another reply from the authors though.. Which taskmaster often, once again replies too.

Another thing Taskmaster4450 does, is that he replies to the comments other authors got as well. Each reply is accurate and it leads to more engagement. It's not that he is trying to push someone out of the way, it's the exact opposite. By doing what he does, he actually invites people to discuss things. It doesn't matter if it's the author of the content or the readers. Engagement benefits us all. It benefits the entire platform.

Leaving a comment with a question is perfect for setting up for more comments and more engagement, but you can just share your input and add something from your own perspective. How you see things. Give people something to think about and most of them will respond. That is what taskmaster4450 does.

So, what does all this mean? This doesn't affect the average time it takes for me to make comments.. Right?

That is actually only half-true. You see, I find it hard to comment on content I lack experience in, things I don't care about or stuff I've never heard of. Those are the topics that are the most difficult to respond to, for me personally.. To make a comment on that type of content takes time, and 9 out of 10 times it ends with one comment.

However, by making comments on content I actually care about, things I am familiar with or things I find interesting makes it a lot easier. It takes less time and I will have more to say..

Instead of making one comment that contains 1000 words, I can easily "set it up" in a way to make multiple comments. One comment could rather easily become 2,3 or even 5. And the best part is that it will take me less time to make these comments as the subject is something I actually care for.

This might not be new to any of you and it's actually not new for me either.. In fact, it's very logical.. But I still didn't fully grasp the power and full potential of this until just recently, as I figured it would be some sort of "hijacking" of other peoples content or comment section.

Before I end this I want to show you this:

Ignore me and you still have 10 users who are the top users in terms of comments. That's a pretty decent chance to increase your engagement as well. Just talk with these users and you'll most certainly be able to make comments back- and forth for a while.

However, don't focus on the actual leaderboard and try desperately to have your name in that list. Comments are vital, both for new users and for existing as well. After all, we are looking for more engagement that benefits the entire platform..

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