It is important to devote time to engaging your target audience as you do while creating content, for example, you can focus on answering back to comments. It is not a bad idea to promote your comments socially. Most bloggers appreciate getting their posts tweeted/ shared. If you FB share/ tweet a reference to your comment on their blog post, especially if you mention them by name, it can have a positive effect.
Don’t take it for granted that you exactly know what your target audience wants from you. Instead do a quick survey to find out what they expect from you. Ask them the kind of things that they are looking from the site – in terms of information, products, services etc – for better conversions. There may be certain aspects that they expect you can fulfill. Incorporate them as part of your business ethos. Reflect this mindset in relevant blog posts. Keep the users in loop by updating your blog regularly. Thus you’ will also be offering some useful information to your loyal readers in order to make them revisit your site.
Be as authentic and sincere in your efforts as you possibly can. Do not indulge in blatant marketing or an open propaganda. Be as real and honest as the business situation and circumstances allow you to. Conversely, if you want to extend your reach through commenting, visit top domain sites to get familiar with the kind of material they host. Check the posts regularly. Assuming you have perhaps never been part of a particular blogosphere/community previously, go through their archive material as a pre-requisite to commenting. You will have a feel of the audience, their expertise and their perspective. On basis of this, you can post comments that will make a positive impression on other readers as well.
Reading previously posted comments on a particular thread. Checking the existing comments will help you get a sense of the aspirations of the community/ group you want to target through your own site. If you do not do enough research prior to commenting, the exercise will appear out of context. You obviously want to establish an identity amidst the crowd. Don’t simply drive-by comment & link drop. Understand the basics, follow the norms and your contribution will become far more meaningful.
Ideally, post something more than a tweet and less than a long paragraph. Do not ramble on even while trying to make a valid point (and potentially leave a useful/ relevant link). The feedback will probably be valuable for marketing on your own site, and the author may at times, append their post to incorporate your link. You can make a quick comment in the post itself, to leave a link back to a more elaborate piece. You may link not more than once to your own content in a comment. Leave a link, which is relevant to the post.
