$300k from commenting on posts?

Read Time: 5 minutes

Recently I’ve come to realize that there has been a major missing element in my social media strategy and almost everyone else’s I talk to.

The weird part is, over $300k of my own revenue has come from that very element. Across my whole career, I could attribute probably $1M to it at least.

In terms of ROI, it’s one of the highest in marketing. So why the heck am I not doing a LOT more of it? (I asked myself as I realized I could have doubled my business a lot faster…)

What is the missing element?

COMMENTING on other people’s posts.

Yep, commenting.

With a specific strategy we’ll cover next.

But first, a quick example of what this is NOT.

This is not using AI or VAs to go to influencer posts and just say “I agree” or “amazing insights”

Similarly, it is not about dropping a promotional comment on everyone else’s posts either.

$300k from commenting???

The strategy is simply providing real value by answering people’s questions and genuinely helping them.

Here’s an example.

I’ve been in the membership community of one of the bigger influencers in the online business space (this works in both free groups as well as paid communities).

The group is filled with my ideal potential clients and it’s a place where folks frequently ask questions, hit roadblocks, need support, etc.

When people ask questions that are in my areas, I’ll reply in depth (sometimes 500 – 750 words in a comment)

When I looked at my data, I discovered that I had probably answered 300 questions over 2 years I’ve been in the group.

I also discovered that 7 of my clients had come from just that one group, through conversations started in the comments, then DMs, and eventually a strategy call.

Seven in three years sounds like a small number but consider the two other key elements (time and revenue)

Answering and commenting over that time was about 15 minutes a week.

The lifetime value of those clients is $30k each (and counting as many stay with us for years)

Those results in just that one group could have easily been doubled or tripled if I was more strategic about it.

Then imagine if I have done that in other groups and channels too.

This topic of commenting was brought to my attention this week when I watched a video on The Futr YouTube channel with Chris Do interviewed a LinkedIn expert (Jasmin Alic).

He argued that commenting was even more important than posting for creators trying to grow on LinkedIn (and other channels like FB and IG).

I was skeptical at first but the data was convincing and that led me to go back to my own data and the examples above.

Benefits of commenting

My example shows a direct benefit of commenting and helping people: revenue.

The second benefit is visibility and branding. Beyond direct clients, I’ve also had folks in the group refer others to me as they had seen me help and provide value consistently so they knew my areas of expertise.

In the Youtube video I mentioned, Jasmin made a strong point that comments are a faster way to get in front of your ideal customers than posting and cheaper than ads because comments are free (in terms of money, we’ll talk about time shortly)

In other words, you can go to a group where your ideal customers are and/or follow influencers who’s own followers are your ideal customers.

When you comment and provide true value, help, or experience, those are seen by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of your ideal customers.

When you do it consistently in a fee key locations, you’ll gain followers, start conversations with them, and generate sales.

Occasionally you may also get the attention of the influencer or group host for collaborations.

My episode on Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast was another example of this. I had provided the same type of value in one of his communities and was invited on to share my expertise, which also led to some clients.

Another benefit is you learn a LOT about your ideal customers since you are seeing and responding to their challenges in realtime. I’ve started keeping a database of all the questions and my answers and that has become a gold mine in terms of copywriting and content ideas.

With all those potential benefits, we need to systemize this process so we can scale it up.

Turn commenting into a system

Just like we’ve turned posting into a system with our Content Engine, I’m working on systemizing the commenting so I can scale up everything discussed so far.

To do that we need to decide:

• Where to comment
• How to comment
• How to promote
• How to scale the process

Two places to comment

There are two ideal places to comment:

Public or private groups you have access to (Facebook Groups, Skool Communities, etc.) with your ideal customers in them.

The channels/profiles of influencers with your ideal customers in them.

In both cases, these are locations where you ideal customers are congregating.

Note that for the influencer path, you want small to medium sized influencers, not the giants.

The problem with the giants is everyone and their brothers will be posting AI and spam comments trying to also get attention.

Even if we provide true high value in our comments, they’ll get lost in the noise.

With small and medium influencers, yours will stand out.

Two ways to comment

Commenting on the original post:

If the post is from the group or channel owner, then your comment should add value to or extend their thought or idea. Again, more depth than “I agree”.

If you agree with their point, amplify it with your own experience.

If you disagree with their point, gently take the other side “working with XYZ I’ve seen a different result” and provide some counterpoints.

Commenting on comments from group members or followers

Whenever anyone on the post comments, asks a question, or needs help in your areas of expertise, you want to provide a truly valuable answer.

Don’t hold anything back. Give them your best thoughts even if it’s something you teach in your paid programs.

You want to be the “go to” person in the group or in the influencer’s comment feed for your topic.

How to promote without promoting

Okay, we’re providing value but we’re not a non-profit right so we need to monetize this process.

This is where you need to be subtle or the whole strategy fails.

We’re never going to drop a link or promote our own stuff directly in someone else’s group or feed (unless they give us permission)

What we WILL do is gently mention in most comments that we work with clients, or have a program that covers something in more depth, or are happy to follow up in DMs if someone needs more support.

When we make those mentions, it should be in the middle of our comment (not the beginning nor the end) that takes the edge off of the promotional part.

The formula I use is this (all in one comment):

<directly answer their question>

<gentle mention or promotion of ourselves> Ex. ”When we work with clients on XYZ, this is Step 3 of our 9 step system for ABC

<rephrase your answer to summarize and give them a positive encouragement>

The gentle promo or mention in the middle takes the edge off and is natural. The key, though, is actually helping or answering their question first.

How to scale your commenting

Starting

This is the part that’s been missing in my execution. I’ve been consistent on the one or two groups mentioned but haven’t scaled it out.

The first step is finding or blocking time for commenting.

I’m doing both in that I’m going to block at least 30 mins in the first half of the day and then I’m going to find another 30 minutes in the afternoon or evening (while waiting anywhere, while watching a bit of TV in the evening, etc.)

My goal is to get to an hour a day.

Scaling

In this case, scaling means being as efficient as possible WITHIN the time allocated. This means I don’t want to be doom scrolling trying to find good posts or questions to comment on.

I want them teed up for me so I can answer right away and more to the next one.

To this end I’m testing some tools for various social channels that let me save influencers, searches, etc. so that I get a filtered view of just the ones worth commenting on.

Some of these also let you put in keywords and it will bring back posts and comments with your given keywords in them.

I’ll report back with more on this after some testing.

Tracking

As you start to get to volume in this strategy, you’ll also wind up with a lot of replies, DMs, etc. from your ideal customers and need to track and follow up with them. That is where a “Social CRM” comes into play. I’ve also got one of those in place now too which helps a lot so I’ll cover tools and process in next week’s issue.

Take Action

This one is easy to start and doesn’t cost a penny.

1. Find groups and influencers with your ideal customers
2. Set aside time to comment on their posts and help others commenting on their posts
3. Provide REAL value in your comments
4. Drop a subtle mention of your services or program in the middle of some of the comments
5. When appropriate, invite folks into a 1:1 char or DM thread for more support
6. Scale up this process with time blocks and tools (I’ll have more on that soon)