Building an Audience Through Commenting

The Opportunity

I gain followers every day while just waiting for the train. No, I don’t walk around the station asking people to follow me on social media, though I’ve certainly entertained the idea. What I do is make efficient use of my dead time in order to pull potential viewers towards my brand.

I don’t honestly consume social media all that much. That may sound strange coming from someone who owns a tech media company, but it’s true. I spend the majority of my time creating content, so I have very little time to actually consume it. When I do consume it however, it’s with a purpose. These dead times in my day, like waiting for a train, an appointment, or in a queue, are a perfect opportunity to turn potential viewers on to what I’m all about.

The method involves placing high-value, thoughtful comments onto the posts of popular and well-known figures in my industry. Spoken about by Gary Vee, Alex Hormozi, and others, this value commenting method allows me to offer my insights directly to the original poster and other viewers, without pitching myself or advertising my brand directly.

The Execution

This is a quick breakdown of what I do on most of the platforms:

BUILD A FOLLOW LIST: Follow 20-30 of the most popular or most highly-rated channels in my industry or adjacent to it. If these accounts frequently post content and get a lot of engagement in the comments, even better.

NOTIFICATIONS OFF: Many proponents of this method of value-added commenting encourage you to turn on notifications. I never do this. I keep myself on a tight schedule, and I don’t want to be constantly losing my focus and having my phone pulling me off my current task. I’m a big fan of turning off nearly all notifications in general.

USE FOLLOWING FEEDS: Whenever you have dead time, meaning you can’t actively be doing real work because you’re standing in line, on a train, waiting for a pickup, or otherwise only have a few moments, pull out your phone. You’re not there to doom scroll random internet content, go to your recent feed or following feed.

TARGET NEW POSTS: Look at the newest posts from these popular accounts. The newer the better, and the fewer comments the better. A brand new comment will be seen by far more viewers and be less likely to be drowned out. There’s also a higher chance for the original poster to see it. If there’s nothing very new that’s been posted in the last 15 minutes or so, you may need to follow more accounts.

ADD REAL SUBSTANCE: View the content and think of something considered high-value to say about it. If you can’t come up with anything truly unique or thoughtful to say about it, that’s fine, just move on. Just posting “Great post!” isn’t considered high-value.

RELATE TO THE POST: If you can relate to the post somehow, offer insights, or expand upon the post with your own real-life experiences, go for it. The idea is to post something of obvious quality as your comment, usually at least a couple of full sentences.

NO SELF-PROMOTION: Never pitch yourself, your products, or try to advertise in any way on these comments directly. You’re there to provide value to the original poster and the other viewers, without expecting anything in return.

The Payoff

The overall idea is to put yourself out there and offer valuable insights to your niche without asking for anything in return. It’s about becoming a valued member of the community, about giving rather than asking. Viewers who resonate with your thoughts will at some point like your comments, reply, repost, and even follow. I’ve had my comments liked by many well-known creators, such as Tony Robbins, Gary Vee, and a number of corporate brand accounts. These comments have then risen to the top of the comment threads and brought me even more exposure.

This isn’t a replacement for creating your own content or doing real work, far from it. I’ve found that grinding out real content each day is almost always the better choice as far as the returns it brings. However, when you have a few spare minutes in your day, high-value commenting can absolutely be worthwhile. Give it a try and see how it works for you!