Commenting on other blogs has been, and continues to be an integral part of blogging. However, the challenge is to get blog comments that add depth and insight to the original post. Better engagement is also fostered if the blogger manages to provide thoughtful replies to commentators. That’s all great in theory, but how to put it into practice?

This blog post discusses five steps to writing a high-quality comment and three ways to elicit game-changing comments, outlining some of the obstacles to getting there and why low-level brickbats need not apply.

Recently I came across Why the retweet is a powerful engagement tool

“… This is where the retweet, and now the via feature in Facebook, really come to the fore. They are a very simple way for all people to say “I agree with this” or “I want you to see this too” without actually having to articulate their own opinion from scratch, or start their own discussion…”

I certainly hope social media’s value proposition is more than getting people to re-tweet our Facebook or Twitter material. I left a comment:

I am sorry but maybe I am missing something… just re-tweeting as you suggest: “… very simple way for all people to say “I agree with this” or “I want you to see this too.” “
Does this add much value to the discussion or debate?
In many cases, people have not taken the time to read carefully the story about which they might send out a tweet (e.g., using Google to feed Twitterfeed that, in turn, triggers your Twitter account to send out a tweet).
So how can I recommend something before having studied the material? Is this a scenario where sheep is following other sheep or my answering machine is talking to yours so we can meet next week?
As a brand, I want to be sure that people support something – my brand – based on product experience, knowledge and insight not just by blindly and wildly re-tweeting other people’s opinion or tweets.
Respectfully
Urs

Comments like the above can add some value to the discussion, especially if the blogger writes an insightful response.

Unfortunately, our comment never made it up on Matt Rhodes’ blog – whatever the reason, this does not foster engagement (see Take-away section below for a comment about this).

Blog comments: Brickbats need not apply
So why are blog comments important? In 2007 Dave Winer explained why he thought they were in The subject of blog comments. Clay puts it another way in this blog post:

“…spirited disputation and emendation, alternate points of view, linky goodness, and a conversational sharpening of the argument on all sides, in a way that doesn’t happen blog to blog.” – Clay Shirky (Corante Blog)

5 steps to a high-quality comment
Unless we are willing to spend 10 minutes drafting a sensible comment, we might provide the blogger a better service by just tweeting the post’s title and url on Twitter. But here are five suggestions one should follow to craft a comment that adds value to the equation:

1. Relate your comment to the post: Quality comments refer to the blog post by quoting a portion and then refining or expanding on the thought (e.g., I agree with this point. However, in my line of work…).
2. Have a train of thought: Make sure the comment contains a main theme from beginning to end (Why ROI fails or may work).
3. Wrap-up the comment: A conclusion in a comment is more than, “This is my five cents.” Drawing a conclusion makes a fashion statement, so to speak (make a splash – thank you).
4. Tell the blogger why the post helps you work smarter: We all want to write stuff that makes a difference in other people’s lives. But please, explain why it is helpful or how you were able to apply it (e.g., don’t just tell me I am great, explain why).
5. If you disagree you should explain: Please explain where this disagreement comes from. It might very well be that the blogger forgot to consider an important angle of the problem, made an incorrect assumption or fell prey to misinformation, to mention a few examples (tell me where I have erred and how it can work – I love it).

Finally, please remember leaving a blog comment is like a digital trace and its quality will reflect upon your personal brand and reputation.

Comments mean more work for the blogger – really
When I write a comment on someone’s blog, this quickly takes more than 15 minutes, especially if a conversation develops. Commenting is far more time-intensive than writing a tweet or re-tweeting. Of course, both are needed: one to spread the news and the other to add more depth to the post.

Unfortunately, one will often come across comments that seem somewhat shallow or where the commenter had little time. Other times it seems to be ‘feel good’ feedback.

The comments to the right surely made Bernie feel good. Unfortunately, they do not add content or substance to the discussion of an important topic. On the positive side, writing this kind of feedback did not take the commentators more than one to two minutes.

But the blogger does not really raise the performance bar either. His comment (see last one in screenshot) provides a pat on the back for each of the three commentators above.

The ‘I am great – You are great’ approach is fine and makes sure nobody is offended, but it also does not move the discussion to a higher plateau.

All things being equal (ignoring how much traffic the blog has, language it is in and country, etc.), there are three things that affect your comment count:

1. Write a blog post that is interesting to many people, such as ‘Calculating ROI for social media activities’.
2. Keep your blog post short (under 300 words), and
3. Don’t try to be too in-depth.

Guaranteed, with a short post you will always get the type of visitor willing to spend another 60 seconds to add their two cents by leaving a comment.

The challenge is that complex subjects like calculus can hardly be explained in under 300 words. We can try and people might even believe they have grasped the concept, but if we were to put it to a test, 80 percent would likely fail. In turn, addressing a complex matter in 1,600 words as done here may turn some people off, since they might feel that it takes too much time to read and comprehend the issue discussed.

More resources about the importance of quality comments

Jody Hedlund - Do blog comments really matter?
Read Write Web (Sarah Perez) - Blog comments still matter – but not those about organs – really
Paul Graham - How to disagree – disagreement hierarchy
The Herald Blog (Lorelle VanFossen) - How is your comment quality quotient?

Bottom line
While tweeting about something does not take much time, writing a blog comment that adds value to the discussion does. Lastly, thoughtfully responding to comments is time-consuming for the blogger.

Building on your audience’s comments is a real challenge that few, like Jeremiah, manage. He tries to add value to each comment whenever possible and/or steer subsequent comments in the right direction.

However, it is probably better to approve each comment or reply before it goes up on the blog. If one fails to do this, then what happened to Jeremiah can happen to you, too. A spammer replied to several comments made on the blog (one shown to the right) and this, of course, does not foster your all-important reader engagement.

Take-aways
I have been blogging for a while and developed the following three insights that I would like to share with you:

1. Quality attracts quality: It is perfectly okay to ask somebody you know to comment, if you are quite certain they will add substance. Even better if the person brings a different viewpoint. Our data shows that getting a high quality first comment usually attracts other quality comments and, most importantly, those afraid of going first have this hurdle removed…
2. Being humble pays off: Try to acknowledge each commenter. Make sure that you add beef with your reply to their comment. Writing something like the comment below is okay but is this person taking her commentators seriously?
“Thanks @Laya, @Andrew, @Laura  Thanks for your comments on the same.  Looking forward to your views / comments in the near future too.”
A response like that lacks depth and makes you wonder if the blogger cares… please take your readers seriously.
3. Fostering engagement means letting nothing fall between the cracks: Make sure no comment is inadvertently lost in your spam box; check it daily. Also, both negative and positive comments must go up on your blog. Otherwise you throttle engagement, even while talking about it.
Finally, as Jeremiah’s example shows, monitoring the many comments he gets takes time, and therefore suggests all comments should be pre-approved before going up. Nobody wants spam to end up in a set of otherwise nice comments.

Please, leave a comment! We love to hear your thoughts: how do you feel about managing blog content and encouraging greater engagement for your blog? What is your experience with this subject? Have any tips to make sure we use the commenting feature more effectively? Please share your insights.

P.S. - Visit My.ComMetrics (register yourself – benchmark your blog(s) => improve performance). You can get updates for this blog on Twitter by following @ComMetrics or get a free subscription by RSS, or get new posts via email:

Article source: ComMetrics – Engaging comments: Where is the beef?

Some of you may remember the Wendy’s TV commercial in the US in which Clara Peller (August 4, 1902 – August 11, 1987 – lived in the Chicago area) posed an important question about the golden arches’ burger: Where is the beef?

Next time we write a comment or reply to one, let us all remember - adding substance is key.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Benchmarking requires setting objectives and measuring performance to see if one has surpassed it.

Here we propose five best practice steps to help you develop useful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will result in actionable metrics for your social media activities.

Not a subscriber yet? Want the scoop first? Just leave your email address in the field below.

1. Ensure management understands the difference between operating and financial metrics.

As Anthony (Tony) Tjan put it in one of his recent posts:

“The financial ‘numbers’ ultimately represent the scorecard we care about, but they do not help us understand how to score.“

It is critical to understand what the most important drivers or operating metrics are when it comes success or failure. Accordingly, what contribution for achieving the company’s operating metrics, such as higher customer retention, will come from social media efforts, must be addressed.

Tip 1: Define, write down and agree on the operating metrics you want to use and stick with them.

2. Know your customers and derive everything, including social media activities, from that knowledge.

Companies produce their corporate magazine or place brand advertising in a daily to reach and communicate with the targeted audience. Improving a magazine’s or corporate blog’s reading attractiveness works even better if it:

a) provides information that helps customers do their work smarter, and
b) empowers readers to get more out of services they purchase from the company.

Tip 2: Choose a social media tool that at least 20 percent of your current and potential clients already use themselves (e.g., would they read blog content delivered by email and/or RSS feed) AND provide content that is perceived as useful and adding value.

3. Establish how a particular social media channel can drive cost reductions and/or new product/service uptake.

Every office building has air conditioning and nobody asks for ROI on this. Plus, ROI (Return on Investment) or ROE (Return on Engagement) are the wrong measures for social media.

ROI is the outcome, but we need to understand how social media efforts contribute to operating metrics. Hence, we must establish how the input – social media or corporate blogging – drives the desirable output, such as lowering marketing costs or improving customer satisfaction.

Tip 3: Make sure your operators are clearly tied to your social media efforts.

4. Focus on the 3 to 5 KPIs that represent the most important drivers of value creation for your social media activities.

We suggest that a few clearly defined KPIs are more likely to assure people paying attention, without getting too distracted from the real job at hand.

Most important, KPIs must fit your company’s needs, like custom-made loafers or black heels. Otherwise, who would want to wear or make use of them?

Tip 4: Assure KPI buy-ins from your stakeholders, including your team, superior(s) and possibly key clients and/or investors.

5. Establish a baseline and timeline.

A baseline is a measurement used as a point of comparison. In turn, it can be used to asses progress against the budget or set of other objectives, including KPIs.

So it is advisable to first collect data whenever one begins social media monitoring to see where you stand.
Benchmarking against your own past performance is the only completely relevant measure. Therefore, improvement over the course of several months is what really matters.

For this reason, we developed the ComMetrics Footprint, ComMetrics Health Check, and ComMetrics Resonance, which are each made up of several measures. These allow tracking from the baseline onwards, as well as benchmarking against the ComMetrics Blog Impact index.

Tip 5: Establish the baseline numbers and compare such as Q1 2008 with Q1 2009 in order to improve.

For example, if you focus on backlinks, have they increased over the last quarter? And what about Quarter 3 2008 compared to Quarter 3 2009, what kind of improvements are seen there?

Bottom line
Surely nobody tries to quantify the ROI of air conditioning. Having it when outside temperatures reach 35 degrees Celsius helps office productivity, making it a mediating factor for, though NOT a cause of, ROI. Similar reasoning applies for social media measurement.

Above we outlined five tips that should help in developing KPIs that make sense to your company’s decision-makers and, most importantly, provide social media monitoring that helps your company improve.

More resources on KPI and benchmarking:

- Beth Kanter: Riffing on David Armano’s Listen, Learn, and Adapt: Need Your Organization’s Adaption Stories!
- Vijay Rayapati: Why social media ROI is the most over debated & misunderstood topic?
- Olivier Blanchard: Basics of social media ROI slide presentation.
- Mikey Ames The Hermit: Alumni Association Twitter Use – Baseline Comparisons.
- Beth Kanter: What’s Your Social Media Baseline?
- ComMetrics: Social media analytics and KPIs: From simple to refined.

Looking for telework as a techie? Join our virtual team NOW!

Now, it’s your turn.  What are some of your organization’s metrics, analytics and measurement stories for blogs?

Due to weakening financial markets and decreasing macroeconomic stability, the US has been ousted from the top slot in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Report by Switzerland.

Effective benchmarking requires key performance indicators (KPIs) that help explain whether educational expenditures are a key driver or operating metric we should look at to help achieve higher rates of youth employment. We address this in more detail.

Not a subscriber yet? Want the scoop first? Just leave your email address in the field below.

Rankings – 4.11 Education expenditure: Public education expenditure as a percentage of GNI, adjusted savings.
Rankings – 5.01 Secondary enrollment: Gross secondary education enrollment rate.
Rankings – 5.02 Tertiary enrollment: Gross tertiary education enrollment rate.
Rankings – 5.03 Quality of the educational system: How well does the educational system in your country meet the needs of a competitive economy? (1 = not well at all; 7 = very well)
Rankings – 5.04 Quality of math and science education: How would you assess the quality of math and science education in your country’s schools? (1 = poor; 7 = excellent, among the best in the world)
Rankings – 5.06 Internet access in schools: How would you rate the level of access to the Internet in schools in your country? (1 = very limited; 7 = extensive)

Hard data: Are they accurate?
Switzerland is doing quite badly when it comes to primary education, as well as secondary education rates (e.g., Rankings 4.11). One explanation is that instead of using absolute numbers, the report uses the percentage of Gross National Income (GNI) spent on primary schooling. This could explain why countries that spend more on primary education as a percentage of GNI do better, like Lesotho or Namibia.

However, whether as a percentage of GNI or in absolute dollars per pupil, mere spending cannot assess the effectiveness of a school system. In fact, countries that spend less in absolute dollars or as part of GNI often do better than others by nevertheless achieving higher literacy rates.

Opinion data: Reliable and valid?
The opinion data is based on a survey of 13,000 executives in the ranked nations, but given Rankings 5.06, how much does an executive really know about the reality of a teacher trying to teach a classroom of fifth graders about math or finding information on the Internet using computers?

Put differently, what does access mean: PCs connected to the Internet for each classroom or access for each child to a computer with nothing more than an operating system and a word processor?

And if we trust that executives can provide an evaluation regarding math and science education, why don’t we ask them about reading and writing as well? Graduates who are unable to write a job application without typos or grammatical errors have a tough time getting a job, don’t they?

Secondary and tertiary education: What about youth employment?
During this financial crisis, education should actually help improve one’s skill-set, thereby making teenagers (15 – 19-year-olds) and young adults (20 – 24-year-olds) more employable.

Unfortunately, the youth unemployment rate in the US was 18.5 percent in July 2009. According to the government this is the highest July rate since recording began in 1948 (download pdf report and tables).

Canada’s employment figures for June 2009 show a loss of 33,000 jobs among those 15 – 24 years old, rocketing the unemployment rate among young people to 15.9 percent, the highest in 11 years (download pdf and report summary).

A recent report for Australia indicates a similar trend whereby the labor force underutilisation rate (LFUR = sum of unemployment and underemployment) for 15 – 24-year-olds rose from 24.2 percent in February 2009 to 26.2 percent in May 2009 (see chart at right, see five-page report).

For Switzerland, the number of unemployed youth (15 – 24-year-olds, including school leavers and students) increased from 4.6 percent in July to 5.3 percent in August 2009. Their numbers reached 29,298 which represents a three-quarter increase over August 2008 (download pdf and more details).

Bottom line
The above indicates that educational expenditures may not be comparable across countries and, as importantly, asking executives to judge an educational system may result in data that could hardly be called reliable and valid.

While Australia, Canada and the US rank highly for their participation rates in tertiary education, Switzerland gets marked down for having a strong dual system (meaning apprentices spend as little as 30 percent of their time in formal education, while the rest is spent acquiring practical skills in the workplace).

Besides, completing an apprenticeship leaves the door open for post-secondary education. Worse, not having enough qualified tradespeople on construction sites does not help improve the country’s competitiveness with regard to its infrastructure. Youth employment means all this human capital is wasted, which definitely does not improve a country’s competitiveness.

Surely, youth unemployment is an important KPI for benchmarking education policy, whereas expenditure levels tell us little about how effectively a country uses its newly trained human capital. The World Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 uses educational benchmarks whose usefulness are questionable, if not outright invalid.

More resources on KPI and benchmarking education:

- Gary Martin: A portrait of the youth labor market in 13 countries, 1980–2007 – Monthly Labor Review July 2009, pp. 3 – 21.
- The Bologna Club: What U.S. Higher Education Can Learn from a Decade of European Reconstruction, May 2008.
- Tuning educational structures in Europe.
- OECD data: Economic returns for an individual obtaining upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, obtaining tertiary education, part of initial education (2005 data Excel spreadsheet – September 8, 2009).
- more about the World Economic Forum Davos

Looking for telework as a techie? Join our virtual team NOW!

Now, it’s your turn.  What are some of your KPI and benchmarking stories regarding education and competitiveness in your neighbourhood?