When Commenters Crash Your Party…Celebrate!

You’ve discovered a wonderful product or service and you want to share it with your friends on the interwebs.  Feedback is great, comments are complimentary and you’re feeling good.

Then your blog subject’s competitors come swooping in like the flying monkeys on the Wizard of Oz. And it’s obvious they’re on a mission.

What are the telltale signs?

They don’t trickle in, they flock, and the general theme is why their product or service is better than the one you’re writing about.

This happened on a recent post I wrote about Daily Grommet.  Within a very short period of time, several comments were left about how great deal-a-day site, One Goodie, is and that I should check them out.  It’s clear that the commenters are skilled masters at using Google Alerts.  (I’m working on my green belt in Google Alerts as I write this.)

Most people would think that my first reaction would be feeling annoyed by this.  But I have to confess.  As soon as I saw what was going on, let me tell you, I had one shirt-eating grin on my face (yes, I meant to say shirt).

No. Seriously.

The more comments people leave on my blog, no matter what the motive, the better the conversation.  Sure, One Goodie will get a few visits out of it, but their comments comparing their favorite site to mine gives me more to write about.  I’ll take an even deeper look at the offerings of Daily Grommet so I can address their comments accurately.

When you think about it, no one loses when commenters try to crash your lovefest for a brand that you love.  The competitor gets more exposure and the brand you’re evangelizing (and in this case the brand hasn’t even launched yet, bonus!) gets to define and drill down their offering through the conversation that ensues.  And as a blogger who truly believes that the comments of my readers are what makes my blog even better…I’m thrilled!

So yes, when JessicaKnows throws a party, EVERYONE’S invited.  Word.

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