Comments from the Peanut Gallery: Yes or No?

You’ve likely heard more than a few content creators bemoan the state of bigger platforms’ comment sections.

Comment sections offer audiences a space to interact with the content that a business or independent creator shares—but that interaction isn’t always glowing or constructive.

With that in mind, is it worth integrating a comments section into your business’ content? Opinions are divided, but it’s worthwhile to explore the pros and cons of a potential new field for audience engagement.

The Pros

Comments provide your audience with a direct line of engagement to interact with you and the content you produce. Without your audience, you don’t have a product to sell—so why wouldn’t you seek out opinions on what you create?

1. This additional engagement opportunity allows you to interact with your audience without the aid of social media or other platforms. For better or worse, open comments mean that users can come straight to your content, creating a field of conversation as they do.
2. Comment sections can act as “reviews” for your content, letting you and your audience know what’s hitting home and what isn’t. A comment section can be a great way to brainstorm additions to your work with the people who’ll be making the most of it.
3. You’ll be able to more effectively understand what it is your audience wants to work with and what problems they may be experiencing. In turn, you can work to solve those problems with new iterations of your product or service.

The Cons

On the other hand, curating comments takes a lot of time – and yes, you’ll need to do some curating. As anyone who uses YouTube knows, comment section conversations can get rapidly off-track and even turn downright derogatory.

1. If you want your comments to remain places of positive conversation, you’ll have to instigate rules. You’ll also have to monitor postings to maintain that space and purpose.
2. Feedback on a piece of content is a great way to learn more about what your consumer audience wants. But if this is your sole method of consumer engagement, you might find yourself trying to solve problems that are outside of your field.
3. Comment sections shouldn’t drive you to rework your whole brand. Will consumer response drive your product away from its original purpose? If you answered ‘maybe,’ it may be best to avoid integrating comments into your platform.

The Verdict

All in all, comment section integration and its wisdom depends upon a) your ability to interact with a consumer audience daily and b) how you intend to use these interactions to your advantage.

If you want more frequent consumer input and you have the time to curate comments, then jump on that integration!

Think you may get distracted by a comments section? If comments won’t contribute positively to your business structure, don’t allow them. (Taylor Swift doesn’t.)

What matters most is integrating elements into your platform that you believe will help you grow your business.

Conclusion

Is your company in need of help? MV3 Marketing Agency has numerous Marketing experts ready to assist you. Contact MV3 Marketing to jump-start your business.

image attribution: Sergey Nivens – stock.adobe.com