We spend so much time focusing on getting people to comment on our blogs and share them through social media that we’re missing out on a very important class of visitors. These people are our silent observers. They read our content, discuss it with their friends, and have thoughts and opinions just like everyone else. The only difference between them and those who do comment or share publicly is that these silent observers simply don’t do those things.
Does the make them any less valuable or important?
We don’t think so.
Information is For Everyone
Information -or the benefits that come from it- should not be conditional on perceptions of interactivity. Some people simply do not comment on the blogs they read, and that’s okay. Most of the time people who do not comment on the post itself are commenting in other ways that are just as valuable. “Word of mouth” can be effective both online and offline, and just because someone did not leave a comment online does not mean they are not sharing their thoughts about their post. They may be talking about it to people they know in person, over the phone, or even in an email.
Video – “What matters the most is not the number of views on your content, but who you show you are” – Warning, turn down your speakers!
Though this video talks about videos the same concept can apply to text-based content as well. It’s not all about the views, it’s not all about the comments. It’s about the people who are going to be consuming the content, whoever they are. You can use these same tactics when you are engaging in B2C and B2B marketing. It’s more about the people, and less about the product (or the end goal of the piece). Yes you want your readers to eventually buy from you or otherwise respond to your call to action but what are going to do in the mean time? The answer should be to educate and entertain them!
The goal of having a blog should be to provide content for everyone, regardless of their need or desire to interact with you about it. Part of the purpose of good content is to create the impression that you are an authority in your niche, and impressions are made every day based on things people see and hear even if they never say a word to you about it. So keep on creating content for ALL of your visitors and don’t let yourself worry overly much about whether or not they are commenting on any of your posts. If you are regularly producing great content and your sales keep going up, we would say you have a pretty good thing going.
Traffic is Traffic, Period
A staggering amount of web traffic is made up of silent observers. They come, consume content, and leave without any indication that they were ever there other than another hit on a traffic counter.
Would you disregard this crowd of silent observers just because they did not leave a comment or use the social media buttons on your blog to share the post they just read?
Probably not, as neglecting the significance of such a large group of people would be very poor judgement for anyone involved in content marketing. The truth is that content marketing is more of an “evergreen” marketing strategy. You’re in it to win it for sure, but you’re also looking to the long-term and creating content that fills needs in the present and in the future too. Many silent observers arrive at your blog as long-tail traffic; they followed a pretty specific trail to get to your content and if you have the option available on your analytics you may be able to see how they came to your site and what keywords they used to find you. How’s that for value?
Infographic: The Buzz on Long-Tail Keywords
((Click for a larger version!))
See? Long-tail traffic can be pretty important, and so are the people who come to your blog as a part of that traffic, whether they leave you a comment or not.
The value of these silent observers also lies in their ability to appreciate your content regardless of how they express that appreciation.
Some will send you an email to let you know what they thought of your work, while others will post about your content on their social networks on their own time. And some won’t way anything to anyone about what they’ve discovered, but that doesn’t make them any less of a valuable consumer of what you have to offer.
Why Don’t People Comment?
There are as many different reasons for not commenting on a blog post as there are people reading it. Some people are just plain busy and barely get 10 minutes a day to read blog posts, much less comment on them. Others do not comment because they have not been prompted to do so (call to action anyone?) or cannot figure out how to do it in a quick and easy way. Still more do not comment because they don’t feel that they can add anything of value to the discussion.
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Content Marketing and The Silent Observer
By RankPop Team • September 24, 2012 • Content Writing, General Marketing, Long Tail SEO • Leave a comment
We spend so much time focusing on getting people to comment on our blogs and share them through social media that we’re missing out on a very important class of visitors. These people are our silent observers. They read our content, discuss it with their friends, and have thoughts and opinions just like everyone else. The only difference between them and those who do comment or share publicly is that these silent observers simply don’t do those things.
Does the make them any less valuable or important?
We don’t think so.
Information is For Everyone
Information -or the benefits that come from it- should not be conditional on perceptions of interactivity. Some people simply do not comment on the blogs they read, and that’s okay. Most of the time people who do not comment on the post itself are commenting in other ways that are just as valuable. “Word of mouth” can be effective both online and offline, and just because someone did not leave a comment online does not mean they are not sharing their thoughts about their post. They may be talking about it to people they know in person, over the phone, or even in an email.
Video – “What matters the most is not the number of views on your content, but who you show you are” – Warning, turn down your speakers!
Though this video talks about videos the same concept can apply to text-based content as well. It’s not all about the views, it’s not all about the comments. It’s about the people who are going to be consuming the content, whoever they are. You can use these same tactics when you are engaging in B2C and B2B marketing. It’s more about the people, and less about the product (or the end goal of the piece). Yes you want your readers to eventually buy from you or otherwise respond to your call to action but what are going to do in the mean time? The answer should be to educate and entertain them!
The goal of having a blog should be to provide content for everyone, regardless of their need or desire to interact with you about it. Part of the purpose of good content is to create the impression that you are an authority in your niche, and impressions are made every day based on things people see and hear even if they never say a word to you about it. So keep on creating content for ALL of your visitors and don’t let yourself worry overly much about whether or not they are commenting on any of your posts. If you are regularly producing great content and your sales keep going up, we would say you have a pretty good thing going.
Traffic is Traffic, Period
A staggering amount of web traffic is made up of silent observers. They come, consume content, and leave without any indication that they were ever there other than another hit on a traffic counter.
Would you disregard this crowd of silent observers just because they did not leave a comment or use the social media buttons on your blog to share the post they just read?
Probably not, as neglecting the significance of such a large group of people would be very poor judgement for anyone involved in content marketing. The truth is that content marketing is more of an “evergreen” marketing strategy. You’re in it to win it for sure, but you’re also looking to the long-term and creating content that fills needs in the present and in the future too. Many silent observers arrive at your blog as long-tail traffic; they followed a pretty specific trail to get to your content and if you have the option available on your analytics you may be able to see how they came to your site and what keywords they used to find you. How’s that for value?
Infographic: The Buzz on Long-Tail Keywords
((Click for a larger version!))
See? Long-tail traffic can be pretty important, and so are the people who come to your blog as a part of that traffic, whether they leave you a comment or not.
The value of these silent observers also lies in their ability to appreciate your content regardless of how they express that appreciation.
Some will send you an email to let you know what they thought of your work, while others will post about your content on their social networks on their own time. And some won’t way anything to anyone about what they’ve discovered, but that doesn’t make them any less of a valuable consumer of what you have to offer.
Why Don’t People Comment?
There are as many different reasons for not commenting on a blog post as there are people reading it. Some people are just plain busy and barely get 10 minutes a day to read blog posts, much less comment on them. Others do not comment because they have not been prompted to do so (call to action anyone?) or cannot figure out how to do it in a quick and easy way. Still more do not comment because they don’t feel that they can add anything of value to the discussion.
Why your blog isn’t feeling the comment love:
Comments:
What do you think about silent observers?
Are they a valuable part of your blog even if they do not leave a public comment?
Tags: better blog content, blog post, comments, content, engagement, interaction, marketing