New creators often put all their effort into publishing posts and barely think about comments. I think that is backwards.
Especially on Hive.
When you are starting out, you probably don't have much of an audience yet. You can spend hours writing a great post, publish it, and still have very few people see it. Comments don't have that problem. A good comment puts you directly in front of an author and everyone else reading that conversation.
And because Hive rewards participation and curation, engaging with other people's work isn't just some side activity. It is part of how the ecosystem works.
Think of every comment as a small advertisement for yourself
Not an annoying advertisement. You aren't dropping links to your blog everywhere or asking people to follow you.
You are simply leaving something useful behind.
Your username appears under someone else's post, attached to an opinion, question, experience, or idea. The author sees it. Other readers see it. And if what you wrote is interesting enough, some of those people will naturally check who you are.
I've discovered plenty of accounts this way. Sometimes the comment is actually what makes you curious about the person behind it.
For someone with very few followers, that is valuable. Instead of waiting for people to somehow discover your blog, you are participating in places where people already are.
But you actually have to say something
There is a big difference between commenting and commenting.
"Nice post!"
"Great content, keep it up!"
"Thanks for sharing!"
You could paste those under almost anything. That is exactly the problem.
A useful comment should make it obvious that you actually read the post.
Maybe you had a similar experience and can add another perspective. Maybe you disagree with one part and can explain why. Maybe the author mentioned something you genuinely want to know more about. Even pointing out one specific detail that stood out to you is better than leaving a generic compliment.
You don't need to write an essay either. Sometimes two sentences are enough.
The important part is that the comment belongs under that particular post. If you could copy and paste it under twenty unrelated posts, it probably isn't adding much.
It helps to show up early
There is also a practical advantage to commenting early.
If you leave a thoughtful reply while a post is still fresh, the author is more likely to see it while they are active and responding. People who discover the post later may also see your comment as they read through the discussion.
That doesn't mean refreshing Hive all day looking for posts to jump on.
Just follow a few communities and creators you genuinely enjoy. Check their new posts from time to time. When something catches your attention and you have something worth saying, say it.
Doing that regularly adds up surprisingly quickly.
Don't disappear after the first reply
This is probably the part people underestimate the most.
Someone replies to your comment... and that's where the conversation ends.
Reply back.
Not because you need to artificially keep a thread alive, but because those back-and-forth conversations are how people actually get to know each other.
You start recognizing the same usernames. They start recognizing yours. Eventually you notice their posts in your feed, they notice yours, you vote for things you genuinely like, and sometimes you recommend each other's work to other people.
At that point you aren't really "building followers" anymore. You're building relationships.
The followers tend to come with that.
Don't turn it into vote farming
There is an obvious wrong way to do all of this.
"I voted your post, please vote mine."
Copy-pasting generic comments everywhere.
Following people only because you expect them to follow you back.
Joining little circles where everyone comments and votes regardless of whether they actually care about the content.
People notice.
And even if those tactics produce a few votes in the short term, they don't give you much of an audience. You end up with numbers rather than people who are genuinely interested in what you publish.
Comment because you read something and actually have something to say about it.
Do that consistently. Join conversations. Reply when people respond to you. Get to know the people behind the accounts.
It is slower than chasing shortcuts, but after a few months you may realize that your posts aren't being published to strangers anymore.
They're being published to people who already know who you are.
Start reading, commenting, and joining conversations at Ecency.
This is a very interesting topic because I believe it affects almost 90% of users here. It’s quite an underestimated behaviour that many people have. Personally, I often value the comments on my posts more than the post itself because comments help me learn, improve, and understand how my content is impacting my readers.
A post may look good, but the real value often comes from the conversations it creates. Every comment gives me a different perspective, idea, or insight that I may not have considered before. It also helps me know whether my message is clear and meaningful to the people reading it.
Honestly, I sometimes feel disappointed when I make a post and receive little or no feedback. Not necessarily because I want attention, but because I genuinely enjoy engaging with people and learning from their thoughts.
I could really use some help with my Ecency Onboarding Challenge if you are interested. I gave you a follow for some future reflections ;P The issue I am having is not a lack of engagement or comments but in the actual participation side for the challenge. zero real results so far after many versions. All I am asking is for people to use my post as a backlink on Threetunetuesday when I share the Youtube Artists on the Rise. How do I reframe this to actually invite real participation? Anyone? Thanks for reading!
Absolutely, I’d be happy to help. I think the key is making the request feel simple and rewarding for the reader.
Sometimes people are willing to support but don’t know exactly what you want them. I just check few posts on this, I suggest using same topic with different episodes to make your challenge sand out from other posts could make a big difference. And also targeting music loving audience on hive will also help out your challenge to grow. Thanks for the follow! 😊
Very true. You can earn $100 a day with comments on Hive.
I really can relate with all your points, they're valid. I once had a conversation with one Hive user who was emphasizing on focusing to make a post everyday being more important than commenting. Then I used to target on leaving at least 10 comments on different communities everyday and the effect was massive.
Without mincing words, leaving meaningful comments on users posts helps one to grow.
Thanks for sharing this valuable piece.
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Great points about commenting, over the years I've reaped the benefits of commenting, not just on Hive but on other social media platforms as well. It is truly underrated. Even with all the benefits I've gotten from it in the past I'm still guilty of not doing it as often as I should. Thank you for this wakeup call.
Comments are a barometer of engagement on the Hive blockchain 😉 and that can now be checked on the HivePulse appp (https://hivepulse.app). It presents how dynamic is the entire ecosystem or if it is dormant, but I think we still have good activity in these bearish times and considering the Hive price sliding continuously.
Hey guys it's me again 😜 if you know me lol what's up and if you don't then we should connect!
I'm in Arkansas posted up on Doordash doing deliveries but I still offer pet care I just haven't hit up my old clients since I went down to Florida to train dogs last year. I want to do another round of my special Ecency onboarding/ThreeTuneTuesday next week so I hope you all will check it out. I have a lot of prizes to give away and there was even a really nice donation to the Ecency points prize pool from @melinda010100 so you know its gonna be litty lol
Lol guess what I'm looking at right now on your photo? a reflection shadow on the bike mirror showing you taking self.
Nice shot.
thanks haha I guess I never noticed XP I was actually broke down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in this picture.
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Sorry about that, I hope you have fixed everything now.
Thank you, it's always good to read posts from #ecency, lots of things to understand.
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Thanks for the update
#hive #ecency
That's true, I'm just starting out and learning by reading and searching for information. I'll soon be more enthusiastic about interacting. Thanks for the advice.
I believe this article is for people like me. I'm not upto one year on Hive; I have not published upto 20 articles but I have commented over 400 times on various posts. Thanks for letting me know I'm on the right track