Fyreside Newsletter - 4/14/25

Hey Reader,

I hope the day before Tax Day is finding you as well as it can possibly find you. What an incredibly unnecessary source of stress we all suffer through so Intuit (et. al) can get their bag. Here's a 22-minute podcast about that.

ANYWAY, let's talk about comments. In last week's newsletter, I put forth this idea: Comments are the only type of engagement worth caring about. Then I planted my flag and walked away without giving you any actionable strategies to garner these valuable internet gems. I am the Mr. Miyagi of digital marketing and I am not sorry.

How do get comments?

Up front, there's no silver-bullet answer. That should be obvious to you by now, but as a friendly reminder, marketing is subjective and different things work for different people. With that aside, here are 3 methods that I use/have used to get those sweet, sweet, comments.

Ask for them
Leave room for them
Bait them out

Ask for them

This is the easy one, and it's common sense, but people are more likely to give you things when you ask for them. That doesn't have to be the colloquial "comment below!" cliché, but it can be. Most, not all, but most, of your content should remind your audience to engage with you. You could encourage your audience to share their stories, favorites, or complaints in your comment section. You could add a slide to your IG post with a "don't forget to comment!" graphic. You could do literally anything, JUST ASK.

I refuse to overexplain this. If you have questions, feel free to reach out, but you're probably thinking about it too hard.

Leave room for them

Maybe your content doesn't include a direct CTA, (That's a call-to-action for those playing along at home,) but it should be open ended. You cannot get comments if you don't leave the air open to them. That space comes from your content, your copy and your strategy. Are you creating content that asks for a response? Are your social captions starting a discussion? Is your strategy built around lecturing your audience or having a discussion with them?

Here's an anecdote: 72% of Americans say tipping in the US has gone too far. Why is that? Well most of those surveyed said that they aren't tipping more, but in more places. No body is happy about it, but we all keep doing it. Why? Because businesses are either asking for them or leaving open an opportunity to give them. Do you see what I'm getting at?

Bait them out

I've gotten a lot of great feedback on this newsletter. People tell me in person that they love it, occasionally someone will reach out to let me know they found it interesting, but do you know when I get the most input? When I spell something wrong. At least once a week someone asks if I "edit my newsletter myself" or if I "know that I made a mistake."

That's bait, baby.

-MC

p.s.

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