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What if I told you there’s an easy way to gain visibility in many media properties with relevance to your company, even mainstream publications?

You don’t need to exhaust time pitching your story to a journalist who decides whether it’s a “go” or a “no go.”

In fact, you completely control the storytelling even though it sits on “earned media.”

For such a proposition, most companies would jump at the opportunity to sign up.

Yet, the humble posted comment gets little respect in corporate corridors.

In a sense, the posted comment falls between a tweet and a blog post. You have more real estate than 140 characters to express your POV. Yet, you don’t have the burden of developing a full-blown post.

At its best, the posted comment offers a platform for thought leadership.

It also gets the attention of the journalist or blogger, often engaging the influencer in dialogue.

And oh BTW, there’s even an SEO play here in generating a backlink (unless the property has implemented the nofollow code).

Maybe it sounds too good, so how can it possible have value?

Of course, you need to target the right media properties that facilitate intelligent discourse in the posted comments section.

As general rule of thumb, many online properties covering the consumer electronics space don’t exactly cultivate such an environment. You can see an example of this from a recent Engadget story on Facebook’s first major ad:

Facebook business storytelling public relations

Not exactly words that advance the conversation.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mark Schaefer has built a community for marketeers with his blog earning a place on Ad Age’s “Power 150.” He recently wrote about the challenge for marketing execs to keep up with all the changes in the digital world. You can see my posted comment and the exchange with Mark.

blog posted comments - business storytelling public relations

The point is, whether your business involves chips for mobile phones, baking cupcakes, or the business of communications, there are media properties where a cogent posted comment showcases thought leadership and reaches a relevant audience.

I’m convinced that the clout from reader comments will only grow over time as publications experiment with ways – gamification being one of them – to elevate the most compelling perspectives.

If you’ve gone down this road, I’d love to hear your input on how it worked (or didn’t).


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