Creating Brand Experiences: Why You Shouldn’t Underestimate the Power of Outbound Comments

If you’re in marketing, you’ve probably spent a good chunk of January reading through the many industry predictions for 2024. I know I have. And as we Digital Marketing Managers eagerly await to see what curveballs the year throws us, there’s one prediction I believe we should all be prioritising if we want to stand out on social:

Creating brand experiences in the comments section!

I confess, this isn’t my prediction - I picked it up from a recent Pretty Little Marketer post (if you don’t follow that LinkedIn page already, please do, it’s a fantastic community run by a fellow Sophie), but I couldn’t agree more. As PLM put it, ‘your content is where you take the stage and your comments are where you work the room’. Brands that prioritise both are the ones that are going to make the biggest impact this year. 

So how can brands achieve this?

People favour personalities, not jargon. The companies that have fun with their followers are the ones that are most likely to generate extra engagement and reach. Your brand voice presents an opportunity to create discussions and show a human element (there’s a lot to be said for that when AI is such a dominant force these days). Ditch the formal tone and speak to your audience causally, like you would a friend. In 2024, we can respond with humour or sarcasm, push the boundaries that little bit extra, and use some Gen Z slang (which, if like me, you can’t get your head around it, there are translation tools out there). 

TikTok is a brilliant place to start when looking to create brand experience, especially as informal content works best here. It also gives you the green light to be more experimental. There’s no need to limit yourself to comments that you’ve been tagged in either – popping up under relevant posts that don’t mention you, but where you can contribute to the conversation, is a great way to connect with your fans and gain new ones in the process. Bonus points if you’re the first/only in your industry to show up too, or if you strike up a conversation with other brands (yes, even your competitors).

Here are some of my favourite examples:

Of course, this won’t work for every brand and on every channel, so it’s still as important as ever to be mindful of what and where we’re posting. But, to succeed in creating a powerful community, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of outbound comments.

Your comments section needs to become a key place to build engagement and brand loyalty…so let’s lose that corporate tone of voice and have fun with our replies in 2024!