Someone just published a great post, and you want to tell the world.
What’s your next move?
- Post a great comment.
- Share the post.
- Both.
Did you answer 3 – Both?
If so – stop right there.
Slow Down
Don’t post a comment, and then immediately share the post. Use Buffer to schedule the tweet, and post your comment now.
If you do both at the same time, the blogger may end up replying to you twice in a row, in different places. It gets worse if you share the post on multiple networks.
It can also become quite boring if your social followers see you sharing the same post on every network.
Spread Out
Instead, you should spread out your sharing.
Post a comment today.
Schedule a tweet for tomorrow.
Bring up the post on Google+ or Facebook in a couple of days from now.
Keeping Up Appearances
Spreading out your sharing helps to keep the content hot. If you do everything on day 1, the post may get a burst of traffic, and then die away.
You’ll also have greater visibility with the author of the content. They’ll see you sharing their content over a period of a few days. This is far more valuable than one mass-share – especially if you vary the times of day when you share the content.
Greater visibility means more opportunities to connect with other bloggers.
Save Something For Tomorrow
Are you sharing everything as soon as you find it? Or do you save some things for tomorrow?
Very interesting idea Ben, Some of your tips seem more for posts published on your own blog as opposed to sharing a post and commenting on other peoples blogs, is that right?
I comment and share at the same time, In my mind, and this is just an opinion, I am trying to work out if there is any truth to it, when I comment and then share the post, should I get anyone from Facebook or Twitter to click through the link to the post they will see my comment which is fresh and high up in the comments. Hopefully they will see my comments and with a bit of luck they will click back through to my site to see if there is anything new. I use it as a kind of a reminder tactic and branding.
As I say, I am seeing if it works, it could be a load of old tosh my head has come up with but I might just stick with it for a while.
I’ve commented, time to share
Andi
Hi Andi
They’re a mixture, although this tip is actually aimed at sharing other people’s posts and not my own 
That’s a really interesting point about people seeing your comment if they click through the link you shared. I think it would only be an issue on a popular blog or news site as your comment might get scrolled off the page. On smaller blogs, that may not happen as much.
But on the other hand, if your comments goes into moderation (which I find is often the case if it’s your first comment on a blog), then sharing it won’t show your comment immediately anyway. In which case, sharing a bit later may be better
Hi Ben, I see your point. I comment and share at once because I know I will never come back in a few days unless it’s to respond to a comment reply that I’ve subscribed to. Buffer is a nice tool and it works great for sharing posts.
Personally, I’d prefer readers share posts they read on my blog right away. Blog posts have two shelf-lives, one very short one that is determined by subscriptions, social sharing and immediate promotion. The second is determined by our SEO skills and relies heavily on the initial traffic, interaction and sharing. Risking the initial growth in the beginning can hurt the overall blog long term, if I’m making sense. (Still trying to wake up thins morning).
I actually have a post in draft on why it’s important to drive traffic and interaction as soon as possible after publishing a post. I wanted to get some stats to show before I let it go live.
Hi Brian
I don’t think I’d be able to do this without Buffer. Like you, I wouldn’t remember. I’d have to bookmark the posts, and then I’d just have another folder of bookmarks that I never check!
I’d like to see your post, certainly. My posts rarely take off when I post them – it can take a day or two for them to pick up. Even then, the comments seem to be spread out over a number of days. It helps if you have a homepage like mine, which helps readers to see all your recent posts without too much scrolling
That is if they even go to the homepage… which some do not.
I haven’t thought of it like that, but you certainly got a point. I usually post a comment and share at the same time. But using buffer to share is better. Thanks
Hi Jens
Buffer seems to feature in a lot of my tips, it’s a pretty useful tool 
I had never thought about doing this before. Usually I just share everything on the same day, but this is a really good idea. I’m going to have to try it out and see what comes of it. Thanks for the tip!
Hi Felicia
No worries, hope it works out for you. 
Interesting… but I may forget to come back and share it again. I totally understand the scheduled tweet recommendation but occasionally, whilst on my phone or tablet, that’s not possible so a straight comment and share does the trick.
Hi Nickie
Welcome to QBT. I hear you re: sharing on a phone. Because of that, I don’t often share things on my phone as I’d have to share them immediately. Slightly annoying… :-\
Okay, this is a different type of recommendation. Since the only automation I use is when my original blog posts go out (not sure if you watched last week’s hangout on the topic), if I don’t do it then and there it’s not happening. Lucky for me, I do 98% of my sharing on Twitter, so a response isn’t typically going to come from there.
Hi Mitch
I mainly use Buffer to avoid sharing lots of links in one go – spacing them out seems to work quite well for me 