Ask An Ambassador: There is Only ONE Right Way To Use ActiveRain

Ed, those do tend to make me scratch my head a little.  At least let the blog roll move a page or two first :)

The best I can do is acknowledge each comment on my posts, and then wander around as I can and scatter a few comments here and there as time allows, and time frankly is pretty short for me.  I don't expect others to comment on mine just because I comment on theirs.

There are a lot of different ways to be effective.  For me, posting recipes wouldn't get the job done because I don't have an established following.  For someone else, that may be a perfect approach because everyone's got to eat :)

And I appreciate that you understand my situation and why I don't get out and about the way I used to.  Engineering got busier, real estate got busier, our zoo (and bees) got bigger and more time consuming, and some other volunteer work grew too.  Something had to give, and that was my social time in ActiveRain.  I know you (and others) have my back too, and that's one of the best perks about membership in the Rain and the relationships gained.  Just chasing points won't develop those links.

Kathy Streib - I definitely read posts and don't comment at times. Sometimes I just don't have anything useful or different to add (to what has already been said). And sometimes I disagree with the post and would rather not provide input. And sometimes I don't think the person wrote it themselves and I don't want to provide my own thoughts on something that wasn't their thoughts. It's all good!

Kat Palmiotti , ditto, I may read a post and decide that's not a fight I have the time or energy for.  Note to mental file as to how the poster thinks/operates, and move myself along to something different.  On the other hand if they're bashing this community or Ambassadors, I may be willing to pick up the keyboard.

We learn from what others do, both good and not so good, to develop the right path for ourselves.

I have an obligation to the National Association of Engineering Real Estate Agents to remain sensible with my posts :)

Sometimes it's obvious why people don't gain business from their posts, other times easy to see why they can claim business leads flow to them.

I haven't seen it lately, but used to see the same. And a quick look would see a handful of posts and not one of them giving the consumer a reason to call the agent.  Blogging works when we know how to use it, and have the patience to see it through to results.

Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP , I think one of the first questions we should ask ourselves before leaving a comment (especially if it's a contrary comment) is "Who is the intended audience?".  If it's to other agents such as my AAA series, fine, we can talk about just about anything, even disagree, and I'll probably be fine with it.  But if the intended audience is consumers, then we either need to support, or move on without leaving a comment.  Dispute in private, write another post, etc.  I've watched time and again people go on to what is clearly a consumer facing post and leave derogatory comments, or make demands such as "you need to be commenting on MY posts", and to me that's a bad look for the commenter, and leaves the author with little choice but to delete the comment or otherwise have the post's marketing value destroyed.

AR challenges have typically been good for pushing us to do things that should be helpful for our business and our relationship building.  The points now have zero motivation for me, it's not like there's some home buyer or seller out there watching my total and going "you know, I'd have hired Bill if only he had 3.3 million points, but he came up a bit short!" :)

Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP and Bill Liz and Bill Spear - when I see or receive a negative comment anywhere, I think that action speaks volumes about them and not of the original author or their post.  It's the power and the failure of social media.  It's an odd combination - that's for sure.  But life is simply complicated.  

I can offer what works for me, and that may not work for someone else.  I have a fair number of competing demands, maybe more, maybe less, than some other members, and I'll continue to do what I can in this community, at least in the near future.  After retirement?  I don't know yet, but that time is coming sooner rather than later.

I don't know that it's possible for anyone without inside connections before joining this community to understand just how much it can become, if they're willing to put in the work.

Once I get moved and settled, I'll put some more emphasis on creating some more IDX pages for our WP site, and maybe a few blog posts there.  But for me, the most effective blog posts I have, I wrote years ago.  They still work for me, and shouldn't stop.

Dee, Definitely good to have a plan for what we are trying to accomplish and work toward the goals that get it done.

I think there's good value in market reports done right.  Good info for the consumers, and a good way to show other agents you know your market.

Marte, a joint frustration.  If someone spends time writing original content, the commenter should at least give an indication they read more than the title of the post.

And a comment such as one you mention makes it obvious that they didn't read your post.  Whether to ignore, delete, or respond, I'm not sure there is one right answer.

Nick, What I did when I first started is definitely not what I did in the middle years, and different middle to the last few years.  It has evolved because I can rely on those middle year posts to continue to work for me.

Mike McCann Nebraska Land Broker , I've done similar.  Write an entire post and whack it because I didn't like the tone or how someone else MIGHT take it. 
I'm solely responsible for all content (with the exception of I will use some photos from Pixabay).  I've seen what can happen when someone subs out their commenting and writing, and it's not always a good thing.
It's been quite some time since I've had a referral from ActiveRain, although I've had some indirectly because of the increased web presence from blogging.
Deleting a comment on our posts is sometimes the best thing to do, especially on a consumer oriented post.
Keep doing what works for you!

Points are great for getting people at the start to do things to participate, but in time, IMO, our behaviors should be driven by different things than just adding points for the sake of points.

Definitely, lots of different ways of achieving different end points depending upon the blogger.  Find a path and go with it.