How to get your subscribers to talk?

[calitart]

Hey guys, I don't want to sound like an old woman but... How to you get subscribers to talk or comment? I have more than 100 subs but all of them are dead silent. Sometimes, I wanted feedback to see how I'm doing or my progress so far... But no one talk. It's just dead silent on my page. I wish there are some ways for them to say something to make sure I'm not being trolled by 100 people or that there is, in fact, a glitch in Tapastic system... Idk, any suggestions?

[Monstrosaur]

hmmmmm, thats a bit strange considering tapastics community! I have stupid jokes in my comic with usually pulls atleast one person to speak up, but in the description you could give a mini story that goes along with your page. IDK i guss it kinda depends on the type of comic. What have you tried so far?

[joannekwan]

Ask questions in your episode descriptions like "what do you think will happen next?" or "who's your favorite character so far?"

[calitart]

I post on my profile page and even within my comic but none seem to respond : (

[Monstrosaur]

thats actually really strange, I'm sorry! This might be a dumb statement but make sure you hit the bell when posting on your page so that subscribers can get notified that you posted it. But as for the comic pages, i don't know. I would suggest looking at other people comics who get a lot of commenters and seeing (besides popularity) what they say to entice the crowd!

[Kamikaze]

We're only just beginning to get regular comments on our pages. I do notice that earlier posts the team put up got very few responses until we really started getting further into the story. The best thing we've noticed is that once you get a comment, no matter how banal, acknowledge it with a reply. It doesn't matter if someone just responds with, "Cool!" or "I don't get it," or whatever. Ask questions to your readers, get them interested by getting them invested not only in your comic but in you as a person. That's what's sort of worked for us. Good lucK!

[PotooGryphon]

Have you tried asking them a question in the page description area?

That has proven to be a good method for me or even telling a pun joke relating to the page gets some jokes back in the comments.

It basically comes down to finding more ways to be engaging to your subs, and there's a lot of excellent forum threads on how to be more engaging in the forums.

[Vikiro_Hop]

I do think some content promotes conversation better than others. To be honest this is a bit of a tough question, for a lot of people I feel like they comment when they find something relatable. Probably why slice of life gets so popular. For story driven stuff, people usually need to get pretty invested before any real convo starts.

As others have said you can use the description box to try and generate a bit of buzz, but at the same time don't fret too much. I'd say just work on perfecting the content and eventually you will get more feedback, and don't get discouraged if people aren't immediately receptive.

[Bii0]

Wouldn't know, only have one sub, but on the other site it depends. It's like pulling teeth to get people to comment, usually I'm chill with it, but when I really want feedback on something it's a pain and when someone does comment it has nothing to do with what I asked. But at least it's a comment, better than nothing.

My best bet is to be super active and friendly? Like do character polls, and contests, and all that jazz. I've noticed the more interactive things you do with readers the more active they'll be with you, not sure how well that would work on this site though.

[ratique]

I feel like there are multiple issues here. Am I correct when I am guessing you are the user Sourcandy on the tapastic website?

If you are, then your biggest issue is that you have over 100 subscribers split between 17 comic series. It takes some time for readers to get invested in your stories. They have to get to know your characters and the story you are telling. For that to happen, a series has to be updated regularly - or a lot of content has to be posted.

Would you comment on a series with 3 pages to read? Probably not. Instead you might subscribe, continue reading and one day you might feel like leaving a comment to a particular scene. That is at least how it works for me and it seems to be similar for many of my subscribers.

I would concentrate on one or two of your most favorite comics and build a community around them. Eventually you will see more responses from your subscribers.

[calitart]

Woah! How did you know that? Dang it, and here I thought having a different username would help protect my identity... Thank you for the fast feedback, ratified; I appreciate that... Now, it's time for me to find a new username

Please don't expose me next time.

[yartzanaserenade]

She didn't expose you, you can see the Tapastic username when you click on your forum profile.
But actually there's no point in hiding since the forums area good way to get subscribers

[calitart]

Haha! Thanks; I honestly didn't know that? Okay; I'm just going to make a brand new account just for gossip and stalking other people then.

[yartzanaserenade]

@calitart HAHAHA! That sounds great!

[ErithEl]

I think I need to reevaluate some stuff because when I read the title of his thread my mind immediately went to torture: "How to get your subscribers to talk...they have information we need and we will use any methods possible to get it." O_O

But, that aside, do any of your subscribers have series of their own? Because I've found that my subscribers who comment the most are the ones whose comics I comment on, as well.

The forums do help as well, as @yartzanaserenade said. They are not only a way to gain new subscribers, but I've often gotten comments on my pages that are like "Hey, I found your comic in so-and-so thread!" and then if you reply promptly and in a welcoming way, that person is more likely to comment on a future page!

[zwebb90]

aww they don't gotta talk if they don't want to XD XD

[scythe]

Easy. I just bribe my subscribers to love me.

[zelkats]

Just write "One Direction is better than The Beatles," in your episode description and grab some popcorn.

[PotooGryphon]

Why are you wanting to remain anonymous? Isn't the whole point of asking questions on the forums to evaluate what you can do better with your comic series and introduce your series to people on the forums? Or did you already know the answer and was just trolling us?

[getsuart]

I give them chocolate. They follow and comment easily after this, because no one can resist a Leonidas.

I agree with everyone : ask, make jokes, jsut show that you are there. Maybe your readers will begin to say something too by seeing you talking in the page description.
And if you are talking via your profile page, don't forget to turn on the notification. Without it, your post will never be seen by your subscribers.

And wear a Zorro mask if you want to be anonymous. It works great! ;D