Let’s be honest—traditional social media marketing has lost its oomph! It no longer hits the mark the way it used to. Like many other marketers tuned into this downward trend, you might be rubbing your temples and thinking, “Now what?”

Well, our good news comes in two words: comment marketing.

What is Comment Marketing?

We all know that brands are locked in a constant battle for attention on social media. What many don’t realize is that there's a guerrilla tactic—often overlooked—that rivals even the most polished ad campaigns, and that is comment marketing.

Yes, big brands have endless resources to fund glossy campaigns, flashy influencers, and paid ads. But none of that can truly match the impact of authentic human interaction. A single thoughtful best comment can spark connection, prompt engagement, and get people tapping that like button before they even realize it.

Because let’s face it: being seen and being remembered are two very different things.

This brings us to this untapped opportunity that deserves your attention. Underused, undervalued, and waiting to be recognized.

How Does Comment Marketing Work?

Comment marketing is exactly what it sounds like—engaging with your audience through meaningful comments. It enhances visibility, boosts reach, and helps you show up where people are actually paying attention.

But let’s be clear: dropping a quick “Cool!” or “Love that!” doesn’t count. If that worked, every casual scroller would be Insta-famous. Effective comment marketing involves crafting thoughtful, funny, or valuable responses that genuinely resonate. Remember, you’re aiming for most-liked comments.

So what do these best comments do for you? Consider Justin Y, a YouTuber who amassed over 700K subscribers simply by consistently posting witty and insightful comments. No gimmicks. No ads. Just sharp, strategic interaction that put him first in the comment section.

One of Justin Y’s viral comments that earned 86K likes and 489 comments 4 years ago, an early example of comment marketing success. His comments are so popular now that people view videos just to hunt for them.

That, in a nutshell, is the power of the comment section—and what comment marketing can do for your brand.

With that in mind, let’s talk numbers.

According to Demandsage, as of 2025, more than 2 billion people interact with reels each month. Impressive, yes—but here’s what’s more crucial: 92% of TikTok users (roughly 1.59 billion social media accounts) don’t just scroll. They dive straight into the comments.

Why? Because that’s where the real action is. The comment section is where people connect, joke, react, share, and spark conversations. For brands and marketers, it’s a digital goldmine.

Challenges to Comment Marketing

So it’s a goldmine, yet many traditional marketing strategies continue to overlook it. Why?

First, comment marketing doesn’t scale easily. Secondly, it’s labor-intensive. Why not use ChatGPT and mass-produce social media comments? Most of us have tried—and failed. We’ve wasted time, energy, and resources trying to get ChatGPT to generate the perfect, human-sounding comment and not gotten remotely close enough. It’s simply not built for this as is, neither are any of the other models you could use. Unless you’re willing to dedicate years to intensive prompting (trust us, we’ve done it), it won’t ever get to where you need it to be.

The output of a ChatGPT prompt to generate witty, on-brand comments to a specified social media post. The punchline? The post was NOT about dogs.

So what then? How do brands tap into this opportunity that lies so scrumptiously in the comment sections?

This is where new-age AI marketing and comment automation tools like Sociable AI step in. Purpose-built to engage directly in the comment sections, these tools help brands grab attention and spark conversations—organically and authentically. For example, Sociable AI monitors activity across Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms to identify trending comment threads and joins real-time conversations using brand-matched tone and language.

Looking for examples? Take the viral #LunchCheck trend led by Chaz Azzo, a 40-year-old construction foreman whose TikTok comment section transformed into a cross-community cultural exchange. Or consider @ruefromshein, who drew millions to her series “The Real Michael Scott” by hilariously comparing her boss to the iconic sitcom character. The comment section on her posts became a viral event in itself—memes, fan theories, job offers for her boss—you name it. These are the types of posts you want to engage with before anyone else, and that’s what these tools help you do.

Key Benefits of Comment Marketing

Now that you’re tuned into the “what” of comment marketing, let’s talk about the “why.” Why exactly should you and your brand be obsessing over this? Let’s go over some points, one by one.

Increases Brand Visibility

Being the first and the best in the comment section has big rewards when it comes to brand visibility and brand awareness. It’s like putting the perfect billboard on the main highway in the area—everyone who passes through will see it.

Oftentimes, well-performing comments from brands will be pinned by the reel creator due to their excitement of receiving a brand’s notice or because it’s free traction for them as well. This means an even more permanent place in the spotlight, without the worry of competition. It’s a matter of who gets there first and does it better.

In addition, effective brand comments many times generate conversations outside of the original post they were on, either in reposts from the original creator or new posts from passerby. Sometimes friends will share posts with each other just to see their friend’s reaction to the comments. In short, it’s not just a one and done action, but a ripple effect that extends beyond the original posts. And guess what, it’s all for free.

Builds Real Relationships

Relationships—online or offline—don’t appear out of nowhere, but they are at the heart of community management. They take time, effort, energy, and in our case, an extremely efficient comment marketing strategy.

The core idea behind comment marketing is simple: build relationships and real connections through the loyalty built across consistent exposure. Ever heard of the mere-exposure effect? No? Let’s take a quick look into human psychology.

The mere-exposure effect is a psychological phenomenon among humans where repeat and consistent exposure to something will increase how much a person likes that thing. Why? Simple, you become familiar with it. It starts feeling natural, to the point where you expect the exposure and miss it when it’s gone. It’s like how friendships build up over time - one day, you meet a stranger on the way to work and three months later you start looking forward to the pleasant conversations you have with them on the bus. You might even invite them to coffee. The exposure could be neutral, or it could be positive and that’s where the magic of comment marketing really happens because you might get the marketing equivalent of a coffee date invitation-a lead.

Perhaps the best example of this in present day marketing amongst Gen Z and under is Duolingo. Duolingo has no right to be as popular as it is—it's an educational app, and we all know how people feel about school. But they have done such a killer job being in the right place almost every time, that people come to expect and look forward to their comments in the comment sections of reels they like. At the very least, it’s always a pleasant surprise. Often, that familiarity ends up with people getting curious enough to click on their platform, and then they get wrapped up in the community that is there.

Every brand can benefit from the mere-exposure effect just like Duolingo has. It starts with a relatable, fun, or engaging personality and grows with each comment that’s posted.

Repost from Casey Bury on LinkedIn of Duolingo’s comment on her post, to which she says, “Fan girling so hard rn." That’s relationship building.

Cost-Effective at its Core

After all is said and done, a marketing strategy for your brand must be cost-effective. Because let’s be honest, not every brand can shell out millions and call it “R&D.” So, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and good returns on investments are a priority.

That said, Forbes reports comment marketing costs “62% less” and also offers a higher “potential for a strong return on investment.” Not only that, but comment marketing boosts brand awareness, builds authentic and valuable relationships—and still, it’s way cheaper compared to paid ads and influencer campaigns.

Where content marketing can cost between $1,500–$5,000/month, a basic plan for an AI comment generator like Sociable AI’s can start at just $30/month (and that’s not even all that’s included).

Humanizes Your Brand

Let’s talk about the human-centric approach.

At the beginning of this article, we mentioned “pure human engagement.” Comment marketing, in its essence, is human-dependent and human-sourced. That is the bedrock of comment marketing.

True, AI does help a lot in the automation process, but comment marketing goes way beyond that. It reminds your target audience that there’s actually a person behind the other side of the screen—not simply a faceless, binary algorithm. Because that algorithm is mimicking the heart and soul of your brand, and your brand has (or should have) personality.

Further, it doesn’t limit their presence and image to just that of a seller. It shows brands as part of the community—actively engaging in real time and genuinely committed. For brands actively pursuing community management, it’s a winning strategy because it opens up new gates into the typically closed off community space on your profile.

Drives Brand Recall

That leads us to the ultimate reward comment marketing offers: brand recall.

As a brand, your goal is to become a living memory that lives rent-free deep within your audience’s temporal lobe. By actively commenting, your brand doesn’t just get engagement and traffic; it becomes a reflex memory, a habit, an existence that your users use when referencing a situation.

Let’s revisit Duolingo. There are many people who have no idea what Duolingo is, and there are many other apps just like Duolingo on the market. Why is it that Duolingo is among the most popular, and how come everyone seems to know that random green owl despite having no interest in learning a language? Simple. The comments. Relatable. Witty. Often passive-aggressive, but always on point when it comes to resonating with this particular audience. Their one-liners stick with people way after they see it and like it, making their way into casual conversation between friends about “did you see that funny brand comment on this post…”.

Your brand, too, can live rent-free in the minds of your audience through consistent, memorable engagement. It doesn’t have to be funny or passive-aggressive. It just has to resonate with who you want to reach.

Now, tell us—doesn’t that get you psyched as a brand owner?

Instagram & TikTok: Comment Marketing Tactics

Let’s now discuss how you can reap the benefits on social media platforms where engagements really thrive and are abundant: Instagram and TikTok.

Engage Early

You know the saying “the early bird catches the worm,” right? Be that “early bird.” Timing matters when it comes to viral content. Shoot your shot early.

Tools such as Sociable AI help you spot these opportunities as they trend, so you can react and engage quickly and effectively. This social media strategy will help you strike while the comment sections are still hot and relevant.

Be Real

Real comments are memorable and much more relatable.

Avoid cookie-cutter phrases like “Love THIS!!!” Say something meaningful. Be educational, helpful, or hilarious—but above all, authentic.

By doing so, you’re creating a brand and not simply building one. Numbers always fluctuate, but your brand image is a “work in progress.”

Use Humor Wisely

Humor is gold, but overdo it, and you become the punchline. Stay on-brand. Be clever, not cringe. Don’t drop “LOL!” everywhere. Learn from Duolingo’s comment marketing playbook.

Brand Example on Comment Marketing: Duolingo Case Study

After all is said and done, it’ll be incomplete if there are no real-life examples to appreciate and learn from. So, let’s revisit the brand that has mastered comment marketing in their own quirky way and talk about its impact.

Duolingo is no longer just an app—it’s a personality, a presence. People remember the owl not just for the app, but for the sassy remarks and hilarious TikTok cameos.

The saying, “the secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow,” is satisfyingly befitting of Duolingo’s Comment Marketing tactics. From making passive-aggressive remarks to leaving the most random comments on posts, Duolingo has surely surpassed all expectations.

The platform isn’t simply surviving off humorous comments and memes, but rather, thriving. And the numbers speak for themselves: In 2021, Duolingo had close to 40 million monthly active users, which has now easily crossed over 100 million.

And that’s not even the most surprising part. Duolingo’s comment marketing strategies have been so successful that even silence helped them garner a 38% sales increase in Q1 this year.

Who would’ve guessed that the owl was cooking up something this big in the comment sections this entire time!

Conclusion

Comment marketing is impactful, cost-effective, and incredibly efficient in cutting out the noise. It’s effective because it’s a marketing plan by humans for humans. Plus, in the age of sponsored posts and feeds swamped with filters, that human touch is what your audience craves.

Be authentic and real, stay updated on viral content through services like Sociable AI, start interacting organically with your audience and build relationships, and finally, stop sleeping on one of the most untapped tools in your marketing toolbox.

Before we end this article, here’s a practical checklist for you:

• Set your marketing goals.
• Find out which platforms will deliver the most effective results based on your target audience.
• Establish a clear brand tone and stick to it.
• Proactively comment and engage with your audience to increase brand visibility.
• Track and tweak success and performance metrics—profile clicks, replies to comments, comment likes, etc.

Start your comment marketing journey today.