How to motivate users to leave comments on the site?

Question

Web development

Site-analogue of Afisha. The main goal is user comments about the institutions of the city.
Can you encourage them somehow? Contests/prizes? Not sure if this works.

UPD: In the comments, they write more about technical solutions, I rather ask about marketing.

Answer 1

Ability to put + and - to comments. They go to the user rating.
Those with a certain rating have/are deprived of certain opportunities.

Answer 2

Personally, I can judge by myself - the most difficult thing is to be the first :) Therefore, as an option, make the first comments based on your own feelings. It is better, of course, if several people do this (co-developers, relatives, friends, etc.).
Also, if somewhere on the main page you display the “latest reviews” block, then many may be interested in individual comments or in general the topic (i.e., a specific institution).

Answer 3

To begin with, remove registration and captcha (there are better solutions, for example, Akismet). Make it so that the user enters as little data about himself as possible (for example, only e-mail, while only the part before the dog will be displayed). Screw buttons like share.yandex.ru - the more people come, the more active the discussion.
In general, the more interesting the materials, the more actively they are commented on. Alternatively, you can raise a small holivar. For example, write in the review that Johnny Dep is already old and played his own and in general he is a good-for-nothing actor.

Answer 4

Until they themselves want to leave a review, you can’t really motivate them.
Our team had a similar problem. Until we just started looking for people in contact and writing messages to them: “I saw that you were there, could you leave a review about this institution.” Out of 20 posts, about 4-5 people leave a review.
Then people started leaving reviews themselves.

Answer 5

Add some social, like "I like this place", which, when clicked, gives the opportunity to write the Pros and Cons of this place, and so that everyone can see which places their friends visit most often and which ones they like. Other similar features may also be of interest, such as "Invite friends to the cinema", after which the site will offer to unsubscribe a comment about visiting the cinema and the film itself ...

Answer 6

Appeal to the conscience of users, "Help us evaluate this and that." "If you don't like this place, help us warn others."
Enter a rating of places, with mandatory comments when evaluating (at least 10 characters, for example).

Answer 7

Remove the need for registration and remove any captchas.
It was a thorny path: there was 1 comment per 10k visitors (you need to register, and this is broken), there were 500 comments per 10k.
At some point in time, it was even necessary to almost completely remove automatic protection from robots.
And it was worth it.

Answer 8

You, as I understand it, are interested in structured information.
Let the user evaluate the establishment according to some criteria:
quality of service/convenience of location/adequacy of prices.
And of course, right there with an input field for their comments / wishes / thanks / abuse.
Usually, if the user “make a hint”, he goes through a “stupor” like “what to write there, something doesn’t come to mind”.
As a "side effect" you will get something structured (in the limit of ratings-puzomerki).
PS: And as for the captcha, as they said above, do not install! It discourages any desire to do something! Those. Captcha should be set not because “everyone puts it, it’s fashionable”, but it makes sense only if there will be more spam than normal messages.

Answer 9

Users themselves "from scratch" rarely leave comments. As in many forums and similar resources. How to be? We make a ton of fake accounts and start writing comments ourselves. Moreover, not just “Cool” or “Bullshit”, but sensible comments. Inspiring discussions.

Answer 10

I liked how RB.ru did it. A letter came with the following text: “RB.ru invites you, as a specially invited professional, to leave an expert commentary on the article: (article title)
This is a completely new format: now on RB.ru you can write a professional commentary on the topic of an editorial as an expert, and it will be highlighted INSIDE the material. Your comment will appear in the article after it is published by the author of the article, the RB.ru browser. In this way, you act as a co-author and commentator of editorial content.”
Plus, you can add comments from Facebook and Vkontakte, like on Forbes.ru