Glossary
First comment
The comment a creator posts on their own post immediately after publishing, often used to place links without hurting reach.
The first comment is exactly what it sounds like: the first comment on your own post, usually added by you within seconds of publishing. It has become a deliberate tactic, especially on LinkedIn, rather than an afterthought.
The main reason is reach. Several platforms (LinkedIn most notably) appear to distribute posts with external links in the body less widely than link-free posts, because they'd rather keep users on-platform. The workaround is to keep the main post clean and drop the link in the first comment instead. Readers who engage still find it, but the post's initial distribution isn't dampened by an outbound link.
Beyond links, the first comment is useful real estate for anything you don't want cluttering the main copy: a call to action, extra context, sources, relevant hashtags, or a prompt that invites discussion. Some creators also use it to kick-start engagement, since early comments can nudge the algorithm to show the post to more people.
Timing matters. The first comment works best when it lands right after the post goes live, while distribution is ramping. Doing that by hand means watching the clock, so many creators automate it: they write the comment alongside the post and let a scheduler publish it right after the post goes live.
Postopus supports this directly: you write the first comment in the editor, and its scheduler posts it right after your post publishes, as a comment on LinkedIn and as a reply on X.