We all love sales, but when it comes to social media, engagement is the name of the game. And of all engagement, actual comments rank towards the top.
This just as true for YouTube as it is for Facebook or Twitter, even though it isn’t always thought of as a social networking site. It can provide valuable social proof, showing first-time visitors that all these other users were invested enough in your content to comment on it or subscribe to your channel. Comments in particular generate discussion, which means more engagement and more people wanting to engage with your content. It’s a great cycle.
There’s no doubt that capturing users’ attention enough to drive more comments can be difficult; there’s plenty of competition on YouTube after all. With the right plan in place, however, it can be done, so in this post we’re going to go over how to get more YouTube comments on your videos with five flawless strategies for all businesses.
1. End Your Videos with Questions
Don’t hesitate to ask users questions. Questions can be pretty open-ended (“What do you think?”), but getting specific can work to your benefit. It’s kind of like user generated content (UGC), where users want to know what exactly you want them to create; when it comes to YouTube, giving users specific prompts to follow can increase the number of questions you get.
An example would be something like “Do you have any questions about how the mortgage approval process will affect you? Let us know in the comments!” It’s specific, and it can be what you need to drive engagement.
If you’re ever stumped, typically asking users what types of videos they want to see in the future is almost guaranteed to get responses if you have regular subscribers. This is a common tactic of YouTube stars. See in this video how Rosanna Pansino (9.1 million subscribers strong) uses this strategy to get more YouTube comments and an endless source of content suggestions for future videos.
2. Leave the First Comment
This comes back to social proof. It’s like the dance floor at a wedding, where nobody necessarily wants to be the first one on it; instead, we wait for someone else to take the lead. So go ahead and get on the digital dance floor: leave the first comment on your videos yourself if need be.
This is a strategy that works for blog posts, and even Facebook posts, too, for the record. It breaks the ice. There’s a few options you can choose for this one:
- Post comments under your channel’s name. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, and it can jump start a conversation.
- Have someone you know personally leave a comment. I’ve straight up asked friends to leave comments on posts, blogs, and videos for this exact purpose, and I will…
