The importance of engaging with fans on YouTube

As one of the world’s leading social platforms, YouTube continues to be a vital aspect of every artist’s marketing campaigns. Whether uploading vlogs, music videos, or lyric videos, YouTube is the perfect platform for showcasing videos and generating an audience. There are many aspects involved in encouraging growth on YouTube, one of the most major contributors to expansion of audience is interaction with fans. In this article we’re going to look at the importance of fan interaction through YouTube and the best methods for encouraging increased comments.

Like all social networks, content that encourages more engagement is automatically more visible on the platform. If a video is receiving lots of likes and comments, YouTube is far more likely to recommend the video to potential viewers. When an artist starts responding to comments, more people will be encouraged to engage in the hopes of receiving a response themselves. Like all social media platforms, giving back to fans encourages more fans to engage with content. By offering replies, fans are more motivated than ever to post a comment.

Every time a fan receives a response from you, it is a positive experience for them. As positive experiences add up, fans feel more closely bonded with you and your brand, encouraging more engagement in the future. Fans choose to support artists who are more willing to give something back to their audience, and receiving a message is seen by many as a reward for consistent dedication. In short, providing a number of responses to fans in the comments section can only have positive results for both you and them.

Engaging with fans on YouTube does not necessarily have to be in the form of a comment. Even a simple heart given to a comment is a massive motivator in generating further responses, and is much less time consuming than offering a personalised reply to individual users. Giving a heart to some of your favourite comments is extremely effortless and quick, plus it offers endless positive results.

For many artists, the issue is not generating enough comments on their videos. This can be fixed in a number of ways. One of the best ways to encourage increased comments on your videos is to ask your fans a question in your video. You may want to ask them what their favourite track is, or something topical based on the video itself. Make sure to use a question that is quick and simple to answer, this way your audience will be a lot more inclined to answer. If you are still concerned about not receiving enough comments, tell fans that you will respond to the best ones, this should act as a motivator.

If you’d like to take things a step further, a good option is to ask fans to submit their questions for you in the comments section in order for you to answer them in an upcoming video. This is an ideal method for really maximising your engagement levels on YouTube, plus it provides you with content ideas for a future video. In order to encourage further comments or see a boost in engagement, post a comment yourself to prove to fans that you are reading their contributions.

Receiving a high volume of comments on your YouTube videos is beneficial in giving your video more exposure, but it also gives your brand even further legitimacy. When fans see that you are experiencing a large volume of engagement, they will be more inclined to also engage and will see you as a much more unstoppable force in the industry. Comments are also beneficial in that users will often give feedback on your videos. Even negative feedback can be extremely useful and can enable you to fine-tune your content in order to suit the masses. Take note of constructive criticism and strive to improve, but always be careful not to reply to comments that are completely negative or risk damaging your integrity. Nobody wants to see their favourite artist arguing with haters in the comments, focus on the positive comments and make those your primary focus.

Negative comments can be damaging to your brand and by responding to the positive comments you draw focus away from the negativity. When scrolling through the comments section, viewers will automatically be drawn to the comments that have been hearted or responded to. Always respond to the comments that you want other users to notice and leave the ones that you want other viewers to ignore. Psychologically, if fans realise that you have received a lot of positive feedback on a video, they will be more inclined to leave with a positive outlook on your branding. Encouraging positive comments will always be key and the best way to do this is always to respond to these comments.

Your growth on YouTube may prove slow at first, but don’t be disheartened. It takes a great deal of time and content before you will begin to see a huge volume of interaction. Like all social media platforms, growth is gradual. Responding to your comments is a vital aspect in encouraging growth, as it lets users know that you care about their support and want to give back. Without responding to your viewers in the early stages of your career, you will find that you struggle to see any increase in engagement. Without responses early on, your earliest fans will soon lost interest and focus on an artist that does value their support.