YouTube comments: How to promote them and how to fight hatred

They can either build our faith or completely destroy it. They may bring praise or they can completely damage your reputation. Yes, we are still talking about YouTube comments. It's fair to say that they are a relatively powerful tool. Yet, many people don’t even realize it. So what is so special about them? Let's discuss it in more detail below.

How to See Your Comments on YouTube?

Let’s start with the basics. It is okay if you do not know how to check your YouTube comments, as lots of people are not aware of their importance, So here is a guide with simple steps:

• Open the main page;
• Click on 3 horizontal lines in the upper left corner;
• When the menu appears, scroll down to find the “History button”;
• Then click on the “Comments” and you will see them in chronological order. Here it is possible to edit or even delete some of them.

Do you want to see users’ feedback for a particular video? Just open the video in a new page and scroll down.

Comments Are a Way to Build a Loyal Audience

Why do you even need to interact with the audience? The answer is simple: to increase loyalty and thus get people to follow and support you. For many users, leaving a comment means going out of their comfort zone. So if a subscriber thanks you for the video, asks a question, or shares their impressions, it is better to reward them with attention. In this case, the person will come back again and write something else pleasant. This way, people build their opinion about you: you are attentive, not arrogant, but friendly and you deserve to be followed. 

The more people you give attention to, the more they will feel involved in your content:

• Listen to your followers to figure out what they expect from you. What else does the audience want to know about you? Ask them what they would like to see from you. And then, prepare a video on the topic or share a link to an old video if you have already covered it.
• You can pin some of the popular followers’ responses at the beginning of your video.  Ask people to leave comments with the promise to select the best ones and promote them next time. The opportunity to get noticed or even get to the top may encourage community members to become chattier. But also remain prepared because the comment section may turn into a battle of wits.
• Popular bloggers often organize contests with prizes or give presents to their most loyal subscribers. First, you have to plan out what requirements people should meet. And, what is important to your fans, what might be to their liking? Money, gadgets, fan meetings, or something else? Your choice of gifts will prove if you are on the same wavelength and understand your userbase or not. So if your target audience is teenagers, do not offer them diapers and baby formula as the main prize.  Also, please be aware that due to YouTube's policy, you should not reward people for positive ratings.

Comments Are a Way of Promotion

Are you still not in the habit of viewing your YouTube comments and communicating with your subscribers? If so, you will lose an opportunity to improve the quality of the content by receiving objective criticism. But more significantly, you may miss a chance to promote your channel organically. Engaging with viewers is a key step in building a loyal fan base that may help market your channel. If your viewers love what they watch, then there is a great chance that they will distribute your videos. And if they appreciate the contact with you, they are more likely to recommend you to their friends.

Moreover, when you reply to someone on a comment, the person gets a notification. Even if you do not upload new videos that day, they will pay attention to the channel and, perhaps, watch some missed videos. The fact is that not all of your followers watch everything you post. Some people may miss only the last two videos, and some may miss ten. So by commenting, you return a viewer who may have already forgotten about you.

It turns out that not only should your content be useful and entertaining, but you also need to earn loyalty points from your followers. That is why when we communicate with them, they do the same, becoming more and more active on the channel. This asset helps YouTube to spot potentially interesting video publishers. Thus it moves them forward by offering the video to more people. This gives you an additional way to improve statistics and kick-start your channel growth. So when you get more than 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watchtime, you will be able to monetize your channel.  

Comments Can Have An Emotional Impact

We must not forget about all the side effects. Sometimes there is no benefit to certain comments. You might consider yourself confident and thick-skinned, but you may be unprepared for some of the uglier comments left on social media. Comments can impact your self esteem and even make you want to quit uploading. 

Criticism can be constructive, for instance: “try to modify it a bit to make it more appealing”, “if you report from this perspective, it will be much better”. Even “dear author, you made a mistake, please check out this source here”. These types of comments are not offensive and are meant to help you in a positive way. Don’t beat yourself up when the audience is attempting to help you. The best choice is to say thanks for the feedback and make the corrections if needed.

However, there are also destructive comments. More often, people prefer to express their opinion in a rather aggressive way. People try to share the negative emotions accumulated in their lives with the help of comments. It’s always easier to do this with a stranger and then simply leave. Are you responsible for this? No. Are you obliged to react somehow? No.

How to comment on YouTube if you get negative feedback?

Not all people can ignore the hatred and some take it personally. So what if you cannot leave negative comments unattended? The main thing here is not to give in to your emotions and provocations. Do not get involved in disputes in the heat of the moment. When you are offended, you may say unpleasant things. If you feel anger, rage, and injustice it will be very tempting to pour out your feelings. But it’s best that you just close the page and take some time to cool down and recenter yourself. Otherwise, you risk losing all credibility in the eyes of the public. 

It’s worth repeating - you need to calm down. Take a deep breath and exhale – 2-3 breaths per minute. You can meditate or just lie down as that is also helpful. Physical exercises not only energize you but also help you increase your self-control. Once you have a clear head, think twice before replying. Do you want to engage in a bitter battle in the comment section? Can your words change anything? If you receive accusations based on a whole lot of nothing, you just need to get over that and move on.

How to react to harsh words?

We recommend you establish rules of what you will allow to be written in the comment section. For example, can users swear and insult each other or not? If not, block the troublemakers or simply delete their statements. The more clearly you define the rules and announce them in advance, the stronger your position is. In this case, if someone breaks the rules and gets banned, the truth is on your side. But if you start deleting your messages and banning people because you are losing in an argument, followers will take note of this as well. 

To Sum It Up

Like, reply and interact with the audience so that you always remain social and engaging to your audience. If your channel has thousands of comments, of course, it will be difficult to answer everybody. But as long as the feedback does not take too much of your energy, go ahead and respond and help the channel move to the top. And remember that only those, who do not make any progress, never receive negative feedback.