Why Comments On Your Brand’s YouTube Channel Matter

Whether you’re a fitness brand, gaming brand, retail brand, or B2B brand, your audience is browsing on YouTube. YouTube is the 2nd most popular social media platform. 74% of adults in the US use YouTube, meaning if approached strategically, your brand could be exposed to its unique audience. It’s fast and it’s as equally accessible on mobile as desktop. It’s a source of entertainment for some and answers for others.

Your brand can deliver both entertainment and educational content on its YouTube channel, but you should consider going a step further by creating an open space for discussions in the comments section. According to Salesforce, 84% of customers say being treated like a person, not a number, is important when they choose a business. Treat your customers like people by creating a sense of community and connection in the comments section. Start conversations, answer questions, and reply to compliments, while ensuring all discussions are free from harmful comments. Consider using BrandBastion’s Moderation and Alerts Solution to protect your brand from hateful or derogatory speech that your brand deems inappropriate, offensive, or dangerous.

Let’s deep dive into this topic to understand more about what your brand can gain from comments on YouTube and how your brand can encourage more engagement.

Discover the power of YouTube comments

1) Drive More Multi-Channel Engagement

A successful YouTube channel means more engagement for your brand, and not just on YouTube. Bring your followers into your Instagram or Facebook communities by leaving links at the bottom of your videos or even sharing quizzes or giveaways across your social pages! If your brand delivers an omnichannel experience, followers will be more than willing to join your brand community across channels.

Another way to drive engagement is by pinning comments, meaning they will show at the top of your feed. Be strategic in choosing which comments you want to be featured, whether it’s a thoughtful comment left by a super fan, a question posed by your brand to encourage more engagement, or clarification by your brand based on feedback in the comments feed.

You can see BMW pinned a comment asking fans, “What do you like most about the first-ever BMW i4?” It’s unclear whether BMW’s goal here was social listening or to develop community by encouraging discussion. What is clear is that they achieved both. 260 people responded to that single question pinned in the comments section and the video reached almost 400,000 views.   

It’s great to drive engagement and encourage conversations, but you must be aware of the discussions and jargon used in the comments section, especially on your advertisements. Because the YouTube comments section is open and in nature, people might be more inclined to use profanity or vulgar language, and depending on your brand identity, this might not be acceptable. Furthermore, discriminatory or hateful comments on your brand’s page threaten your brand image and threaten your community.  

BrandBastion’s Moderation + Alerts Solution protects your brand 24/7 from situations you consider sensitive and perceived threats to your brand’s safety on ads and organic. These situations can range from hateful and derogatory comments directed at your followers or profanities deemed inappropriate by your brand. BrandBastion's Moderation and Alerts solution is one of the only tools covering moderation on both YouTube organic and ads. On a platform where communication is free-flowing, it's essential to keep up. The spread of spam, personally identifiable information, and malware should not be taken lightly. Our solutions hide those comments at lightning speed so that your audience isn't put at risk.

2) Expand Brand Awareness

More views and discussions on your YouTube channel equates to expanded brand awareness. Your brand doesn’t need to be shy in its videos! On Instagram, asking for likes and comments can come off as tacky. However, that isn’t the case with YouTube. Ask for comments and questions at the end of your videos! Be honest and transparent with your followers by leaving them with questions or comments to engage with in the comments section. Avoid giving off the impression that your brand is solely seeking out likes and comments by providing personalized responses to all comments and questions. Two-way communication is imperative if you want to create a loyal fan base and tight-knit community. 

BrandBastion's Customer Engagement Solution issues public, customized, and personalized responses to comments on brands’ behalf. The solution helps build community and connections through thoughtful responses based on your brand’s unique identity and parameters.

AngryBirds has a mega-successful YouTube channel and never fails to include its followers in conversations in the comments section. In this video titled ‘Angry Birds Friends | Tips and Tricks with Adrian,’ the video concludes by asking viewers to leave comments. Adrian explicitly says that he will be reading every comment, which only encourages his followers to engage more!

3) Get to know your audience better

A sense of community is wonderful, and it can certainly be fostered by engaging in the comments section. However, your brand can take it a step further by diving into the comments section to gain insights that will inform business decisions. When community and connections are fostered, people tend to speak openly, meaning you can gain insights into how people feel towards your brand and how your content is resonating with them. This can help inspire future content as well as product innovations or iterations.

You can also respond to comments promptly and positively to move customers from the consideration stage to the purchasing stage in the buying funnel. Provide links when interest is shown and deliver answers when people ask about your product or service. It’s crucial that you read every comment and when comments warrant a response, your brand takes the initiative by responding quickly. If your YouTube channel is growing and it’s challenging to deliver responses at scale, consider using BrandBastion’s Customer Engagement Solution.

4) Broaden Reach with YouTube Ads

Your brand can and should consider creating and promoting video ads on YouTube. Much like Facebook advertising, this provides your brand with the opportunity to expand your reach and grow your audience. If your brand is looking for more subscribers, a remarketing campaign for users that have already viewed, liked, or commented on your videos could be ideal. Your brand can also gain social proof, as viewers can comment on your ads when you promote a video.

As you know, comments are important across all social media platforms- they are a great way to measure your brand’s reach and engagement, and your audience’s sentiment towards your brand. However, what marketers can’t ignore are the comments left on content that isn’t so easy to track, such as YouTube advertisements. When you promote your advertisements using YouTube advertising, your ads are hosted on your YouTube profile page. 

When a consumer’s first touchpoint is your brand’s advertisement, it’s not uncommon for the user to scroll to the comments section to see how the community interacts with your page, content, and products. If your brand fails to moderate comments that could be damaging to your brand reputation or could threaten your customers on your ads, your brand might be heading straight towards a PR disaster. Consider using BrandBastion’s Moderation + Alerts, one of the only solutions that covers moderation on YouTube ads. The next point will guide you further on taking measures to prevent a PR crisis.

5) Prevent a PR Crisis

Reading the comments in your comments section on your brand’s YouTube ads and organic videos allows you to understand how your audience is feeling about your brand and the product or service you may be promoting. When negative comments come your way, they might indicate a bigger issue that needs to be dealt with immediately or needs to be closely tracked. Suppose you are receiving several negative comments and uncover that they are all referring to, for example, false claims that a product is being made in sweatshops abroad. In that case, you should have an appropriate response strategy. The “no comment” approach is outdated and will likely result in the issue growing and eventually reaching news outlets. In these situations, your community managers might need to involve their PR team, and that is why in a 24/7 social media world, PR and social media teams can't work in silos. Check out our blog on Why Comments Matter to PR to delve into the topic further.

What’s wonderful about YouTube ads is that your brand can expand its video discovery, and in doing so, you can gain insights and grow your community through the comments section. Ads certainly aren’t free, but the comments section is. Take advantage of the platform and the content your team works so hard to create by using the comments section. BrandBastion’s solutions ensure that you never miss a beat on social, saving your teams’ time and resources so they can focus on their jobs.