Last year, we thank YouTube for teaching us how to bake sourdough bread, taking care of our plants, and developing a regular fitness regimen (no gym required).
Brands too can take advantage of the platform’s popularity by not only creating useful or entertaining videos but also managing their YouTube comments section.
People want to feel seen and heard. Because of this, audience engagement is key to keeping others interested in your brand. And it has the added benefit of using YouTube’s algorithm to improve your position. To make sure your videos are recommended and shown in search results, you should like, reply to, and moderate YouTube comments.
In this article, we’ll look at how you can:
- Activate comments
- Reply to comments
- Report and delete YouTube comments
- Write your own comments
- Check out your YouTube comment history
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So you’ve posted your first video and are now ready to see some action.
First, check that your YouTube comments are turned on.
Follow these steps:
1. Sign into YouTube Studio
Visit studio.youtube.com to log into your YouTube channel dashboard.
2. Go to Settings
On the left, look to the bottom of the page and click the settings gear icon.
3. Choose Community
From here you can change the default on the Default tab. By default, this is set to withhold potentially inappropriate comments for review. You can leave the setting unchanged or change it as follows:
- Allow all comments
- Withhold all comments for review
- Or turn off comments.
Pro tip: If you ever find that YouTube comments are not showing up, check that the Disable Comments option is not selected as the default.
On the Automated Filters tab you can add additional settings, such as:
- Add moderators
- Approve or hide users
- Block certain words
If you are moderating, consider yourself hosting a social gathering. As with any good host, it is your responsibility to create a fun and engaging environment.
This means that you may want to:
- Delete inappropriate comments on your videos.
- Block certain users from commenting on your videos in the future.
- Promote the discussion by asking questions.
- Answer comments and requests about your videos.
Sometimes you can spot a highlighted comment tag in some of your comments. Basically, if you’re wondering what a featured comment means on YouTube, it is automatically generated by the platform itself and is meant to draw your attention to the comment. It disappears after you see or deal with the highlighted comment.
If you’re active on YouTube and other social media platforms, you may want to use a social media management tool to moderate comments across the board. With Hootsuite, you can stream accounts or even specific videos, and easily track and interact with comments from your dashboard.
If you chose that Withhold all comments for review Setting on your channel allows you to approve YouTube comments right in Hootsuite.
To learn more about moderating a YouTube community through Hootsuite, watch this video:
If a YouTube user makes the effort to get in touch with your brand, don’t let them down!
To reply to your comments, go back to your YouTube Studio page and select Remarks in the menu on the left. Here you can view comments from other users on your channel.
Based on your YouTube comment settings, you will either see public comments in the Released Tab or unpublished comments in Held to the review Tab.
If you’d like to reply to any comments in the latter section, you’ll need to provide your consent stamp first.
Note that comments that are on hold or reviewed can only wait 60 days for approval. Then they will be deleted.
You have several options for answering:
1. Use the smart answer feature.
If you are in a hurry and feel that the responses generated by YouTube can better express it, just click on one of the few options available, such as: Short, crisp and to the point.
2nd hit reply to enter your original message.
3. You can also use thumbs up, thumbs down, or the heart symbol to contact and approve commentators.
You also have the option to visit a single video’s YouTube page and click the button reply Button to reply directly from there.
If you’re using Hootsuite Streams, you can also like, comment, and reply to in My Videos, Search and Playlist Streams.
To reply, simply enter your answer in the input field below the comment.
Source: YouTube
In the YouTube Studio section, click the three dots next to the “Like”, “Like” and “Heart” options. From there you have the option to click on the red flag and report a comment.
If so, make sure the post clearly violates YouTube’s guidelines. Otherwise, the platform is unlikely to take any action. This is a feature that you can use if you see threats, harassment, spam or phishing comments, or content that appears completely inappropriate for the platform.
YouTube makes deleting comments easy for its users.
Just use this with discretion. Your audience will notice when comments are deleted. And some brands can get a bad rap if they block audience complaints or dialogue.
If you have comments ready to review, click the trash can icon below the comment to remove them.
If the comment has already been published, click the three-dot icon under the comment, then select Remove from the list.
Like deleting comments, disabling comments is usually not a good practice. That’s because your audience is interacting with you and building a relationship with your brand.
However, if you deem it necessary, you can turn off comments as follows:
- Sign in to YouTube Studio
- Choose the settings (the gear icon) on the left
- Choose Community
- Open that default settings tab
- Under Comments on your new videos choose Disable comments
- Don’t forget to hit to save
To do a YouTube comment search, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you are in YouTube Studio.
Then click on the menu in the Released Tab. search will be the first option available. This is your YouTube comment finder. You can then type in what you are looking for.
In Hootsuite, you can add a search stream to your dashboard. This is a great way to get comments that you either want to revisit or reply to in a few moments.
You can then search for content using keywords and sort the information by upload date, relevance, number of views, and rating. If you want to revisit a YouTube comment with the most likes on one of your videos, you can use this feature.
The comment section of videos is often just as vibrant as the videos themselves. If you’re looking to increase your own brand’s engagement and build relationships with others, engaging with other content can be a good place to start.
To post comments:
- Make sure you’re signed in to your brand’s account.
- Select the video you want to interact with, then scroll down to the Comments section.
- Enter your comment where it is Add a public comment.
To keep track of any comments you’ve posted on the platform, be sure to check out your YouTube comment history.
1. Visit your YouTube history
After making sure you’re signed in to your YouTube channel (not your YouTube studio), click on the three lines in the top left corner of your screen.
2. Scroll down and select history in the drop-down menu.
3. Click on Remarks On the right side.
The comments that you have made and also answered are displayed here.
Note: If you’ve previously commented on a video that has since been deleted, or if YouTube removed the comment due to a policy violation, you won’t be able to see, edit, or delete your comment.
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