As a fellow small business owner, I know first-hand how vital it is to build genuine connections and foster engagement with your target audience. Enabling comments on YouTube is one impactful yet underutilized way to have meaningful conversations and interactions with viewers right on your videos.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll walk through everything entrepreneurs need to know about allowing comments – from the business benefits to a step-by-step setup tutorial.
Why Every Small Business Should Enable Comments
Beyond the basics like, share, views, and subscribers, comments show who is really connecting with your content. The analytics also speak for themselves:
- Videos with comments have 4x higher engagement rates according to Creator Insider.
- 72% of viewers said they would be more likely to engage with a channel after commenting per Sentab.
As online marketing educator Neil Patel notes:
"Comments are vital for increasing watch time and driving more interest to your channel…think of it like focus groups on each video."
But more importantly, comments allow us to build relationships at scale. Instead of cold business transactions, enabling comments lets you foster genuine connections and a community around your brand.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Turning Comments On
Enabling comments is simple across both computer and mobile. Just follow these easy step-by-step instructions:
To Allow Comments on New Uploads:
- Open the YouTube Studio app or go to studio.youtube.com
- Click "+ Create" then "Upload Video"
- Select your video file and add video details
- Under Visibility, set to "Public"
- Check "Allow comments" under Comments and ratings
- Hit "Done" then "Publish" after processing
To Enable Comments on Existing Videos:
- In YouTube Studio, click "Content"
- Find your video and click the title
- Go to "Info and settings" tab
- Set Visibility to Public
- Check "Allow comments" option
- Save changes at the bottom
And comments are now enabled!
Moderating Conversations
As a small channel ourselves, we definitely understand wanting to prevent negativity. Try these tips:
- Heart constructive feedback
- Hide clearly spam comments
- Set strong auto-filter words
- Reply professionally in heated moments
Remember – comments are about connections. With the right moderation, it becomes a valuable way to engage viewers.
Let the Conversations Begin
Like any marketing, you have to try new strategies to grow. So consider enabling comments to take your YouTube channel to the next level this year!
Have any other small business tips or lessons from enabling comments? Feel free to start the discussion below!
