Tips to build community with comments

Looking for tips to cultivate your corner of the internet on Shorts? Make sure to focus on the following: sharing your story, building traditions, and taking the lead!

Create Community on #Shorts

Sharing your story

• Make it clear to your audience who you are and why you create your content.
• Give behind-the-scenes peeks into your life, marking your milestones (and struggles, too.)
• Don’t forget to engage in the comments section to help your audience feel connected to you.

Marie Stella engages with her audience in her comments while opening her golden play button.

Building traditions

• Traditions like quirky phrases, fanbase nicknames, and inside jokes can help foster a strong subscriber community.
• Think about ways your audience can help your channel’s culture - allowing them to go from watching your creator journey to becoming part of it.

Taking the lead

• Community is about conversation. Consider asking subscribers direct questions via videos, stories, or community posts. Get direct feedback and content ideas.
• Recognize and reward subscribers who participate by responding to their suggestions, expressing gratitude, and shouting out those with great ideas.

Comment moderation

Moderation is important for building a strong community. Go to your comment settings to:

• Review comment defaults
• Set blocked words or users
• Add channel moderators
• Turn comments on or off across your entire channel

Creating a Short in response to a fan comment can be a great way to interact with your audience.

Things to keep in mind

• Your channel culture starts with you, so remember to consider the tone and language you use when interacting with your audience.
• You can drive conversation by asking your viewers a question they can answer in the comment section.
• Take note of videos that get a high volume of comments or thumbs up—this is an indicator of something unique in the content worth exploring.
• You can promote comments posted on your channel in your Shorts. Replying to comments with a Short is an excellent way to interact with your viewers and invite them to participate in your content. Learn how to respond to another Short.

We recommend

• Use comments and community polls to help the audience feel more invested in your content.
• Ask your audience for feedback on what they want to see and be sure to follow through to build trust with them.
• Remember that a shared mission or passion can help unite a community. Have a particular cause or topic you really care about? You can always spark conversation through your content and continue it in your comments, community tab, etc.

Next: check out channel banner and profile picture tips