With plenty of social media options out there (such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter), it’s no wonder people ask if Youtube is in fact a social media platform…

Youtube works very differently from other social media platforms, partly because it’s also considered a search engine! So while it’s technically a social media platform, it’s very different from other platforms because it also helps you show up in Google search results.

But today I want to talk about the social media part of Youtube:

How can you leverage the social aspects of Youtube to connect with your audience?

Rather watch than read? Head on over to my Youtube channel where I break this all down in detail!

Encourage your audience to stay on Youtube (specifically your content).

You want people to consume as much of your content as possible so they can really get to know, like, and trust you. There are a couple of specific things you can do to encourage them to stay on your content by engaging with your videos…

1. Ask them a question in the video to get them to comment

In your video, simply ask them a question that they can then answer in the comments. You can either ask the question at the beginning of the video so they can comment while they’re watching, or you can ask them at the end…or, you can do a combination of both! Asking a question is always really nice to get your viewer’s input on something and get them to comment on your video.

    2. Give the video a thumbs up (or a thumbs down! 😱)

If you’re enjoying a video, make sure you give it a thumbs up! This is another way that you can have your audience easily engage on your channel. If they don’t want to leave a comment, just clicking the thumbs up button is always really helpful to let the content creator know that the viewer is enjoying the content. 

Did they like this video? Do they want to see more of this type of video? And if they didn’t like it, they can give it a thumbs down…getting a thumbs down is actually super helpful because it means someone cared enough to take action. So, even negative feedback is good feedback! 

  3. Ask them to subscribe to the channel

This is a great strategy because it engages your audience to keep track of what you’re up to and when to expect a new video. It helps them rely on the value that you are consistently providing, and to never miss a video. 

How you can use Youtube as social media

One of the biggest things you can do is:

Respond 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 your 👏🏻 comments 👏🏻

As a content creator, it all comes down to engagement. The most important thing you can do is to always respond to video comments. After all, engaging with your subscribers is a two way street. There are a few different things you can do…

✅ Type out a message back to them

✅ Give their comment a thumbs up 👍🏼

✅ Heart ❤️ the comment

✅ Pin a very relevant comment to the top of the video – if someone asks a specific question that I answered, I like to pin it to the top so that new viewers that are coming to the channel can see that question answered right away.

Additionally, if someone wrote you a really funny or nice comment, you can highlight that and pin it to the top so people will see it when they watch your video and scan the comment section.

The more engagement your video gets, the more this tells Youtube that it needs to be pushed further down in the algorithm and suggested to more viewers. 

I hope this has given you some ideas on how to better leverage the social aspects of the Youtube algorithm so you can really engage with your audience! Let me know if you have any questions below and subscribe to my Youtube channel so you don’t miss my weekly episodes 👍🏻.