First published on LinkedIn
By Stuart Stubbs, Founder, Navigate Video

If you’ve been following Navigate Video for a while, you’ll know we constantly bang the drum for YouTube’s strengths as a social platform. It has enormous capacity for building communities and sparking conversation.

One way in which brands and creators can engage and interact with their audience is through the community tab.

The community tab allows brands and creators to connect with their audience and build a community around their channel. It provides a platform to share more personal and behind-the-scenes content with audiences, creating a more in-depth relationship.

Navigate Video always recommend a comprehensive community tab content schedule to complement your video content strategy.

Here are 6 reasons why it pays to love the community tab: 

1.    WAKE UP SUBSCRIBERS:

Community tab posts can appear in subscribers’ feeds and they may receive notifications when you post. This is a great reminder to visit your channel and rediscover your content.

2.    COLOUR YOUR BRAND:

The videos you post on your channel allow you to showcase your brand’s products, employees, mission and values. But the community tab allows you to show a lighter, more informal side to your brand. Through the choice of posts and responses to comments, brands can really deepen audience’s understanding of who they are.

 3.    CADENCE:

Video content is expensive and time consuming. If you’re lacking with video content to post twice a week, community posts can boost your post cadence. This keeps subscribers interested and aware of your channel and allows you to remain relevant when video content isn’t available.

4.    EXCLUSIVE CONTENT:

If you offer channel memberships, community posts allow you to supply exclusive content to your members. It’s possible to have posts that are only seen by your members, like unlisted videos. 

5.    VARIETY:

There are 6 different types of posts allowing a huge variety to engage your audience.

• Text

• Playlist

• Image

• GIF

• Video

• Polls

With so many different post types, your community content schedule can be rich and diverse. Let your imagination run wild!

6.    ENTICE NEW AUDIENCES:

Users who interact with your posts can be served more of your community posts on their homepage even if they aren't subscribed to your channel. 

This means that if a user engages with your community tab posts, such as by commenting or liking them, YouTube's algorithm may recognise their interest in your content and show them more of your community posts on their homepage. This can increase their engagement with your channel and potentially lead to them subscribing to your channel.

To summarise:  

We hope we’ve convinced you to utilise your community tab to help build and engage with your audience. By creating a space for discussion and interaction, you can foster a sense of community among your viewers and create a more meaningful connection with them. This can lead to increased engagement, retention, and ultimately, growth for your channel.

 So take the time to set up your community tab and start engaging with your audience today!

GET IN TOUCH

If you brand is considering sprucing up your existing YouTube channel or you are contemplating creating one, get in touch to talk to our team.
We can help you navigate this exciting platform: hello@navigatevideo.com