When it comes to growing a channel, engagement is key. Here’s how you can use the YouTube community tab to gain (and keep) subscribers!

If your mission is to make YouTube your career and earn money by creating video content, you need to focus on your community. Being able to make money from videos relies on you having over 1000 subscribers, and at least 4000 hours of watch time over a 12-month period.

Basically, what that means is you need to entice your audience with your videos, but also keep them sticking around. There are lots of clever ways you can gain subscribers and increase views. Creating an eye-catching thumbnail will lure viewers in from the search results feed, and carefully placed end cards will lead your audience to other content of yours they might enjoy.

Once you’ve convinced someone to subscribe to your channel, you’ll need to make them feel valued and appreciated. This comes from interacting and engaging with them. One of the easiest ways you can do this on a broader scale is with the YouTube community tab.

Access the YouTube Community Tab

Just like eligibility for earning money on YouTube, there are some requirements before you can access the community tab. First, you’ll need to have secured at least 1000 subscribers. After this, it will take one week for the tab to appear on your channel.

From the YouTube Studio, creators can access the community tab to share posts, images, and polls. All your community posts will appear in the home feeds of your subscribers. This means that it’s one of many important and useful tools you should be using to grow your channel.

Guide to Using the YouTube Community Tab

Having this tool available to you is great if you know how to use it. You put consideration and effort into your video content. Community posts deserve the same level of care. Everything you share with your audience should add value or excite them.

Here are some ways you can use the community tab to keep your subscribers hooked on your channel.

Go Behind the Scenes

Since sharing posts with your YouTube community is a solid way to keep them intrigued in between videos, why not share behind the scenes looks at your upcoming content?

Adding images to your post means you can include tantalising screenshots that won’t give too much away. You can add lengthy text to go into more detail about a specific aspect of your video, that maybe didn’t get so much attention in the final footage.

Promote Collaborations

A fantastic way of growing your YouTube audience is by collaborating with other creators. If you have worked on a video with another YouTuber, but the finished article is set to go out on their channel, you can share a community post about it.

This will act as a perfect signpost to your subs, letting them know where they can find content you’ve appeared on.

Show Some Love

Sharing posts here is all in the name of engagement. That means if you’re doing it right and people are commenting on posts, you absolutely should interact with them. If someone says something kind or makes a point you agree with, give it a lovely red heart.

Liking and commenting back to your subscribers can open up new conversations, but also make them feel appreciated and part of your YouTube family.

Ask the Audience

Being able to post polls in the community tab is an incredibly useful tool. If you’re feeling stuck for content ideas, or fancy trying something new, you can ask your audience directly about what sort of videos they would like to see.

You can also use polls to get feedback on previous videos. It’s free and easy target marketing, so definitely don’t pass it up!

Meaningful Mentions

Make someone feel extra special, or shout out other creators, by using mentions. Like other social media platforms, using a @mention will notify the other person, and get them involved in the conversation.

Lots of video creators shout out people at the end of their videos. You can do this, and you can put someone in the spotlight in the community tab.