How to Get a YouTube Community Tab [+ How to Use It]

With nine out of ten marketers planning to use YouTube for their 2021 marketing strategy, getting your audience’s attention is more important than ever. One of the best ways to do this is to connect with your viewers by promoting the community.

YouTube’s own Creator Academy says it best, “A loyal community of viewers can help promote your videos to new viewers through their own social networks and give you instant feedback on what they’re doing and what they’re not.”

While building these relationships doesn’t happen overnight, it is worth watching your channel grow.

The Community tab is an important way that YouTube helps developers build relationships with their audiences. Read on to learn how to get your own YouTube community tab and how you can use it to build relationships, increase subscriptions, and extend watch time.

Fans can comment and like or dislike posts and share them with their friends. And this is how a functioning community is created.

Community is an important part of our human experience. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the way we participate in our communities has changed.

According to SproutSocial, YouTube has stepped into that position. “Viewers connect to YouTube content in a way that makes them feel like they are living what they are watching. After a year in a global pandemic, this is a necessary way to help people still feel connected to their passions, hobbies, and normal life activities. “

How to get a community tab on YouTube

To get a community tab on YouTube, your channel must have over 1000 subscribers. After you have given this number, it can take up to a week for the community tab to appear.

Note that if your channel has more than 1000 subscribers, you will need to enable custom channel layouts in order to see the tab, but the Community Tab option is not yet visible in your channel.

How to make a community post on YouTube

Once you have access to the Community tab, you can start posting and interacting with your audience. Creating a post is easy and is similar to posting on any other social media feed.

To create a community post:

1. Sign in to YouTube.
2. Select “Upload” at the top of the page, then select “Create Post”.
3. Enter a message to compose a text post, or add a video, poll, GIF, or picture to the post. You can also mention other channels with the @ symbol followed by the channel name.
4. Click on “Post”.

Once your post is published, your subscribers will see it in their feed. They may also get a notification that you’ve posted something new.

Where is the YouTube Community tab?

You can find each creator’s community tab on their home page if it’s enabled.

Click a channel name on the desktop to go to the home page.

From there, click Community in the middle of the screen. This is where you can find all the recent posts where you can comment and interact with them.

On mobile devices, you will need to use the official YouTube app to view the Community tab as it will not be displayed in the mobile browser. Once you’ve opened YouTube, visit a channel’s home page. You can click the Community tab at the top of the page.

7 Ways To Use The YouTube Community Tab

Engagement is one of the most important YouTube channel analyzes. As your audience becomes more engaged, they’ll watch more videos, share more, and keep coming back. Making the most of the Community tab can help you grow your audience and build a community around your content and brand. Here is how.

1. Post behind the scenes footage and updates.

While your videos may be carefully produced, scripted, and compiled, many viewers crave authenticity from the creators. You can use the Community tab to view more occasional updates. Use this format for sneak peaks or personal updates.

2. Heart ❤️ and reply to comments.

As you review your community comments, use a heart ❤️ to appreciate a viewer’s comments.

The viewer may receive a notification (depending on their settings) and can see that you liked the comment.

Replying to comments will start a conversation and create a stronger connection with your viewers. Don’t get too involved in replying to all of the comments on your channel, but if you take the time to reply to a few, you will find that you are paying attention.

3. Pin a top comment.

If a comment really stimulates your imagination, comes from a VIP, or just something you want to promote, then you can pin it in the comments above. It’s the first thing other viewers see when they review your community posts.

4. Promote a collaboration video with another creator.

Are you really a YouTuber until you’ve worked with another creator? After uploading your shared creation, make sure you both post about it on your community tab. This is a great way to drive traffic to your channel and grow your audience.

5. Ask your audience about the type of video they would like to see next.

Find out what your audience wants from your channel. Ask them for feedback on your upcoming videos or ask them questions about an upcoming competition.

Sportsnet received over 124,000 votes in its last poll for the 2021 Rocket Richard Trophy.

6. Call a fan or co-creator with an @mention.

Mention a fan or other creator to share the love or attract more eyes to your videos. Popular broadcasters often choose a fan to call out to at the end of their video. The Community tab is another place where you can make these connections.

7. Share posts to members only.

If you offer channel memberships (a paid subscription to your channel where “viewers make monthly payments in exchange for access to exclusive badges, custom emojis, and other perks”), you can create posts that are exclusive to your channel members are.

This is a great way to thank them for their support and give them even more opportunities to engage with your channel.

Building a community on YouTube

One of the things that struck me while trying to find examples for this post is that a lot of writers are not making full use of the Community tab.

The ability to post updates and notify subscribers is enormous! You have a captive audience. So, update it regularly even if you don’t have time to upload a full video.

Keep doing what your fans want and you will quickly build a loyal following.