How to Get More Comments and Shares on Your Social Media Videos

So getting more comments and shares on your social media videos all begins with making content that resonates with your viewers. Content that elicits curiosity, delivers education, or invites participation will always attract more likes, comments, and shares.

Bright, eye-catching visuals and fun, relatable topics hook viewers from the start. A powerful hook within the first three seconds will do wonders! Adding captions or text overlays helps reach a wider audience, including those watching without sound.

Timing is important. Posting when your followers are most active can help increase visibility. Complementing your videos with questions or provocative statements pushes people to want to comment and share.

In this post, we’ll walk through proven strategies to make your videos pop and maximize engagement efficiently.

Key Takeaways

• Engagement on social media videos—especially comments and shares—are important drivers of the algorithm, giving more reach to your videos and creating a more engaged community. Stop worrying about these metrics and start boosting your content’s performance.

• Know your audience Create audience segments by analyzing demographics, content preferences, and other available data.CapacityUncover what worksUse analytics tools to find the best performing content

• Improve your video content by starting with engaging hooks, strong narratives, and eye-catching visuals. Stay true to your brand and make sure you’re creating the type of content that your audience wants to see.

• Always optimize your videos to each social media platform! Change up your formats, utilize platform-specific tools, and post when people are most likely to engage.

• Tagging people, asking provocative questions, responding quickly to commenters, and including CTAs are great ways to boost engagement. You may want to run social media contests or giveaways to take engagement to the next level.

• Rinse and repeat Regularly check engagement metrics and optimize your overall strategy according to what’s performing the best. Experiment with various content styles and be flexible to what your audience is learning to love.

What is Video Engagement?

Video engagement is simply how users engage with your video content on social media, especially when considering effective videos in your social media video marketing strategy. It features tangible actions that can be measured such as views, likes, comments, and social shares. These interactions go beyond passive consumption, indicating that your audience is engaging with your content on a deeper level.

Comments and shares are super important indicators of engagement. They show greater engagement and increase the ranking of your videos. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube prioritize social media marketing videos with high engagement in their algorithms.

When your video garners comments and shares, it signals to the platform that your content is valuable, increasing its reach. For instance, if lots of people are sharing a video, it could land in more people’s feeds, pulling new viewers in. Metrics like intro retention, for example, posit how many viewers stick around past the first 30 seconds.are favored on recommended feeds, which is a good way to help your work get in front of more people. Yet, beyond visibility, engagement is what really helps them build community.

Comments spark conversations, generating community engagement. Shares lift up your message and bring in even more potential followers. An impressive engagement rate usually indicates a winning marketing strategy because it means you’ve built an audience that’s loyal, readily engaged, and actively responsive.

Comments and Shares Defined

Comments showcase an essential view into viewer thoughts, opening up discussions that help make your content timely and evergreen. Shares do one better and they amplify your reach by placing your video in front of new, untapped audiences.

Together, they lead to engagement well past the thumbs up.

Engagement Beyond Likes

Unlike likes, comments reveal sentiment and interest, from questions to delight, while social media shares or mentions significantly increase the chance of going viral. By shifting the focus toward these deeper video engagement metrics, you gain a clearer understanding of your social media video marketing effectiveness.

Understand Your Audience

Developing social media marketing videos that drive engagement and virality starts with knowing your audience. Understanding your audience is foundational to your social media engagement strategy. It ensures your content aligns with their needs and intentions, boosting the likelihood of generating high-quality, meaningful interactions.

Identify Target Demographics

Start by analyzing key demographics such as:

• Age: Younger audiences may prefer short, fast-paced videos, while older viewers might value informative or detailed content.

• Gender: Explore differences in content preferences, such as topics or tone.

• Location: Regional interests and cultural influences can shape the type of content that resonates.

• Interests: Hobbies, trends, or industry-specific topics often drive higher engagement.

Social media platforms provide analytics tools including Instagram Insights or YouTube Analytics to help you narrow down your audience. Developing personas—fictionalized profiles that embody your ideal viewers—focuses and informs content strategies.

Analyze Audience Interests

Understanding the critical issues for your audience is essential for developing effective videos. Utilize tools like Google Trends and niche-related hashtags to discover trending social media video marketing topics. By tapping into social media engagement strategies, you can identify ongoing conversations that resonate with your audience.

Employing social listening tools such as Sprout Social enables you to monitor feedback and track video engagement metrics. This proactive approach uncovers themes that ignite passions, revealing patterns in likes, shares, and comments. Optimizing your social media video marketing strategy based on audience interactions allows you to create more shareable content, especially if how-to videos resonate well with your viewers.

For example, if your audience shows a preference for how-to style content, consider producing more of that type of engaging content. This aligns with your social media goals while enhancing your brand awareness through effective videos that drive social media shares.

Tailor Content to Preferences

Relevant, personalized content is what fuels engagement. Finally, learn what works best and keep refining your approach from there—speaking style, tone, visual aesthetic—all of it.

Try new formats such as tutorials, behind-the-scenes videos, or narrative storytelling. Check analytics frequently to identify any changes in audience taste and make sure your content delivers what users want.

Craft Compelling Video Content

Developing videos that cut through the clutter and inspire views, comments, and shares takes the right mix of being highly informative and highly entertaining. After all, it isn’t enough to simply capture someone’s attention if you can’t provide impactful content that resonates with your brand’s purpose and values.

By using storytelling, you can create a more engaging and relatable video that resonates emotionally with your viewers, helping you build a stronger connection with your audience.

1. Hook Viewers in Seconds

Those crucial first few seconds are vital. Your viewer’s attention span is already short. Hook your audience with attention-grabbing visuals or an engaging question to reel them in from the beginning.

You could be more specific, like having a fitness brand suggest, “What’s the most effective 5-minute workout for busy mornings?” By making sure your introductions are short but powerful, you’re less likely to lose viewers by letting them drop-off.

2. Tell Captivating Stories

When done effectively, storytelling cuts to the core of universal truth within the human experience. Include characters, conflicts, and resolutions to form emotional connections.

Brands such as GoPro are most successful in this arena by tapping into wide-reaching human experiences such as adventure and perseverance. Telling real-life stories, like a customer’s experience trying to use your product effectively, builds trust and engages with your audience on a deeper level.

3. Optimize Video Length

Know the preferences of each platform. On TikTok, short-form video content performing best is 15-30 seconds long, as opposed to YouTube, where creators can benefit from longer form, more in-depth material.

Experimenting with different lengths can help you determine what will best hold your audience’s attention without prolonging their experience.

4. Choose the Right Format

Try tutorials, live streams, or behind-the-scenes videos. A great reference for this is actress Isabela Merced’s IG beauty tutorials that make you feel like your bestie is showing you how to contour.

From square to vertical depending on the platform’s native standards, you may need to adjust formats, like square videos for Instagram or vertical videos for TikTok.

5. Add Subtitles for Accessibility

Subtitles increase engagement by providing for the 80% of viewers who watch without sound. They’re perfect for adapting to the silent scroll of platforms like Instagram.

Avoid jargon and aim for simple, direct language to make your video accessible to everyone.

6. Use Eye-Catching Thumbnails

Don’t overlook these simple but key pieces—thumbnails and titles—in the content creation process. Bold colors, clean typefaces, and true-to-color representation of your content are key elements.

A/B test designs to see what gets people to click more, specifically catering to your audience’s preferences.

7. State Video Purpose Clearly

Set the goal for your video from the very beginning. Think, for example, of a more general cooking tutorial—“Learn how to cook a 5-ingredient pasta dish in 10 minutes.

By pairing easily understandable titles and written descriptions with relevant content, you can create a sense of trust.

8. Enhance Visual Appeal

Tight camera work, creative visual elements, and smooth pacing are essential social media video marketing tips that help keep the audience engaged. Graphics or animations, like a step-by-step infographic in a how-to video, emphasize important ideas while enhancing your social media presence.

9. Drive Engagement through Content Variety

Varying types of content such as product demos, customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes looks, and more helps your audience stay engaged and wanting more.

For example, Armani Beauty’s product videos feature a mix of video formats, proving that experimentation increases relatability and trust.

10. Incorporate Special Characters, Emojis

She recommends using them subtly, like with stars or check marks in titles to give personality while still maintaining enough professionalism.

Something like “✨ My 3 Favorite Skincare Tips! ✨” is inviting and friendly, but gets straight to the point.

Optimize for Social Media Platforms

When it comes to creating effective videos that boost social media engagement, optimizing them for the strengths of each social media platform is key. Every social channel has different audience preferences, technical requirements, and unique tools, making social media video marketing strategies essential for maximizing engagement.

Tailor Video Content to Fit Platforms

That’s because each platform has its own algorithm that favors certain content formats. Instagram and TikTok heavily promote very short, very quick-cut style videos that are usually 15-60 seconds long. These platforms are focused on attracting a younger audience.

Facebook videos are the opposite, where you want to stay under one minute to achieve that sweet engagement, targeting a more geriatric audience. The end result for brands like GoPro, developing content that understands the target audience and connects through common interests has resulted in powerful performance.

Shifting your work to align with these subtleties will help ensure it stands the best chance of breaking through and captivating audiences.

Leverage Platform-Specific Features

Interactive tools such as Instagram polls, TikTok effects, and stickers invite viewers to interact and engage right on your content. For instance, posting to Instagram with the “Add Yours” sticker is a great way to get your users involved.

Staying updated on new platform features, such as LinkedIn’s native video options, allows you to experiment and keep your content fresh.

Optimize Video SEO

Using relevant keywords in the title, description, and the tags helps your videos get found. You can drive clicks with an engaging thumbnail and a clear description.

In parallel, editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro aids in finishing both narrative and documentary-style videos that make you pop.

Post at Optimal Times

Check your social analytics, and you’ll probably find data about what times your audience is the most active. Each social platform has different optimal posting windows, but posting within these windows ensures maximum reach and interaction.

As an example, late evenings tend to be effective delivery times for social media platforms such as YouTube.

Upload Videos Directly

Direct uploads to Instagram do better than links to outside content. Though organic social media is challenging, platforms still reward native content, giving your content better visibility and engagement.

Keeping an eye on these metrics helps you keep improving.

Encourage Interaction and Shares

To get more comments and shares on your social media short form video content, encouraging interaction should be at the forefront of your mind. Engagement is everything Instagram’s algorithm is based on. The more people interact, the more they will be seen on your followers’ feeds, on the Explore page, and on Reels.

By focusing on content that resonates on an emotional level, you’ll capture the hearts and minds of viewers and inspire greater action.

Include Clear Calls to Action

Strong CTAs are the lifeblood of engagement. Verbal or written, calls to action encourage your audience to engage, repost, tag, or subscribe. Position these carefully at the start, middle, or end of your videos to grab viewer interest at different points.

One way to encourage interaction is to ask them at the end, e.g. Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments!” Or include language such as, “Send this to someone who should see it!” These short, targeted nudges help transform passive viewers into active participants.

Ask Engaging Questions

Ask meaningful questions that relate to the topic of your video. For instance, if your video showcases a recipe, you could ask, “What’s your favorite ingredient to add to this dish?” This provides an excellent opportunity and encourages viewers to share their stories.

Questions that elicit wonder or encourage storytelling work best—the ones that make you sit with or investigate them longer.

Run Contests and Giveaways

Contests that force people to comment, like, or share are the best kind for improving metrics. As an example, provide a gift card to everyone who tags friends or shares your video.

Make sure your giveaways fit your brand so the followers you gain are really engaged and interested in what you have to offer.

Respond to Comments Promptly

Responding to comments right away lets readers know that what they have to say is valued. Even something as simple as “Thanks for sharing!” will help maintain the flow of conversation, creating a sense of community with your videos.

Publicly acknowledging comments in future posts shows gratitude and builds closer relationships.

Boost Engagement through Conversations

Keep conversations going in the comments. Ask follow-up questions or tag other users in comments to spark conversations in reply threads.

Addressing active viewers helps cultivate a sense of connection, bringing them back next time and keeping them further engaged.

Leverage Community and Collaboration

Building a connection with your audience takes more than producing amazing videos; it requires effective social media video marketing strategies that create a community igniting discussions and motivating social shares. Collaborating with social media influencers can significantly increase your reach, driving user-generated participation and allowing your shareable content to thrive.

Partner with Influencers

Influencers can be a smart, strategic way to help you expand your reach. Begin by finding out who has a following that aligns with your target audience. For instance, if you’re trying to sell a piece of fitness equipment, partner with a fitness instructor who’s already built an audience of health-minded individuals.

Prioritize entertaining and useful content, such as an at-home workout video with your product in action. Influencers provide credibility, which can make your brand much more relatable and trusted. Their support results in further sharing, as your supporters will be much more confident sharing content that’s endorsed by someone whose works they admire.

Encourage User-Generated Content

Through building user-generated content, you can create effective videos that forge deeper community connections. Run campaigns challenging followers to post their own interpretations, such as fashioning an outfit or whipping together a meal with your item. By creating a unique hashtag, like #MyBrandChallenge, for tracking submissions, you can feature entries in your TikToks and enhance your social media video marketing strategy.

Aside from honoring the creativity of your user base, featuring user submissions encourages other users to join in, boosting their social media engagement and reach. For example, an arts nonprofit might launch a fundraising drive where supporters post their impactful stories with a custom hashtag like #GivingTuesday, creating a multiplier effect.

Build a Community Around Your Videos

When people feel a sense of belonging, they show up—and keep showing up. Host live Q&A sessions or establish private social media groups to discuss ideas that connect with your content. These spaces invite two-way communication, allowing your audience to provide their own thoughts and ideas.

Tools such as GoFundMe’s Classy integration provide fuel for campaigns to build momentum, making them easy to share and building credibility across platforms.

Analyze and Refine Your Strategy

To enhance your social media video marketing strategy, continually refine your approach to increase comments and social shares. By analyzing video engagement metrics, you can make informed decisions that boost engagement and create effective videos. This multi-step process involves measuring performance, testing new content ideas, and adapting to audience responses for a more successful social media presence.

Track Key Metrics

Engagement metrics such as views, comments, shares, and watch time all provide an easy-to-understand story regarding how your videos are performing. For example, if one video just got more shares, it could mean the topic hit a nerve and touched your audience on a deeper level.

Tools like Sprout Social or native platform analytics can help you uncover audience preferences, such as ideal video length or format. Determining clear, defined objectives such as a 15% increase in shares over the next quarter will make measuring progress much easier.

With 60% of organizations already using social data on a daily basis, their competitors have already started using these insights to get ahead.

A/B Test Different Approaches

It might take time and experimenting with different styles to discover what resonates most with your audience. So for instance, post one quick, energetic video with a longer, story-based alternative.

Once you launch an acquisition effort, A/B testing gives you the ability to compare engagement metrics and refine strategies based on real data. So when Simpli.fi combined this approach with employee advocacy, they earned $90,000 in earned media value in just three months.

These insights are invaluable, allowing you to optimize future videos for even greater shareability.

Adapt Based on Performance

Just like audience preferences are constantly changing, your content needs to keep changing. Regularly reviewing data ensures you spot trends, like increased engagement with trend-based content, aligned with 90% of consumers following social trends.

This flexibility and responsiveness helps maintain relevance and fortifies sustained engagement over time.

Repurpose and Reshare Content

Repurposing content is an efficient way to stretch your time and resources while continually creating new social media marketing videos to ensure audience engagement. By incorporating social media video marketing tips, you can flex your creative chops and repurpose original content effectively! This strategy will provide you with time savings, audience growth, and a more consistent presence without having to recreate everything from square one every single time.

Repurpose Existing Content Creatively

Begin by repurposing existing blog posts or other written articles into video content. Such as turning a “how-to” article into a video tutorial that breaks down each step visually. Likewise, repurpose b-roll or creation with b-roll into montages or highlight reels.

That 10-minute piece of content can effortlessly be turned into three bite-sized clips for TikTok or Instagram Reels. Reinventing user-favorite themes, such as FAQs or “a day in the life,” in new formats further extends your content’s shelf life. This method maximizes the lifespan of your content.

In addition, it deepens your trust with the audience by covering well-known subjects in a fresh manner.

Reshare Across Platforms

Using the same video on each platform allows you to cast your net wide to different demographics. For instance, a simple, tasteful splice of a YouTube video might thrive as a short-form vertical video on TikTok. Tailor your captions and formats.

Consider the overarching tone of each platform and make them work for you. Be informal on Threads, but as formal as you get on LinkedIn. Track performance through analytics and use that data to focus on the platforms where your audiences are most active and engaged.

This helps you hone better strategies and differentiate yourself from contenders in crowded arenas.

Leverage Internal Content Effectively

Create short video summaries to draw key ideas and provide concise overviews of your findings. Preview a new or forthcoming report using bite-sized video clips, or repurpose popular social media posts into Instagram carousel format.

Having this consistency across all content types helps to reinforce your messaging while providing value in easy-to-consume formats.

Share External Resources Wisely

Create and reshare related content from other creators that complements your videos. For instance, point them to studies or infographics that further explain your scene to help readers understand.

Attribution is the key. As with everything, always give proper attribution and you will earn trust.

Avoid Common Engagement Mistakes

Creating social media marketing videos that generate discussion and social shares requires more than just a creative mindset. It includes being strict about quality, relevance, and engaging your audience through effective videos. When you skip important steps, you’re setting yourself up for less engagement.

Don’t Ignore Audience Feedback

Effective engagement prioritizes two-way communication over one-way messaging. When viewers go out of their way to comment, return the favor by doing so quickly and carefully. This kind of interaction fosters loyalty and makes them feel their voice matters to you.

Like, if you’re live streaming and someone points out a topic you should cover, thank them for it and use that idea for next week’s content. Surveys or polls are a great way to gauge interests. Inquire as to what they’d like to see more of or which video formats they like best.

Following through with the feedback, such as enhancing sound quality in response to feedback, shows that you are listening.

Avoid Clickbait Tactics

Sensational clicks or misleading titles and flashy thumbnails will work in the short term, but they destroy credibility. Or worse, they rely on misleading descriptions to drive engagement. If your video has the title “3 Easy Tips,” then make sure that’s what the video is— no more, no less, no fluff.

When a viewer understands how credible the content is, they are more likely to share that content with others. Like, for example, instead of claiming results that are too good to be true, show the tangible outcomes audience members will get.

Ensure Video Quality

Poor video quality can deter engagement, regardless of great content. Use equipment that provides clear visuals and crisp audio. Editing adds polish, keeping viewers engaged longer. Regularly evaluate your production standards to match audience expectations.

For instance, shaky footage or inconsistent sound levels can lead to drop-offs. A mix of professional-looking videos and authentic, user-generated clips can work well. Include captions to make videos accessible to all.

Conclusion

Increasing comments, shares, and engagement on your social media videos isn’t easy. The work can be exhausting, but the payoff is gratifying when you see your audience engaging with your content. Know your audience and hook them in the first few seconds. By being accessible and encouraging interaction, you’ll create an environment where viewers feel inclined to comment or share. Every platform is different and creating the right content and having the right strategy for each platform goes a long way. Partnering with others and resharing your top-performing work are just two other ways to revive and recycle your videos time and time again.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Engagement on social media videos is crucial for expanding reach and fostering a loyal audience. Below are some frequently asked questions about increasing comments and shares on your videos.

1. Why are comments and shares important for my social media videos?

Comments and shares signal to social media algorithms that your content is engaging and relevant, leading to increased visibility. Shares also expose your video to new audiences, helping your content go viral.

2. How can I encourage viewers to leave more comments?

You can encourage comments by asking direct questions, prompting discussions, and responding to viewers to create a sense of community. Interactive elements like polls and Q&A sessions also help boost engagement.

3. What are the best types of videos for driving engagement?

Short, entertaining, and informative videos tend to perform well. Behind-the-scenes content, tutorials, and user-generated content often receive higher engagement because they feel personal and relatable.

4. How often should I post videos to maximize engagement?

Consistency is key. Posting at least 2–3 times per week can help maintain engagement. However, quality is more important than quantity—make sure each video provides value to your audience.

5. What are some quick ways to improve my video’s shareability?

Make your content visually appealing, include captions for accessibility, and add compelling CTAs like “Tag a friend who needs to see this!” or “Share if you agree!” Collaborating with influencers or using trending hashtags can also increase shares.

Elevate Your Brand With Peakbound Studio’s Social Media Video Services

Struggling to capture your audience’s attention in a crowded digital landscape? Without the right approach, even the most compelling messages can get lost in the noise. At Peakbound Studio, we understand the frustration of investing time and effort into social media content that doesn’t generate engagement. Our mission is to help businesses and nonprofits like yours transform ideas into high-impact social media videos that grab attention, build brand trust, and drive real results.

Peakbound Studio’s social media video services are designed to bring your vision to life. From developing creative concepts to aligning them with your business goals, we craft engaging, shareable video content that resonates with your audience. With expertise in storytelling, marketing, and platform-specific strategies, we ensure your videos don’t just look professional but also work as a powerful tool for brand growth and customer engagement.

The reward? More visibility, stronger connections, and measurable impact. Whether you’re launching a product, growing your brand, or engaging with your community, our team is here to help you stand out. Don’t settle for ordinary—partner with Peakbound Studio and let’s create social media videos that make a lasting impression. Reach out to us today to get started.