If you’re a video creator of any kind – a streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, course creator, tutorial genius – you’re sharing video content out in the wild on platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. This means that you’re likely already seeing comments popping up on your videos and live streams. How exciting!
Comments are fantastic. They mean that you are engaging your viewers and giving them a reason to ask questions and share ideas. You’re building your community, and if you’re seeing comments come through, you’re doing a great job at it.
But with a community comes the need for moderators. After all, you don’t want your videos to be flagged or removed because someone tossed an F-bomb into your family-friendly live chat or made your audience disappear by insulting someone.
Most of us don’t even think about moderators until we’ve really grown our channels. But the reality is that you need a moderator much sooner than you think you do. In fact, if you have more than five people watching your videos, now’s a great time to find a moderator or two to help.
Why Do I Need a Moderator?
Moderators help foster a safe and inclusive space for your community. Not only do they remove spam and block out noise from trolls, but they can share helpful information, boost interactions with polls and questions, and otherwise welcome and engage your community.
In groups and online communities, moderators can help approve new members, welcome everyone, answer important questions, run trainings or office hour sessions, keep the peace, block and remove trolls, and set the tone.
At Ecamm, we’re lucky to have a team of moderators who help us in our Community, Discord, and on our live stream broadcasts. They’re the first line of attack against trolls and spam and they work hard to help keep our communities and live chats safe, respectful, and helpful for the entire Ecamm Fam.
Our moderators also monitor the live chat on our streams so that everyone feels welcome and is encouraged to ask questions, chat with each other, and learn collaboratively. It makes a huge difference not only in the overall feeling of our streams, but also in their success. More comments = a better experience = better performance for the video.
How do I Find a Moderator?
The best way to find a moderator is to look within your community. Are there individuals who are consistently commenting on your videos, streams, or in your community groups? Those are the people who you should invite to moderate for you. After all, they know your content and personality and they also know what it’s like to be in your community.
When you invite someone to become a moderator for you, remember that this isn’t a small thing. You’re essentially handing over the reins. Make sure that you and your moderator are clear on expectations up front to avoid any issues.
It’s important to remember that it’s okay if things don’t work out. It’s as easy to remove the “moderation wrench” as it is to add it. Sometimes it’s not a fit and it’s better to accept that and make changes than let the partnership continue if it isn’t working out.
Don’t take your moderators for granted. Depending on the size of your business or the amount of content you create, it can be a big job to moderate. Consider paying your moderators and/or offering them benefits to join your “mod squad.”
Moderators Make Things Better!
Five years ago, we decided to add a moderator to our Ecamm Community. At the time, we just thought it would be helpful to have someone to keep an eye on things for us just in case someone urgently needed some help or we started seeing an abundance of spam. Flash forward five years and we now have a moderators channel in our company Slack with over twenty moderators. They’ve created safe spaces on our streams and in our groups, implemented best in class processes, and generally make the Ecamm Fam a fun and encouraging space. The work they do is integral to the success of our business.
If you’re on the fence about adding a moderator (or more), come spend some time on our live streams and see the difference it makes to have folks there who can drop relevant links, answer questions, and keep the show moving forward. Moderators really do make things better and are always worth the investment.
Come Join Us!
Want to get to know the Ecamm Fam better? Come hang out in our Community, Discord, or on any of our live streams. We’d love to hear from you.
