TikTok Comments Explained: How To Boost TikTok Engagement (2026)

An abundance of TikTok comments means your audience is engaged. It also signals to the TikTok algorithm that your content is interesting and worthy of conversation, which increases your chances of showing up on users’ For You pages. 

If you run a business, TikTok comments also provide a valuable data source for your brand. Feedback in comments can inform everything from product development to your messaging strategy. They may also be a good barometer for tracking customer sentiment about your brand. 

Moderating and analyzing your TikTok comments can help you boost your performance on the app, build an active following, and refine your branding. Here’s how to manage and engage with your TikTok comment section.

Why are TikTok comments important?

TikTok comments are important for several reasons:

• Increased visibility. The TikTok algorithm analyzes many elements to recommend content to users, and comments are a key signal that a post is engaging. The more comments, the more likely you’ll get pushed to For You pages, which translates to more views and greater reach for your brand.
• Social proof.Social proof is the idea that people rely on others’ opinions to inform their own. Positive engagement in the comment sections of your TikTok videos is a powerful indicator that you’re a worthwhile account to follow. 
• Community. When you create content that encourages comments, you simultaneously foster an environment where your audience can connect. Over time, the effort you put into building community can lead to increased brand affinity. 
• Ideation. Brands like Scrub Daddy, Duolingo, and Gymshark are known for responding to comments with unique content and distinct brand voices. This incentivizes viewers to comment more to join conversations, creating a virtuous cycle of engagement. 
• Insights. When people comment on your content, they’re giving you free feedback about what they like—and don’t like. You can use this intel to adjust not only your TikToks but also other aspects of your marketing strategies and product offerings.

How to manage TikTok comments

• How to filter comments on TikTok posts
• How to delete comments on TikTok posts
• How to turn TikTok comments on and off

While more engagement tends to be a net positive, there can be times when a flood of TikTok comments spells trouble. Comments that are clearly spam or from bot accounts, for example, can erode real users’ trust. Luckily, you can moderate comment sections with a variety of manual strategies and automations. 

Here’s how to manage TikTok comments to maximize positive engagement: 

How to filter comments on TikTok posts

Filtering lets you control comments on your posts without restricting your audience’s ability to comment. Brands often use these tools to hide offensive comments and monitor user activity. Filtered comments are stored in the comments setting section, so account owners can approve or reject individual comments before publishing them.

TikTok offers several different types of comment filters, including:

• Creator Care Mode. According to TikTok, this option “filters comments that are inappropriate, offensive, or contain profanity, as well as those from people whose comments were previously reported, deleted, or disliked.”
• Filter unwanted comments. This feature allows TikTok to automatically filter comments that may be spammy or offensive based on its algorithms. These comments will be hidden from view unless you approve them.
• Filter specific keywords. Filter by keyword to block specific words from appearing in your comments section. Comments that include blocked terms won’t be published unless you approve them. To enable this setting, tap the “Filter specific keywords” option and enter individual keywords. TikTok lets you filter up to 500 keywords.
• Review filtered comments. This option holds comments for your approval before they’re visible to others. This means comments do not appear until you approve them in the app.

How to delete comments on TikTok posts

Which comments you delete and how frequently you’re deleting comments is a controversial topic for brands. Many social media users see deleting comments as dishonest. This opinion is especially popular in response to brands who delete comments with negative feedback. In some cases, attempting to hide negative comments can backfire and impact your brand image more than the original negative feedback. 

Deleting too many comments in a short time can also reduce engagement. However, you may need to remove certain comments, like offensive remarks.

TikTok provides tools for removing single comments or multiple comments at once:

• Delete a single comment. To delete a single comment, open the video and navigate to the comment you want to remove. Tap and hold the comment to pull up a menu, then select “Delete.”
• Delete multiple comments. The “Manage multiple comments” tool lets you select and remove up to 100 responses at once. 

To access this feature, go to the comments section of the video. Select a comment you want to remove. Press and hold down on the comment to bring up a menu and tap “Manage multiple comments.”

After selecting this option, circles that operate like checkboxes appear next to every comment on your video. Tap the circles to select the comments, tap “Delete,” and confirm your selection to complete the process.

How to turn TikTok comments on and off

If you’re simply running a personal TikTok account and don’t want to deal with strangers in your comments, you can turn off the commenting feature. As a TikTok user, you control who has permission to comment on your content. 

To edit your comment settings, open TikTok and go to your profile by clicking the thumbnail in the bottom right corner of the screen. Tap the three-bar hamburger menu on the top right corner of your page, select “Settings & Privacy,” and find the comments section under the privacy option.

The comment settings menu provides several options for restricting content. You can turn commenting off for all videos or limit commenting privileges to a select group.

TikTok gives you two options:

• Everyone. For public accounts, this option allows all users to leave comments on your videos.
• Friends. This option restricts commenting rights to mutual followers. If a user follows you and you follow them back, they can comment.

Tips for using TikTok comments to drive engagement

• Ask a question
• Provide a prompt
• Add information
• Listen in for product inspiration
• Listen in for content inspiration
• Respond to comments
• Court low-stakes controversy

The TikTok algorithm prioritizes engaging videos. The more comments you get, the higher the engagement rate, the higher you’ll rank in search results, and the more likely you’ll be featured in users’ For You feeds. 

Here are strategies brands and content creators use to attract more comments, followers, and overall engagement:

Ask a question

Captioning your video with a question can spark conversation and attract more comments. For example, Trixie Cosmetics often poses simple questions to viewers, like “Are you naughty or nice?” to show off new holiday-themed palettes. 

Questions with easy responses may generate more engagement. For example, if you share a TikTok video of several t-shirts, you could ask, “Which one is your favorite?” Commenters can answer with just a few words. Bonus: You learn something about your audience’s product preferences.

Provide a prompt

Prompt your viewers to encourage interaction. Prompts don’t need to be phrased as a question—think of them as a call to action (CTA). A potential prompt could be, “Drop an emoji in the comments if you’re excited for summer.” Post your prompt as a comment or create content that includes a baked-in discussion starter.

For example, athleticwear brand Gymshark asks its followers to pick their character in this popular TikTok, echoing video game culture. 

Add information

Give users helpful information in the comment section to encourage high-quality engagement. When users ask questions or compliment your video, provide additional details like recipe tips or links to similar pieces of content they may enjoy. Directing users to your website, links in your bio, or your TikTok Shop may help drive sales as well as engagement.

The tinned fish brand Fishwife regularly responds to comments with helpful tips and recommendations. For example, in one TikTok about a variety pack, a commenter asks what they should do with a tin of spicy tuna in olive oil. Fishwife promptly responds with some tasty options.

Listen in for product inspiration

Reading through the comments on your TikTok account can help you learn about your audience.

“I love reading all the comments on our social media,” Knix founder Joanna Griffiths says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “So, one of my favorite things to say is that the answers are in the comments. And I think I really want to stay close to the customer and what it is that they're saying to us. So most of our great product ideas come from comments and suggestions that come from our customers.”

Seeking inspiration in the comments might even lead you to an entirely new product line—or brand. For example, entrepreneur Mary Gui founded Sock Candy, a funky and affordable fashion sock brand, in response to trends she saw in the comment section of her fashion blog. 

“My followers would always comment about my socks,” Mary says on Shopify Masters, “So I started to realize, like, this is like something that people know me for.” 

Mary cashed in on her personal brand recognition to create a product her audience loves.

Trawl your comments on TikTok for new product ideas, and consider using social listening to identify product mentions across the app. Praise and critique can both inspire new ways to offer value to your audience.

Listen in for content inspiration

In addition to keeping tabs on TikTok trends, your comments section can also be a great source of inspiration for future content. For example, if multiple users ask the same question about your product, make a demo video that addresses their concerns. 

Floof founder Hannah Perry did just that. After getting questions about how many servings customers could expect from her cotton candy cakes, she made a short educational video. The TikTok went viral and got over 3,000 comments. 

Respond to comments

Engaging with your commenters is an easy way to provide customer service with a personal touch. Interact with commenters and answer questions to build a strong community among your viewers. Respond right in the comment section, and if the question is useful to many people, follow up with a video response. 

Elavi cofounder Michelle Razavi often does both. In the example below, she answers a comment from a previous video with a short video explaining where the coloring in her cashew butter comes from (blue spirulina). And in that TikTok’s comment section, she directly answers a question about sample sizes. This level of engagement with the Elavi audience keeps the conversation going, while also personalizing your brand’s relationship with customers. 

Court low-stakes controversy

The internet loves a hot take. Posting engaging comments that spark disagreement can attract attention. To stir up debate that isn’t wholly negative, however, don’t post content that could be considered offensive. To improve your odds of making money on TikTok, keep things light. For example, keep the stakes low with opinions in the vein of “a hot dog isn’t a sandwich.” 

Good Girl Snacks, a trendy pickle brand, regularly courts low-stakes controversy with opinionated statements and tongue-in-cheek questions. For example, the two co-founders gave a list of things hot girls don’t do (like yuck someone’s yum) and asked supermarket shoppers to rate their pickles. Having fun and being cheeky is part of their brand persona, and these types of videos help the founders keep an authentic connection with their audience.