Confession: I have trust issues. My expectations of friends are very low. I’ll save the rest for a therapist but all of this is to say that the friends in my life have surpassed my expectations when it comes to how they support my content. I love it and I love them even more for it. In acknowledging my gratitude for how much my friends support me through blogging, I realized that many content creators aren’t blessed with friends who support their work. For the moment, let’s assume the primary reason for this is that they don’t know exactly how to support your way. Here’s where I come in with a list of easy ways to support your content creator friend.
Read or Watch Their Content
This one is simple and quite frankly a given. Still, you’d be surprised both at how many friends of content creators don’t do this, and how much it means to content creators when you do. This includes subscribing to their channel if they are a YouTuber or subscribing to their newsletter if they have one via their website.
Like & Comment
If you’re reading and watching their content, you can always take it a step further by liking and commenting. It means even more when you take the time to put some extra thought into the comment. If you notice that the caption puts a call to action, or a question that seeks the engagement of the audience, add your two cents in and directly answer the question.
Repost and Share
Thought a post was especially aesthetically pleasing? Really liked the message of their last blog post or YouTube video. Did something they share in a caption really resonate with you? Share it! Repost it on your stories! Whatever it is that you can do to put people on to your amazing friend.
Give Honor Where Honor Is Due
This primarily pertains to content creators who operate in some sort of “influencer” fashion. If your friend put you on to a product, whether you sought the recommendation or not, and you end up loving the product, give them credit! Some of you know how much I ride for the Peach Slices Travel Mask. It truly is my one and only when it comes to sheet masks. I promoted that mask so much and a number of people tried, bought, and loved it. That would be a perfect example of a scenario where you could share with your friends or followers how much you loved the product that your friend recommended.
Suggest Ideas
There can be a lot of pressure to stay consistent with producing content. Obviously most of our ideas come to mind on our own, but it doesn’t hurt to add your own ideas based on what you’d like to see. To be clear, I’m not saying you should tell them what to do and not to do. It’s their own content after all. But when I get messages like “that last post was great, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on xyz in a future post?” or “would it be possible for you to share your recommendations about xyz in a blog post?” it helps me out a lot. For one, it takes off the weight of coming up with my own ideas week after week . Secondly, it’s a reminder that as a friend, you’re interested in what they have to say!
Share Resources
My friends are always putting me on to posts and articles that may relate to my capacity as a blogger or issues I’ve raised in the past. Whether it be articles about how to set my rate as an influencer or the best apps to make content production that much easier, I’m always appreciate it and the resources are useful!
Give Them A Seat At the Table
Let me preface this by saying, if you do this, you’re a real one. I consider this to be going the EXTRA mile. It’s also specifically relevant for people who work in industries related to the content creator’s. Essentially, if you’re in a position to, connect your content creator with an opportunity they may not have had otherwise. A good friend of mine (hi, Laetitia if you’re reading this because I assume you are because of the first point I made in this post) recently connected me with a brand that she came in contact with through her own work. It was an act that blew me away and honestly inspired this post. Once again it depends on whether opportunities relating to your friend come your way as well as whether you have the power to impact the outcome.
Obviously you don’t have to do any of these things I mentioned on the list. That’s the whole premise of offering support: you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. It’s also the nature of content creation that the creator should be producing content that garners the support and attention of not only friends, but people beyond that. I get it. Content creators shouldn’t be asking or expecting people to support their work by virtue of some underserved merit. That would be entitlement. Still, it’s nice to acknowledge that as a friend, you’re willing to support them in all of their endeavors including this one. But if the underlying cause is that you’re not willing to support your friend, it may or may not be time to evaluate that friendship altogether.
But also keep in mind you don’t need to be close friends with a content creator to support them in the ways I’ve mentioned in this post. This is a great resource for content creators looking to support other content creators, or followers looking to support the content creators they love!
HOW DO YOU SUPPORT CONTENT CREATORS IN YOUR LIFE?
“Giving a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people!” Proverbs 18:16
