Support Your Favorite Creators

Do you have creators you love to see on your social media feed? Creators who share something helpful, or address something that has been on your mind, or maybe they just make your day brighter when they pop up on your page?

Just as they may be important to you, in the same way YOU as a viewer are important to them!  So go beyond watching the content and make an effort to engage!

Here are several ways you can support your favorite creators and give them the important engagement they need, while doing it in a way that feels most comfortable for you.

FOLLOW the creator so you’ll see their content! This allows the app to ‘feed you’ the content from that creator on your home feed. To do this on Instagram, you touch on the creator’s username and click the “follow” button, or the “follow back” button if they are already following you!  On Tiktok, you can do the same, or quickly touch on the circle with the plus (+) sign to the right on their page to follow them on the spot.

LIKE the post or video!  Usually, the app you’re using will have a heart icon that you can click to ‘like’ the post. Many of them have a ‘double tap’ feature where you can double-tap on the image and that will also produce the same ‘like’ effect if you don’t want to tap specifically on the heart. On TikTok, you can tap multiple times on your phone screen to produce a ‘super like’ on that post.

COMMENT on the post or video! You’ll see a ‘comment bubble’ icon that you can click to add a message that will show publicly on the post. Your comment can be specific or more general. You can ask a question or share something that resonated with you about the post. Comments are so appreciated by all creators and even those with a large number of followers read all the comments. Some creators with thousands of comments might struggle to reply to all of them, but you should know that the comments are always appreciated.

Note that when you comment on an Instagram STORY post, that comment is private and is only seen by the creator.

SAVE the photo or video to your favorites. Instagram has a little ‘flag’ icon on the lower right that allows you to save a post to a ‘collection’. This feature allows you to create folders for the things you save.  TikTok has the option to ‘favorite’ a video after you click the share button, and you might have the option for collections as well, but that is still being rolled out as a new feature and is not fully released as of this publish date. Also on TikTok, you’ll see the option to save the video right to your camera roll, but only if a creator has allowed the download option.

SHARE the post with your followers. There are a few ways to do this: You can share it privately by clicking the ‘share’ arrow and then sending it to friends privately. On Instagram, you can share a post or video to your story by pressing the share arrow and adding your own text as shown in the video tutorial at this link.  On TikTok, you can share by click the 3 dots or arrow on a post, and then send it directly to a friend in various ways, or you can click the ‘copy link’ icon and paste the link into a text message, email, or whatever method you communicate.  The ‘copy link’ action itself counts as a share and helps that creator tremendously. On Twitter, you can hit the retweet button.  On Facebook you can hit that word ‘share’ – pretty simple right?

ENGAGE by clicking on links to view things the creator is talking about. It’s so helpful for a creator when they are sharing sponsored content because it gives that creator credibility with the brand that hired them for the content.

You might think that all big creators are making a lot of money, and it’s true, some creators are full-time influencers. But that is not always the case. Many creators do what they do for the love of the creativity, for the learning that comes from making content, and for their followers whose comments and engagement inspire them to continuing doing what they love to do.

PARTICIPATE in surveys and respond to questions when your favorite creator is looking for input! This helps them know what you are most interested in and it’s fun to know you are having an impact on a creator’s content.

You might not think that as a viewer you are making an impact, but some of the most clever comments I’ve ever received on my content are from viewers who don’t create content themselves. As a consumer of content YOU ARE AS IMPORTANT to the creators as the creators are to you!  Showing mutual love back is what makes social media fun and special.

JOIN EMAIL LISTS! Some creators have special content they send out directly to those who join their email lists. This is a great way to have closer access to that creator as it enables you to respond to emails that are sent out, and often times you will get a personal note back.

DON’T BE SHY, try sending a direct message to your favorite creator if you have something nice to say! While many creators are overwhelmed with direct messages, others thoroughly enjoy direct feedback and will engage in one-on-one communication in the DMs. You have nothing to lose, they will reply or not, but you won’t know if you don’t try. Many creators have contact information if you have a professional question or opportunity to share with them.

BE CONSISTENT and engage regularly if you can. This is a great indicator for the creator that there is interest in their content. This provides motivation for them to continue making consistent content since they are feeling the love from their audience.

At the end of the day, engaging with your favorite creators beyond just viewing and liking their content, can help them continue to make content curated for you. Remember that social media has the word “social” in it which, by definition, involves companionship and community. Let’s go Socialize!

Did you learn something in this post?  Let us know in the comments!

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