I am a pretty private person who keeps my blog and work separate from my day to day life with my family and friends. I carefully choose what I share about my life online and who I talk about my blog with face to face. If I was to tell my neighbour about my blog, I could no longer talk about things in my life that bother me. They would see me daily knowing details I rather not have my small town knowing. For me the separation of the two worlds works well and keeps the peace. I have friends I have met online who ‘get it’ and those I know from offline know me as a ‘work from home mom who works with brands online’. Nothing more, as many do not get it if they are not on the internet reading blogs. Yes there are people who do not have email or Facebook. Shocking right?!? The few times I tried explaining what I do, it ended up with me having a headache and them being confused.
I am always seeing bloggers talk about the lack of support from family and friends. They say that people in their day to day lives do not comment on their posts or share their content. This really got me thinking recently about ways we as bloggers want people to show support. I can look at a post that has repeatedly been popular with thousands of views daily, yet very little comments. To the world looking in, at first glance, this post is not popular. Luckily I have analytics installed so I can see the behind the scenes statistics and share that with the brands and networks I work with. (NOTE-If you are a blogger installing Google Analytic is a must). Goals for each blogger are different and vary depending on your expectations for your blog. Some may be interested in numbers, some wanting comments, and some just want to share their stuff and let their voice be heard paying little to no attention to any of their following.
Bloggers who work with brands depend highly on their engagement, statistics and quality of work. Along with many other factors, but these are the main ones from what I have seen brands asking about. If you have a fave blog, family member who blogs or a friend you know online, there are things you can do to support them. Obviously the quality of their work is on them, but the engagement and statistics can be helped by YOU.
Here are a few ways you can support bloggers
Brands
When a brand or PR Network shares our content on their social media channels it is noticed. Noticed by the bloggers and noticed by the fans. If you share a giveaway I am hosting on my blog for your brand to your fans, it will increase the eyes on the current promotion. Bloggers will see a spike in entries and feel you are taking the ‘relationship’ seriously. Your fans will be thrilled you shared an opportunity for them to win something. The new fans you gain from the giveaways will also notice and stick around seeing you are likely to continue sharing others promotions in the future.
Brands can also share evergreen content on their social media from bloggers they work with. This is a great way to share bloggers posts on recipes, tips, craft etc while giving your fans/readers quality content to read. Nobody wants to read all sales and promotion stuff 🙂
Bloggers
We are all busy people doing our own thing trying to make a name for ourselves in this big big world. I get this but if we want bloggers to support us, we need to support them. This is actually really easy to do and takes very little time. Following others who are similar to you on social media, liking, commenting and sharing each-others stuff are all ways we can support each other. If I see a new follow from a blogger I usually follow back (if I have not I will as soon as they tweet me as some get missed). If a blogger likes/comments on my stuff, I often go to theirs and do the same. I have found so many great blogs to read because they showed me support by commenting on my stuff. I read their comments, read their profile and follow through to their blog.
I personally take the whole supporting fellow bloggers thing one step further. If a brand I work with mentions they are looking for others similar to me for a campaign, I will refer those I know will fit and do a great job. I am a huge believer in karma and have had much success with bloggers paying it forward when they can. Networking , sharing and learning together has nothing but positive results for all.
Other ways we can support one another, answer questions, mentor or write posts that help others learn and grow. There is no blogger rule book and many are just working on trial and error. Being a mentor feels good and will help new bloggers do things the right way the first time.
Readers
Every time you read a post, enter a giveaway or share bloggers content on social media it is appreciated. You help that blogger grow and be seen by many. Brands ask us who our readers are (demographics). They want to know how many shares/comments a post has received and they watch how many entries our giveaways get. The more love you show your favourite bloggers, the more doors will open for them.
Another way to support bloggers is to use our affiliate links when making purchases. Ads on the blog or links in the posts often give the bloggers credit or a kick back for new customers. If a blogger does not have a link they get a kickback for, they still will been seen by the brand as driving traffic to their site/product. Then the brand will be more likely to partner with them again and offer you more great information and promotions. If you are looking to do some online shopping, search your favourite blog for a discount code or link via the search bar.
Family
Bringing up every blog post your blogger family member wrote at your yearly Thanksgiving dinner is nice and a bit awkward. Flattering that you read it but strange there was never any trace of you on their site or social media channel. Why not leave a comment? Give a like or share it, so more people see it. If you found the article interesting, chances are others will too. Lurking and being a fly on the wall makes you look like the nosy family member that is just checking up on them.
Everyone
If you favourite blogger is on a trip, covering an event or tweeting about a brand, give it a retweet and respond. The more engagement and support they get on their coverage the more opportunities you will see for prizes, discounts and other fun stuff. Trust me, your support does not go unnoticed!
I really hope this post has opened your eyes on how you can show support to the bloggers in your life.
How do you support bloggers? I would love to hear your ideas below. If you are a blogger, what do you like?
Great post. It’s true I have had that comment from a relative or friend or neighbour who says – I read your post about X and then dead silence. Like yes and…..I sometimes say oh thanks for reading. Sometimes I have some really great support like my Brother in law at Christmas who advised me that he met an old colleague of mine at a restaurant over the holidays and he told him all about my blog and how I take trips and do really cool things etc. That was pretty nice and supportive. I think everyone lately has forgotten that it’s important to leave comments. We all value them and really I notice so much. Some people comment often and are so sweet and they share everything and I love that. That’s support. I have some neighbours who I keep kind of off line. Because that’s the thing once you friend everyone on Facebook and Twitter they know EVERYTHING about you. It’s a great job but also kind of a weird one at times !! Great post.
It is the strangest job I have ever had to explain to people who are not online 🙂
What a well written post! My husband supports what I do but my family and friends just don’t understand. I prefer to leave it like that. Gives me less headaches than trying to explain or justify myself all the time.
I like to keep the two separate as well
Very good information. I am not a blogger but I read the blogs and enter the contests. I appreciate all the contests and it usually then gets me reading more posts from that blogger. I especially love all the recipes I have found on blogs. My recipe folder is full thanks to bloggers. I also love all the travel articles like traveling with kids, family places to stay. I used to do a lot of traveling but can’t anymore but still love to read about them and hope one day I’ll be able to again. Again, thanks for the information, a lot I didn’t know. Love your blog 🙂
On a side note…I’m a ginger as well 🙂
Thanks for your comment and kind words. I love to read and write travel posts. Hoping to travel more this year.
Great reminder there! Many times I forget to share after reading, I will try to do better lol. However, I am limited because I no longer have facebook or twitter thanks to a hacker. Now in order to get my facebook back, they want me to seen them to much personal info. I opted to not send it. I feel if my facebook page can get hacked, so can facebook itself.
That is really too bad about fb and twitter! It is hard to be active online with hackers. Thank you so much for your comment
Great post giving some honest and real insight into the life of a blogger, how to support your favourite bloggers and what that support means both personally and professionally. Our blogs are our brand, resume and calling cards and support that actually impacts our ability to market ourselves is so important. Thanks for a really helpful read. BTW shared everywhere not just to support but because I really hope others will read this post and put into action your suggestions.
Have a great weekend!
Cathy 🙂
Thank you for sharing and your ongoing support. You have always been amazing online supporting bloggers 🙂
These are all great points. I try really hard to leave a comment or something when I use a recipe or like a post. It hardly takes any time!
I find it becomes habit the more we do it
It is defiantly a different lifestyle that a lot of people don’t understand. I support my fellow bloggers however I can.
This is awesome. Really great post. I try to leave comments or share when I find a post I really enjoy.. I never think about the affiliate thing, so thats a good idea!
I love supporting my fellow bloggers. They are some of my best friends.
This is a great post and so well-rounded. I have some great and loyal readers and it’s always great when they engage. 🙂 I love the advice to everyone! Sharing this!
Thanks for the great tips here Kim. I find it difficult to explain to people as well as my family what I do online so after trying, I just give up. I have learned a lot from other bloggers and continue to learn.
It can be so hard to explain what we do to people!! Love all these ways to support bloggers and it’s important to remember to support each other too.
Great post, Kim! You hit so many points that had me saying “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I love how you explained some of the background as to why we need those shares/coments/retweets, etc. I think most people don’t understand how important these things are to a blogger 🙂
This is a fantastic post. I find a lot of people do not understand what a blogger does. It is important to support each other.
Great post. It’s amazing how many people don’t believe that we really work. I love that the blogging community is so tight knit and supportive.
Great post Kim, you said everything I feel. I have family members who don’t understand what I do and those who do, and having those who do support me is so important as it helps to validate. I know that might sound contrite (needing validation) but a blogger’s self esteem can downhill with so much competition on the rise and we all work hard to do our very best at what we do. It’s hard work, much harder than those around us realize. One time someone asked what I do and before she understood my mom blurted out oh she plays on the computer all day. Now she knows and is proud to tell people my daughter is a professional blogger and works with companies to help market their products. The pride on her face so uplifting to me. So this post goes a long way to helping families get in the know.
These are great tips! I love supporting other bloggers, and it only takes a couple moments of your time!
Love this! I think engagement on both the blogger and the readers parts is a big thing and it helps to have multiple audiences as well.
Love this post so much I had to share it! Just a few little things that don’t take much time that can make a huge difference.
That you for showing us that we do care – and that we also care about you as well. I truly do love all of your tips and noticed that a fellow blogger shared your post so that I could read it 🙂 XX
Love this! My family does not really understand what I do, and I have stopped trying to explain it!
Great post! I get the same. Family and friends will tell me they loved a post but nothe comment on the actual post. LOL!
Many people in my offline life still do not understand what it is that I do. Add in doing social media community management for clients and that confuses them even more.
Great post! I can relate to each and every point you wrote about. My family rarely reads my blog and that is alright with me. I don’t like however when they choose to bring up a controversial blog post I wrote at an inopportune moment during a family gathering. In terms of supporting other bloggers; to be perfectly honest my first two years blogging were spent very isolated from other bloggers and I wish I could have known then what I know now. I’ve learnt over the years to share and support the work of others in my field and take the few moments to congratulate them on a great opportunity, blog post or social invite. What goes around comes around and the more we help each other, the stronger our community becomes.
I really enjoyed reading this post and try to do my bit in supporting the blogs that I read by commenting on a post or mentioning when something isn’t working when I enter a contest. I’m always surprised when I hear back that the blogger knew nothing of the problem and mostly it was an easy fix.
I always appreciate when my readers let me know of any issues with posts, codes I offer or giveaways. The more eyes on these things the better 🙂 Thanks for your ongoing support
I have taught my parents how to share my posts on Facebook! My friends and family are super supportive and I’m very grateful. I even hear my brother correcting people- “she doesn’t just get a free product, she works to earn it!”
That is so great!
I’m a reader, not a blogger. I am also pretty quiet. I do try and comment, RT and engage occasionally. After reading your article, I might try a wee bit harder.(this is the first step) Thank you for doing the work you do and sharing a part of your life with us.
Thank you for your comment and ongoing support 🙂
Love this. I’m with you that I keep my blog life separate from my work life and my family/home life so that I can write freely and not feel like my family is watching my every move online lol. We bloggers are a great community when we support each other. I engage with a lot of posts I come across via Pins or Tweets, though I don’t always comment, I do share.
This is great! I do wish people that reads my blog would leave a comment, or like or even a share. I try not to ever let it upset me but a lot of time I see people sharing random “stuff” on fb and it makes me wonder if my “stuff” just not worthy lol
What an awesome, enlightening, and informative post! And such a good reminder that there is a way for family, friends, and fellow bloggers can support on another. It would be such a dream for a post to touch someone’a heart (I’m not always putting up posts on outfits of the day!) enough for a share or some love. It just helps knowing that the closest ones to us find our posts worth the read. Thanks for posting this!
Yes!!! Blogging gets tougher everyday and we can all use the support.