Day 13 of #LoveBlog is all about Words of Affirmation! If you’re linking up, please know that I probably will not check out your post until later in the week. My best friends are visiting this weekend! If you need the list of #LoveBlog topics, find them here.
Is anyone surprised that my primary love language is Words of Affirmation? I’m a writer who loves words. Naturally I’m drawn to positive words that encourage me and inspire me!
Even if Words of Affirmation don’t come naturally to you, the concept can help you be a better blogger.
Weird? Maybe. I know The 5 Love Languages was originally written for romantic relationships, but it’s already expanded to include platonic and familial relationships. Why shouldn’t it help bloggers improve our relationship with other bloggers and our readers?
How to Use Words of Affirmation with Blog Readers
I love my blog readers. (That was me giving y’all words of affirmation!) I try never to take my blog readers for granted. How do I do this?
- Reply to comments. Yes, sometimes you’ll have a surprise hit with 50+ comments on it. Reply to as many as you can, but don’t stress about replying to all of them. Your readers take the time to appreciate your work as a blogger. It’s one way to say, “Thank you!” Your reply is a hearty, “You’re welcome!”
- Connect with readers on their preferred form of social media. A lot of my readers are friends and family who don’t use Twitter or Disqus or Instagram or any of my social media platforms except for Facebook. Sometimes they will share my posts with their Facebook friends. I always “like” their share and comment with my thanks. While I don’t cross-post everything from Facebook to Twitter or Instagram, I try to cross-post often enough to engage with followers not on Instagram. I get a ridiculous number of likes and comments when I share Instagram posts on Facebook. Once again, I try to reply to all of the comments.
- Mention your blog readers in your posts. Sometimes this looks like a blog post about my family. Other times this looks like my genuine gratitude at the conclusion of a blog post. People want to feel loved and appreciated. You could even give them shoutouts on social media!
How to Use Words of Affirmation with Other Bloggers
It is so easy to lift up other bloggers. We all face trolls, or rude critics who stop just shy of trolling. As a blogger myself, it feels SO good to receive words of affirmation from my fellow bloggers. I try to pass it on! How do I do this?
- Leave comments! Comments are like blogger currency. And no, “Great post! Check out my blog!” does not count as words of affirmation. Actually read their post. Take a minute to think about. Leave 3-5 thoughtful sentences in response. Comment on their Facebook posts and their Instagram posts. Tweet back at them. Genuinely engage with bloggers you genuinely like.
- Carefully offer constructive criticism. It’s very helpful when someone points out I have a broken link or a typo in my blog post. A condescending remark that disagrees with me but doesn’t even bother to engage with any of my points is completely unnecessary. Whenever I push back on another blogger’s thoughts, I open my comment with where I genuinely agree before suggesting my take on it. I also avoid wording my comment in a way that indicates the other blogger is definitely wrong and I’m definitely right. It’s fine to offer feedback on design, readability, errors, etc. It’s fine to disagree with the content of a blog post. Just don’t be a jerk about it!
- Share their posts. Read an awesome blog post? Share that on social media! I use Hootsuite with the Hootlet extension to schedule tweets and Facebook posts all the time. I’m always reading interesting blog posts that I think my readers would enjoy too. Bloggers LOVE getting more page views and new blog readers! I try not to just drop links alone. I usually add a few words of my own about why my followers should read this blog post. If I’m scheduling a tweet, I also take the time to find the other blogger’s Twitter handle so she’ll see I tweeted her link.
Meet Your #LoveBlog Hosts!
Meet Brita Long: Christian feminist blissfully married to Dan Fleck for almost two years. Lover of Paris, pink sparkles, sensible shoes, manicures, and books. Fueled by hot tea and mimosas.
Twitter // Instagram // Facebook // Pinterest // Tumblr // Google+
Meet Charlene Maugeri: Christian, wife, fur-mom, nerd, blogger and much more! She uses her blog,Enduring All Things, to inspire young wives to keep God first and their husbands second in everything they do.
Bloglovin // Instagram // Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest // Snapchat
Meet Alexandra Anne: wife, gamer, fitness lover, opera-singer, fur mommy, writer, dreamer. Addicted to mugs, music, and finding passion in life.
Twitter // Instagram // Facebo
Welcome to #LoveBlog!
Hey, blog readers, have I mentioned lately how great y’all are? I’m changing up my usual questions, if y’all don’t mind. Why do you read my blog? What makes you come back? How can I better meet your needs as readers?
I love this. While words of affirmation is not my strongest love language, I do try to use it on the internet as much as possible. One could argue that it’s the love language you can use on the internet. Though I could see an argument for a few others. Just maybe not physical touch. Anyway, I digress. lol Different aspects of Words of Affirmation are often difficult for me to remember as being words of affirmation. Does that make sense? Like sharing and connecting on social media. I don’t think of those aren’t really Words of Affirmation but I’m using words so I guess they are. lol Just like in a romantic relationship. It’s sometimes hard for me to stay kind when requesting something or expressing my dislike of something. I forget that that is just as much Words of Affirmation as the occasional “I Love You” for no reason is. Anyway, thanks for the post. I could really relate. I’m growing to enjoy WoA more and more. I’ve always sort of thought that I’m pretty good at giving them but I don’t really care that much about receiving them.
Words of Affirmation come so easily to me that I forget it’s not everyone else’s love language. 😉 I always try to use my words to lift up others, even online. On the flip side, I think that’s why I get hurt easily by trolls. You can tell me to ignore them all day long, but harsh words still sting. 🙁
Love these tips but especially the sharing on Twitter. I ALWAYS forget to do that… My strongest love language is Words of Affirmation so I should be better at sharing the love!
With Hootsuite/Hootlet, it’s SO easily to share other posts to Twitter. When I’m on the blog post I like, I just click my Hootlet extension. A box pops up that autopopulates from the meta data. I choose my social media platform, compose a quick tweet or FB posts, and schedule it to share! I see it as a way of thanking bloggers for their hard work, plus it’s another way to connect with them.
All such good ideas, that I’m terrible at. I’m very single-function when it comes to social media, so I probably won’t ever be a power-blogger for that reason. Blogging? Creativity and thoughts, phrased nicely, entered into community. Twitter? Random bits of snark. Instagram? Random photos. I rarely connect the three, even though I should. And you do such a good job of it; when I get your little Twitter notes it makes me so happy and yet I realize how terrible I am at merging the blog and twitter world. I should probably get a secondary handle…? *thinking aloud*
Some bloggers do have separate handles because they want to keep their blog tweets separate from their personal tweets. As a lifestyle blogger, I like to keep all of mine together. So my live-tweeting of Disney or whatever mingles with my links to interesting reads. 😉
I’ve gotta catch up on replying to comments…Valentine’s weekend got me behind on blogging and responding, but I really appreciate all the feedback you’ve given on my posts, and I’ve enjoyed reading yours. These are great tips! Going to try to put them all into practice!
I love this!