Justin Boland of Audible Hype recently had a guest post by hip hop performance artist Kosha Dillz. Dillz lends advice that is not often uttered by any artist, much less someone in hip hop. His post “Help Yourself by Helping Others” feels like it is right out of the FiV playbook. While it would be nice to say that it was, it is likely that Dillz’s compassionate side is probably as natural to him as it is learned.
Here is where the church of FiV says “AMEN” –
Fact is people help you out for the sake of helping out. We are all living the dream. They might not even like the music but might find someone who will, and they want to support, all of us.
This is the brass tax. It is not about what you are to get out of it. It is about supporting one another with the idea that you believe we are all pursuing our calling. It is about paying it forward to the next man.
As always, it is the practice here to supply you with usable advice and even tactical information that you can put into action immediately, so without further ado, here are ways to help others
Use your social media accounts
… to do more than just promote yourself and alert people to what kind of fast food you plan to have.
- Twitter – If you were to post ten (10) tweets in a day, try to make at least five (5) of them helpful to your followers. Tackle two things with one move by sharing content by other creatives or businesses that you support. That still give you four (4) tweets to overshare about your bathroom habits and one (1) “ask” of your followers.
- Facebook (regular account) – Respect your friends and share things with them that they will not find anywhere but you. Why waste time and bog up everyone’s news feed with trite material that everyone spews. Status updates have stronger staying power, so you don’t need to post more so much to gain attention. Again, consider pushing the work of others before yours, because more than likely, your friends know what you do.
- Facebook (fan page) – Again, updates on Facebook last longer, so make them count. Also consider building your long-tail with content that you would like to be associated. The more interesting your fan page is, the more likely people will actually visit it and see what you have going.
- YouTube – Music videos and vlogs are great, especially if you can keep them going with some consistency. If you want more views, engage other artists on their profiles. The more active you are, the better chance you have to get your content showing more as “related videos” and the like. Plus you help others build their credibility on YouTube by interacting with them!
What advice do you have for folks interested in trying to “give first?”