3 Essential Tips For Handling Criticism From Your Audience | Vibely

As a content creator, it can be jarring to receive backlash or criticism from your followers. You may feel a sense of imposter syndrome, betrayal, defensiveness, or anything in between.

It’s all too easy for feelings like these to make us lose composure, but the smartest creators know that no matter how successful they’ve become, it wouldn’t be possible without the support of their followers.

So how can we play nice when they start saying things we don’t want to hear?

1. Focus on Hearing Their Point, Not Proving Yours

When someone criticizes or opposes us, it’s natural to feel our ego flare up and turn our focus towards winning an argument. Creators must remember the value of their followers, and use that value to overcome their desire to protect their ego.

When a follower disagrees with you or encourages you to take a different approach, remember that it’s an opportunity to:

• Learn from them
• Establish yourself as a good listener
• Strengthen your bond with them

These are much more valuable wins for your career as a creator than the winning of an argument.

2. Focus on Their Experience, Not on Them

At its core, this confrontation is about them wanting a different experience. Disregard any words that may feel like personal attacks, and focus on what they’re really asking for.

A productive approach for you to take might be, “How can I meet their needs, meet in the middle, or respectfully decline their request if it’s out of alignment with the brand or my values?”

Outside of this interaction, you might also find it helpful to ask yourself:

• Why the follower came to desire or expect a different approach
• If a trend might be starting
• What role you play in stopping this, or played in starting this

3. Focus on Respecting Their Feelings And Your Feelings

You both have feelings about the issue at hand, and they’re both valid. Separate and acknowledge the two sets of feelings before entering into a discussion. Some things to keep in mind when doing this are:

Their feelings…

• Are different from the problem that they’re presenting
• Are in search of validation and support
• Are not worthy of being judged

Your feelings…

• Are also not worthy of being judged
• Should not be projected onto them when solving this problem. Maybe you can relate to how they’re feeling, but how you want them to feel or the way you’ve dealt with similar feelings in the past should not be the focal point.

Originally published at https://www.vibely.io.