Kickstarter is the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. It’s a place where you can bring your passions and ideas to life and support others trying to do the same. It’s home to the arts, music, film, games, technology, design, and so much more. The very essence of a Kickstarter campaign is about showing people you have a bright light bulb hovering above your brain and you’d like to share it with anyone willing to listen.
It doesn’t matter how big or small your project may be, or how niche, or how grand. What matters is that you have created a spark and you’re ready to start a fire. It’s about creating something special, following through with your promises, and building a strong and true community of supporters.
To help ease this creative experience, Kickstarter offers a lot of simple and fun ways to discover cool people to support. And they offer a slew of easy ways to connect creating a glorious community of communities. It doesn’t matter if you’re a creator or a backer, you can begin to immerse yourself in this community right now.
Back a Project Already!
The fastest way to get involved is to back a project. If you haven’t done so yet, please stop reading and do so right now. The inner joy experienced knowing you are helping an individual somewhere on this big blue globe is beyond rewarding, and dare I say, down right liberating.
Once you back a creator, you get to peel back the curtain and go on the wild ride with them. You gain access to frequent project updates and the ability to communicate with the creator like never before. Comment on an update, send some love in the form of a heart to show you’re listening, and tell your friends about all the great people you are now supporting. How often can you strike up a conversation with someone who makes the things you love? It’s like hitting pause during Ghostbusters and telling Bill Murray to keep up the good work. Simply priceless.
Keep Tabs, Stay Informed
There are so many creators to follow on Kickstarter. Since I have a lot of respect for the fine folks over at Lay Waste Games, I’ll use them as an example.They’re great and they make awesome tabletop games. And they’ve built a wonderful community. I’m bummed I wasn’t around when they launched their mega-hit game Dragoon. Only thing I could do was seek them out on Kickstarter and follow them anticipating their next project. Soon after I followed them, I received a fancy alert that their next tabletop project Human Era had launched. I backed them in record time. My point being, you can follow the people and companies you admire, and get notified whenever their creative wheels start rolling again with a new project launch.
Tools and Resources Galore!
Take the time to navigate and explore Kickstarter. There are a lot of priceless tools and resources within that can better equip you to start a project or discover ones to support. The Help Center is there to answer all the questions that may be swimming around in your mind right now. And the Creator Handbook should be referenced if you are serious about creating a project of your own. Everything within these two resources is based off years of experience and knowledge. Anything not covered can be addressed on Kickstarter Campus, a digital meeting place where creative people can meet, talk, and share advice.
There’s also a slew of targeted Newsletters you can subscribe to and the Kickstarter Blog focusing on important updates and event announcements. And then there’s The Creative Independent. It’s one of the most overlooked spaces Kickstarter has to offer. It’s a creative person’s dream come true filled with stories and interviews that will both inspire and educate. It’s published by Kickstarter and completely ad-free featuring all types of creators from around the world sharing their perspective and experience. A rare thing of beauty to discover on the internet today. Do yourself a favor, take the time to explore this space.
Badges of Honor
It’s nice to be recognized for your achievements and Kickstarter has a few subtle ways to show people you’re involved. If you create a project you’ll get a nifty “Creator” badge that also tracks the number of projects you’ve run. There’s also a “Superbacker” badge that lets the community know that you’ve backed a lot of projects. You earn this badge once you support 25 projects for over $10 within the span of a year. Both can be seen on your main profile page and whenever you leave a comment.
Speaking of your profile page, there are a lot of things within that give viewers an idea of who you are and what types of projects you’re interested in. The “About” tab tells the world who you are in your own words. The “Backed” section is an archive of projects you’ve supported in the past without including the actual pledge amount. The “Creator” tab showcases all the projects you’ve run. And then there’s the pie chart, my personal favorite. Each piece of the pie represents a Kickstarter category such as “Art” or “Games” that gets filled once you’ve supported a project within that category. Filling up the entire pie is a bucket list item of mine for sure. While all these elements may not seem like a big deal, they definitely matter if you plan to run a campaign of your own. People want to see that you are involved and that you care.
Get Creating
If you’re serious about running a Kickstarter campaign at any point in your life, now’s the time to start diving into the Kickstarter community taking advantage of all their resources. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s something you can do right now without anything blocking you. It’s time to take that idea of yours and put it into action. There’s a whole community out there waiting to support you.
Looking for more resources and best practices? Head over to our BackerKit Guides Section. Want them delivered straight to your inbox once a week? Subscribe to our Community Newsletter!