The Results of an Experiment on the Paid Promotion of Steem on Instagram
I wanted to tell you about this experiment earlier, but unfortunately some virus knocked me and my family off our feet. That's why I heroically got to the keyboard only today.
In general, I like to experiment and work with numbers. I think it's interesting. I hope you will be interested too.
A Bit of an Introduction
You probably know that I created an account @steempromoution. I use it to raise funds for paid Steem promotion campaigns. I hope to attract new talented authors to Steem and maybe even small investors. But for this, they must first learn about the existence of Steem. Of course, there is always the risk of attracting additional money-seekers.
My first fundraising campaigns were supported mainly by @xpilar and his curation trail. At that time, SBDs were not printed yet, so I could collect about 20-30 STEEM in one campaign. This allowed me to order minimal targeted advertising campaigns, but due to their small volume, it was impossible to evaluate their effectiveness.
Afterwards, I was only able to collect 3 STEEM. Then it became clear that it was necessary to act in some other way. I started running a Steem Instagram Promotion Contest.
And so one such post unexpectedly supported SC02. Considering the fact that now we receive rewards in SBD, I have funds that I could use in some good way to promote Steem. I had a few ideas:
- Conduct larger-scale targeted advertising on Instagram
- Multiply the prizes in the Steem Instagram Promotion Contest to attract more participants
- Order targeted advertising in Google
- Order production of promotional semi-professional reels
I hesitated for a long time which of the options is more effective and expedient. But I was very interested to find out whether it is worth continuing to order targeted advertising in Instagram, whether it brings any benefit. So I withdrew funds to my own credit card and started a paid promotion campaign.
Campaign results
So, I promoted these reels for the amount of 1000 hryvnias (about 28 dollars). I know it's still not a huge budget, but it's the biggest I've ever had 🙂. Targeting settings:
- English-speaking countries (United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia). I know English is much more widespread, but I wanted to cover more economically developed countries.
- Audience interests: social networks, writing, blogging, literature, art.
- Final goal: transition to a steemeng account.
The campaign improved my account statistics as follows:
But this does not give any idea about its effectiveness, so let's look at more detailed statistics.
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In short, as a result of the paid campaign, 824 accounts were covered, 7 interactions, 32 visits to the profile and 9 followers were received. Some of the new followers have open accounts and are people related to creativity, who have thousands, and one even hundreds of thousands of followers.
I think that not every cryptocurrency project can afford to run paid advertising campaigns. Therefore, this may indicate a certain status, which, they say, we can afford. But it seems that the effectiveness of such advertising is not high. Is it a waste of money? What do you say?
@o1eh, I think this is actually a good thing because the idea is to put the idea of Steemit in front of as many people as possible.
Curiosity is often what makes people decide to check something out. And I think "grassroots" always will be more effective than a company advertising. It feels more trustworthy. I know I certainly am more likely to try something if a person I follow on social media recommends it, rather than from seeing advertising.
It's not easy to measure in the immediate sense. Some years ago, I used a targeted Facebook campaign to get more people to "like" my business page. It cost me 100 USD, over a month long period... but I ended with 2200 new followers, quite a few of whom engaged with my content... and over the next 4-6 months definitely paid for itself many times over, in terms of increased sales.
On this post, you have Steemcurator support again... so you'll end up with another 15+ SBD or about 60 USD. Might be worth it to use some of that and try again... maybe divide the money into two and experiment with different tags for each half?
It all helps!
It's inspiring. Thank you for sharing your experience. This is invaluable information.
I also understand that a lot depends on the quality of the content being promoted. I'm trying to make it as unadvertising as possible.
I'm constantly tweaking my targeting settings to find more effective ones. I noticed that the promotion became more successful when I added the #blogging tag.
I will definitely continue this activity.
I follow your Steem ENG account on Instagram and really admire the work you do there. However, if I may offer my perspective... Steemit is a sophisticated platform. I would not be able to realize its depth if I didn't explore it beyond Instagram. It requires understanding and dedication, not just a quest for easy money. When I've suggested blogging on Steemit to others, some were hesitant and one even left midway. There are countless reasons, but let's focus on the effectiveness of the campaign. Leading by example, as Denmark suggested, could have a profound impact. Sharing your earnings and profile could be compelling.
Despite being a blogging platform, the advertising campaign could benefit from a slightly different strategy. For instance, I use Instagram for its reels, even if they seem senseless at times. Yet, these reels manage to capture my attention span...
P.S: I hope you get well real soon!
Everything you say is pure truth. Steemit is quite difficult for beginners. It is best when a new user is brought by a friend who already knows the platform well.
I will tell you even more, none of my friends, even very educated ones, dared to try Steemit.
Yes, I also noticed that the most important component of Instagram is reels. I am not very good at creating interesting videos, this is a very difficult task for me.
Four days of fever of 39 degrees. I really hope it goes away soon.
I was not trying to undermine your work at all. That's just my opinion and I can be wrong.
Let's just find a way how to lure in people with good intent and blogging skills :)
However, I may have a small concern...
When I first joined Steemit, I was eager to learn how everything worked and tried hard to understand the dynamics of monetary rewards. One thing that stuck with me, if I may reproduce it roughly, is:
"The circulating cryptocurrency supply is fixed. Therefore, if the number of users increases, the rewards will be distributed more thinly."
If you ask me, I'd say we need to put more effort into retaining our existing quality users while also seeking out new talent. From my understanding, the retention rate for good and authentic users seems low. And again I may be wrong!
This is a very difficult question. The absolute majority agrees with you and I have been told about it more than once. I thought about it. If we become an isolated bunch of authors, even very good authors, who are constantly earning and selling STEEM, the value of the token will steadily decrease. Eventually, the few remaining investors will sell their shares and ultimately collapse the value of the token. In order for this not to happen, the Steem project must be successful, more people must join it, it must become more diverse. Success will surely attract the attention of investors who will want to buy STEEM. Then the price of the token will increase and even though the authors will earn less tokens, in dollar terms they will earn more.
But that's just my opinion.
Totally agreed!
Rather I am happy that you pointed it out.
It's true that the pursuit of new talent is equally important. However, there's always ambiguity regarding their status until they are tested over time. (I include myself in this - you can consider me new.)
My point is about retaining the good authors. Good in terms of:
That's why I am a big supporter of your ventures of advertising Steemit, including the Instagram promotion.
Keep it up!
It's interesting to see the results or the effectiveness of your experiment.
The truth is- promotion like this are effective.
Think about this number multiplying into 5, 6, 7....times. It's a gradual process and there is no harm in trying.
Weldone for your great contributions.
🤔 Maybe you are right.
You got me thinking, I guess I'll keep doing it.
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