Advice from one minnow to another - Part 2
It is tough when you keep churning out good content (whatever that is) but see no results of your hard work.
This is the story of most plankton and minnows on the platform. We’ve all seen well written posts (including our own posts) on steemit that get 8 upvotes, 0 comments and that famous $0.00 payout.
Life as a small fish can be challenging in Steemit waters but we have our strengths too! I know as a small fish I can be more agile than big guys, I can try different things without getting too much negative feedback, people can’t accuse me of bringing down the steem price because of something I said, and I know the platform needs us plankton and minnows too, even though it doesn’t look like it!
So taking advantage of what we have going for us as minnows and plankton, I think it is time for us to:
- Regroup
- Make a new plan
- Execute
- Review
So how do we regroup?
Well, we are doing it here in these posts. We are coming together to discuss minnow challenges and to change the status quo.
Make a new plan
So we know if we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep getting the same results! So what can we do differently?
- Know thy follower
- Read and respond to every comment you receive on your posts!
- Upvote comments on your posts
- Check out at least one of your followers’ blogs every day
So I have over 300 followers but I don’t think I’ve ever gotten even one third of them to upvote any of my posts - so what is going on? Who are these followers and why are they not voting for our posts?
One thing every Steemit user (big or small) should do is to try and get to know the people who are following them.
That’s right! You are never too big to take the time to learn more about the people who follow you! So get started right away :)
Ways to get to know your follower?
This one is quite self explanatory - when people comment on your posts, don't ignore them!
I know so many established bloggers on Steemit who do not upvote well written intelligent comments on their posts - this can be very disheartening for minnows and planktons who showed you their support! Be generous to those who take the time and upvote/comment on your posts! - I cannot emphasise this one enough. Please don’t be stingy!
Upvote their post (it must not be spam of course) and leave them a positive comment! There is nothing sweeter than having people who I follow drop by my little blog, upvote it and leave a comment. I feel loved and it is important to pass that love down the line!
Execute
There is no point in making new plans if we don't execute them.
So how I will support my followers?
- I will make it a habit to visit the blogs of at least seven of my followers each week. Starting with one blog every day for the next seven days, I will read and upvote their post and leave a positive comment to encourage them. This is obviously in addition to doing my usual rounds on blogs of people I am already following on steemit :)
- I will read, upvote and respond to every comment on this post (excluding spammers). I already do this but I will add it here still as a reminder.
- I will resteem posts from my followers that I think deserve more views. I am not a big fish but I will do everything in my Steem power to support you ;)
Review - Let’s see what happens when we start supporting each other in the community!
Until next time - keep on swimming!
If you just stumbled upon this post and want to know where it all started, please feel free to browse through my previous post:
1. Advice from one minnow to another
This is true. People tend to engage with those who engage with them. For a writer, this is key.
Good to see you @patriamreminisci
Yes, we certainly need to engage with people who are willing to give us their time and attention! How are you enjoying steemit? I stopped by your blog and I was really impressed :) You do put in a lot of work and I hope you get all the support from the community to keep up your good work.
xx Lucy
i think that you have your priorities right on here. Its very important to get the basics right when you are starting off. Post good content, interact and share with your followers.
It's fine for the whales to jerk each other off because they have the power to do it. It's the same with governments and big corporations.
The difference here is that we can change the outcome. The more minnows that grow and support each other then the more of the reward pool that we will share. Unless you are willing to buy 100k of STEEM then it is going to take effort to grow your account. Most of the whales are there because they joined so early that STEEM was really cheap and not many people were involved in the reward pool.
That is gradually changing. It would be massively expensive to buy whale status and there are so many users that you need a lot of votes to claim from the rewards. So every day the whales are getting less and less.
All you need to do is grow an active and loyal following so that you can keep catching up.
Thank you for your words of encouragement @niallon11 I truly appreciate it!
I truly hope I am doing the right thing here :)
You are absolutely right that most people on the platform can't afford to buy 100k of STEEM but we can all work together to grow each other. We do need each other unlike whales (who think that they don't need anyone else). Thank you so so much for your comment and upvote. It really means alot to this minnow.
xx Lucy
Ha ha, I love this, and totally agree with everything you said Lucy.
As for the big fish not up-voting stuff, sadly they don't, because they all belong to bots, and the bots give them what they want, so they don't bother.
Plus, the word on the street is, is that they save all their Steem power for all their other whale buddies... one big circle jerk!
Here is a good post with statistics regarding voting power distribution and membership
Maybe the balance is tilting slightly away from whales
https://steemit.com/steem/@taskmaster4450/huge-loss-in-whale-power-a-6-month-view-distribution-is-really-changing-facts-on-paid-bots-too
I just read this, and it made me really hopeful for the future of Steemit!
My concern is with dead fish.
Could it be that the life cycle of a steemian is relative short?
Could it be that people:
sign up
try to do what they can
get bored
give up
????
Could all of us fall pray to this pattern?
Well, you tell me brother, if you signed up for the first time a few days ago, when Steemit was absolute shit... would you have stuck around?
No.
But 687,721 dead fish did not wash off on the beach a few days ago.
I would be curious to know what the typical life span of these carcases was.
If it is over one month or whatever time is required to figure out what’s going on, then it is possible that the life cycle I am proposing is a big factor. And if it is a big factor, what does that bode for the future of the platform?
Ahh, I hear ya, and some of them are probably duplicate accounts that were tossed away over time I would imagine.
But wouldn’t this mean that Steemit needs a huge, continuous inflow of newcomers in order to work.
If that is the case, wouldn’t that make it look like a
I think it is certainly very easy to give up when you don't get any traction on the platform and that is the reason I think we need to support the each other and newbies. What a lot people seem to miss is that steem is worth nothing if people don't use the steem blockchain and that is why it is in everyone's interest to support others in the community stay here stay active :)
I thought your approach has so much value I put your summary in my quote blog.
I hope many more here adopt this approach. It amazes me how many big fish reply to good posts but they never upvote.
It is good sign indeed :)
I think steemit is much like real life where a handful of people control most of the wealth and have the power to impact the lives of majority of users ;) I will be really pleased to see a little less whale power :)
I don't think that will happen. People don't like giving up power.
I think if we work and support each other that we could affect a balance of power. I don't think it's a matter of them giving up power. It is more finding a better balance within Steemit.
lol! Bots certainly rule here and I am not sure if the founders intended it to be this way (I hope not because that'll be some twisted thinking).
We really need to encourage more human engagement on the platform or it will become a big pile of rubbish posts powered by bots ;)
I think the word on the street sounds quite true (I have observed it on hundred dollar votes going to really silly posts with five or six words!).
Yep, and after the recent 3 day slow down glitch, I teamed up with a bot too, just to earn during times where I can't do anything on the platform, which I consider a fail-safe... so I guess I'm part of the problem now as well, but will be buying more Steem over the weeks to come, which will be used strictly on my following. 🐳
Noooo @tolkatore you moved to the dark side ;) lol!
I think it was probably the right thing to do as you can get some decent return on your investment and in the end of the day that is really important as well. I think you are very good to everyone so I wouldn't worry too much about anything. You keep up your good work :)
It's Minnow Booster, so I don't think it's a bad bot, and it goes to a good cause, but I just couldn't stand not being able to make anything for almost 3 days, at least now, the bot will at least make sure that I make something when Steemit is at a standstill, or I go on vacation.
Great advice, I never thought about upvoting a persons comment but I can definitely see how that would be encouraging. I enjoy these advice blogs. I don't think I even have 2 weeks here yet and always finding some good tips, thanks!
Thank you @jmido8 :)
I am glad you found something useful in this post! It is really important to upvote people who take the time to comment on our posts as that is how most minnows and planktons make some SP on steemit :)
See you around xx
I love this Lucy. More people should adopt these courtesies.
“The way to be happy is to make others so”
Robert Green Ingersoll
I’m resteeming this post.
Thank you so much for your kind words and support @appone
It seems a lot people agree with it but we still don't see that much of it in practice! All fins crossed, lets hope we can influence a bit of culture change on the platform :)
Excellent write up. i love this
Thank you @g-beng :)
Hey, Lucy! May I translate this post and the previous one into Spanish? I think it contains valuable information that should be known in the language of Cervantes as well. :D :D Of course, you will have the respective credit.
Hey @guilleoro go right ahead and show us your Spanish magic ;)
I would love to see it! Spread the love.
xx Lucy
Good! I'll get to work on that this very afternoon! ;)
Awesome :)
The translation is ready! You can see it when you like. ;)
Glad to see Part 2 out :) This one was very helpful as well! I like the idea of really trying to get to know your followers. And I love the tip of responding to everyone who comments on your posts, I think that is very important!
Hey Jenna, good to see you again :)
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am a little slow in responding to all my comments right now because I want to upvote with 100% SP (with Steem price being so low right now I feel sad not being able to give a double digit upvote, lol). I am trying though! May the steem force be with us :)
That's very thoughtful of you! I forgot to thank you for sharing your rewards, I really appreciate it :)
May the steem force be with us ;)
Hola @lucygarrod, mejor descrito nunca!!! Saludos
Gracias por sus amables palabras @a1000carv
¡Realmente lo aprecio!
Saludos
xx Lucy
I think you're on the right track. As of this morning I have been a little plankton floating through the waters for 92 days. I've hit 298 followers and a reputation of 39.9. I am more proud of my rep than anything else so far. Because that does show, I have been interacting and sharing. Currently I get about 6 votes 2 of them are auto from 2 groups I belong to (no pay out though) It's meant to help newbies like us get exposure..... my highest payout (going off of memory was .80) I keep it up at that rate, I can quit my job in 100 years :P
Number of followers is only relevant if they're engaged with you. If they aren't...then they need to be thrown back into the pond. I think that is going to be my goal for the week is going through my followers, see what needs to be weeded out (put the ones I want to 'remove' on mute as a way to see what I've gone over). Then be more active with the ones that I decide to keep. Keep building a supportive community.
I did find out from someone I chat with regularly to upvote first then comment....I'll find the comment and post it. It was a good reason.
One of the groups I did join since it started wast #newbieresteemday. There are a lot of really great people in the group. I am feeling a bit lost in it though. Not sure why.
I really do believe you hit he nail on the head @lucygarrod. Let's see what kinda waves we can make :D
Hey @tryskele good to hear from you again! It sounds like you've got a good plan to go through your followers list and engage with them.
Thank you so much for your kind words. It really means a lot to me. I am slow in responding to comments right now because I want to give all comments the biggest vote possible but it just takes so long for SP to renew that I have to wait a day before it is back to full power lol (not that my vote is that big even then, lol)
xx Lucy
No worries. I usually can only get on when I get home from work which is when everyone else it getting up for work. The votes are great and I appreciate them. But to me there's isn't a hurry in anything. I think I'm probably as happy if not more so when someone responds t me LOL .
You are a star @tryskele!
Thank you so much for being kind and understanding!
xx Lucy
What better way to support people than being understanding of their situations. I admire that you're trying to give everyone the best possible vote. I can't think of anyone on here that does that.
I truly love the community and getting to know people who are like minded. Want to build others up as well as themselves. They're not in it just from a greed aspect.