Marketing Steemit: The Importance of "Getting Rewarded" vs. "Making Money"
Steemit is starting to take off!
There are lots of new faces in the community. One of our regular contributors who likes to keep his eye on the numbers, @stephenkendal, reports that the number of new accounts regularly top 1000 per day... just a few weeks back, that figure was closer to 300-400!
How do YOU tell the world about Steemit?
The Steemit light shines bright...
There's no doubt we have a pretty awesome gig here. And it makes a lot of sense that we should want to share it with the world.
But what's your angle? What's your "pitch?"
As part of @andrarchy and @zurvanic's "crowdsourced marketing" initiative, I have been sharing Steemit with more and more old blogging and writing friends from "days gone by." Of course, I get met with some skepticism... especially surrounding the idea that we get rewarded for contributing here.
Funny, that. We go to work and get paid, and that's all good and fine... but if there's a chance of getting paid online, people suddenly become skeptical and think it's some kind of "scam."
A few days ago, I addressed the whole "scam" objection in a post called "Steemit is a SCAM??? Who ARE These People??? What are they THINKING?" which gently (or NOT so gently) pokes at people who equate rewards with scams.
Today, I wanted to re-examine how we "package" the way we tell others about Steemit. It's pretty simple, really.
"Rewards" are nice; "Money" is for Greedy Evil People...
Scenic Beach State Park, Washington
I'm an old sales and marketing geek. Experience has taught me that sometimes you have to rephrase the same story 15 times before people finally "get" what you're trying to say.
My fairly brief experience in marketing Steemit has already taught me to not even mention "making money" when I talk about our community.
Why?
Making money carries the wrong energy. "Making money" is what you do when you go to work and your employer hands you a paycheck. "Making money"-- in a psychological sense-- sounds like something serious and contractual; it involves an unwritten and unseen promise that when you take "X action" you will get "Y money."
Here on Steemit we don't "make money," we create content and "get rewarded."
Lavender fields near Mt. Shasta, CA
The term "Rewards" works really well because not only is it true, but it allows us (as those promoting the community) to softshoe around the complex issue of Steem and cryptocurrencies.
"Money" is pretty much Dollars or Euros or Yen in people's minds. "Rewards" can be anything from dollars to cookies to kitten whiskers. And Steem.
Terminology-- and Attracting the Right Kind of New Community Members
Not to belabor a point, but I have been playing this gig for a really long time.
Language Matters!
It may not seem like much, but I can pretty much assure you that if you stand on a rooftop and shout "Make Money!" it will attract a complete different person than if you stand there and should "Get Rewarded!"
Similarly, if you try to sell people on the idea of joining Steemit based on a "make money" argument, you are going to attract a much "lower grade" person than if you are using "get rewarded" as your pitch.
And this is Important BECAUSE...
Marigold
Observing some 50-60 user-generated content sites since about 1999, I have seen-- over and over-- how too much emphasis on "money" kills sites. Emphasizing "rewards" helps greatly with longevity.
I could write a book about the underlying dynamic... but suffice it to say that the Internet is home to several million people who habitually surf the web in search of Ways To Make Money Doing Things Online.
I have seen them in action, dozens of times. They descend on sites like Steemit like swarm of locusts, focused purely on "making money" and will use any and all tools-- personal and technological-- at their disposal to "game the system" for short term gains.
They care nothing for the long term life of the community
They care nothing about building community, period
They care nothing about any rules, implicit or explicit
Their numbers are legion
They quickly drive away legitimate users, leaving only a wasteland
And THAT is why I recommend to everyone to "sell" Steemit because we get rewarded for creating content and being active community members who curate each others posts. And NOT because this is a place where you can "make money posting online."
Please trust me on this one! I this we have the makings of something truly awesome here... let's not destroy it by attracting the "wrong" element, by using an ill advised marketing angle!
(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
I'm brand new to steemit and also studying marketing, so this was a really interesting read, and I definitely agree. However, steemit itself seems to contradict this marketing method by putting a dollar sign next to the amount made on each post (which is what I assume that number represents). I honestly don't know yet if this is a good or bad thing to feature on the site. What I do know is that it caught my interest immediately, but goes against what you're saying and how I would market the website. It's an interesting topic that deserves a lot more discussion.
@mavrek, welcome to Steemit, and thanks for your comment!
You're right, the "$" sign is a little confusing, and I have long pondered why there isn't a stylized currency symbol for Steem (the underlying currency of Steemit) to distinguish itself from dollars. Because that's really what should appear there, in a little round circle like the "^".
What I do know is that since the platform is created and maintained by a decentralized team of developers, there are also lots of little "bits" from older versions of Steemit that sometimes get overlooked. This would be a good point to bring up with the devs.
I look at the dollar sign more as an overall assessment of the quality of the post, not necessarily a way to get paid. While you have to guess what happened with a FB, IG, or Twitter post, on Steemit it's pretty clear within a day or so how you did.
Agreed!!!
And in reality you don't even get money, just some fishy cryptocoins :D No one will buy into it like that.
Rewards and a community is where it's at.
Yep... we get "FishyCoins" which most people don't understand. It's actually part of what makes me hopeful that Steemit will be less attractive to the "clicking buttons for cash" crowd that can be so destructive.
You make some very good points and your history and experience with other content sites is valuable to us here.
Thanks @kus-knee! What always worries me is that every project initiator fully operates under the assumption that their project will be "the exception."
With Steemit, that may be. We're blockchain based. Cummunity curated. Steem based, rather than cash based. These are all good things... but they still do NOT "exempt" us from the strange psychology of certain aspects of human nature. I'm really not trying to be "Chicken Little" about this... I just think it's better to have these discussions out in the open NOW, rather than after it's already too late.
I couldn't agree more with you on this! Telling people they they can get rewarded instead of that they can make money is a great way to circumvent some of their suspicions but it is a better way of attracting the kind of people that will actually add value over the long term to the platform instead of seeking solely to make quick financial gains out of it. I am new to this (joined a week ago) and can already guess that if too many users look at it as a money making tool or speculative opportunity, this is going to sink eventually without the help of the users that actually add value by creating original content.
A little experimentation has shown me that the word "money" puts an uneasy frame of reference around what we do here. People immediate start thinking about "scams" and "cheating" and negative stuff. Saying "reward"-- because it's a very open-ended idea-- leaves things very open. 10+ years ago, a lot of us were blogging on Xanga and other places... it was "social blogging" like this, and we were "rewarded" with something called "e-props" which were essentially useless tokens, except in the web site's own store. But because they weren't "money," nobody ever even considered the word "scam;" it was cool to get rewarded, even if it translated to nothing at all.
Your assessment is precisely correct. And it has little to do with finances... and more to do with the content's ability to drive growth. Just like you probably wouldn't keep shopping at a grocery that had half rotten fruit and broken boxes of cereal, new creators of authentic content won't sign up to be part of a venue that's an ocean of spam and crap... so the site would slowly atrophy and die.
That's exactly it! Very well said! I can see how big the difference between "money" and "rewards" is and how much of a role it could play in shaping someone's initial perception of an idea that is being "pitched" to them...
Spam, scam advertisements and other crap are probably one of the biggest threats to this platform.
I've been hesitant to approach this sort of thing at all. I really don't know what Steemit will be like in the future when things take off and you have hundreds of thousands to millions of people all competing "for money".
I've been casually bringing up Steemit with some of my friends to test the waters and see what sort of reactions I get from those interested in the platform based on how I manage to word it. Honestly, I think it's really important right now – personally – to throw the money and the rewards pitch into the garbage at least for a little while.
Whenever I bring up Steemit, I won't pitch it as "you get rewards"... I'll be saying, "you get to do something you like". And anyone curious as to what that entails that digs deeper, I'll add to it with a hint "you get to do something you like and potentially get rewarded for it".
That's how I go about it right now. It's important to stress that this platform is meant for creating, curating, and sharing content. That doesn't explicitly mean anyone will be making money whatsoever. And so I don't try to tell people that's the case.
~ Thanks for the good read.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
I agree entirely with most of what you say here... I'm a strong proponent of slowly building a strong base of "serious users" before the whole mass marketing thing sets in. As mentioned in the article, I've watched the destructive power of "money for nothing seekers" who have zero interest in the actual venue... only in whatever dollars and cents they can scrape out.
It's a bit like forestry... you can absolutely "make money," but do you just go in and "clear cut" everything and then stand around wondering why there's no forest left or do you carefully manage your trees for the long term benefit of all. Many people are greedy and short sighted, and that can be a real threat to a venue like this.
I have mostly approached people I have "direct" connections with from old blogging venues; people I already know as quality and prolific content creators... pitching Steemit as a key piece of social media for the future, as well as filling a gap ("Social Blogging") some of us really miss.
I do my best to push steemit out there. I tell them exactly the same things you have outlined so well above.
Steem on dude!
Steem on, indeed! People just seem more open (and less suspicious) when being told they can "be rewarded" for blogging and creating content... as opposed to "making money" doing the same thing... we have a strange psychological investment in "money" that we don't seem to have in rewards...
I do hope you're not forgetting that someone needs to buy Steem for it to have value. Advertise to people who will buy Steem.
@heretickitten, agreed! And there's a pretty complex story there, in and of itself.
Most alt coins have pretty much no economic reason for existing other than being "revolutionary" and "on the blockchain." Sure. Great. So WHAT? What does that mean to me, when it's at home?
Steemit (at least) has this content platform, which trades in Steem. I am super happy to see the various initiatives (SteemShop, SteemGigs, etc) that are now being developed to help create a Steem based economy. In turn, when we suggest to someone they should invest in Steem... we will have differentiation for an investor considering putting theit fiat or BTCs into "MysteryCoinX" or Steem.
In order for Steem to "mainstream" we also have to present the investment potential of the coin in terms the mainstream understands. "Transactions per second" may mean something to a Blockchainiac but is meaningless to a more mainstream investor. "We have an active economy using the currency!" might actually sell in Kansas. Or Middle Piddleville. And there (just my take) is where the "value" gets added.
Yes, you're totally right, it's a valid point!! Getting rewarded is the right approach!
It may be a pretty small psychological thing, but it also has an impact on the type of person attracted... we need "long term builders" on Steemit, not short term scavengers.
I completely understand what you are saying. The thing with me is I actually came here to make money, but I don't write posts or content for that reason alone. If I don't think a post is good I won't post it. Money is a motivating factor, but it won't make me post crap. So, I guess my goals are more greedy, but I won't damage this community...yet
:)-I---<
Also I think people are right in being wary of scams. I mean steemit is almost too cool to be true, so I understand that people are sceptical.
I only "sort of" came here for the money... I was ready to resume "general interest" blogging, and this seemed attractive because I figured it would be a lot easier than setting up a blog with Google Adsense links and Amazon links for monetization.
Not only has that been true, but the income stream here has been far more immediate... Adsense/Amazon typically take a year or more to gain any "traction" on a new blog.
So, getting back to the "quality" part... I pretty much come from the school of thought that it REQUIRES quality content to drive traffic and a following, which leads to benefits. I won't post crap, because I won't read crap... and I won't support crap.
I just discovered Steemit and I agree with your post. Can't wait to get the word out.
Welcome to the community, and thanks for the comment! Like any form of social media, it takes a while to get established, to create a "brand you" and to develop a following... for the most part, I was pretty much shouting into an echochamber for my first 3-4 weeks here... putting a lot of effort into a post and seeing "$0.02" at the end of it can be discouraging, but I'm so glad I stuck to it!