RE: Marketing Steemit: The Importance of "Getting Rewarded" vs. "Making Money"
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.