What I (think) I have learnt about Steemit so far – My Steemit Journey #2
Hey gorgeous peeps! - I joined Steemit about three weeks ago and it has been a very interesting and educational journey so far. I am by no stretch a “know it all”, but I would like to believe I have learnt at least a little bit since I have been around, so I thought I would share it with all of you – especially those that are even bigger noobs than I. haha!
I hope you find it useful.
TIMING
I am a complete social media junkie in all respects. I don’t think there is a platform that I don’t have an account with. I use 90% of them frequently and have done so for many years – primarily for business purposes. This on-going practice with all of the above has taught me quite a bit about social networking in general… not in the book smarts kind of way – but more the “street smarts” avenue. (I am definitely more of a street smarts kind of girl anyway - hehe)
All social media platforms have commonalities and also great differences. The first thing I noticed about Steemit was how fast the post feed moves. In this respect it reminds me a lot of Twitter… here now, gone now. lol – Basically if you blink, your post has moved 10 notches down already (if not more) – so timing your posts is incredibly important. You want to put them out when there are a lot of active users. I learnt this the hard way, as I am in South Africa – so when we are awake, a good portion of the world… is not. Lol
Now obviously, you can’t stay up into the wee hours of the morning or night, just to time things well, which is where scheduling becomes useful… I haven’t spotted the function to schedule posts when using Steemit from a browser, but the esteem app has that functionality and it is VERY useful!
TAGS
Using the correct tags for your post is exceptionally important. It is the difference between landing up at the right party or the wrong party. If you are continually tagging your posts in a section that is completely unrelated, people who follow posts in that section are going to become annoyed with the lack of relevance of your posts and will generally start to ignore you – annoy people enough and they would most likely report you.
Also – your first tag is the most important on. The other four that follow after that are “sub-sections” – so choose wisely!
AUTHENTICITY AND ENGAGEMENT
Don’t be that person that goes to every single post and requests an upvote and/or a follow. It is SO annoying and practically an instant red card! There are enough spammers in this world… seriously!
If you are going to do that or anything similar, you are being false and the engagement you attract in return will be exactly the same – false, shallow and worthless in the long run.
On the flip side of the coin, if you take a genuine interest in the people around you on the platform – taking the time to read their content and respond thoughtfully and honestly, you will begin to notice that you attract a genuine interest in return… and a very healthy one at that. This is precisely the kind of engagement you want – because it started in the right place and it is sustainable.
Follow for follow does not work! EVER! - Don’t bother with it! Follow the people you ACTUALLY have an interest in.
With regards to your content – KEEP IT REAL! - Nobody wants to see your copy and paste memes from Google image search ten times a day!
Content is KEY!!! It needn’t be a million paragraph post, but give it a little body at least!!!
DON’T copy other peoples work!! – (No, I have never done this) – but just thought I should perhaps state the obvious. In addition to this – if you are going to use images from Google within your posts, make sure you credit the image sources.
SHARING AND EXPOSURE
Your posts have a “7 day expiration date” if you will – so if you are going to share posts with other people, don’t only share links to your newest work – share some of the older stuff which is about to hit the 7 day mark…. Look at it as a sort of “stock rotation”.
If you are going to do many posts which share a common topic, then keep a record of them (perhaps numbered 1. To X in a word doc so that you can refer back to the list each time) and paste the numbered list at the end of each one of the new posts in that topic range – so that if people found that latest one interesting, they can easily go back and read more.
Like I have already said, there are plenty of social media platforms – and many ways to maximise your 7 day window… share your content on other platforms. There are Facebook groups for steemit where you can share your content, you can share it to Twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr, Instagram – ANYWHERE! It is all up to you and how much effort you are prepared to put in.
I created a Facebook group recently, with precisely the above in mind. If you are keen to join it – here is the link to the original post…
https://steemit.com/steemit/@jaynie/steemit-facebook-group
Lastly, on this topic… don’t make the same mistake I made… When I first joined, I posted some of my best content from my blog. At that point, I probably had about 10 followers, so it was much like farting in the wind! And you cannot delete and repost them, nor can you re-steem your own stuff (not that I have seen anyway)… so SAVE THE GOOD STUFF until you have built up a larger following and will actually generate the type of attention you want on quality content that deserves it.
STOP COUNTING THE MONEY
I think this is probably the BIGGEST mistake that newcomers are making. You are NOT going to make a quick buck, so if that is why you are, you might as well leave now! Your focus should not be on trying to get rich quick – that will inevitably result in a “watching paint dry” situation. You are here as a part of a community – a great one at that! Have fun and explore!
You don’t scroll through any other social media feed to earn money, you do it for the interest – treat this platform in the same manner.
As they say… “Chase your passions and the money will come. Chase the money and you may never find your passion.”
CONCLUSION
Above all – just go out there and make friends! You have the opportunity to connect with people from all over the world, who are sharing interesting stories, adventures and experiences.
In my opinion, Steemit stands apart in this respect, because whilst there probably is a little bit floating around, I personally have been exposed to absolutely NONE of the slander, negative talk, ranting and sheer tactlessness that I see so often on other platforms. I hope it stays this way!
I hope you have found this post a little helpful I know I would have been grateful to have had it cross my path on day one. Haha!
Keep it real Steemians and don’t forget to be fabulous!!
READ MORE FROM “MY STEEMIT JOURNEY”
READ SOME OF MY FUN STUFF FROM “ROCK YOUR WORLD”
- https://steemit.com/rockyourworld/@jaynie/embracing-your-inner-peter-pan
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/people-pleasers
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/turn-your-b-tch-button-off-pretty-please
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/across-the-universe
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/breaking-the-mold
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/life-in-reverse
- https://steemit.com/blog/@jaynie/how-to-b-tch-slap-your-stress-and-anxiety
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/love-your-laundry-no-really
- https://steemit.com/blog/@jaynie/the-very-small-tabby-cat
- https://steemit.com/blog/@jaynie/no-more-knots
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/count-all-your-chickens
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/cracks-allow-the-light-in
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/your-body-is-the-wonderland-of-your-soul
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/life-lessons-through-honesty
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/i-am-proud-of-the-things-i-have-achieved-and-the-challenges-i-have-conquered
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/my-steemit-journey-1
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/rockyourworld-stress-and-desperation-are-our-greatest-teachers
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/strong-people-need-hugs-too
- https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/oops-did-my-trolley-hit-you-rockyourworld-19
amazing post :D
Thank you!! Much appreciated! 😎😁😍
Awesome tips - good reminder that Steem is an incredibly fast moving platform. There isn't really any "evergreen" content, despite the fact that content can't be deleted and reposted. I'll have to check out esteem for scheduling - I was wondering if there was an app with that feature.
Thank you for the awesome feedback - always appreciated and yes... do check the app out. its quite convenient for when on the go :)
*slow clap
Well said! 😄
hehehe :) spanks!! ;)
I read and understand. I really find this helpful
Nice @jaynie upvoted you last 3 posts thanks for sharing @shahzaibniaxi from facebook gruop :)
thank you SO much! :) I can only hope it is because they deserved it ;) xxx
:) Welcome Dear
thank you :)
I agree. I almost regret that I posted my arduously researched ‘12 Clues Women are Visual Creatures just as Capable as Men are’ when I had just about 0 followers. Oh well.
Live and learn I say... lol and lets not forget... onward and upward :)
Firmly upward say I :-)
In the words of the ninja turtles and my son... BOOYAKASHA 😎👌😁
Ha ha
Excellent post - we will get there - next year this time us newbies are oldies hahaaha
damn straight!!! hehe :) and thanks for the awesome feedback!!
I gotta ask, do you feel like matching up the tagging with words in your post would make a little difference on here?
Hmmm... i might be wrong but i would go with a no on that. I think the category tags are about all that count. Besides if you add a hash tag to anything within your post it counts it as a tag too... so unlikely that any other word tracking would be done within your post... except for bots searching for duplication... but like i said... i could be wrong.
I think the tagging on this platform is more category driven. So to my mind it makes no sense using a tag like "happy" or "fun" because it is not a trending topic. You would be better off using one like "life" which incorporates both of the above and is also and always top of the trending list.
Okay, I guess traditional SEO formats are irrelevant on here. But I asked because I noticed a spike on one post I did where I tagged the art category and used the word art like 3 or four times in the post. It could just be my imagination but it did do better then any other post I didn't use that format for. So try it out sometime and see what happens.
Cause we could both be wrong about that in some sense.
Worth the exploration... nothing ventured, nothing gained 😎😁
Good tips and great post! Keep on steemin'!
I'm also new to steemit and like you, I have been playing around with the timing, proper tagging, topics, everything lol. But what's important is that we write what we know and we enjoy doing it. I wrote long posts with just $1 lol and short posts with more $$$, I felt like it was a hit or miss. But it also depends on the topic, how it was written and of course the quality. Most of the time I write from experience and what I really feel at the moment. Reading comments from my followers just makes me happy enough.
Since you've worked in social media account management, you already know the rules and stuff. It's always about the quality. Those "whales" they all talk about, they know how to recognize quality posts, and when they spot yours even just for a fraction of a second at the top, there will be a chance they will upvote your post and even follow you. It's nice to be followed by them, they bring us money hahaha. It's nice to be rewarded too!
Thanks for sharing the information, I hope more new steemians will get to read this. I look foward to your new posts. :)