One of the worst mistakes that people make (especially newbies) when writing their posts on the platform is to choose badly the labels they place on them. But first of all...

What exactly is a label?

It can be defined in different ways, but basically, it could be said that it is an element of categorization or differentiation of topics that social platforms have in order to better organize their contents. In the case of Steemit the labels are composed of alphabetic characters (words), but you can also choose to join two words in a single label through the special character "dash" ie (-). This linking two words on a single label, in my opinion, is only recommended in certain specific cases (for example: contests, or to invoke a curator or specific witness, etc.), since generally, it is advisable to place each word or label independent or separate from the others in that sense.

Where do we put, establish or define the labels of our posts in Steemit?

Suppose you are currently creating an article on the platform and are therefore in the content creation section of Steemit; You will see, first, in the upper part, the text field where the post title is placed. Secondly, you will see below the text field where the body of the post is written, and third, you will see below a text field that says "Tag" or "Label" which is where each of the corresponding labels should be placed and allusive to your post.

One important thing to note is that, to place the labels in our posts of Steemit, it is not necessary to place # (or the famous hashtag that is usually used in other social platforms). It suffices just to place the words in question in the section of the labels, in lowercase letters, without punctuation marks and separated only by a space between each one of them.

We can place up to five labels

When establishing the labels of a post that we are creating in Steemit, we can place up to five of them (although we can place less than five as well); In this sense, it is necessary to emphasize that the first tag is the most important and essential of all, therefore, it should be the one that best defines our post. However, the other four must also be related to the theme of our article.

Always remember that when you click on a certain label of a post (which you will always see at the end of the text of the article and before the comments), the reader will reach a section where you can see the posts that have used it, hence the importance of the correspondence between spoken subject and used label ..

SUFFICIENT GENERAL EXPLANATION, WE GO BACK TO THE POST CENTRAL THEME ...

To achieve success in Steemit (understanding success from the point of view of the gains that we can obtain with our content), one of the issues that must be taken into account, is that we must choose properly the labels or tags that we will use in our posts It is not about using the same fixed labels all the time (unless we are always talking about the same topic), it is rather about choosing the best tags in each case according to the central themes of our posts.

What are the effects of choosing bad labels?

Well, I'll explain it with a simple example: Suppose you are creating a post at this precise moment, and the theme of it is photography, but instead of placing a tag as "photography", place the label "kitchen" ... What Do you think it will happen in that case? Logically, the post will have greater exposure in an audience that has interests in the kitchen theme, when in reality it should have it in an audience interested in photography, therefore, a total "without meaning".

In addition, in Steemit you can earn Flags by establishing in your posts tags that do not correspond to the real theme of your articles (granted -among others- by the same people annoyed by the fact of not finding the content they seek where it corresponds) with the consequential negative effects that this has on their profits and their authority within the platform. Therefore, be careful with that, always choose very well the tags that you will use in your posts and place the ones that are most appropriate to the topic that they deal with in their contents.

Take into account that improperly placing the labels of a post will generate that it is most likely underestimated (speaking in terms of the profits that it could generate within the platform for its author), in other words, it harms the profits that they obtain with their posts the not knowing how to place (and not place effectively) the appropriate labels to the themes of them. This is so because the posts will get with total certainty, fewer votes than if they had tags appropriate to the issues dealt with in them.

How to choose the labels of a post well?

In order to properly choose the labels that we will use in a certain post that we are creating in Steemit, first of all, we must think of those words that are better related to the topic dealt with in our article; that is, in my opinion, the first and most important consideration in that sense.

Secondly, we must be aware that in Steemit the most spoken language is English, which is that, although the Hispanic community and other languages ​​(and their contents) grow by leaps and bounds every day within the platform, it is a reality that the English-speaking community is the main (so to speak) within it, the result of the platform initially emerged in that language. This leads us to the consideration that the most important tags or labels that we can consider and use, exist in the English language.

Third, in the same order of ideas, it is best that we select the most appropriate labels to the theme of our posts that are available in this link https://steemit.com/tags. As you can see, there all the tags (except the "Spanish" tag) are in English. In that list you can also appreciate, among other things, the number of posts that have been written with each of those particular labels, the number of comments and payments in SBD.

Why choose the tags that appear available when you go to that link?

I mean https://steemit.com/tags; Well simply because there appear the most important and popular labels of the moment used in the platform.

If the post they do deals with photography, then appropriate labels in that case could be "photography", "photo" and "photos", among others. If the post is about a topic related to health, one of the labels that can be used in that case is "health", if it deals with lifestyles, you can consider using "lifestyle" and if the article deals with motivational issues, "motivation" can be used. I could give many more examples, but I think the point is clear.

Additional considerations?

I clarify that the considerations I make in this post, I do mainly taking into account the Hispanic community on the platform. Perhaps the theme of the language of the labels will change one day in Steemit, but at the moment it is as I describe it in this post, that is, perhaps in the not too distant future they will begin to popularize also the labels in Spanish almost as much (or as much) as those of English language, but at the moment it is not like that; and you have to take it into account.

It is necessary to consider that Steemit is a unique social platform and great in its style, for that reason the use of the labels in it is totally different from what can be given in any other social network or platform through the Web, depending on that, we must analyze the tags that we establish in our posts.

When writing in Spanish in Steemit, one of the tags that should be used (it is recommended to do it) par excellence will be "Spanish" they can also use "Spanish" and it is even normal to use that of a particular curator or witness of the platform they support . The witnesses, explained in simple and short terms, are people who support the platform (and / or certain communities within it). For this reason, it is very common to see posts in Spanish that use (in one of the five allowed tags) the "cervantes" tag within the platform. This is what people do to invoke the witness in question, to increase the chances that they will vote and support the posts in which they were labeled.

As an additional note, I must mention that although - as I noted earlier - it is not necessary to use hashtags to define or set the tags of the posts, we can use them to also establish tags within the body of the articles (example, # cervantes-etiquetas, #blogs, # cervantes-blogs, etc).

I hope this little guide will help many colleagues in the Hispanic community in Steemit (especially the newbies) to understand the importance, operation and correct use of the labels on the platform.