What kind of Content are the Majority of People Looking for on Steemit?
This is something I've been wondering myself and, just recently, settle on an answer! So, I'm happy to share my thoughts with you and others.
Steemit is Still in its Infancy
Creating content on Steemit and engaging with the Steemit community reminds me A LOT of when I was creating content on YouTube in 2008 and engaging with the YouTube community.
In 2008, it was very easy to gain YouTube views because - in that stage of the product - many people figured out that community engagement was the key to growth. I collaborated with many YouTubers who stuck with their practice (I didn't) who later came to reap hundreds of thousands (and in two cases, millions) of subscribers.
2 Different Types of Content
Let's talk:
- Discoverable content
- Community content
If you were to talk to and SEO or Internet Marketing Coach about your Steemit blog, they'd probably tell you to do two main things when first starting out:
- Only create content revolving around a specific niche that you are either an expert at, or, incredibly passionate about.
- Only create "discoverable content."
Discoverable content is something you create that brings people to your blog from another location (usually from something like a Google search.) You make a video that either answers a question, proposes a solution to a problem, or provides an unpopular/unsaturated point of view on a topic. This way, people find your content and view it as what they were looking for. In the beginning of almost any blog/YouTube channel/etc, creating discoverable content is key for growing an audience and, I think, is the type of content @enforcer48 is talking about in his answer to this question.
Is Discoverable Content What People Want on Steemit?
Well, no, probably not. I would imagine that most people blogging here on Steemit already receive their content from their favorite sources (i.e. Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, etc.)
For example, I'm someone who reads and watches A LOT of Star Wars theory/speculation. I searched for a blog like that here on Steemit once (about 6 months ago) and found nothing. I haven't searched since. I already have places to go in order to get this information.
Furthermore, I've never seen a Steemit article appear in a search result from Google, so (unlike YouTube) discovery from people who don't have Steemit is on the outs.
Why Community Content is King (For Steemit)
Community content is the posts you write and the videos you create for other people in your world: your current audience, other bloggers you want to get the attention of, groups of people you want to get in with.
In 2008, a lot of YouTube videos were "video responses" to other people's vlogs. I saw and participated in a LOT of contests (sound familiar to Steemit? Shout out to @cryplectibles who created an even in which I won a signed copy of a Batman comic book!) and met/collaborated with a lot of cool people. It worked for YouTube because the community was small and people didn't know what they were doing, but they knew they wanted more views & subscribers.
I think the same lesson applies to here on Steemit. Until/if Steemit reaches a point where its bloggers can be more discoverable outside the Steemit community, community engagement & creating community content is key for growth... because, in my opinion, that's what fellow Steemians are looking for.
Why This is Not a Bad Thing
So... I'm supporting a bunch of people running around just creating content for each other just so they get more upvotes? Yes, and here's why: this is how more specific communities are created on a content creation platform.
With YouTube, at this point, when starting out you have to have a niche channel tailored to talking about one specific thing in order to be successful. That can suck. We don't to do that on Steemit yet, I can blog about psychology one day, comic books the next, and Internet marketing the next.
Eventually, however, through community building, I'll grow into/find my voice here on Steemit and start to narrow down my content along with others who are doing the exact same thing. I think an example of this happening now is in the #comics community where you have a tight group of people who create mostly comic book content and always engage in dialogue & support each other (and not just through upvotes!) Great thanks to @blewitt for introducing me to this community.
Let Me Know What You Think!
I could be totally wrong and I'm heavily biased with the early days of YouTube parallel. So, if you disagree with me, LET ME KNOW! :)