There are so many How to do this and that on Steem nonsense pieces already, I know, I have written a little of it. However, with all of the new faces pouring onto the platform, it is not a bad idea to introduce some of the concepts I use. Nope, you aren't suddenly going to get rich from this but it could give you a few ideas.
This is not a guide, it is a discussion so feel free to add your views down the bottom. It is also going to assume your end goal is to create some value at some point in the future. As said, this is no get rich quick approach and guarantees nothing which is something everyone should get very comfortable with in life.
TL:DR
- If you want to get something significant out, you have to work
- Do not expect immediate gains, nothing is guaranteed
- You are building the foundations for the future of your business
- Engagement and community is where the long term value lays
- Treat your audience with respect and give them your time and effort
- Create content that is consistently good
- There is a lot of opportunity in the difficult because of lack of competition
- The future is likely bright if you do the hard work now
Okay, do you know what it is called when you put in effort for money? Yep, work. Get ready for it. A lot of people have come into Steemit assuming that this is going to be easy, a few blurry pictures of lunch and a post about a sick cat and suddenly, Lambo. No. Not going to happen. Buy a lottery ticket instead.
You are going to have to work but this has some benefits and drawbacks. The drawback is that you are going to have to engage with a lot of people on and off your own posts and off the platform too (Discord or Steemit.chat). And those low-level circle jerks advertised aren't going to cut it. Get involved with those and you can almost guarantee you will be a minnow or worse forever, no matter the price of Steem. You are going to have to find quality to engage with which means, you are going to have to learn to read and comment well. Yeah, sucks hey.
But, the upside is that you are running your own business, congratulations! You can do what you want, write what you want or, do nothing at all. It is good to be the boss, isn't it? If you are elderly you will remember that before memes, there were proverbs, Reap what you sow is the appropriate one here.
People think that hard work should be rewarded and that is likely the case but, do not assume that the reward will be immediate. When building nearly any business, developing the groundwork and foundation are the hardest parts and also the lowest paid, as there is no income coming in from the business yet.
In the real world, developing even a small business can take a few years before it is profitable. Anyone who thinks it is hard at Steemit should try it for real and see if it is any easier. You have to set up the business before you have customers and those customers aren't so willing to support a no name business.
Another benefit here? No upfront outlay and no loan required. All that is required is hard work but, at the right things. No one cares how long it took you to write the post and no one cares how brilliant the content is, at least to start with. With engagement and consistency however, that could start to change. Remember though, no guarantees.
The next thing is the content itself. I know, I know, you really love memes and have a vision of posting a few a day and in time, you will be the meme master of the universe. You and 50,000 other people currently here. How good are you? Better think about a little differentiation.
Before I go on I want to break down how I see the audience and then how to treat each of them and tailor content for each.
Walk-ins: Random users who come across the content.
Friends: People who often hang around making nuisances of themselves.
Whales: Random larger voters who manually curate
Patrons: Automated/skim reader voters
How do I treat them? All the same. I mean yes, I am much more familiar with the regulars but in the comments section it should not matter much who is commenting, especially at the start of the journey when you don't know who is who at all. Every vote, every comment (even the negative and critical) comes from a valued customer. Except Spam and phishing, screw them.
How to tailor content for each group? Don't. For me, I try to put out the best content I can possibly deliver each time (within reason). If you want to shitpost fine but you better be goddam funny and good at it if you want to build a following and have future value.
My approach is pretty simple when it comes to content, Be me. On top of that, work as hard as I possibly can within the constraints I have and deliver content that no matter who chances upon it, it will be good enough that it will never be questioned for quality.
I have a few patrons who occasionally drop some larger votes. I do hope they read the content from time to time too but, it is not necessary. Back in the day, patrons supported artists and scientists so they could do what they did without having to compromise themselves for money. Often, these people were talented outliers.
It is with respect to the patrons and gratitude to their support that I make sure that if they do stop by, they aren't going to find someone posting crap because they are on auto-vote. Do not become complacent. I wish there were more patrons in the seas these days but they are currently an endangered species in the waters. If a few more whales put a few more decent and trustworthy producers on their watch lists, the ecosystem would improve.
I am not necessarily either an outlier nor talented and I'm never likely to have a large following as, like I mentioned in a comment today, my content generally pushes for hard work, integrity and responsibility. People like memes.
The patrons allow me to provide content for a niche audience instead of for the masses. The members of that audience however may use this kind of information to provide content that does have mass appeal or create platforms in the future that pull the masses in. I try to get people thinking. People value mass appeal but, when it comes to how those people develop to be appealing, it is nearly always through a process of very hard work. They learn that process and get inspired to invest their energy from somewhere.
But, this all sounds like a lot of work doesn't it? Yes, it is. It is an incredibly high amount of work and there is still no guarantee that it will amount to anything. This is a high risk investment and is not for the faint of heart nor the lazy of mind and body. Very few people going forward on this platform from now on are going to have an easy time of it. Very few. And it is only going to get harder.
But, this is the opportunity as the harder it becomes, the less people willing to push at it, the riskier the investment, the less people willing to invest. There is the opportunity. People want fun and this is where I am "lucky" because for me, hard work is enjoyable. It is where I find meaning, not the pathway to meaning. For me, money isn't the end goal of work, work is reward in itself, money is a byproduct.
I am trying to build a foundation for me (and help others) so I can work more, not less. The difference is that I will hopefully have the opportunity to work at what I want to work at, not what I must to pay the bills. That future can only really come about through hard work or the lottery and currently the odds are much, much better through working hard here.
I know this is really long so I will finish it up and if you have read this far, congratulations but there is no prize. I have been focusing so heavily on some aspects of the platform lately that I think I need to spend a little time thinking through my thoughts, process and the future here. All in all, I am still positive about Steemit but, there is a lot of risk still. I do believe though that those who sow the seeds, will reap rewards.
Let's see where we all end up. At the end of the day, it will be the behaviors of the community that make or break the opportunities of the future.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
Hear hear!!!
I have not been a member as long as you have (august 2017 for me)
But, I can really confirm what you are writing.
Hard work and quality content is almost the only thing that will make you reach the stars and if you have a little luck and get some patrons or whales to find and give you a up vote from time to time will help you.
I am still building my account here and want to say that beside all that you mention it is also a good thing to Power up all your STEEM.
The more STEEM POWER you have, the faster will your account grow in both reputation and "fame".
And when Steemit one day will be as big as the other more known social medias out there, you can probably find a lot of metodes to earn great value by just having put down hard work now in the early ages.
Think if you got into Facebook, Instagram or Youtube when there were only a few hundred thousand users, like Steemit is now, and you build a fan base then. I think you would have a ok income just by writing a post a couple of times each week.
So my tips is also like @Tarazkp, work hard, create good quality content and dont forget your followers that are writing comments to your post. give them a reply and a vote if they are serious and not spammers.
And my tip to all of you are: Power up!!!
Kindest regards
@Gyldenhorn
I forgot to write Power Up...
I have been shilling Steem so long I forgot the catch phrase ;)
For some reason as Steemit is a niche, in a larger perspective, people easily forget (happened to me too) that it's not easy to be successful or noticed in social media, not here either. Some fitness celebrities in Instagram, for example: they didn't become famous just for taking a quick picture with phone and posting it for Internet. No, they make everything as appealing as possible with their pictures, some even photoshop and/or lie being natural despite using steroids. Not that I agree that screwing with the perception of the audience is a healthy way of being a celebrity but they still do the work that is required to be in their position. And well, people seem to like what they see, hence they become so followed.
But I don't think many of us think we can just take a picture and become famous like some Instagram celebs, well some might for sure, but most people have some sense of reality that you can't get a million followers just by snapping your fingers. But somehow the same thing is easily forgotten in Steemit. Instead we expect that just by putting some text out there, similarly to putting a decent picture in Instagram, would grant us large upvotes.
This might be a key to being a celebrity but, even that takes a lot of work to pull off.
It could be that the promise of money is there from the start. Wen I say promise I mean expectation. Plus, you can see how much others are making.
"low-level circle jerks advertised aren't going to cut it." Do you mind if I ask what a circle jerk is? Should I go with squares then? haha
I like that you said it's a high-risk investment. That's a good way of putting it!! Oops...just upvoted bu realized this is 27 days old. I read 2 days...oops.
circle jerks are the vote4vote people who only vote for each other. You will find them at the very top all the way down to the very bottom of the platform.
Oo they must have top secret circle jerk meetings or something. Thanks for explaining!! Yep, that definitely doesn't work on steemit.
You broke my heart man. I was going to be the world's best shitposter / meme maker. I guess I will have to put in work now. Blah.
Just clear your mind and let the meme gods flow through you.
Great post my friend.
You nailed the important points in my opinion.
The future looks bright but everyone here who want to achieve something has to work for it, has to put effort into it. IT IS WORK!
The sound of a social media that pays spreads the illusion that it will be easy earned money. But it is like everything in life which will last for a long time, build on a solid and maybe unshakable foundation; We have to do something for it.
The past is testament to this yet most people ignore what it took to create those foundations.
Exactly. You said it my friend.
Some of the best advice I have seen on steemit yet! Resteeming as this post can definitely get a lot of people on the right track, especially newbies. Wish I had read this when I first started out. Mahalo my friend!!
thanks, it is appreciated =)
I think a lot are coming in with a view of 'easy money'. That should be nipped in the bud.
Nothing worthwhile and long lasting is ever easy. I know I have personally put in a lot of long hours working on post curations that make a few $ or even cents but every bit mounts up and will be worth a lot more in the future.
Working hard and trying your best is the only way things really get done in the world. Thank you for your honest opinion
I'm sure I make a nuisance of myself, but not sure if I'd be called a friend! Lol.
I think your content does have a fairly wide appeal, certainly in comparison to mine. Gardening has a narrow audience, but you write about things that can interest a wider range of people no matter what their hobbies.
I have much appreciation for those encouraging patron whales and do miss the time when there weren't quite so many people on the platform and a visit was more likely.
I am hoping that communities will bring some of the eyes back and new eyes in.
This is one of the most important things that most people don't realize. I've started multiple businesses over the years and the first 6-18 months are the worst, then things start to get better but not great. This is the point so many give up. They compare the effort to the rewards and say they are 2 years in and it's just not enough income.
Most quit just before they achieve success.
this is also why those who succeed generally do better than average as the average quit early.
Like how you say money is the byproduct. So true. No shortcuts. Just have to grow slowly but have a sound base. Thanks taraz. Your advice is sound and will try to be different and not churn crap out.
The best part of steem is that you can post about whatever you feel you are good at and can write wholeheartedly about. Look for quality and appreciators will sooner or later follow. I still find myself in a category where most of my posts just die at .10$ and yet to find people who can appreciate my work. Maybe this is the reality for not having a godfather here. But hey i'm hopeful that someday things will revolve for good.
Commenting on my favorite posts is one thing I'm constant on and hope it pays me before I give up my efforts
I see this as a hold investment where the investment is made each day. There is a long way to go.
Now thats the right word. You increase your investment each day here. Thanks and Cheers
Well this is maybe the best I did read from you :)
Lots of truths in here. I don't read all your post, I don't upvote all your posts. I do read them when the tittle allures me. Like you wrote, I believe I did already gave this comment to you, I do like your posts, because they make me think and most of all they are genuine!
Be yourself and treat people like you would to be treated!
Don't fall for the follow-me-follow-you nonsense, it will be just a waist of time! Don't step into the trap that every post or comment will be rewarded! I don't care if people do follow me if I do follow them!
Hard work, will increase the chances to be noticed, but it is no guarantee!
But the most important thing you wrote is: interaction and engagement! Combine this with keep on being yourself and you do have a chance!
There are so many details to this that people overlook and generally people only pick the parts they are comfortable with.
btw, I have your article open on the other pc but forgot to read it before my daughter went to bed. I will read it on lunch tomorrow... :)
Awesome advice! STEEM GOoOOOooo.
I pray that one day i can pay deez bills with steem. It's certainly not any easy path but sososo rewarding
I agree with you. It takes time and a commitment to ones followers to write and read good posts. It is a job of sorts, one that gives me the freedom to exercise my right to free speech. So far I don’t think my posts are very outrageous. Great post. Thanks for taking the time to write it. We all need a little encouragement right now. 🐓🐓
No worries. Perhaps in time you will get a little more outrageous. I think the platform is actually a great place to develop ideas and wok out issues. I don't mean that every post needs to be the inside of the head but I find for me writing lets a lot of thoughts in and out again, even if I never post put them into a post.
Same here, it’s eeking out. Lol🐓🐓
I really do appreciate your posts. I has crossed my mind that there is a lot of work behind this, because your posts are not only really well written, but you bring up a lot of interesting thoughts and I like them. What you write about are things that matter to me. I have already created a business in the "real" world. It still demands a lot of work if I want it to succeed, so I know what it takes. I like your advice. I appreciate your thoughts about community. Love your advices is to be yourself. Essential, and not necessarily easy! And, I found it cool about the opportunity in the difficult. Thank you.
I run my own business too and have done for about 5 years now. It challenges me everyday and sucks a lot of time and energy. although I do enjoy the work, I could do without the chasing clients, paperwork and of course, taxes.
I think one day Steem could be a revenue stream for many that frees them to earn while doing something they love. It might not replace work but it could give a little bump in value and spirit.
Yeah, I hear you. I had a major setback last year. Have to start everything all over again. Gives me time to think about how I can make changes. Freedom is essential for me and doing production and all by myself was not that enjoyable actually. I would like to find partners or a community and I am considering going to a sunnier place. Currently I work in a toy store I appreciate the environment but being employed does not work for me. We shall see. It would be great if this platform could end up being a support.
good learning for the future.
Thank's @tarazkp
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Good advice for long term success.
So many golden nuggets in here @tarazkp.
These really hit it for me (in my own words):
• The last mile is never crowded. This alone is worth a life of work.
• If you are elderly... hehehe that was funny.
• If you enjoy what you do, hard work IS the reward. Glad I do.
Let's keep up building the foundation, one brick well placed at a time.
Cheers.
you are most welcome. There is a long way to go :)
Hello @tarazkp, thank you for sharing this creative work! If you're interested, take a look at our magazine @creativecrypto. We are all about art on the blockchain, and learning from creatives like you. Swing by and say hello!