I am addressing myself with this post.
Maybe it will resonate with you, too.
See, I've had weak moments where I almost asked some of the whales I know,
"Hey, can't you just give me an upvote? Come on, do me a favor, I'm new and I could use a little boost!"
But luckily I stopped myself in time, because I looked at things from their perspective...
You become a whale in one of two ways
You work your butt off on Steemit, by posting, commenting, upvoting, engaging and building relationships for months, until you have accumulated a "wealth" of Steem Power.
You buy a lot of Steem and turned it into Steem Power.
Either way demonstrates commitment and a big investment of either time and effort or money. However I'm assuming that most whales have reached their status through hard work.
Try and put yourself in the fins of a whale
Imagine you're one of those committed, invested, hard workers.
You've been here for a year and you've build a solid following and made a decent income and go, "Wow, amazing that all my hard work pays off so well."
And then a newbie comes along and says, "Hey can you upvote me? I'm new. I could use the boost."
Sure! You're happy to help someone out. It feels good to be generous. You remember what it was like for you in the beginning.
But then another one comes. And another one. More and more people seem to message you only for that.
How would that make you feel?
If it were me, I would probably begin to feel a little uncomfortable.
On one hand I'd be happy to help, but I would also think,
- Hm, I didn't have anyone upvoting me when I started... I earned all this Steem Power...
- So what you're new? Work for your upvotes just like I did!
- I'm happy to give your content an upvote and a resteem because you're my friend but only if I truly think it's good and if it's interesting for my followers
- Just because I have a lot of Steem Power doesn't mean I should randomly give it away
- I feel like a swarm of beggars is asking me for a dollar
Let's not forget that whales know a lot more than us newbies.
They may have a strategy.
They may manage their Steem Power in a way we don't understand yet.
Randomly upvoting someone as a favor might not fit that strategy.
So instead of "Can you upvote me?" Maybe ask, "Can you teach me?"
That makes a world of a difference because it shows you're willing to invest the time and effort and earn your way to whale-dom just like they did.
From what I've seen on this platform, most people are well-intentioned and want others to succeed.
- A number of whales are happy to mentor others, but of course not every whale has the time for that.
- Anyone will be able to provide you with a helpful link where you can learn more - if you ask a specific question.
- You can also learn a lot by reading posts with the #Steemit or #steemit-help tag.
And you can learn simply by asking questions in comments on people's articles. That's how I learned A LOT this week - e.g. why I shouldn't power up my posts 100% at the moment, even though I thought it would be a good idea..
"I am new and I need a boost" is not a good enough reason to ask people for upvote.
Become someone people love to follow, interact with and upvote!
That probably won't happen over night. It will take time and effort.
Nobody promised you free money on Steemit.
You have to earn it here as much as anywhere else.
Any pointers you can share about how to create better posts, gathered from others, would be great to read about. It takes time to get out there and read the FAQ, read the best posts describing publishing tech; formatting.
I'm following!
it's really not about your post, but about your person.
Developing yourself as a good friend, a commenter, an engaged person on here is the best way to start earning. Making friends is my advice.
just look at papa-peppper. He doesn't have the best formatting, the best aesthetics and he consistently makes more than me. Why? Because he is a constant cheerleader, always offering more to others. That's what living in a tribe is..
Hi surfyogi, yes it does take time. I believe it's worth dedicating a certain amount of time per day to learning.
Notice what kinds of posts do well. Study what works.
Formatting is definitely one factor - make sure your posts are easily readable, otherwise people will close them a second after they have opened them, if they look hard to read.
I just found out about the Minnow Support Project by @minnowsupport - maybe that is something worth checking out for you: https://steemit.com/minnowsupportproject/@minnowsupport/minnow-support-project-official-launch-over-100-people-in-discord-with-us-after-only-1-day
Totally agree! Though I'm far from a whale, people often ask for upvotes or follows. I usually ignore people like that! Like you mentioned create good content, interact and make yourself a loveable and valuable member of the community and the rest will follow!
And again, a good content is a must.
Thank you for opening this newbie mind of me. 😁
Following
you are a fast learner, and the exact right kind of person suited for Steemit. I am glad you're my friend!
Thank you! Likewise, of course :)
I totally agree
I still don't really know who is or isn't a whale and I kind of prefer it that way. And besides, I'm only here to have fun and interact with people on a new and interesting social media platform, so I have no urge to ask people for votes or whatever.
That being said, I do see a number of people in the comments sections asking for votes, etc, without having said or done anything of value. It's a shame people think they have to do that.
It's true, it's good not to know/care who's a whale or not. This way we all treat each other equally.
Couldn't agree more. Sometimes it is just too tempting too ask for a simple upvote.
But really, they can't do this for anyone. Convincing with content is the only right way ;)
Thank you gweigster! And thanks for the resteem!
I only joined yesterday, but would never ask someone to upvote my content. If someone likes what they read, then there is a good chance they will upvote, if they dont read it or it doesnt resonate, better luck next time.
Exactly :) This creates an inherent motivation to create better and better content.
brilliant. this is a great post. i did wonder about this. thank you anja
Thanks, Mim :)
I think so. reblog for my community. thank u
Thank you, uksama!
Thank you for sharing
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i always let the whales know "if you feel like it.." "if you want" please up vote my blog if they enjoy. I say this to make sure I'm not pressuring anybody but it can be hard since some people think I am desperate without that much communication/clarifying. for me i got it mixed up with youtube where youtubers give each other shoutouts in the beginning just like steemit where steemers give each other upvotes
But they would do that anyway, even if you didn't say anything, wouldn't they? This might work differently on other platforms, but here it's really not encouraged. Just focus on giving first. If you let them know you liked their content so much that you resteemed it (and by that supported them), maybe they'll check you out, too. Good luck!