Introduction
Hey all, it's been a while since I wrote about Steemit. I've been watching thing goes and mostly remained a silent bystander of what's been going on in the past month...but lately my fingers were itching to speak out about an issue I see steemit.com facing.
I'm not a developer, I don't have a degree in economics and I will never pretend to know what is the best incentive structure to help price discovery, rewards % or any of that.
The tech, both on the back-end and front-end has made incredible progress since I first joined last May. On that front I'm quite happy about what Steemit has accomplished.
But I'm getting frustrated on this front...
Unfortunately, developers make very poor marketers. They are the guys who gets excited about features. Most of them get so caught up in the tech that they sometime forget that the large majority people don't care about what make this thing work. They are like the mechanics who know every little details about cars while most people care about getting from home to work in a reliable manner.
Who Are You? What Do You Want? Why Should I Care?
That's what everybody think when they see any form of marketing or sales process.
Put yourself in the shoes of someone who don't know anything about blockchain or cryptocurrency. Imagine them arriving on some random article via google or facebook and then seeing this:
What does that even mean? Why should I give a hoot about this?
This header only mean something to you IF you already know about blockchain. The cryptocurrency community is a tiny tiny elite segment of the population. Definitely not something one should build an entire social media website on.
But that's exactly what the header is messaging. If you don't know anything about blockchain, you've just alienated your visitor by making them feel stupid.
What is Steemit.com target market?
Seems cliche I know BUT it's not a question that should be overlooked. Right now, there is no message to market match going on.
People make the huge mistake of trying to appeal to everybody in their marketing. When you talk to everybody you are indeed talking to nobody. This is kind of what's going on right now.
Since multiple website can be built on the back of Steem than we have a lot of opportunities for building multiple front-end that caters to different markets.
1. FREE SPEECH MARKET
With the cracking down of "fake news" website by Google, Facebook and twitter, the hairs on the back of the neck of the free speech advocates are raised big time. The free speech crowd usually already go for alternative news websites such as the drudgereport, infowars, breitbart to name a few.
If that's the market Steemit wants to reach then they have to change the message that appear to every single non-user visitor to the website to something like:
"Welcome to the FREE SPEECH ZONE."
"The #1 Social Media Platform for Free Speech."
"The Only Censorship Free Social Media Platform."
etc. etc.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM THAT REWARDS IT'S USERS
Greed is an incredible motivator. It would get people to go outside their comfort zone and try something new. Steemit is the only social media platform that does that and no where do we see any messaging about that.
If that's the market Steemit wants to reach then they have to change the message that appear to every single non-user visitor to the website to something like:
"The Only Social Media Platform That Rewards It's Users"
Other markets...
There are many other "mass market" ready to be tapped into, you are welcome to put your ideas in the comment section if you have more in your mind.
Conclusion
Trying to appeal to everyone is a sure way to appeal to no one. Steemit has to decide WHO they are looking for, have a message to market match and then create a fun and easy on-boarding process.
Once user adoption is back on full force then we can think about boasting about our success, do press releases and attract investors...but right now, I would be skittish to invest in a platform that doesn't have a clear idea of who they want to have has users outside of the cryptocurrency community.
hahahahah
so legit! :)
This comment is epic!
Glad you are back . I wish they could change that welcome boring page and the whole look . It needs a more sleek , cool updated feel all around ....and my personal wish ....more music people :)
Thanks! I do too. I personally care about how that welcome page actually turn visitors into users. I wish there was a steem based website that focused entirely on music and soundtrack embed players.
I am really glad I am not the only one who hopes for better improvements on that page. I also wish I would know how to develop such website focusing on music, radio and soundtrack players like mix cloud and similar ones. I used to run an online radio program, actually rented space on a once huge platform called Live365 but it got shut down. It was really amazing. I would love to be a part of such project again. Any ideas how to make this happen??
i agree. The "Welcome to The Blockchain" needs to be changed ASAP.
People will care about the blockchain after they have a reason to, not before.
Great thoughts and I agree completely! First we need to decide which direction we want to go, then we decide how we are going to get there! It seems to me (an outsider) that there is no definitive plan for Steemit.com, instead it's more of a lets throw things at the wall and see what sticks kind of approach... I mean that respectfully to all the developers and founders because I love what they have created, but I really do think we need to decide what we want Steemit to be; a blogging site, a news site, a free speech site, a social media site, etc... That, and like you mentioned, we then need to define our target audience and then go get em!
amen!
I agree with your observations. I don't have a degree in marketing but have learned how to market the hard way, trial and error over the years. There is a strong marketing sense missing here in my humble opinion. Sometimes a simple tagline change like the one you mentioned, "The Only Social Media Platform That Rewards It's Users" can start to yield better results.
Thanks, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who think that way.
I felt very stupid when I joined here as I didn't have a clue about any of it, I only stayed as a friend was around to help me, is she wasn't here I would have gone the day I joined. BUT got to say loving your Jensen Ackles Gif.. made my day Thank you :)
there, you can write about that LOL!!!
I have wrote about Jensen before lol The man of my dreams... :)
ohhh now that is soooo nice. he makes my day everyday lol
(:
and my latest graphic went up about an hour ago, unrelated. I hope you are unstuck now lol
Thanks @karenb54 glad you've stuck around :-)
Thank you @cryptoctopus :)
How hard would it be to change the Front Page?
Make a dozen or so that suits you, submit them.
Hmmm...what if several were put on rotation?
a different front page every day?
Good idea. Why not split testing and see which one converts best into new users?
yup.
and if there is one thing the geeks are good at,
it's building analytical tools.
which one , or which TYPE, draws best should be easy enough to find out.
of course...some particlularyl nerdy geek will want to associate the Front Page with the internet address of the incoming vistor.
Someone from Texas...let's say, would see a Front Page with a cowboy/OilField/Wild West motif..
That's a great idea. Makes me think of how Google sometimes changes their homepage logo for holidays and other special occasions. Theming Steemit to the area the user lives in would also be cool.
exactly
I like the free speech slogan more because it's the "why", while paying for posts is the "what"
Exactly. Steemit started as a blogging platform. Ned even mentioned that is what Steemit is on the recent interview on Cheddar today. We need focus and direction when starting off to establish a solid grounding. Not running off to attract every single market and niche on the net to try to get everyone from everywhere... Start SMALL, then GROW BIG. Not the opposite where you try to take over everything all at once.
Baby steps. Trying to cater to everyone with short posts, link posts, this and that posts to get twitter and reddit people is a fail, and I have commented and posted about that. Let's be Steemit, and not try to be copies of reddit or twitter. Resteemed.
Exactly. I don't care about a blockchain. I really really really truly don't care. Blockchain, chain-link, block engine. Whatever. I don't care.
I care that I get paid.
Focus on that.
hehe, I get that. How many people know how a lightbulb actually work? How many people actually care?
I am 100% with you. I have done okay here on Steemit since June, I'm not super-duper successful or famous here. But I actually paid 100% for a beach vacation from Steemit earnings in August.
THAT'S THE STORY!
Not Blockchain, not decentralized whatever. Whatever that means.
Tell stories of what people have done with their earnings.
That's the story.
Your ideas and energy are always good!
Couldn't have said it better myself. My business partner does online marketing and sales funnels. Everything I have learned from him.....the homepage is not hitting on any of the points to grab attention or clicks.
Your ideas for each separate target audience would be a positive impact as it sends a direct message to a specific demographic letting them know what they get or what it does.
Your post is quite spot on and well said. It's better to do 'one thing' really well than many things 'so-so.' While a good chunk of the recent and soon to be finished pieces of development were going to be needed regardless (avatar, notifications, editor upgrade, etc..) I'm very much with you that Steemit seems to be trying to go in way to many directions for it's focus.
While it's true that the blogging platform was the first public facing side of the Steem blockchain, it was never meant to be the end-all by itself. Even @ned has spoke of all the branches to off shoot from the blockchain itself.
Even though it can and probably will get diluted with massive growth, right now the CORE identity of this place is the community and how people deal with each other. From the beginning @dantheman (as I've interpreted things) saw this place as a way to break the current paradigm where we are dependent on governments and other entities that we've always seen as the power holders. Here we are able to brand ourselves, our skills and whatever else we bring to the table...ideally being able connect what we find as our personal 'value' with those that view those traits, writing, products, views, etc. also as valuable. This truly is an experimental society to see how people act and interact in what's supposed to be an open, uninhibited society. Just like in business, they quickly adopt new methods once they see they work and massively outperform. When McDonald's started selling their meals by number (vs ala carte ordering of a burger, fries and/or drink) their revenue went through the roof...it took all the other major chains just a few months to adopt this. Steemit can be that way of PROVING it's a better method. We just need those passionate and caring people (which is my preferred target audience.)
In my opinion, the current best pitch is the society we've created here! Come to Steemit to find and present yourself, to grow, learn and progress...not only as an individual but also as a society as a whole. On a very real level we are learning how to break the current paradigm many of us (non-crypto people in particular) have never really seen outside of and how to actually find and create the new one.
This is by no means always easy or pleasant, but growth and progress into something new rarely is all sunshine and rainbows. I can't speak for everybody, but I'm here because I want to see the current powers that be be forced to acknowledge that their out dated methods really don't work any longer. I want to be a part of helping to form this new path...on Steemit.
I'll acknowledge the difficulty in making this the pitch when there are so many other communities out there that can easily proclaim the same thing. But having the economic backbone of the blockchain behind this does really make this place stand apart (especially until competitors actually get off the ground.) We have so many non-crypto, non-tech success stories at our disposal here...they are what we should highlight. Show groceries being bought, show people able to find the drive and support they didn't have before to truly search their creative side and share it, show those who have learned to enhance there previously existing preferred areas or completely new ones. Where else could I pick the brain of a passionate economist, scientist, trader, etc. where I truly felt they cared about satiating some of my curiosity. The money helps up get things done or ease or day to day lives (since the peak times of $4 steem in particular) but it's the people that for many of us that make it feel worthwhile.
Sry for the wall of text...this is something I'm rather passionate about.
I can see the passion most definitely in your comment. From my experience in online marketing is anything that requires too effort from the user is killing whatever you are trying to accomplish. Keeping a high quality of content is key and fostering the right culture is too. But when it comes to messaging and getting people in the door, the message has to be clear, concise and grab people on an emotional level.
Later on, you can sell them on the benefits of x,y,z technology for the whole society but first you have to tell them what's in it for them right here, right now so that they stay long enough to comprehend you are trying to accomplish on a bigger scale.
Exactly. People adopted FB because it was easy yet interesting, fun, convenient, etc.
I definitely have no problem seeing the 'get paid' aspect included, especially while we have no competition, it's a draw. If the money is the only pitch, that's all they expect coming in..the money. I think we can find a good balance like 'get paid to build a better community' or something like that.
Appreciate your input on soo many things. Thumbs Up
Very Well said specially about the marketing area.One area that steemit may focus on is Technical analysis of Charts and invite traders to do so. In fact they may invest in steemit, help our community grow and prosper.
Solid post on many #Steemit101 points and levels. RS and UV for you, good content here.
I am the person you speak of in here, who is newer to the #Crypto space, period full stop. I agree with so many things in here.
So. Many.
Really good points. @sykochica has actually suggested the free speech uncensored angle as a response to one of my posts about marketing.
It could very well be...but I think a different front-end would be needed since some people will object because of the "flagging" functionality that could potentially "censor" some points of views.
True - I think some education about the way that flagging works might help with that too.
yes, the "Free speech" thing does not work here. Medium is free speech more than Steemit.
No one on Medium can collapse your post............not the case here.
would be a false statement, there are many paying social medias
"The Only Social Media Platform Who Paid Millions to It's Users"? ;-P
Glad to see you back
Happy to see you back. I was actually mentioning to your sister earlier this week that it was a long time you had not post anything :)
I actually fully agree with what you said! The frontpage is the key to user attractiveness, in my opinion.
thanks @lemouth I'll do my best to be more consistent moving forward. :-)
Welcome back. You raise some good points and good example target markets. I have steered quite a few of my readers here to look at my posts. I think only one of them has joined and she is a Bitcoin person (thanks @joanstewart). So she was not intimidated by the intro page
The rest must be because they have not joined. It certainly does not talk to people my age (60+) interested in Australian Native Orchids and not IT geeks.
Totally, but that's should be the goal...get the IT geeky stuff out of the way so that the Australian Native Orchids sticks around! :-)
Could not agree more - I will keep posting about Australian Native orchids. #21 in the series could well make it today. I found a new variety yesterday.
Resteemed.
thanks!
welcome back! on point as always. :)
Cool article! And I'm glad to see you're back! I totally agree with you that things aren't clear for investors. We all have some work to do better the situation. Thank you for this inspiring post!
Excellent post cryptoctopus. Made a couple post of this nature myself in the past. I stopped because I think it is pretty pointless. Let the free market push it if it wants.
You raised some very valid points!
@kus-knee. (The Old Dog)
I like all of them!
Welcome "back"! I'm a techie type but I totally agree! I made a similar observation (tho perhaps not a great example) with my comment here.
No offense to anyone, but Dan really needs to find a way to delegate marketing to someone else. I don't know @ned very well, so not sure if he is good at marketing. What I can say with confidence is there isn't enough attention given to marketing Steemit.com. In fact it's a very common issue in the digital currency space. Etherium is one of the exceptions. Dash is much better than Steemit or BitShares marketing. They just hired Pete & Amanda (a.k.a. Daily Decrypt morphs into Dash Details). A pretty face, great personality and enough smarts between the 2 of them to simplify explanations of the tech involved.
One thing they need to improve on however is the Dash Detailed videos seem to target more of the geeks / techies than mainstream viewers. She has some that clearly aren't pointed that way but most I've seen so far (and I am still working through the 3 & 4 month old videos) are not towards mainstream.
Still I think the fact they hired the duo speaks towards their superior realization that marketing is extremely important.
On the other hand what other social media platform puts together events like Steamfest? Don't kid yourself, they're out there. FDR makes good use of meetup.com to organize groups, which is a decentralized marketing model of sorts.
Your article here is well written and right on point. Upvoted.
Thank you. I am currently looking into our funnel...we have great traffic coming from Google right now but we are not capitalizing on the potential growth of user base enough. It's like a leaking bucket with a massive hole at the bottom.
Welcome back @cryptoctopus! Yeah this home page issue has been looming in my mind for the longest time so glad you wrote about it! 100% agree!
Each of us are the best marketers for all the reasons described in these comments. I see a lot of folks expressing a desire to grow a community around their passions, get more users into the tags they frequent, etc.
I've read elsewhere that there is the backbone of an affiliate code within the block chain. I think activating a referral system would be a great help.
My particular area of interest is comics & webcomics. I could see myself building and hosting a site that acted as a custom landing page to this community, explaining all the features and information that would matter most to that particular community. (Most likely in comic book form!) A referral system would give it more priority and I'd even do some ad spending.
On the flip side, the tech is very important. I've mentioned Steemit sparingly to others because it's not quite ready for prime time. We may have bad acquisition at the landing pages & signup process, but all signs point to equally weak retention once people are here. I'm fine with little marketing until the holes are plugged. It'll be interesting seeing new front ends like Busy in the coming months, as well as possible advances in Wordpress integration, etc.
I believe the block chain will be the central database for a plethora of front end sites, so as time goes by the official Steemit.com landing page will diminish in importance.
@karenb54 .... (:
Wow,this is a bit of a long read,though an eye opener,as it presents the challenge in the crypto space.
Wow,its bit of a long read,though an eye opener as it reveals the many complexities in the crypto space.