I posted a little incentive in the Promotion page on Steemit.chat, hoping to get a little traction for my blog. I put in a lot of work on one specific post and was hoping more than a few people read it.
And I got NOTHING..!!
I made the offer that I would give .1 STEEM to the first ten people to actually read that specific post, regressing down to .05 STEEM for the next ten, then .01, and so on.
Heres the actual post from today...
drdave 2:51 PM I gave this a shot yesterday without much success - figured I would try one more time today... I put a ton of work into this post and it would be great if at least a few people actually read it... I am offering .1 STEEM to the first 10 people who read and comment on this post - you can upvote if you want but its the "readers" and comments i'm most interested in - the upvotes will come once people know me... Thanks in advance... https://steemit.com/politics/@drdave/what-will-a-mike-pence-presidency-look-like-a-detailed-look-at-the-possible-future-president-of-the-united-states
steemit.comWhat Will A Mike Pence Presidency Look Like.? A Detailed Look At The (Possible) Future President Of The United States... — SteemitWith all the turmoil presently engulfing the Donald Trump white house and the very real potential for the House of… by drdave
I pretty much made the same offer yesterday, with the same results. Nothing...
I am sticking with the assumption that I made above - I dont care too much about the upvotes right now, I think once people get to know me, it will happen on its own. Its the comments and resteems im looking for.
Regardless if you agree with me or not, I would like to know what you think - about the topics, my take on them, your opinion of my opinion, and whatever other feedback I can get... Leave me a comment and tell me how bad I suck if you want, I will know someone opened the post at least... Unfortunately I cant seem to get in front of anybody to even "pitch my crap" at.
If this continues, Steemit is going to force me to do something drastic - I announce here and now, if I dont get some traction going soon, I am going to record myself naked in every position of the Kama Sutra, and post it for everyone to see... And No One Wants To Have That Image In Their Head - Im Talkin Scarred For Life
Hahaha, when I was in the army and a guy made that kind of declaration we would reply back with the dare, "no balls!"
I am in a similar situation in that I cannot seem to find any eyeballs to look at my posts. Keep your head up and we'll make it happen.
A dare huh - be careful what you wish for, you just might get it... :)
Now all you have to do is envision a 45 year old out of shape, unshaven, half crippled, construction worker - you sure thats what you want... Thanks for the support... Steem on...
The platform's now holding out on you to get those kama sutra pics you've promised ;) But I'll go and check your post :)
If only - if the only thing necessary to get more readers is them pics, hell im getin a new camera for that and doin it right... I appreciate the support...
What it boils down to is; how do we evolve steemit into a useful platform of interaction?
Spend some of your online time looking for and upvoting any that are sincerely trying to provide content REGARDLESS of whether you agree with their views.
Spend some of your online time looking for and resteeming any that are "in your wheelhouse" (that you are personally interested in and that you think those that follow you should be interested in).
Spend some of your online time looking for and downvote or flag any posts/replies that you think are just looking for a vote/follow/handout but provide little/no value in exchange or that you can tell haven't engaged with the actual content.
Upvote anyone that ever replies to your post (whether you agree with their views or not) and downvote/flag any if they are just doing it for a return upvote/follow.
Do not follow anyone without browsing their blog (comments and replies too) a little to see if they actually post anything of value TO YOU.
Do not encourage others to follow you for any other reason than that they are interested in what YOU have to say.
Reply to other's posts ONLY to honestly and SINCERELY encourage, provide PERTINENT feedback, constructive criticism and NEVER for the purpose of coercing their return upvote, follow, etc.
Thank you for the reply / advice, I for the most part do most of the things you mentioned - in one way or other. I make it a point to spend some of my time actually "curating" other posts - I have a wide range of interests so finding interesting material is not all that difficult (only hindered by the vast quantity of not so good stuff between me and it). I realised this more recently, and started upvoting the comments people make in my posts - you are 100% spot on that it matters, and makes a difference. Regarding your point about followers and following - when I started, I made a serious effort to acquire as many followers, and follow as many people as possible. My hope was to have a large group of people, that I could market and promote my posts directly to them (where as they were already somewhat familiar with me by going through the process). Unfortunately there is really no efficient (efficient being the key word) mechanism to direct market to individuals or subgroups contained within my list of followers - I didn't know it at the time but now I do. There lies (in my opinion) one of the fundamental flaws of the platform - someone just starting (a minnow) has no real means of getting noticed, other than luck or to "buy your way in".
I could go on, but I'll leave it with "now I know"... Thanks again...