As promised, here's a roundup of Discord channels that I've found genuinely help one get more support for one's Steemit efforts.
I'm going to break them into different categories, since there are different ideas of what "success" means, especially to different people. But one way or the other, I have found that success here on Steemit really comes down to community.
Some people find that on Steemchat, some Telegram, me on Discord, but until there is a native groups/communities feature, we will all have to find it on some service like those. Don't let the extra effort lead you to believe it isn't essential to platform success. We all rise together, never alone, and it's so much harder to do that relying solely on the comments sections on various people's posts.
That said, I do want to encourage you to use the comments sections on my posts to get to know one another. Much of my early relationship building on here came through meeting people in the comments on other people's posts. Do you read comments left by others before commenting on someone's post? If not, give it a try, and consider replying to and/or even upvoting someone besides the poster.
But on to the main subject of this post, Discord channels....
Good for an Upvote
There is relationship building that you know will eventually turn into upvotes, and then there is just asking for the upvote. There are a couple channels I've found where you just leave your link and get an upvote automatically.
Yehey, who is a witness has this channel where you just write $upvote followed by a link to your post on Steemit and receive an upvote within a few minutes typically, as well as notification within the server that you were upvoted and a comment on your post to that effect: https://discord.gg/nzrFmnd
(Note that you first have to register in the registration channel of the Yehey server, so that it is clear you are a human not a bot.)Peace, Abundance & Liberty (PAL) from the Minnowsupport team (thanks for the correction @tcpolymath) also gives an upvote every 48 hours. A lot of the time it is sleeping on the weekends, so best to plan on Mon, Wed, Fri. You have to start in the welcome channel of the server, then register, and then you can leave your links for upvote in the "upvote" channel. Please be sure to read the pinned posts as you go so you don't get booted before you even start: https://discord.gg/dEMz9CQ
More Social Path to Upvotes & Resteems
I have just one entry for this one, because it is unique in its own right. It is the Sunday night "Promote Your Post Live Show" in Whaleshares with host @Kotturinn at 7PM EST/11PM UTC (organized by @freedomexists). Note that you'll want to be using the app, not just a tab in your browser, to connect to Discord. You'll need to have your mic and speakers on, because it's more like a radio show. Here is where you can join the Whaleshares server where this takes place: https://discord.gg/3pqBXKY
The way it works is that you have one of your posts ready to submit that you think is a particularly good example of your work. Then get there early, since they tend to go roughly by the order in which people joined the event. when you are called on you share your link then get 2-3 minutes to talk about your post. Lots of people navigate to upvote and resteem it. (You should of course be doing the same upvoting/resteeming on the posts presented by others.)
It's pretty conversational, and people will ask you questions or give you feedback. The more you do the same with posts you find really interesting (which you basically speed read while folks are talking about it) the more attention you'll get when it is your turn.
Just make sure your microphone is working on Discord! When I was called on mine didn't work (because I was in the browser, not the app, as it turned out). Someone did troubleshooting with me in private message, and then I got a second turn, but it didn't work again, so they invited me to come back the following week after I got that sorted. The woman who helped me felt bad for me though, so sent me some BTS and gave me a large upvote herself.
Really Social Path to Relationships that Include Likely Upvotes
It's nice just getting upvotes, but what's better is building relationships that involve mutual support in all kinds of ways. These Discord servers support that, with each having its own unique "niche." Just realize that with this sort, you will get out of it what you put into it and nothing more.
@ecoTrain is an incredible community! If you care about the environment, and topics like sustainability, spirituality, nature, ecobuilding, art, food and more, this is the server to hang out on. When you post here people are likely to navigate to your posts and comment or upvote. Not everyone. It won't be a hoard. Typically I expect for one or two people to notice my posts usually. At the same time, I also go through the server's various channels and find other people's posts then comment and upvote on them. Doing this enough may get you invited to be an official member of the ecoTrain curation trail, which means lots of upvotes. You may also be included in their weekly digests of recommended posts.
Now honestly, the topic based channels of this server have been sliding due to lack of moderation lately. It used to be you found posts on topic in each channel, but now you'll find something on crypto in the ecobuilding channel. Sad, but there is still the "question of the week" channel, where you can write a post on the week's topic and use the ecotrain tag, plus QotW in the title, then put a link to the post there. This increases the chances of your being included in a weekly curation roundup.
And for building relationships, not leaving links at all, there is the main "Grand Central" channel, which is where you should spend most of your time. Take the time to read through the last couple days of the conversation (should only take maybe 30 mins.) and then join the conversation with responses of your own. It may seem like everyone knows each other (mostly they do), but that's only because they've been chatting here for months. Each one came one day and left their first comment though, just like you. This is a very welcoming, kind group of people, led by @eco-alex.
He writes: "If you write great posts on the theme of THINGS THAT MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE, and want to have a chance of receiving our up-vote, please use the #ecotrain tag in your post."Global Homestead Collective (GHS Collective) is great if you are a part of the homesteading movement. I'm in the process of building my own off-grid homestead, though I just changed my mind about building on the land I actually own, so have written a number of posts on the subject. If I was actively building right now, I'd probably be much more active in this server. Again, these are super nice people who are very supportive and welcoming of new people. You can join the server here: https://discord.gg/YftAmt3
(Just note that you should only join if you are in fact a homesteader.)
The chat channels are the best part of this server, though there are also channels for link dropping by topic. This is one of the few such servers that doesn't focus exclusively on Steemit promotions, so if you're using dSound or other STEEM dapps, this is a great benefit.
Random Assortment
Here are some others that I'm a member of, but where I'm not quite certain whether there is any effect.
In theory posting to Curie server would also mean those curators there would be more likely to see and consider your posts for possible inclusion in their curation roundups. I'm just not sure how reliable that is.
Adsactly is really clear that it's a crapshoot whether you'll get any upvote from them. Note that you have to use one of your precious 5 tags on your post to even try. I've stopped really doing anything with with this one, but there is plenty of activity, so perhaps they really are working for others.
Anyway, here are these and some other links:
- Adsactly https://discord.gg/m86q9Mb Read all the General section channel info before beginning
- Curie https://discord.gg/CqdgCnB Has a link drop section that may get you noticed by key people
- Promo Mentors https://discordapp.com/invite/49z469d and https://promo-mentors.com/ This is one I've never really understood, which is why I'm giving you both the server invite and the website. It sounds good though.
- Minnowbooster https://discord.gg/6ywNeQG This one has a post promotion section where you can leave links and a general section where you can chat, but all chat seems to be about the server, not broader topics that build relationships.
- And here is one I'm not a member of that I just heard of in this post, and which sounds great: https://steemit.com/steemjet/@paulag/steemjet-communities-are-lifting-off-steem-business-intelligence
- On a different but related note, I think I got an OCD upvote and resteem once from posting with their tag, as I did in this post. (I don't know that they have a discord channel.)
Membership Required Servers
If you are a member of @Qurator or @SteemBasicIncome, there are servers for each where you can share links and chat with other members and leaders. They will share the invite with you once you join. I can't create an invite myself.
It's good to be noticed by actually showing up from time to time in these, not just sending in your enrollment fee and then ignoring it while just collecting upvotes. I'm not sure, but I suspect leaders within the communities find posts to upvote manually within the post-promotions channel. At the very least, you can stay abreast of what is happening with the communities you're a part of here.
I also just got included in a curation post from @freedomtribe, which included an invite to join that server at https://discord.gg/4kBEZws with a delegation of any amount. Seems sort of in the "Qurator meets Curie" vein. I'll have to track it more over time to become more familiar with how it works and how much the community interacts in the Discord server.
From All of You
Thanks to @inspiredgideon1 for sharing the following:
- @thealliance is a community made up of quality writers but before you can join them, you need to write an application to join them. After your application is accepted, you are taking through two stages or classes with their discord servers before you graduate and become a full member.
- @gratefulvibes is a community made up of grateful people who see reasons to be grateful to God for everything. This community has being of help to me in terms of financial help from members.
And thanks to @overkillcoin who contributed that he uses Twitter successfully to network with other Steemians. Just use the #steemit tag when sharing a link with short description of one of your posts, and it seems other Steemians on Twitter will follow you and check out your posts. As always, it is important to give what you wish to receive, so be sure to also take a look at the tag yourself and find posts to upvote yourself.
In Summary
Are you noticing that you're expected to do a lot of curation yourself here?
Yes, that's the key. Bottom line, community is a two-way street. You obviously can't give as much to all of these channels as you might enjoy receiving back from them, so you're going to have to pick and choose, then prioritize.
It is better to build deeper relationships in just one or two places than to be scattered, dropping in once a month on a dozen. Plan to participate in some way with whichever couple of communities you pick at least once each and every day. This will get people used to you.
Note that if you haven't already joined Discord, when you join create your handle to be the exact same as your Steemit handle. This will make it easiest for people to find you on here when they like something you say on there. Some people will still ask what your steemit handle is, but a lot will check first to see if they can find you by your Discord handle. So make sure they can. (Even if you're already on Discord, you can change your handle at any time in Settings.)
Because the dust threshold is what it is, you really should think about investing in a little STEEM if you possibly can. If you are going to be upvoting people more, you're going to need to decrease your voting percentages to not run out of VP. But if you're upvote is only worth .01 now, then upvoting less than 100% is probably not going to be doing that much relationship building for you, not in and of itself anyway.
The reality is, people notice when you give them money. And they like it. And that makes them like you.
As of this writing, STEEM is about $0.75. This is the best time since I've been on the platform to invest a little and get one's upvote up to where you can give someone money they can actually collect when you upvote them.
This is less important when upvoting posts, which should have numerous people pooling their upvotes to guarantee even fractional upvotes still payout in combination with the others. I personally still find it unpalatable when I see someone gave me 5% of a $0.00 upvote though. Definitely not doing any relationship building there. I personally think it is better to concentrate on building just 10 relationships each day by using your full upvote just 10 times, if you can't afford to get your upvote to a level where you can give a penny with your fractional votes. Even if someone only gives me $0.00, if I can see that that is 100% for them, I value it just as much as a larger upvote from someone with more SP. But people see this in various ways.
This is more important when upvoting comments on your own posts, where you may be the only one to upvote at all. But either way, increasing your voting power pays off for you in the form of more of the reward pool going to you even without your self-voting. You pay it forward, and if you're also connecting with people regularly in Discord chat channels, that definitely comes back to you.
Well, did I leave anything out? Please share in the comments!
Resteems always appreciated
Seems like a lot of folks forget this is a SOCIAL platform... and social means interaction.
I must confess I haven't done much in terms of joining Discord communities; I have relied almost purely on picking up interesting connections through commenting on other people's posts.
I've also made a good number of friends by being part of @abh12345's Curation and Engagement Leagues... I think it works as a "free stand" because there's a lot of camaraderie between league participants.
But anyway, some good community recommendations here!
=^..^=
Yes, the social element does often get lost. Then people wonder why they aren't making more money after so many great posts.
I like the engagement league camraderie too, as well as Asher himself. I must admit I haven't found the time to connect with that one as much as I would like. But a great thing about it is that unlike some of the more interactive of the discord servers I shared, the engagement leagues are for people who write on any topic.
I was a bit annoyed when I first joined steemit to find out that you have to use another platform to engage with everyone. After my stubbornness wore off and I gave discord a try it was one of the best decisions I have made. It is truly the easiest way to find different communities to be a part of and build relationships with other steemians.
Another community that I would like to shoutout is the @helpie community. As the name implies they are focused on helping fellow steemians grow on the platform. They are awesome!
I've never heard of helpie, but it sounds pretty cool...
Haha, indeed @helpie is very helpful!
LOL
I had the same initial reaction. I hate chat servers generally, but accepted that I simply had to use them to make the most of this opportunity.
I've only just started hearing about @helpie this past week, but now this is my 3rd time hearing of them. Will definitely take a closer look tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.
I was annoyed too with having to use alternative platforms to discuss stuff but once I found my groove in a few of the servers and found the ever wonderful team australia and PAL. I have never gone back.
Minnowbooster and PAL aren't the same. PAL is @minnowsupport. People get them confused a lot.
@dropahead curates undervalued posts in their Discord.
Two communities that specifically target new users, @pifc and @asapers have Discords.
Thanks for the clarification! Just updated the post.
I had been in dropahead's server for a while, but never figured out how to get myself registered.
Thanks so much for all the tips for folks to look into!
https://discord.gg/pRteXcD
@asapers discord link if you need it. We love the new and the old and share our limited upvotes with our followers. Thanks for the shout out @tcpolymath.
Thanks!
You definitely left nothing out @indigooccean, hehehehe!!! This post was to long but full of important information that can help our success here on steemit.
Am still struggling to use discord channel because it seems like it is diverting my attention from steemit, but seeing the positive things you have said about them, I am encouraged to keep trying them.
Just pick only 1 or 2 to focus on when it comes to anything more than applying for an upvote. There are too many good ones to do them all. The priority really does need to be steemit.
Yah, agreed. Am doing that already.
Thank you for mentioning us! For clarification we have disabled the explainer channel temporary for changes.
The way you can get an upvote: is by getting scouted by us, or by joining workshops. We are giving out free workshops on how to improve your writing and blog lay out etc. This is how it currently works.
For any questions you can always contact me on discord. :)
Thanks so much for dropping by and providing the further explanation I could not!
This is a great compilation of these communities! I have been trying Discord for the first ever and while I still have trouble finding my way through the application and its many servers and even rooms in them, I have found some good ones for projects I have been researching and participating in like @actifit, @qurator, @steem-ua and many others. It is great to see how many users really foster the use of these servers to support each other in everything from providing guidance and feedback to be relevant in Steemit. I look forward to checking sone of these out and seeing where this journey continues to take me!
It can be overwhelming at first. I really don't like chat servers. They don't flow the way my mind does. But in the end I realized that I would do far better on here if I accepted that this is simply where the socializing is going on. There really are just a couple that I still regularly interact with though.
Thank you for this very clear and comprehensive post. Youve expanded my steemit horizons and the terrain is less intimidating. I'm still a bit clumsy navigating around Discord but everyone in the communities has been helpful.
I'm so glad to hear that it helps. Good luck on your steemit journey.
Thanks for sharing this link, I will surely have my way there now... @indigoocean
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Glad it helps.
Thanks @indigoocean your research for these channels really going to make difference. This can help beginner like me and others to grow more faster on this platform once again thanks
You're quite welcome.
Thanks for sharing the links for these group I will definitely join them @indigoocean
Posted using Partiko iOS
Just join the ones that are a match for you and your interests. There is no way anyone can keep up with all this, so if you try to you'll be neglecting really getting traction in the one or two that are right for you. You need to grow real relationships, not just go through the motions of doing so.
Reading and writing comments is the way to go, especially for a Newbie without mich voting power. And while a big vote on a post is nice, reading a good comment and engaging with commenters is nice, too. Votes go to your wallet, comments go to your heart ;)
A tip for those who know another language than English: use it. Even if you just put a summary in that language at the end of the post or something like that. There probably is a #tag for the language - use it. And there probably is at least one discord server - use it.
Regarding your name on Discord: you can select different names for different servers. Just klick on the round server image on the left side (or press for some time on the mobile version).
Due to my last computer and phone being pieces of crap I was never able to really keep up with Discord, although I did have a profile. Now that I'm happy to say I have more functional electronics I definitely want to get more involved on there. It's a lot to wrap your head around when you're unfamiliar with the app. Either way, I've been trying, little by little. I am bookmarking this page for future use. Thank you :)
I'm glad you've got some reliable equipment now. Just a reminder to take a look at each one that seems it may fit you, but in the end, focus in on just one or two. Otherwise it feels more like a job than a past-time.
Right. I think that has also contributed to me not using resources like Discord and Telegram- when I first got into all of this back in January I joined too many groups/servers whatever and now it’s overwhelming to look at. I guess it’s time to clean up!
You got a 38.72% upvote from @ocdb courtesy of @indigoocean!
Congratulations,
you just received a 16.05% upvote from @steemhq - Community Bot!
Wanna join and receive free upvotes yourself?
Vote for
steemhq.witnesson Steemit or directly on SteemConnect and join the Community Witness.This service was brought to you by SteemHQ.com
Hi @indigoocean!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 4.323 which ranks you at #2321 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 6 places in the last three days (old rank 2327).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 487 contributions, your post is ranked at #37.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
That’s awesome I’m starting to understand your project better now and really believe in what you’re doing. When I’m back on my laptop I’m going to have to give you guys a bigger delegation.