I've seen a number of posts recently complaining about how the new Promoted tab is “not working” or “useless” and each time I do, I can't help but shake my head and wonder how these individuals could be looking at it so incorrectly. So I decided to share some of my thoughts on the subject in the hopes that it might present a different way of thinking about it for those people who have already written off a concept that's been in existence for about as long as a Britney Spears marriage.
("boost payments" tells you the monetary amount you need to top to move into that position)
To start with, if you're new or don't know much about the Promoted tab yet, the first thing that's important to understand is that every time someone promotes a post, that money gets taken out of the steem economy via the Grim Reaper account @null (an account where steem goes to die, more or less). This has the fantastic effect of deflating the currency, which improves the ecosystem for literally everyone. Even before considering everything else, this instantly makes the Promoted tab +EV (which essentially just means it's a bet you expect to win more often than you lose). Why? Well, because it causes no real damage, takes no extra effort, doesn't drain resources, and requires no extra resources of its own, all the while providing a purely positive function (deflating). It is a literal free pass for every single one of us invested in steem. Literally just free money.
Not quite so “useless” after all, right?
Additionally, and I mean no offence by this since I ask it of myself multiple times every single day, but have you considered the possibility that your content might just not be very good? Or that the headline just wasn't quite strong enough? Or that your formatting or choice of visuals made it unengaging? Or that maybe the whales who would have otherwise been interested in it simply had a busy day? Or didn't feel like reading your Borscht recipe? Or my psychotic fiction novel? Or literally anything that wasn't just straight-up kittens? Because there are honestly a thousand different ways for a content-creator to lose their audience; so to think that just because you put your post in front of a handful of people once or twice, that should nullify all that other "stuff", not only shows a total lack of awareness as to how content is created and consumed on the internet, but also kinda just makes you sound like a whiny baby.
But I know you're not trying to be a whiny baby, you just can't help yourself! Because the reality is that you're actually just frustrated and feeling unappreciated. And hey, I get that! We all get that! If you ever need a virtual hug and a "good job, kiddo", just pop by here and I got you! But, in return, you have to promise that rather than complaining about your failed one-off experiment, you're going to convert that emotion into motivational energy and set out with one very distinct goal:
Crush every single post you make so that the whales have no choice but to pay attention to your work if they care about their curation rewards!
I know, big dreams right? And obviously much easier said than done. But hey, you gotta start somewhere and that's as good a place as any!
So what's the best way to use the Promoted tab?
Well, honestly, who the hell knows?
No seriously, I'm asking you, who knows?
Because if you answered “no one”, you win an invisible prize (and how lucky, it's exactly the one you wanted!). Because that's the stone-cold truth right there: nobody knows!
Or rather, nobody knows...yet.
So perhaps the question you should be asking yourself instead of “why won't anybody upvote(/love) me?” is:
“what can I do to put myself in the best position to succeed?”
And not that I think I have it all figured out, but I'm happy to share some of my own initial thoughts and intentions going forward and let you to pick through them. If you find something that makes sense to you, great! If not, upvote this anyways and then get lost! (lol just kidding!)
Alright, seriously now, are you ready? Here goes.
1. First and foremost, as always, if your content sucks you-know-what, game's over. That simple. Even if you nail the title, get home-made handcrafted badass illustrations and use up every last steem you've saved up to get that coveted top spot, if your reader doesn't make it to the end of your post, game effin over, man!
As the saying goes: you can lead a whale to water...
2. Secondly, a 2013 study found that over 60% of user click-throughs on Google go to the top 3 positions. And the reason I'm quoting a study from 2013 is...you guessed it...top spot in Google. The point, though, is not that those are the only worthwhile positions (particularly not in a place like steemit where content production is still somewhat slow, comparatively speaking, which allows users ample opportunity to scroll past the top positions), but it does mean you should temper your expectations if you can not afford to move into one of those spots. And a word of advice from someone with a lot of experience in variance-heavy games, never EVER swing for the fences and risk your entire bankroll trying to hit a proverbial home-run by buying a top-spot. Not only is that completely and utterly unnecessary in the current environment, but doing so increases your risk-of-ruin by a redonkulous degree, so just don't do it man!
3. Finally - and this is really the key point I wanted to drive home for those people who are already complaining and feeling defeated by the Promoted tab - you need to, right here in this moment, stop thinking that you're paying to make an immediate return on your investment and instead realize that what you're really paying for is the privilege of exposure to an elite audience! An audience, I'm compelled to remind you, that you have never had direct access to before! You should feel thrilled by that, not defeated!
Because at the end of the day, it's really quite simple; create good content, experiment with the Promoted tab, have fun, figure out what works and what doesn't, and above all else, be grateful that you are here at the beginning, that YOU get the opportunity to figure it out FIRST. You are a pioneer, my friend! You, and I, are both incredibly privileged to be right where we are. So please, for the love of all that is holy, stop your damn whining and just (wo)man-up! OK?
Peace, Love & Happiness.
I've used it in the past and I promoted a post this morning. Thank you for the informative post.
As with many of these advisory posts, I absolutely agree with every word but I can't find any way that I can implement them. Partly because of the nature of the content, partly because of the nature of moi. The only solution I can think of is to have a system whereby someone like myself drafts a piece and someone else rewrites it into a form that's intelligible and desirable by others.
Because, frankly, nobody is going to change for my benefit and I'm very unlikely to change for theirs, yet I honestly feel that there's actual information content in my posts that others would want if it was in a form they would want it in, in an article they could tolerate reading.
It's frustrating, yes. Because decent copy editors and collaborators are expensive, anyone who followed this approach immediately rules themselves out of the capitalism market. That puts it in about the same league as a science journal, where you pay to play.
One might argue that that's not what Steem is about, that it's where you benefit by writing good stuff. Well, no, you benefit by writing popular stuff, and since I have never been in that category, I don't expect to benefit. That's just the reality. If I could find a collaborator who could take my basic papers and create a popular piece from it, they would earn every Steem point that piece earned because it's that popularity that is doing the earning.
Is this fair? Probably not, but I can think of exactly one science text that reached #1 on the best-sellers list and it wasn't on the feeding habits of an obscure marsupial on Fridays after 3pm. Curiously, there's a reason for this. Those who are good at finding these sorts of things out are often terrible writers and usually worse communicators of why anyone else should care. That's life.
For the perfectly capable but "stylistically challenged", guides like this should have a revolutionary effect. I expect many to benefit dramatically.
For those of us who are more lexically challenged and whose style was surgically removed by Martians in the 70s, it's going to take something very different and I don't know if Steem has the ability yet. If the necessary features are to be added, it'll have to be people like the original author who proposes them because if I knew what it took to pair people up I'd have already done it. Therefore I don't, which should be obvious from my reply anyway.
I understand and appreciate what you're saying 100% @alfar, online content consumption definitely favors the short and flashy. However, the good news, which I only know through personal experience, is that online writing is definitely a skill you develop, not inherit.
A few years ago my writing was probably much closer to your style than my own, (minus all the science and math lol), and even still I often struggle with trying to turn what I think should be a 10 page essay into a 600-1500 word blog-post with flashy images. But I've struggled through the process enough times now that the struggle is more mental than anything else ("but I wanna write how I wanna write!", he with a nasally whine and a childish stomp of the feet"). So my humble advice is to just keep grinding away and try to make each post slightly more easily-digestible than the last. You'll be surprised how quickly your writing will transform itself if you just take continue to take baby steps. Good luck my man!
All I can say is that I'll definitely give it a try and that I definitely appreciate the advice. On my steemit-ideas post, I've expanded a little on the idea of people buying papers smd making them stories, which I still think holds promise. It would also be easier than making The Change. It took me three years to write a four page story, and that took a lot of help.
Whatever happens, though, I truly appreciate your response, kind words, advice and all. Still think mastering ancient Sumerian will be easier, but ancient Sumerian is also less useful. So thanks and we'll see what happens.
nice post, man! glad to have found you, looking forward to you crushing it :D
Haha thanks @razvanelulmarin, that means a lot coming from you! Thank you for reading and for the follow as well!
Thank you for the info. I'm new to Steemit and understanding it is tricky. (I wasn't one of the whiners)
Absolutely! Don't let my snark scare you, everyone here is actually extremely friendly for the most part! So if you ever need a hand, just ask! Thanks for reading and welcome!!
I don't find it scary at all. I think it needs to he said, and I've only been on Steemit for a few days.
I followed you.
Good points, that seem quite logical. Liked and followed you.
Do you have any idea, maybe from your experience, how long you stay in the promoted tab for a given payment? It's not entirely clear to me.
thanks @ottodv, appreciate it. And I believe they last until their first payment schedule.
that can't actually be right. Perhaps @ned or @dantheman can clarify?
I think I should just try it.
I am buying some SBD right now, as I never made much.
Hopefully my last post, or the one before that, is good enough material to try this feature out.
Good luck, though the point I was trying to make is that you shouldn't base your judgments on how well a single post does. It should be seen as a long term investment that you continue to buy into (using proper bankroll management) to showcase a body of work. One or two times (or even 10!) is just not a large enough sample size to base any conclusions on.
Thanks @ltm! One doesn't know if one doesn't try, so I am going to try promoting two posts to see how that goes. My first is now 3 places below yours (with the pic of Mark Zuckerberg).
They'll be there until the first payout.
In that case, ill need to update post to reflect that you should always be promoting posts immediately to maximize your expectation. Does that also mean you can not promote a post after its first payment? @shenanigator
That's correct
cool thanks for info!
Until the whales actually vote on promoted content, it's just a waste of your money. Look at promoted. It doesn't get you any sort of "elite" audience. It gets you upvotes from people who think that "boost" is money they will get.
So you spend money to promote your content. That money is gone. No whale ever looked at it. Unless you already had their attention from somewhere else, they aren't going to dive through promoted and upvote you. I've seen some stellar content with mad "promoted" amounts, never see the $0.50
May as well just light a cigar with the cash.
The promoted system would be MUCH better if it were just a bonus for upvotes system in order to give curators an extra boost.
Well written post, but the reality is you should not waste money like this unless you're a business trying to get attention and wanting to advertise.
First off thank you for the compliment @williambanks (is that a fresh prince referance? Awesome if so!) Secondly, while I dont disagree that you're likely mostly right at this moment, I don't have nearly as much pessimism about its future. That was sort of my point, nobody has any real answers yet. You say whales never look at it but youre working on assumptions based on such a tiny sample size that it's tough to make such strong conclusions about them. And even if it is in fact true today, what's to say it's going to stay that way forever? Id rather focus on what I can personally control, which is making good content and allocating some of my rewards towards my own personal "advertising" budget. You know?
Except even the original post about this did say that the money was recoverable and may be used at a later date so this is not entirely correct. The team should give some clarification of on if these SD are actually truly burned or not.
Agreed @thecryptofiend, clarification would be ideal, though they might just not have it all figured out yet either. We are ALL pioneers! Thanks for reading buddy!
Well there is some information on github for the next hard fork:
It still isn't specific enough for my liking though!
You're welcome. I enjoyed the post.
more options can't hurt as long as they are in a positive direction that is to say they don't suppress information flow so to 'Promoted' tab is great.
see here with an analysis of information control on 'Social media'
https://steemit.com/help/@kolin.evans/steemit-flag-button-why-it-s-not-needed-advice-based-on-my-extensive-study-of-social-media-information-flow