I saw this post from @ryansatterlee earlier today, not sure how I came across it as I stopped looking at New ages ago. I might have accidentally opened it and it caught my attention.
I wrote a long response, below is the comment I made to Ryan.
First off, I'm going, to be honest with you. It is extremely hard, but this is no different than any other social media network. Growing an interested and engaged audience is really damn hard. 98% of people on any social network will fail.
Following 32,000 people is problem number 1. You just absolutely destroyed your feed. There is no way to make sense of anything at that level. I am very selective who I follow, I like my feed to represent things I care about and am interested in, not a firehose of everything posted to Steemit. Your feed likely looks like going to New, which honestly makes me cringe when I see it. The majority of content on Steemit is junk, it's just zero effort dribble to suck the reward pool. With 32,000 people being followed, I imagine your feed is very similar. Without using programming, I'm not sure how you can unfollow that many people easily. I'm going to say your best bet is to make a new account and start over. I know it sucks, but if you are long term, then you are going to want to follow people you care about.
I've looked at your posts (some of them, only spent a minute or so), and although you won't like my feedback, it is important aspect about Steemit.
A lot of your posts are what I call low effort, a picture and maybe 1-2 lines of text. While a good portion of Steemit does this, it isn't going to build you an audience. On the other hand, a majority of Steemit doesn't bother to read or even look at posts, and just games the system, so it is sort of a catch 22. You do post photographs, if they are yours (don't be offended, a large majority of photos on Steemit are stolen) they are fantastic. As a photographer myself, I appreciate the quality of the images. The ones I saw had great composition, but I personally am more of a reader on Steemit and looking at art is more of if I see it sort of thing.
I personally prefer posts that with thought and a lot of effort put into them. Unfortunately, this is very difficult early on because no one is listening. I used to think every post I made went into a black hole. Persistence pays off, but can take a while to get noticed. Your reputation is low enough you have a chance of being picked up by @curie and @ocd, which can provide a large boost that will make the 10-20 other posts you made balance out.
One thing that was very successful for me, is to network with others in communities. A lot of what goes on in Steemit isn't on Steemit but is on Discord & Steemit.chat where many of us hang out and chat. Finding others with similar interests is a huge help.
You are fairly new here, only a month, and it is still early. Steemit has a lot of garbage to wade through, but there are people here that do read and care about good content. It just takes a lot of time to find them. When you do, it will be worth it.
I am no whale, but I can give you a decent upvote to help you on your way.
You agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts.
I am tagging this with #discussion
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Nice overview.
I myself struggle with my posts not being noticed enough..
It's tough because sometimes I can write huge post, hours invested- and forget about the money... it feels like it is not noticed, and no one reads it.
I was desparate and tried to use SteemFollower...
Then after followers exchange - I become frustrated I follow thouthands of people that are not interesting...
So I had to unfollow all of them and start from scratch...
It is indeed very hard to build some steem-relationships...
But indeed quality of posts do matter...
If you ready to invest, than minnowbooster and buildawhale and other bots can help a lot of being noticed...
But it COSTS
I'm glad you replied to him. And I think your feedback is spot on. I always tell new uses to start be engaging others with thoughtful and meaningful comments. And to get involved in some of the larger communities around here.
Comments are in my opinion the backbone of every social media as that's the real interaction. Clicking the like button won't do it...
Unfortunately many people just focus on posting instead. That's as well a reason I started to upvote quality comments and try to reply to every single answer I get. It's time consuming but it's definitely worth it!
I think I'm suck on giving comment to any post i like to read or see, but not because they ain't respond to what I've wrote and end up just received a reply saying "hey I upvote yours and you need to follow me" haa I read the prescription before take any medicine ... and don't get over dose lol..thanks
I think a lot of it depends on your focus. I too am a noob (three months on Steemit), but my focus is on building up rather than milking every drop. I've gotten a couple of nice payouts, and had some posts that I spent a lot of time on go nowhere. Sometimes I don't have much to say (lately my writing spoons have been going into my second novel), so I'll do a #walkwithme post, which also gives me an excuse to leave the apartment and stop being a recluse. ;) I visit others' blogs and try and mindfully upvote (now that I understand about not running your voting power into the ground) and comment, and look for new people to follow/prune those from my feed that were spamming it twenty times a day with low effort content. I don't power down and use only my SBD to buy other crypto/cash out (it being high right now is nice!). So I'm getting paid but also keeping that Steem Power invested.
I'm interested in the long haul, and that matters, I think. I'm obviously not The Best at this, but I think people see that I'm legitimately trying to engage and give me a chance. Whereas if you just follow everyone and never engage because you have 36k people in your feed, or leave pat comments (ie "good information, upvoted!"), people will read that as you trying to make a quick buck (I would) and that you neither read nor cared about their content.
You are absolutely true. I started to write random posts and don't get rewarded. After reading this post and your comment, I understand the importance of building an audience. I will try my level best to build an audience community. Thanks for enlightening me.
I think it's very hard to earn money on here if you come with an "I NEED MONEY!" attitude. Actually, apply that to life in general. No matter how easy it looks, money doesn't come easily for anyone. The 'people' who are gaming the system most likely had money to start with - so they could create bots, and pay SEO writers (LOL drivel), and employ people to basically run the equivalent of a Steemit private blog network (PBN).
I joined in spring and really took for granted the number of posts that earned $2-$3, and the number of just upvotes I had. Since the update things have changed a lot, there's a lot more people on here. I got caught up in the $ part and life and left. Came back now because I miss it. I miss just letting thoughts loose and knowing maybe I will build an audience, and maybe I'll make friends and learn stuff. ... CLEARLY I'm not in a position of success on here lol - but I've learned from years of working for me - it takes a long ass time to make money and enough of it to survive.
Treat Steemit as a hobby (I mean, you all were probably posting for free on FB and Twitter and InstaTMI) - what's the difference?
Love how @themarkymark took time to honestly review an account. Somehow found buildawhale and that led me here - sometimes aimlessly wandering on Steemit IS worth it :-) Happy holidays!
Hey markymark I really love your blunt and honest reply. I hope more people will listen to you. And yes steemit is not a quick rich scheme. You have to build your community and your listener. If it's that simple, steemit will crush it a day. The business model will be terrible.
Your comment to his frustration (which I do understand is REAL!) was great :-)
It's like social media is similar to real life, where you could wave to a person (will that person then like and follow you to wherever you're going?), or you could have a real conversation with a stranger which might lead to exchanging phone numbers which might lead to a follow-up coffee date, which might lead to a real friendship... ;-)
Too funny. I'm picturing it and LOLing for real. Great analogy!
Haha! Glad I made you laugh ;-)
Very nice explanation sir,really beneficial is this.
Good articles to read but yet I'm still confused over steemit even I don't understand how it works...some people just post a photo and get more than $100 and some just simple line..Yup I've tried to write more length in my writing and put my own photos and not stealing from web site haa.. thanks I love this article..make me want to know more about steemit
People who post one photo and get $100 fall into one of a few categories
I never like to judge someone off one post, I will always look at their blog and see what their norm is before passing judgment.
I don't mean to hijack the thread or anything, but I had a question about number 5. I'm new and self-voting was just the default on my posts, so I left it alone. Should I uncheck that? Is it considered bad etiquette? Thanks in advance!
That’s something I’ve been planning on writing an entire post about.
It is defaulted to on and is generally considered tolerable for new users to do but as you get larger it is frowned upon. But on the other hand, it is your stake to use as you see fit.
It’s the age old debate here.
I see that makes sense. Thank you very much!
Judging people on their overall average rather than a single success is a good choice. There are some posts out there that many might not see any value in but others do and we should accept that as well to a certain extend :)
Thanks for the reminder of how to succeed on Steemit. Mostly about quality of content and building a base following.
It's the same as everywhere else, but there is a lot of noise here due to financial rewards.
Well thought out perspective. You kind of hit the nail on the head. When you first start out your post fall into a black hole so it is difficult to justify putting a lot of effort into your posts.
One of the "issues" still with Steemit I suppose is that there really is no good/obvious orientation, or like a 25 word sound bite for people to "get it". Really, it's not mainstream, so you have to be kind of geeky/goofy to get into it. I guess it is what it is, to sound kinda stupid, but I am looking forward to the communities twist. Honestly, I'm just glad the platform is spinning like a top since all the pre-SF2 glitches. Peace !!
Witness you. And yes agree not every post we had will be read by many but when our influemce is good enough people will start noticing that good works.
Thanks :)
Thank u for sharing Mark! It is greatly appreciated! Im fairly new too and still learning the ropes and appreciate when i come across a helpful comment! Thank u again sir! :)
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STOPI always check out the account of the new followers and sadly quite a lot of them fit into a certain profile ~ joined for a short period of time, relatively low rep sometimes even below 25, and following 1000s of people. I always cringe when I see that, and all I can say is thank you for boosting my followers numbers. Are they likely to read, upvote and comment my post? I doubt it, hope they do one day.
For the same reason every now and then I prune my following list to remove dead accounts or those whose post no longer interest. That not only makes my feed more manageable but hopefully also helps to give the impression that I'm interested in quality only.
Thsts
@themarkymark the guy is doing everything wrong. You should have let him hear your secret...
...it's all in posting disgusting things like Fart Collectors for your wife... jeezus that post of yours doesn't go out of my head. Now every time I see you around Steemit I remember "oh it's the fart collector guy".
I'm a newbie, so my first impression stuck xD
I like to have fun
thanks for your post :D
very nice with newbie as me :3
You know what, that is awesome you took the time to give such a detailed response to this guy. Sometimes the fastest way for people to learn and grow is for someone to point out where they are lacking so they can understand how to do better!
Following 32,000 in a month!!! Wowzaaaa !
Well played!
I like what you said to him.
awesome post!
Dear @themarkymark
It nice of you that you took time to explain him how to make money on Steem. And yes the one and only one SECRET IS : the community.
It's the same in the real life : friends/network/community.... and a bit of luck :-)
That was a good explaination to my problem as well but tf i don't follow so many people lol
This should be added to FAQ! I will refer to this post for those who are asking for an advice on Steemit. Thank you!
this once again @themarkymark has helped me a lot as a noob!. Information is always the best commodity. How you use it is up to you