Let’s face it: attention span is such a commodity these days, especially on social media. One moment you could be engaged with one thing, and before you know it, you’re lured by the “bright and shiny” attractions you happen to chance upon, or a simple notification and pop-up steals you away from whatever you're doing.
Want to know the truth? Your followers are just like you, too. We're talking about fundamental human psychology here. They want excitement and thrills, variety and flair, and in today's post, we're gonna look at a few strategies to keep them attracted to your blog feed.
#1. Content That Connects
I'll be honest, you won't be able to please everybody. Just like how you will find some Steemians' contents more exciting that others, your followers will behave the same, and it's ok. This means you don't have to create content that are too broad and generalised, because in the process to appeal to everyone, you'll fail to draw the attention of the right kind of audience - your audience.
In my marketing consultation, we always have this little exercise of painting the client profiles, which is applicable your content strategy too. You can download the worksheet here and reuse it as many times as you want.
Basically, how this works is think of one target audience, and fill up all the info about them. I'll skip the demographics and psychographics because it's quite easy for you to fill those, but I'll give you an example of fields on the right.
Target Audience: Steemians who wants to build their brand and following on the platform, and produce more lucrative contents. Kinda like you if you're reading this far. :)
PAIN & FRUSTRATIONS
- I'm frustrated about my writer's block! I can't seem to write whenever I want!
- I'm jealous of the upvotes my friends' contents are getting. How can I get followers like that too?
- I'm tired of thinking up ideas to write about every day. Is there an app that can give me a random idea every time I press on the button?
GOALS & DREAMS
- I want to see my posts getting tons of comments and interactions. It makes me feel happy because I know I'm producing good stuff.
- I feel proud knowing I'm a valuable member of the community.
- I'm certain that I can become an influencer in my own space, and I want to be an authority figure too.
Note: bolded words are the emotions.
Once this worksheet is completely filled, I know I need to create contents around those pain and pleasure points, to satisfy my target audience. And when you do that, you will be able to "speak" to your them. They will feel that you understand what they are going through, and that's how the connection will happen.
Will every Steemian find my contents useful? Not really, which is fine, because neither am I targeting all of them anyway. I just want to speak to those who want to 10x their success on the platform.
Exercise: Identify a few audience profiles you want to target, and fill up the worksheets to paint their persona. One worksheet for one target audience.
####2. Exclusive Contents
Once you know the target audience profiles, it's way, way easier to identify topics to please or attract them. And nothing tells your fans they are your #1 priority more than exclusive contents that they can’t get anywhere else. And before you say “Hey, if it’s already on Steemit/the internet, can’t they just resteem and share it with their network? Isn’t that no longer exclusive anymore?”
That may be true, but you’re forgetting how their network gets access to those contents in the first place. Yup, through your followers! Your fans will feel special because they get to be the first to spread the news, and if you take a step back, isn’t that what you wanted all along? Talk about killing two birds at one go, right?
Also, if you have followers outside of Steemit, like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, they will be keen to join Steemit because they want your exclusive contents first hand, fresh off the oven. Which is why at the end of my posts, I usually have a brief intro about Steemit, and talk to audience on how they can be part of the platform too.
####3. A Mix of the Senses
When it comes to your Steemit blog feed, remember that people from diverse backgrounds and makeup will visit them. Some of them would like to watch videos, while others may enjoy a good read. Some would even indulge in podcast interviews, and the others marvel at infographics.
That means you have to mix up your content types. Have different themes everyday, inject emotions into your copywriting, and play with different approaches - long form, poetry, short burst, insights, reviews, tutorials, @steepshot photos, @dtube and @dlive videos, @dmania and so much more.
I'll admit, in terms on content medium, this is one that I've yet to fully explore, because I've not done much videos or podcasts yet. In time, perhaps, when I'm tired of writing. (Yeah, right…)
#4. A Mix of Flavours
As much as your loyal fans may love you, it's to have a mix of other people's contents too. Resteem fellow Steemian's contents that are within your scope of interest, and whose content may appeal to your target audience profiles too.
Plus, this will also help you strengthen your bond with the Steemian whose content you just shared. Leave them a genuine comment, and you may mention that you've resteem their articles.
####5. Don't Be Afraid to Get Personal
Tell behind-the-scene stories of your life inside and outside of Steemit, and perhaps some “origin” stories. You can do it in a candid, casual interview style, or even get your friends (or better yet, fellow Steemians) to ask spontaneous questions and record your reaction.
When talking about your origin story, you can even bring family members into the mix. These will help showcase to your followers that you are as real as they are, and when they see you attempting to change the world through your projects, they will be more likely to rally behind you. We all want to support “brothers and sisters”, people we can personally relate too, and nothing is more familiar than the bond between family and friends.
####6. Catchy Titles
If you observe your own social media habits, you will realize you tend to click on titles that are structured in a certain way.
For example:
- This kid thought he’s going to get a crappy computer. But when he opened the box, you wouldn’t believe his reaction.
- 7 Reasons why we Asians will not live as long as our parents
- How to make sure every single dollar you are donating to your charity is put to good use
- Real Case Study: Poor kid from village now world’s leading data scientist
While there are many copywriting tips we can give you when it comes to structuring your titles, here’s one tool that you can receive instant feedback on - Headline Analyzer by Co-Schedule. It’s free, and all you need to do in enter your title and it will output the score, breaking down areas you can improve as well. Nifty, eh?
I've also two other Steemit tutorials specifically written to help you sprinkle some copywriting magic on your post titles. You can check them out below:
- Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
- Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "List Type" Post Titles
####7. Contest & Giveaways
One of the tags that are constantly trending is on the various contests and challenges.
As a matter of fact, contests are not only to engage your existing fans and followers, but to also attract new ones. Being part of contests - both the ones you join and the ones you organise - are great for visibility.
Most of the time, the prizes are SBDs or Steem, which is enticing on their own. But nothing is stopping you from being creative. For example, why not run a contest and the winner gets a special animated Steemit footer image designed by @zord189?
Of course you'll have to pay/incentivise him…
While everyone can possibly afford the prizes you will be offering in your contests, remember, it’s not about affordability here; it’s about how they obtain their rewards in the first place. Everybody loves some quick fun, and the easier you make your contests, the more participative your audience will be.
Do a research on how others are running their contests and pinpoint the success strategies.
Personally, I have yet to try this, but after observing others reaping tons of benefits from it, I think it's totally worth trying.
####8. Don’t be afraid to show your personality
You know how some social media pages you go to project a cold, exclusive, corporate feel to it, and it just makes you wanna steer away? That's one thing to take note for your Steemit profile too.
Show some vulnerability, and try to inject some human emotions and responses into your posts. Don’t be afraid to use slangs or common lingo, because these are amazing rapport-building methods.
You can even leverage on trending news items and if it’s tied to your areas of interest, lay down your opinion on it. Your fans would appreciate that instead of shying away or being diplomatic, they know you are someone that would voice out for things you believe in.
You can also be vocal about your views on certain matters that you care deeply about, and make a stand for it. Don't be afraid that you will create enemies. In fact, an old mentor once told me, if you're not making enough enemies, you're probably not bold enough. As long as you're not out there trying to wage an all out war, it's good. We're all entitled to our opinions anyway.
BOOM!
Bet you have shit load of ideas to spice up your Steemit profile now? Let me do you a favour and end this post here, because I don't want to hold you back from taking action.
Oh, but hey, if any of the strategies resonate with you, leave a comment below. Of course, an upvote makes my day too, but only if you think this piece had been useful for you.
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I mostly blog about Steemit Success Strategies, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, psychology, community and random thoughts.
Talking about Steemit Success Strategies, if you want to 10x your results on this platform, perhaps some of these guides will be able to help you.
- How to generate at least 365 post ideas for your Steemit Life (and possibly never run out of ideas again!)
- 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 1)
- 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 2)
- Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
- Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "List Type" Post Titles
- Steemit Success Strategies #1 - The Law of Requisite Variety
- Steemit Success Strategies #2 - Batching + Parkinson's Law
- How to apply the 80/20 rule to your Steemit Life
- Steemit Experiment Report: 21 days, 21 minutes, 21 posts later, PLUS an 8-Step Guide on How to Write a Steemit Post every day under 30 minutes
- Case Study on Bid Botting - A Steemit Bootcamp follow-up module, a cheatsheet and why I probably won't use it
At least once a month, I run Steemit community events and training workshops with my buddies at #teammalaysia too. Some examples are:
- Steemit Bootcamp March 2018 - KICKSTART Your Steemit Success
- BoilerRoom 03.03.2018 | Let's Huddle, Hustle & Hack Out Awesome Steemit Contents!
I'm also grateful to be part of #steemitbloggers , SmartSteem and the sndbox.
Animated Banner Created By @zord189
Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?
Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD5, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:
- Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
- Upvote (like) other people contents
- Comment on other people's posts
- Have discussions, share opinions etc!
Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!
The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!
Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome