If you are new to Steemit altogether, I highly recommend checking out steemithelp.net and reading all of that information before proceeding further. Having a basic understanding of how the platform works and how cryptocurrency works and how you can get paid is helpful before you start posting, in my opinion. I feel I could have saved more energy for creativity had I done my homework first before totally diving in head first...but that's fun, too. So do what you feel.
There are great communities located at steemit.chat in which you can also become involved both to promote and advertise your posts and creations, to ask questions, and to make great connections within the community. There are also communities on Discord as well, and if you would like some server invites, I'll include those in a future post.
Just a couple of things about Steemit in general I have learned:
1. This is a community who greatly values engagement.
If you feel composing a thoughtful blog or curation or talking about your creative processes behind your works is "too much work," then the creator side of Steemit might not be for you, honestly. Curation, commenting, upvoting, and general involvement also say a lot...so even if you don't post much, interacting with the community within the comments is also literally valuable in the Steemit economy.
2. You have to give respect to get it.
Again, this hearkens back to involvement. Do not just throw posts up and expect them to make one million dollars. That could happen, but don't expect it. Remember, we invest our time into this platform, and are able to earn real money from it. That is amazing, and we should be thankful for that opportunity. Entitlement has little place here. Work hard, just like anything else.
Okay...
Now the FUN STUFF
I joined Steemit in October 2016 as an outlet to a potentially international audience and out of my general interest in the crypto world and the meshing of social media and cryptocurrency into this beautiful little place we have here called Steemit. Also, because I like creating content of all creative types.
Here's what I do and what has worked for me...it doesn't mean it's what will work for you, hell, it doesn't always work for me, but this is where I've had the most success:
The first thing you want to do is introduce yourself using the tag introduceyourself, and if you click this you can see some of the trending posts there and how they are layed out. Taking a picture of yourself, holding a sheet of paper with the word Steemit on it, your new username, and the date is a quick way to validate to the community you are a real person.
Feel free to share your OLD STUFF, just talk about it, too.
Throwing a 6-year-old YouTube embed with no explanation typically doesn't go over too well unless you are a musical god.
Explaining your creative process (in detail, even) and being as intimate and genuine with your audience as possible with your audience here will get you very far.
Thank your audience for listening and engage with them when they engage you.
This comes back to engagement...if your audience thinks you simply throw videos out and go away, they will be less likely to come back. The genuine connections among artists and their peers and other listeners here is very special.
Don't post 92734 times a day.
However prolific you may be, over-posting and over-sharing will result in people Unfollowing you. People are much pickier about their Feeds here than on Facebook, for example.
Share everything. Demos, random stuff, messing around, being creative...that stuff is pure gold in a community who values such things.
(If you are converting from the devil that is Facebook, this will feel very odd for a while...then it is the most amazing feeling in the world, albeit surreal.)
Promote your posts in appropriate chat rooms and social media to increase exposure of both your posts and of the platform in general...share on twitter using #steemit...hell, share it to Facebook! Drive that traffic away from FB and to Steemit. We are the catalysts of this change. There's a Facebook group out there also called Steemit Newbies, which is also a great resource for those new to Steemit in general and is a place to ask questions.
Be you.
This is the biggest thing. Just be you.
Learning/knowing basic Markdown and HTML can be helpful for formatting posts.
Using YouTube Unlisted links enables you to release exclusively to Steemit through your blog link directly, which also drives more traffic to Steemit to get to that video if your current fans are already Subscribed to you on YouTube. Unlisted video additions do not get notifications, so you can drive traffic through Steemit to the embedded video.
See one of my past posts for an example of how this looks.
Here are some of my more successful music posts, if you are interested in checking out some of their formats...although there is no "one solution" to this platform, and that is also the beauty of it.
@jessamynorchard/2k16-holiday-couch-sessions-day-two-at-last-etta-james-cover
@jessamynorchard/originalmusic-i-lose-live-performance-video-ft-dustin-miller-on-upright-bass-lyrics
Here are some people I highly recommend you follow:
@jessamynorchard (ME! :) )
@luzcypher (runs an amazing Steemit OpenMic that PAYS, and is the most INCREDIBLY SUPPORTIVE community for new artists)
@verbal-d (great music and poetry)
@rok-sivante (active user & lots of music)
@tatianamoroz (crypto-musician pioneer)
@stellabelle (all forms of creativity and great resources)
@jasonrussell (amazing music photography)
@jsantana (amazing photography and lover of metal)
@steemittalk (weekly podcast about all things Steemit)
There are a million more...I may add in the comments as it comes to me.
If you are a Steemit musician, please comment with your profile so we can all follow each other!
I will write Part Two as your questions or comments dictate, so please leave those on this post! If you're new, let's talk in the comments here!!
Follow me @jessamynorchard for more assorted randomness!
Support Steemian-Original Music by tagging YOUR tunes with # originalmusic
I even blogged about it.
Love what you hear? Consider becoming a monthly Patron at:
http://www.patreon.com/jessamynorchardmusic
