Four months and a few days have passed since I joined the Steemit community and man oh man what a journey it has been so far! When I stepped onto this platform for the first time, I really had no idea what I was doing – other than my general “social media knowledge” which turned out to be fairly useless as Steemit operates VERY differently to other social platforms.
As with any “life adventure” there are always positives and negatives… dos and don’ts…
The other day, a reader got rather hot under the collar in response to a post which promoted a recently formed discord server called “Steemit Bloggers”. They very clearly missed the entire point of the post, but nonetheless I still stand my ground in what I said. I took a very firm approach in the post – which was that spammers and the like would not be welcome in the server and would be removed…. Ie. Don’t bother joining because you will just get kicked out.
I said it then, I meant it then - I say it now and I mean it now - I don't want anything but quality bloggers as a part of the Steemit Bloggers Server! The end!
As the man in my life likes to say... "Suck it up Cupcake" lol ;)
For those interested, you can check the post out here: “CALLING ALL CREATIVES”
The reality is – NO quality blogger, vlogger or other creative that contributes quality content on Steemit wants to have to deal with spammers, trolls, and individuals that do nothing but ask for upvotes or follows.
As for the spammers and the trolls… well, there really just isn’t ANY explanation for what you lot do. You are just a very sad bunch of individuals and the general human public loathes you… but you already know this, so lets move along swiftly shall we...
As for the others, well some of this might be due to inexperience and lack of general knowledge of the Steemit platform – and I think everybody should be afforded the opportunity to change their direction into a more positively received one by being armed with the right information.
So, on that note - I have decided to briefly run through a few things that I (think) I have learnt... in the hopes that this will encourage people new (and old) to Steemit to engage on the platform in an appropriate manner and therefore become a more valued member of this fantastic community!
The LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF STEEMIT
(in my opinion anyway…lol…use it, don’t use it….)
Don’t use the “introduce yourself” tag for every post you share. (We “met” you the first time… it’s time to move on with life!)
DO use tags that are RELEVANT to your post! A post about your cat is NOT relevant to “Steemit” it is relevant to: life, nature, animals, pets, blog, story and writing... catch my drift?
STOP asking every single person to follow you! (It just looks desperate and for the record this is something that is optional and done on the basis that the person actually WANTS to read what you write about…. Which we generally don’t even bother looking at after you have asked for a follow.)
START encouraging people to look at your blog by ACTUALLY reading theirs and honestly engaging with them. When people know you have taken a genuine interest in what they are contributing, they will be more inclined to go and peek at your blog… and if they don’t – they DON’T! Get over it!
STOP asking for upvotes! (I say it again…It just looks desperate and for the record this is something that is optional and done on the basis that the person actually ENJOYS what you post - Which we generally don’t even bother looking at after you have asked for a follow.)
DO make a GENUINE effort to engage! The same is applicable here as was for the previous point. When you truly engage with others you won’t NEED to ask for upvotes… they will come naturally!
STOP making spammy comments! “great”, “nice”, “upvoted”, “wow” are SELDOM EVER considered a genuine comment and are mostly just annoying!! - True Story!
START saying things of SUBSTANCE in your comments if you want people to even bother responding to you… or look at your blog! We are all busy people and none of us have time for rubbish!
STOP posting RUBBISH that A) isn’t even yours to begin with or B) has ZERO substance. (Aint nobody got time for that… lol)
DO make a GENUINE effort with what you post if you want to succeed here on Steemit! People want to read or watch something they can either get their teeth stuck into, something that they are passionate about or stuff that makes them laugh, inspires them and so forth. Nobody is really interested in a meme we have all seen about 10 million times on Facebook or a picture of a waterfall in a rain forest that we all KNOW you did NOT take!
At the end of the day, the concept of Steemit is NOT complicated! (Much like life really…) If you want to succeed you should focus on something you are passionate about and put in as much effort as you can… plus some!
I have crossed this topic before, but there is nothing wrong with a good “REFRESHER” every now and then hey ;)
Quoting an excerpt from a previous post of mine… and RE-SHARING that information for those that are looking for inspiration or motivation…
..........
There are many amazing contributors here on Steemit who put out some BRILLIANT content, so if you are new to this platform or are looking for a little bit of direction, don’t just start spitting out random, copied rubbish… go and look at what some of these amazing writers are publishing and take your guidance from them. Personally I am more of an “off the cuff” writer and whatever I share with you needs to have some kind of emotional connection to me, so that is where my inspiration comes from, but if you struggle with finding content to write about – it is as simple as doing a Google search on “interesting blog topics”. I can assure you that there is no shortage of suggestions. There are even sites that offer you suggestive blog post titles. Here are just a few sites with blog topic and title inspirations which I found in less than five minutes…
101 Blog Post Ideas That Will Make Your Blog “HOT”
103 Blog Post Ideas That You Can Write About Today
100+ Blog Post Title Templates That Grab Attention
101 Fabulous Blog Topic Ideas
Start with those and build from there if you have to – but PLEASE STOP watering down your potential with bubblegum!
..........
I do not at all consider myself a “know it all” but I have gathered at least a little bit of “know how” along the way (well I think so lol) and my advice is as such:
Make a DECISION about WHY you are here!
Steemit is a community founded by upstanding and enthusiastic individuals, who work their rears ends off at their contributions and focus quite seriously on adding quality content for readers and viewers to enjoy!
So, back to the question…
If you aren’t adding value to the platform, then why are you here?
If you are not passionate about what you are writing then why are you here?
If you aren’t willing to engage with the community, then why are you here?
If you are driven by MONEY and aren’t prepared to put in any real elbow grease, then you are simply going to go around in circles!
Respect and reward are things that are earned and we all know the “do’s and don’ts” of respectful behaviour in the real world, don’t we? We all know how “give and take” works, don’t we?
If you want to be treated with respect and offered appreciation, then you need to reciprocate those qualities. If you want to add value to someone’s life or to something that you are doing, then you too need to give of yourself .
People are very quick to see the wood for the trees, and the fat of the matter is - if you don't put your BEST foot forward CLEARLY stamped with integrity and genuine intention - then people will develop their opinions, cast their judgments and walk on... attempting to regain their interest after that is, well… yeah! – Good luck with that!
Conclusion?
Don't waste the opportunity to REALLY offer something of value on Steemit! Make the extra effort! Go the extra mile!
Think about what you are contributing! Give the community a REASON to value you!
To infinity and beyond peeps!!! ;)
Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
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