So, yesterday I did a little experiment with post promotion!
I'd been operating under the assumption that sharing my post links to steemit chat and Facebook were driving my vote count, so, here's what I did.
- I posted my first post and waited, left it as it was. (8:30 AM, CST US) The votes came, but, since it was a dolphinschool post (which obviously appeals to minnows) only a small payout, which is fine. 96 votes 17 comments in one hour, 116 votes and 32 comments at last count.
- Then I added one of my fiction posts (Anarchist's Almanac) (Noon CST US) and decided to wait on that one as well, before promotion. It jumped to 117 votes and $224 in payout in two hours. At 8 hours, it seemed to be stalled, so I promoted it on Steemit chat. Jumped to 144 votes 2 comments and $294.
- My second fiction post (JACKED) (2:45 PM, CST US) At 3 hrs in it had 112 votes, 4 comments and potential payout of $163, Promoted at 6 Pm CST US, last count, 141 votes $253 payout.
My last post of the day was my Steemit Ninja post, which hasn't caught on yet.
**So, here are some conclusions. **
- Fiction pays better for me. It seems that crypto, politics and travel are good non-fic topics for others.
- I won't be spending the time to promote my posts until the votes/payouts are slumping from now on.
- Adding promotion to posts once they have plateaued seems to add value. No idea if this plays out consistently, or just yesterday.
What I'm trying next
- See if the timing is important, I'd really like to post at noon and around 3 pm CST again today to see what happens.
- Try adding paid promotion later, say about 3 hours in, to see if I get a boost from that.
- Get to the point where I can drop two posts at noon, one fic, one non to see what happens, not today, though, I have a carpentry gig that must be finished.
Here is my advice!
From http://catchawhale.com/ and from my experience, it seems that mid day to afternoon in the US is a good time for me and whatever whales are following my work, since my payouts yesterday were the best they've been in a few days, they werre lagging a bit.
I would suggest holding off at least one hour before promoting posts on Steemit chat, or other outside sources, here's why...
- At 27 minutes, curation starts to payout, votes before that earn nothing.
- Early, low powered votes seem to "scare off" whales and mid level speculators. It's not that I don't want minnow and dolphin votes, but I want them later, to raise the profile of the post.
- If I promote early, I get a lot of low paying votes, and it seems like the potential for a better payout is less, if that happens.
This is not a scientific sampling, only an anecdote based on one day!
So, if it doesn't work for you, there are a million other factors at play, all I can do is share what is working with me!