There’s already an existing countless guides out there on how to thrive on the blockchain. These guides have existed way before Hive was born and most key points still apply to this day. Want to get noticed? Make a quality post. Want to get noticed faster? Interact with other users. Want to earn more? Do the previous steps with better consistency.
It’s not that hard to get this system committed to memory. Ever since I became active on the blockchain again I noticed a lot of changes when it comes to discoverability for content. There is more emphasis on rewarding good content now than ever before. Sure there’s still the usual circle jerking going on but those outliers don’t really tell what is happening on the grass roots level. It’s not a rare thing to find new users being bombarded with attention on their first post especially if the post screams quality made.
Now quality has always been a subject of debate and I’m not going to argue what’s good looking for me may not be good looking for you. Instead, I’m going to focus on how to make the most of your blogging experience on Hive. The thing newcomers need to understand first is that nothing on Hive is as simple as it seems. The blockchain has a steep learning curve on the numbers shown and it also has a social aspect users need to balance with.
You can make the best content out of any topic but if no one takes interest in you then expect rewards are going to be inconsistent. It’s not only content alone that curators are investing into but the authors that share their content of Hive as well. If you only know how to be an island, it’s difficult to bank on posting your quality content alone because there are others that will compete for that attention. What you can do is expand your network to have a wider reach in the blockchain.
Having a sense of entitlement just because you labored through making your content will only frustrate you. The community doesn’t owe you anything for sharing content. You’re not the only user that can be voted on. You have to prove yourself that you are willing to invest in the community just as much as the community invests on you. If you’re one of those types that just spends a few minutes on the site creating a post and then run off somewhere else, don’t expect you’re going to get much from the rinse and repeat cycle. Maybe you can get some huge rogue upvotes for the trouble, this blockchain has those too, but most of the time it’s a lottery.
It’s not always the curator’s fault that your posts get no love. You have to do some leg work on exposing yourself to a wider audience and that means spending more time interacting. Curators can have a wide list of people they follow with content all competing for attention.
There are always exceptions to the rule of course. Some users just have the privilege of being favored by huge stakeholders but these are outliers you shouldn’t be using as examples. Instead, try observing people that spend a lot of time engaging with other people. I’m not talking about users that leave cheap sentences of praise over someone else’s content, I’m talking about people that take time and effort to construct well thought out comments.
Make it a point to respect people’s time when they see your post or comment. Cheap praises aren’t going to get you anywhere and the same goes for half baked posts. Everyone is busy minding their own business to the point that it’s already a luxury to have an organic upvote or comment on one’s post. Leaving a meaningful comment can be as good as a business card here.
Because in the sea of dead followers, a single constant soul giving positive attention to your post can make a difference on both parties’ experience on the platform. We already have instant messaging enabled from the recent peakd update. Now we can do away some conversations usually done on Discord and start making better use of the social side of the platform.
Your resolve to increase your rewards as a content creator will depend on how much effort you devote on the platform. Because you can spend a lot of time on the platform being busy without doing any real work. It can mean you’re just talking to the same people daily so expect the only people that would likely care about you are the same people in your circle. Hive is a network of communities where you can make yourself visible and grow your network.
Engaging is an art.
This is something you need to learn while navigating the blockchain because there’s none like this in other social media sites. This is a platform that enables to reward you for your posts and comments. This is a platform where you can freely see other people’s business if you know where to look. This is a platform where there are less borders to everyone’s shared profile. Anyone can interact with anyone when they want to.
If you want to convince people you’re worth their time and money, you got to start selling yourself by building others up. The simplest trick to make people interested in you is by getting interested on what they are up to and being mindful about their interests so that they will likely reciprocate the gesture. It’s not trying to manipulate people to be nice towards you if you are genuinely interested in them and what they are into. You have to be sincere about your approach because people aren’t dumb not to notice you’re just there for the money.
You can’t please everyone you follow but do what you can on your spare time to visit the posts of people you follow and those that follow you. This is the best way to nurture bonds. Cheap compliments aren’t going to take you anywhere here. Again, be mindful about your comments, read other people’s content and say something relevant, toss in some favors especially when they don’t expect you to because all these simple acts can take you to places.
There will be times when the attention you give won’t be reciprocated and that’s fine. People can be narrow sighted to their own drama to care about you but this doesn’t happen all the time. Engage with whoever you can whenever you can anyway. This is the stuff that contributes to everyone else’s user experience. People don’t usually vote because your content is good or they are interested. Sometimes they just vote because you are interesting and that perhaps is what matters more.
Pineapple on pizza is ok and here's 1001 reasons why. Someone can win the lottery more than twice before I could get anyone to read my ramble on pineapples on pizza.
Have you ever spent some time watching other people’s post shared on post promotion channels over discord? If you’re a curator, it’s reasonable to spend some time curating those links but what’s it to you if someone random stranger shared their works on the channel if you weren’t a curator? Yeah, that’s what most people likely think if you shared your post on those channels to.
To make people care about your content, you have to start caring about others.
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