The #weekend-engagement topics for this 100th week is about engagement on Hive and I picked the prompt for going back to the start. Why?
If only I could wind back the clock.
The start for me wasn't that great. In fact, I nearly gave up with Hive (or Steem as it was then before we broke free).
I had been blogging for a while before I came across Hive. I kind of kicked myself initially when I discovered it thinking, "how the hell hadn't I heard of this earlier?"
However, when I started playing around and looking at it. I felt like I was walking through a mine field. There was so many things going on and strange posts. I actually found it difficult to find the interesting content that I was looking for.
I also found engagement really low when I first started. I think my first post had no comments and very few upvotes - like a handful. It all felt like a lot of hard work generating content to get no interaction.
At the same time, I saw posts that to me seemed bizarre and random yet getting hundreds of upvotes and big pay outs. Was there some sort of cult here in Hive?
So what would I do differently.
First - research, research, research. There is a lot going on in Hive and you can't understand it immediately. Start from the basis like https://whyhive.co/ but build out and explore different Hive apps, communities and tribes. There is a lot of information out there but you need to patiently find it. You can't expect to just know Hive within a few hours of landing. Hive is too vast for that.
Secondly - don't just post, comment.
Collaboration drives communities and investing time on commenting on other peoples' posts is going to allow you to make friends, be recognised and hopefully increase your audience to your own posts.
You still need to concentrate on good content and catchy titles/graphics. However, you need to build that sense of community participation.
Don't get tempted by buying upvotes. I know it is tempting and you can see people making money for it. However, it isn't want the platform is about and won't make you lasting friends. It is just short term gain. Instead, build those connections with others!
Also, don't spam and tag loads of people. It just annoys everyone and won't make you too many friends.
Enjoy it, and don't just make it about how much money you make. If you enjoy the community spirit more than the earnings, then you will naturally build engagement.
Have fun!
