It is no secret that a huge problem on Steemit is the retention rate of new users. According to the latest updates by @penguinpablo here, there are around 60,000 accounts making trasactions daily (posting, commenting, upvoting, resteeming) - but we know there are now over a million Steem accounts.

Promises of making huge money quickly does not help, especially when new users see the trending page as the ‘face’ of Steemit, and dont generally understand that the majority of those posts won't earn anywhere near that amount a profit as they have often has hundreds of dollars spent on bots to get them to the trending page. I think if you are new to Steemit or just getting started it is important to understand why you are here, and what gives you satisfaction - let's explore a few examples

Money

The first (and most obvious) reason people join Steemit is because they have heard about this alternative social media/blogging website which is free to join and people are making loads of money. Unfortunately the vast majority of these people come along and blog for a few weeks and then leave moaning that they were underappreciated and the system isn't fair.

Making money isn’t easy

If you are joining Steemit solely to make money, then sorry it isn't going to be easy, and the majority of people don't earn alot while the few at the top are loaded. Remember when you are new here nobody knows who you are (unless your a famous Youtuber etc) so it takes time to get to know people and find your content.

When I joined Steemit I won't lie was attracted by the idea of making loads of money but over time have lowered my expectations and set some new expectations, while being happy to create content, engage with great people and earn a few extra dollars.

My biggest piece of advice to new Steemians regarding financial expectations is:

Lower your expectations

Community

A common phrase I hear on Steemit from people who have been here a while is:

Come for the money, stay for the community

This is certainly something that has truth for me - I have met and engaged with loads of awesome Steemians who have similar interests to me, including music, technology, crypto and Steemit!

What I love about Steemit is that its not like Facebook/Twitter etc where you already know people - on Steemit the majority of people you meet you wouldn’t have met otherwise. I have enjoyed learning about other people’s cultures and countries and sharing my own country with others - I have met some great people from all over the world!

For me the community extends outside of the Steem blockchain itself and onto places like steem.chat and Discord where there are loads of different servers and places to meet people. Now that I have been here a while and understand how Steem works I get great satisfaction out of helping out those who are new to Steem with any questions they may have and getting them settled in. I think this goes a long way to retention of users! It can be confusing at first and offering help to others will make them feel welcome, and make it all a bit less confusing

Create content/engage in discussions

As I move on and spend more time on Steemit this is probably the area that motivates me most and creates the greatest satisfaction. Since joining Steemit I have realised how much fun creating content is, and how much you can learn just by researching and sharing engaging and interesting content. Some people come here not knowing what to blog about or just blogging about the most ‘popular’ topics - my advice would be to blog about what you are knowledgeable about or what you are interested in most.

I get the most enjoyment when it is clear that others have read my content and leave comments/questions and engaged in some conversation with me. I try to make content that generates this type of discussion or asks questions of my readers. I also spend time on here commenting on others blogs getting to know them better, and am learning everyday.

Since I have been here I started the #musicdiscovery tag for Steemians to share and discover new music with each other and have been blown away by how many people have started using this tag and it seems we have started a community sharing music with each other. I LOVE music and it has given me some inspiration and helped me discover all sorts of new artists I wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

I also started the #7daypositivitychallenge as a small experiment and a way to bring some more positivity to people's lives and here on Steemit. Again I am amazed how many people have taken on this challenge, and it gives me a sense of pride to see how far this has gone.

Summary

Being new to Steemit isn’t always easy, especially when you learn that making money isn’t as easy as you expect. I think lowering your expectations and finding out what generates satisfaction is the best way for user retention to increase.

I do think that because there is money involved, the quality in general on Steemit it quite high - I am amazed when I visit Facebook - its mainly selfies, family/holiday photos or petty arguments!

I think a good piece of advice for people new to Steemit would be -

Think of Steemit as a social media website first - a place where you can create content and share it with others, and think of the money as an added bonus

I would love to hear the reasons that you have stuck around on Steemit for and what advice you might have for people new to Steemit!