Community engagement is the glue that binds us together on Steemit, but what is community engagement actually and how do we create a community on Steemit?
Steemit itself is an online community and is made up of many other communities within the site. For someone new to the platform trying to find a group of like-minded people can seem a bit daunting. This post aims to help new users find their place here and get results from engaging with the community.
One way to find communities on Steemit that share the same interests as you is to look at tags you are interested in.
For example, if you are interested in photography or music you can click on the tags photography or music and read the posts of people who have used those tags for their posts.
You will start to notice that some users post in that category often and this would be an indication they are interested in that topic and very active in that community.
You could make a comment on their post and introduce yourself so you can get to know them.
They say first impressions are important so I highly suggest when you reach out to someone on Steemit for the first time in a comment to not ask them for something. Don't ask them to follow you or upvote you as this is not good etiquette on the platform.
Don't add a link to your post or beg for a follow. To do so is just shooting yourself in the foot and it doesn't go over very well. Instead, just add to the conversation of the post they made or ask questions to further the conversation.
If they wrote about something you have knowledge about share what you know. Embellish on the topic the post is about and just have a conversation with them. Tell them what you like about their post or your point of view regarding the topic.
After doing this a few times on some of their posts they will remember you as someone that adds to the topic being discussed. This makes a far better impression that begging for follows and upvotes.
Adding a comment on someone's blog for the first time that just says: "Hi, good post. Please follow me and I follow you.", is not only annoying but it is the online equivalent of a door-to-door salesman or telemarketer bothering you at dinner time.
No one likes that and you will get ignored at best and downvoted at worst. It amazes me to see how many new users there are with a minus -7 reputation from spamming people with these kind of comments and they still don't get it and continue to spam.
So, it's very important to add a comment that shows your genuine interest and/or knowledge of the topic being discussed. People will begin to follow you naturally when you do this.
Once you have done that a few times begin to post on your blog about the topics you have knowledge about.
Here's what a lot of new users don't understand. The number of followers you have is not as important as the quality of those followers. That is why asking for people to follow you is a waste of time and will not result in more upvotes to your content at all.
It doesn't matter how many people follow you, what matters is that the people who do follow you are genuinely interested in what you post about.
There are many communities within Steemit and some are more active than others because some topics are more inclusive than others.
For example, music, the universal language, is a popular topic worldwide as opposed to knitting which may be a more niche topic compared to music.
Finding a more general topic may help you find more users to engage with than a less popular topic. You shouldn't choose a topic solely because it is popular though. It's better to choose a topic you really are interested in.
That said, there are some topics that gather more interest than others. Music, photography, travel, art, crypto, food, health, history, love, life, money, nature, news, and story are all very popular topics on Steemit.
Any of these categories are very popular but there is also a downside to posting in such popular topics.
Here is a screenshot of a very popular topic on Steemit, the tag Steemit. A new user seeing this thinks that if they publish a post with the tag "Steemit" they will get a lot of views and upvotes.
This could be true but because there are so many people making posts with that tag your post will get buried in the feed before anyone gets a chance to see it. Add to this fact that a new user doesn't really know anything about Steemit yet or have any followers and chances are good no one will click on your post before it gets buried.
Before long the new user wonders why their posts are not doing well and they end up giving up before they really even began.
A much better approach is to find a topic you will always find interesting and find the people who are regular contributors to that topic and begin a conversation with them on their posts.
This takes time and will not happen overnight. If you were thinking that you could just come to Steemit and spam 100 comments a day asking for follows so you will one day get rich you are mistaken. That's not how it works here.
Building a community or getting involved with an existing one is a labor of love which is why it's so important to choose topics you really have an interest in and to consistently add to the conversation.
There is no faking sincerity so if you're just feigning interest to get followers people will see right through that and no one wants to follow fake people. Ask yourself, how many telemarketers phone numbers do you have to call if you ever need someone to talk to? The answer for most of us is none.
So, don't be that annoying person that spams peoples' comments and instead find and engage with a community that shares your interests and you'll do just fine on Steemit.
Once you have found a community of like-minded individuals add your unique knowledge and insights to the conversation around that topic.
Start by reading others' posts on your topic and embellish what they are talking about in their comments.
Let's say, for example, that you like food and someone has made a post of a fantastic recipe you really like but the recipe has dairy in it and you're allergic to dairy products. You could add a comment that lists an alternative ingredient to the recipe that would substitute the dairy with something else that is non-dairy.
Or you could make the recipe they posted and take some pictures of the dish to add to their comments while thanking them for the recipe and telling them how delicious it is.
This would be helpful to the topic being discussed and is no way spamming the author. They may thank you for the comment and be grateful for the insight, certainly more thankful than if you spammed them with a link and they will remember you for all the right reasons.
After reading various authors posting about food, you may discover that you know something about food that no one else is posting about and it inspires you to make a post of your own.
The main point is to really get involved in discussions within the category you hold an interest in and to do so frequently, consistently, and genuinely.
There are no shortcuts to engaging with an online community. You either engage or you don't. These are just tips to community engagement that get positive results.
The takeaway here is to be genuine. There is no secret to it really. Just be real and really communicate within the community. Simple, right?
com·mu·ni·ty
kəˈmyo͞onədē
a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. credit
Getting involved in the many contests and challenges on Steemit is another great way to get to know people on the platform who share common interests with you.
If you're a photographer you can enter ColorChallenge or for artists, there are design contests you can enter.
For those into sports check out SteemSports and if you like food go meet 
There are groups of people surrounding so many different topics to be found on Steemit and in each group it soon becomes evident who contributes regularly to that topic.
They will be the ones who post about that particular topic on a regular basis and consistently respond to comments. Other authors may even mention them or link to them in their own posts.
These are people you want to build a relationship within your niche and get to know them, first by engaging comments on their posts, then in posts of your own, and then in chat rooms.
What are chat room?
Chat rooms like SteemitChat and Discord are where all the action is behind the scenes on Steemit. Think of it as backstage where you can mingle with people using Steemit.
This is were you can really have a fuller discussion with someone than is possible in a comment box. In other words, this is where the real engagement is happening and where you can begin to develop relationships with other users.
Where first reaching out to someone in a chat room though, use the same rules of etiquette as mentioned earlier. Don't just send them a link to your post and beg for an upvote or follow. Don't act like a telemarketer as it makes a bad first impression.
Be a real human being and make some friends there. Comment on one of their recent posts. Perhaps where you had started a conversation on prior to reaching out to them in chat to continue the conversation in more depth.
Develop friendships one person at a time and one day at a time. For example, maybe find out some more interesting facts about a post they had made and send them a link to it so they can read it too. Not a link to your post, mind you, but to someone else's or even something off Steemit that relates to their post in some way.
NOTE: If you're not really interested in the topic someone is writing about, don't do this. This is only for topics you and the person you are chatting with are really interested in.
There are times on Steemit when it is best to be a fly on the wall. To just listen, observe, and be silent.
One example is when you are very new to the platform and you stumble upon a post on a topic you are unfamiliar with and it is obvious by the comments on that post that the people engaging in those comments are far more knowledgeable than you are about the topic.
The last thing you want to do is add a comment that highlights your ignorance or, even worst, beg for a follow. Adding a link to your unrelated post asking for an upvote will get you a response similar to a hanging up the phone on a telemarketer.
Instead, be a fly on the wall and read every comment to see how seasoned pros engage on this platform and learn something. This will be a far better use of your time.
I've done this for weeks before, absorbing the information these posts were giving and thinking about what I have learned before even thinking of responding and it has inspired many good posts of my own.
Weeks later, when that person wrote another post on the topic and I finally felt like I had a response that could add to the conversation, I made a comment and referenced their earlier post as well as the current one. This usually gets a really good response.
The idea that someone actually took the time to read more than one of an authors posts before responding intelligently tends to make a good impression on authors and helps you stand out in a crown of weak responses.
You'll be memorable to that author just for taking the time to be real.
I hope some of this ideas help you in your journey on Steemit.
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