Investing into the discussion

I just staked my first NEOXAG:

And:

Slow down, slow down - I can only read so many DM vote begs at a time...

Just joking, no one messages me...

While I am posting this for #steemleo, this is less a direct investing post than perhaps it should be, but I think that there is something that needs to be said. If you are one of those people who tag all of the largest staked users you can find in the hope to get something from them, Please stop.

I got one of these messages today through a Gina notification and the person's excuse, someone I had never met before but is a very high rep, was that they have no friends so word of mouth doesn't work and they want to attract comments. While some people might "like" getting randomly tagged, if you are looking to actually build a following, using the highest stake lists isn't the way to do it. Well, at least I think it is very, very tasteless and I think will be met with some mutes, possibly some downvotes.

When I had a look at the comments made by the user, I was hard-pressed to find comments that were on any other blog than their own then checked Steemworld and found this:

That is a post:comment ratio of 1:1.23 so, no wonder there might be a bit of a struggle in getting engagement. For reference, one of the most engaged users on steem who puts us all to shame:

This is @abh12345

and my own shameful attempt in comparison:

In my defense, I used to get a lot of spam comments and I post 5x more than Asher because he is lazy.

Now, this is where the investment comes into it, because if someone actually wants to build an audience here, they are going to have to actually build the audience as for the most part, content alone isn't enough. This is an investment into an experience and as one attention whore artist has said repeatedly, your account is like a business and that means you have to invest into it.

He has:

This is @nonameslefttouse

These are people who aren't necessarily earning the largest amounts on the platform yet are doing well, but they are getting support in the comments sections, they have friends, they have respect, their voice is heard and, I have never been tagged by them unnecessarily to get my attention. Nonames isn't an attention whore at any cost, he gets his attention through his artwork and engagement, through the investment he makes into the community to the point that even when he is on hiatus for 5 months, people care enough to comment and look for him.

It is community investment that garners the most attention on Steem and while it doesn't always come with fat votes, it does come with a voice that gets heard wider than many and an account that can collect many voices for a discussion. I call these accounts Steem nodes because they connect so many points of Steem together, like a call exchange.

@whatsup is another that comes to mind here.

You won't find a lot of "nice post!" comments in that group and it is not comments alone, but the pattern is clear that for those who have worked their way into the community deeply, they are also those involved and engaged with the community deeply. Ask any of these people about the coming hardfork, and they will be able to give you their opinion in detail if necessary, and other than @abh12345 who data dives, none of them are overly technical. The reason they know is because they care enough to understand the system that affects them and the community they care about from their own perspectives. They are invested into the community, just as much (if not more so) than they are invested into Steem.

I have used the account as a Steem business analogy too over the years, as I see this as work. A lot of fun work too, but it is work performed toward some kind of outcome in the future and, hopefully a positive one for as many of us as possible. Whether it be a user base, an economic future, a spreading of ideas or a new business model, this takes effort, time, energy and all kinds of various skills.

Learn and earn. This doesn't just mean earn some token, it means, earn the outcome you are looking to reach. If you want to get valuable comments on your post, learn how that happens. If you want eyes on your art, learn how that happens. If you want the votes of whales, ummm.. you are probably shit out of luck because there are only 17 active ones, but there are quite a few Orcas and dolphins that are swimming these waters too so - learn what they are interested in.

Of course, people can use whatever strategy they think will work for them on Steem and what works for one might not work for another but, learning what works for you to reach the outcomes you are looking for is your own responsibility. Sometimes though, there might be others who you could learn from who might have seen a thing or two on their own journey that could help whittle down the choices for a better way forward.

One thing you will always own is your experience - Even if it is not the one you want.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]