It is no surprise to anyone here that Steemit has had a user retention problem. I don't see this as a major issue, because I expect most of the major issues that are causing user retention problems will be addressed before the site is out of BETA. What should we do in the meantime as far as recruitment though?
I've thought long and hard about this, because as much as I love being here - I find that I'm not trying to convince lot of my friends to signup (yet). The reason is because I am pretty sure they will not stick around. It does take the right kind of person to see Steemit for what it will become, and not what it is today.
I think for the most part up until now, our main recruitment pitches have been along the lines of:
- Check out this awesome new blogging site. You can get paid for your content!
- Look how much money this person made!
- Check out this new social media site that is going to take over Facebook!
- Steemit is going to revolutionize the world!
- Etc.
These are all great, but users are joining with the wrong expectations. Steemit is not there yet. As one would expect, they are getting disappointed when they realize that Steemit is not a full-blown professional website (yet), and leaving. Way too many people do not get the "yet" part!
I think our retention would be a lot better if our recruitment was more in line with what we have to offer today. Even for what it is today in its "BETA" state - Steemit is still awesome! We just need to set the right expectations.
- It is a small community of people that are helping to test this new website and provide feedback on how it works, to help turn it into a mainstream blogging/social media site.
- Even though it is in beta, you can still actually make some money for participating. It is usually not a lot, but over time it can add up. Some people that have built up large followings or produced really amazing content have actually been able to make hundreds or even thousands of dollars from the site already.
- There are still some kinks to work out and a lot of features that need to be added, but even with what is there today it is really fun!
- You can get in on it now and become a part of the core community before it takes off and becomes the next Facebook.
- If the currency value goes way up once the site goes live, the coins that you keep vested in the site could one day be worth a lot of money.
- Eventually once the site is ready to officially launch, they are planning to become bigger than Facebook, Reddit, etc!
Thoughts?