How to decide what to post on Hive - and how to make it happen.
So you heard about Hive, or maybe you've been lurking around reading and commenting posts, but you're not really sure what to post just yet, right?
This is the guide you've been looking for.
First things first.
I will not introduce you to Hive, since you're reading this I'm assuming you already know what it's for. (but I may write a guide on that later and link it here)
I will also not teach you how to make a Hive account, I'll be assuming you already have one. (I may write a guide on that later too)
1. Identify your motivation
First of all you must ask yourself why you're doing this.
Even though this may seem really straight forward, it may not be. I'd guess you're probably interested in the earning part of posting, but that's not at all what I'm asking here. Earning is the result of your blog post being successful, and even more than that, it's a result of your blog being successful altogether.
Everyone would like to earn a few extra bucks, or even some good money, but that's it - if only this desire could give you the success you need to earn it, it would be a much easier task and you wouldn't be reading this, would you?
This is why you shouldn't focus on earning, or at least not just yet.
Instead, I'm asking you to dive further into your motivation and find out what you could say that would be interesting for others to read.
Realize I'm not just asking you to just pick a subject. I'm asking you to dive a little bit deeper than that, and find something that motivates you and something you like to talk about. Hell, you may even meet some people and make some really good friends by writing about something you already like. Don't underestimate that.
But let’s not get philosophical here.
You may think this is a hard task, but it's really not, think about it.
Do you like teaching? Maybe you like some tech breakthroughs? Perhaps you love to talk about DeFi, pets, gaming or even astronomy? It's all good.
I'm sure there's THAT subject that sparks you up and makes you talk non stop whenever it comes up in the conversation. Or maybe there are a few of those, right?
Good!
Take note of those subjects so you can come back to them later, whenever you need some inspiration on what to post about.
For now, pick one of those subjects. You'll focus on it for your first post on Hive.
It can be the one you think you know more about, or if there's many you know a lot about, maybe the one you think would suit Hive's public more fittingly - more on that on the following topic.
Now that you have found not only your subject, but your motivation, you have set not only the destination - you also have the gas needed to go there.
Ok, so you have found your motivation. Now what?
2. Identify your audience
You must ask yourself: Who will be reading my post?
This shouldn’t be too difficult, since we just decided that you should talk about something you like. In this case, people reading your post will probably have something in common with you.
You may ask me: But what will good will that do?
Well, if you know who you’re talking to, you can be much more relatable.
Try to think as your reader would, which again, shouldn’t be too hard considering you could just as easily be on the other side - reading. Right?
Truly, there’s no need to get really specific or technical at this point, all you should do is try to address your reader as you’d like to be addressed.
3. Do some research
Maybe you’ve been lurking on Hive for some time and you’re already part of a community, and if that’s the case, great! You can move on to the next topic.
But not everyone fits in that description.
Well, if you don’t, it will be very beneficial for you to do a little Hive research on the topic you’d like to write about. I’m not really talking about getting all scientific or copying other people’s posts - you should instead see how Hive users generally react to the topic you want to write about, and try to see the differences between the posts that don’t get any traction and the posts that trend the most on that subject.
Try to find similarities between successful posts on that subject, and apply those points to your own.
4. DO NOT overthink. Type.
No, seriously.
Most posts die during their conception phase.
Maybe you decided you need some more research - maybe you decided today you’re not feeling very creative - maybe you just the topic may not be so cool after all.
Enough with that. Put aside the hesitation and get to work.
It’s very common for even great and globally know writers to have writing anxiety, or as many call it, “writer’s block”. You’re not alone.
Sometimes it just feels like we can’t write at all, right?
Look, anxiety really sucks. I know, I’m really anxious too, diagnosed.
The one thing you must realize is that this feeling won’t go away unless you make it.
The longer you postpone, the harder it will get to start. So a good way to shake the anxiety away is - well, just starting already.
Anxiety makes us suffer much more in our imagination and expectations than we would suffer in real life even if everything went wrong. Think about it - what if that subject really isn’t that hot? What if you’re not that great of a writer yet? The worst thing that could happen is that your post isn’t seen at all, or that someone may say you’re not a good writer - and in that case, if this person gives you some kind of more constructive feedback, you’ll be on the right track to become a better writer - think about it, if you now know your flaws, you can work on them.
5. Perfect it
Look, I just said you don’t have to get all anxious, and that’s true. That doesn’t mean your post doesn’t deserve some of your attention, right?
I think it can be very beneficial to, after you finish writing, give yourself some time and come back later and read it all. You may find some minor mistakes you made when writing, or you may realize it would be better to explain some of the points a little bit more - or maybe you overexplained it and would be better off cutting some of the text.
Try adding some bold text to make some parts pop out, making paragraphs a little bit shorter and making your text more “readable”.
Anyway, if you give yourself some time away from the keyboard and come back later, 90% of the time you’re gonna find something to improve on your text.
A good middle ground between this point and the previous one should be, after you finish writing, setting a deadline date or time - when that deadline comes, you’ll publish it regardless of if you think you could still perfect it - after all you already finished it before, right?
Optional: Get an outside opinion
This is not mandatory by any means, and if you don’t really have anyone you could ask to read it or if you’re just shy to do it - no worries.
If just thinking of doing this makes you anxious - relax, you don’t need to.
However, you’ll find out that asking someone to read your text may be very revealing.
If your friend/relative isn’t very familiar with the subject, he/she may point you to some parts which they didn’t really understand fully, and that should help you make the audience broader by explaining those points a little bit more.
If he/she is already familiar with the subject, he/she may point out some parts which may be too broad or even point out some kind of mistake you made on that subject.
All you gotta do is ask this person for his/her honest opinion, and don’t let it personally affect you if they say something bad about it - take it as free feedback, and a chance to perfect it before publishing for a lot of people to see.
Again, just respect your deadlines. When the time comes, publish it. No negotiating with yourself.
6. Publish it!
That’s it! If you followed all of the previous steps you probably have some piece of work ready.
Now just publish it, share it and go do something else, don’t stress too much about it.
If you’re already part of a community, it would be beneficial to share your post with them. Or maybe you just have some friends who like that subject too? Send it to them, no strings attached.
If you have no one to share it with, no worries - maybe your post will get picked up by some community members who really dig the subject, and you may get a set of new friends and readers.
Extra: Get feedback!
Read the comments and try to see what people think you did right - and what they think you did wrong.
Or maybe the post doesn’t get a lot of attention and no comments, if that’s the case don’t get too upset, that’s also feedback! Maybe by doing some research you can check if that subject isn’t really trending on Hive, or you may just find out that what you need now is to join a community - and that’s cool! As you meet more people on Hive, you’ll realize what captures people’s attention and you’ll progressively become a better writer.
Just don’t give up and keep improving.
Thank you for reading this long post, it’s actually my first post on Hive, hope you like it, and if you do, let me know what you liked the most on it!
If you don’t like it, please let me know what I could do better next time - as I said a lot of times, it’s all about the feedback.
If you disagree on some point or would like to add something to the guide, let me know too!
Also please let me know, how do you go about deciding what to post - and what are the steps on your creative process?