You are a content production BEAST! You may not know it yet, but you are!
There's an old saying that every life has at least one good book in it, and I think that all of us are capable of writing that book, even if we need some help with actually putting the words on the page.
The beauty of steemit is that the audience is ready and waiting and the tools cost nothing, other than finding an internet connected device, and the willingness, as one writer said, to open up a vein and pump yourself onto the page.
I see so many of you moping, feeling dejected, or even abandoning steemit.
- Lack of votes
- Lack of comments
- Lack of payout
All of these things can be distressing to anyone, but especially new users!
In fact, in just the last few days, I've been inside a few accounts on steemit, with no activity for the past two years. The site can be overwhelming. But, I'm here to help you figure out how to unleash your full potential as a content creator. Are you ready?
Here's what you're going to learn to do in five simple steps.
- Figure out what makes you qualified to find a voice on steemit!
- Discover what unique things you have to offer to the steemit community, and the wider world.
- Uncover your tribe, an audience waiting for you to speak to!
- Find the keys to unlock your message to the world!
- Reverse engineer great content, by starting from the effect you want to have on them.
Step One
Find out who you are
Knowing yourself is the beginning of wisdom. ###
Before you can find your voice, you need to know who you are. Sometimes, we make this more complicated than it is. When it comes to determining what you should be writing, here are three things you need to consider.
- What is your position in the world? Are you a leader, a parent, a volunteer?
- What stage of life are you in? Different perspectives can help all of us understand each other better.
- Who do you know and choose to spend time around? If you don't feel confident in your self knowledge, look to them, they are a reflection of you in some way.
Self examination is a great thing, but you don't have to look very deep to get a feel for who you are in the world.
I'm not asking for deep meditation or "getting in touch" with anything. That will come later, but to discover your purpose as a content creator, the simpler the better.
Who you are on the outside, is a reflection of your true nature, in one way or another. Trust yourself. You'll know what to focus on once you've been through this process.
Because you're looking to find the right niche for your content, to build an audience, this is about what you have in common with others. Or, what you think you have to offer to them.
It can be as deep and mystical as you want to be, but if you're not a metaphysical thinker, that's cool too. In fact, sometimes, it's better. Being a "fan" of something popular is often a better platform for content sharing, than having a deeper understanding of the universe.
Try this simple exercise.
What names,or titles, do you go by in life?
These are areas where you have built enough experience to teach others. Not all of them are great content production subjects, but some might be. We'll get further into that in the rest of the steps.
Step Two
Figure out what you do
What do you do for a living?
Do you hate asking that question? I try never to ask it. I'll ask someone what makes them excited to get out of bed. Or, what they do when they're not earning money. In many cases, I find it more interesting, and a better conversation starter.
We "do" so many things. Why is it what we do for money that defines us?
I happen to have what a lot of people find as an interesting job as a freelance writer. But, I don't really discuss the business side of it,unless someone is interested in being a paid writer.
While we spend so much of our time earning money, too many of us do things that don't inspire us. Many even feel they've "sold out" so, when I ask what you do, I'm asking you to think of those things you enjoy.
Not many occupations are something you can write about long term,or hope to build an audience around. That's okay. You can be an amazing content producer, and still flip burgers, or drive a bus!
Jack Kerouac was a dishwasher
Harper Lee was a ticket taker.
But, what made them special was their amazing imaginations, not their occupation. To narrow this down, ask yourself these questions.
- If money didn't matter, what passions would I pursue?
- What one thing do I feel qualified to teach others, with little or no preparation?
- What do I get the most satisfaction out of in my life?
There are a huge variety of things you may find when you start looking at your life like this. If you ever spend any time in a library,or a bookstore, you recognize that popular books are written on thousands of topics.
Here are some things you might do, that you wouldn't think of as content niches,but have been popular and even lucrative for bloggers.
- Parenting
- Gardening
- Cooking
- Crafting
- Cycling
- Working out
- Refinishing furniture, houses, or whatever
- Writing
- Singing
- Acting
- Dancing
You get the idea. Whatever you find that moves you, is a potential "niche" for content sharing. We'll get into finding an audience in a minute. For now, just focus on the things you find in your own experience that fit one or more of these criteria.
Step Three
Find your audience
There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
You can scream that it's a lie until you're blue in the face, but it has been my experience that every successful content producer, starts with an audience in mind.
As a marketing consultant, I used to ask this question about a million times a day, "who is your target audience" and I always knew who was going to fail, and who would more likely succeed.
If the business owner tried to convince me that their product was for everyone, they were probably not going to be around for long. Even if they managed to survive, they'd never reach their full potential.
On the other hand, even if they couldn't describe them perfectly those clients who knew what their ideal customer looked like, had a huge head start over those without a clue.
WHY?
"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door"
"All you need to do is build a product that people need!"
One quote from a movie and two colossally bad pieces of business advice,but all three have one thing in common.
Pardon my vernacular,but they're bullshit!
You can build until the cows come home, if you've built something no one wants, it will sit unused, no matter how great it is.
The road to business success is littered with the bodies of people who thought innovation was all they needed!
Just building something useful is not enough. You need to know who needs it, and where to find them!
If you aim at nothing, you will hit it 100% of the time!!
Fortunately, online, finding an audience is easy! And steemit makes it even easier.
Through the use of tags, we find most of the major audiences on steemit. 200 of the most popularly used and upvoted categories are listed for you in the little "hamburger menu" in the top right corner of steemit, under the "Explore" tab.
If you want to know if there are people eager to share what you want to say, go exploring. If you don't find them in those categories, try searching hashtags until you do, or expect to have an uphill climb to find an audience.
- Look for a category with at least some active posts in the last seven days.
- Categories with lots of comments indicate good activity.
- High paying categories, with fewer posts are markets that pay, with less competition.
- Sometimes small, niche categories can produce big results if they have good active audiences.
It's similar to finding the right keywords in Pay Per Action marketing campaigns. You need to explore a little to get the lay of the land.
- Open up a category you think might be a good fit.
- Read a few of the "hot" posts to see what's popular. (I suggest reading hot, because they've mostly earned their votes, without someone buying 100s in votes)
- Check the vote count, and how many active commenters there are.
If you really want to do your homework, look a little deeper. Are there accounts commenting on multiple posts, from various authors? That's an indication that someone is following the topic.
If you find three or more categories that have active content you think you could produce, good news. There's an audience on steemit for your topic!
Study some of the more active readers, what do they have in common?
Now you know who you're going to serve with you content, but you need a clear picture of your audience.
- You can check their comments to see what other content they interact with.
- Read their content to see what they do, and who they are.
- Find out whatever you can, and compare. Where are their commonalities?
If you can figure out where your audience hangs on steemit, you can interact with them and their content. Building a relationship is the single best way to get someone interested in your content.
As you interact with them around content similar to what you're going to share, you'll have opportunities to invite them to see your stuff. Resist the urge to spam, but it's okay to share, at the right time, when it's asked for.
Here are three things you should do for every person you want to be a follower.
- Follow them
- Comment on their content, and their comments
- Upvote and resteem their content when it's appropriate.
Step Four
Find out what your audience wants and needs
You can have everything in life you want, if you will help enough other people get what they want.
It's a very simple formula. If you give to others, they will generously give back to you. Jesus said it, the whole concept of Karma is built around it. Most philosophies recognize some form of this formula.
Taking is a quick way to have everyone against you, while giving can open doors even the strongest cannot unlock. Dale Carnegie taught this in How To Win Friends and Influence People,
The best way to get someone on your side is to show a genuine interest in them.
And, this shouldn't be hard. After all, we're focusing on things you love and want to do with your time, and your key audience shares that passion!
If you follow through on the last step thorougly, you should already have some ideas of what your audience wants and needs.
But, don't count yourself out. If you've selected to create content around a passion you have developed in your own life, your own ideas about what's important in that pursuit are a valid source for content too!
By this point, you need to start producting, if you're not already.
To figure out what your audience will respond to, you need to give them something to respond to. On steemit, you've got four main options.
- You can write a blog post, like this one.
- You can shoot video and add it on dtube, or dlive.
- You can record sound and add it on Dsound.
- Or you can use images as your primary content, on steemit, steepshot, or dmania.
With what you've learned already, make up a list of potential content to share.
- Create at least three pieces on at least two topics.
- Run these pieces on your blog, daily, or every other day.
- Make sure you respond to any interaction your pieces get.
Once you've tried at least two topics with at least three separate pieces, you'll begin to get an idea of what your audience will respond to. Here are some things to look for.
- Follow content threads that get regular votes and comments
- If you get big votes, but not big numbers, don't necessarily assume that content will profitable long term.
- In your interactions, you can ask questions to determine what your audience wants more of.
Once you've gotten at least some response for your work, and if you produce quality posts, and properly categorize them, you will get some in most cases, you can begin to form a plan for what kind of content you want to produce.
- Strike a balance between sharing new things, and continuing with content that sparks an interest in your audience.
- Try to be as consistent as you can in the tone and style of your content, when it's working.
- Listen to your audience and lead them by getting in front of them.
By doing these things, you can help keep your existing readers engaged, while opening the door for new followers to come in.
Once you've found a niche your audience enjoys, continue with it until you run out of strong content to share, or engagement starts to drop off.
- Don't make too many assumptions. One reader leaving the platform for a few days may effect you a lot, so don't rush to change from something that was working.
- Make sure you take all factors into consideration. Are there other content producers competing in the same content?
- When things are good, don't assume they'll stay that way. Watch for changes and study how your audience responds.
Finally, don't put too much stock in how they respond to a given piece. If they like your stuff, they'll be back. The common denominator within your audience, is that they all interact with you. Decide who you are and stick with it.
If you truly become a part of the community with your audience, you'll have a better feel for what they want next.
Step Five
Decide what change you want to make
You must be the change you hope to see in the world.
Only one step remains for you to unlock your full potential and launch your cryptoworld domination campaign. You need to determine what you're hoping to achieve with your content.
What change will your content bring in your audience?
So, far, you've:
- Figured out who you are in relationship to content publishing.
- Determined what it is in the world that you know,or are passionate about that would make good content.
- Located and scouted out your audience.
- Listened and learned what that audience wants and needs.
You are now producing content, targeted toward your ideal follower. But, to develop that follower into a "brand evangelist" that will share your content with others and spread your fame to the ends of the steemosphere, you need to engage them on a deep level.
There are three basic choices
When you consider content creation, you have three basic choices regarding the impact of your content.
- Do you want to enlighten?
- Do you want to educate?
- Or, do you want to entertain?
Most content does two, or all three, but there is always one primary goal and it will help determine what change you want to see in your audience.
First, determine the priority level of each of these three goals.
- If you want to primarily enlighten, you'll need to engage the heart first, to open the mind.
- If you want to primarily educate, you need to appeal primarily to the mind.
- If you want to entertain, you will appeal to the emotions of your audience.
Each type of content is different, for obvious reasons. You'll use a different approach based on your goal and the type of content you're producing.
Enlightening
If you are looking to enlighten, inspire, or motivate the minds of your audience, you'll need to reach out and touch their hearts. You'll want to talk about the things that matter to you most, and relate them to your audience, through what you know about them.
- Find common ground with your readers.
- Share something meaningful from your own life that they can relate to.
- Challenge their thinking and habits on this issue and give them something encouraging to help them on their way.
Educating
If you want to educate, teach or train, you need to think in practical terms. If at all possible, it's good to engage them in action steps to learn the skill, or absorb the information you're sharing.
- Build tutorials and how tos with clear, simple to follow steps.
- If you're teaching is primariy informational, ask questions for them to respond to in the comments.
- Adding additional resources on your blog, another platform on steem, or another site, that they can visit.
Entertaining
This type of content may seem like it's wide open, but, after 20 years as a theatrical director, actor, singer, and voice coach, plus ten years as a novelist, it's deceptively complicated. When it comes to choosing what they consume, I believe followers are pickier about their entertainment than their motivation, or their education, which is ironic.
But, this level of personal engagement is exactly what makes entertainment such a powerful mode of communication! Whether you're posting original songs, short films, funny original cartoons, or writing detective noir novels, you have a chance to speak directly to the human condition.
To engage in entertainment, the audience must step into something we theater types like to call, "The willing suspension of disbelief"
We agree not to apply many of the laws of logic and physics when interacting in imaginary and fictional universes. This is true for stand up comedy, films, novels and even music. We make an agreement with the artist to allow the use of our senses.
We will allow fantastic happenings, bombastic statements, exaggerations, stereotypes, and unlikely scenarios to imprint on our minds that, if we read them in our daily paper would be met with more than a little skepticism.
This is why entertainment can often impact on us a deeper level than even brutal facts.
We draw it into our minds, engaging it directly with our emotions, unlike other content, which we tend to hold at a distance, unless it moves us powerfully.
Because of this, you must know your audience intimately if you hope to connect with them.
That is not to discourage you from sharing your fiction, or your first attempt at a comic book. To do that, I'd have to erase my own history as a content producer, especially here on steemit.
- Choose your media and style carefully to tell the story, or convey the message you want to get across.
- The easiest way in, is through established genres and styles. Most artists will use this approach to build credibility, before experimenting with new forms and ideas.
- Know this, your audience may adopt your art as their own very rapidly, but reject it just as quickly, if it doesn't meet their standards.
We can forgive awkward wording if an article or book teaches us something we want to know. We'll overlook some ideas to reach for what feels good in an inspirational piece. But, we post moderns, have a tendency to wear our entertainment on our sleeve.
Because it defines us, to a certain extent, we want certain things from it.
- You can choose to shoot for conformity to a style,or not. It's up to you.
- Once you have their attention, make changes at your own risk, they may lose interest.
- It may also be harder to get them to engage in critical conversation afterward. Many people know what they like or don't like, but don't know why.
Work to educate your audience to your forms and the reasons you're creating the work you do. It can go a long way toward building community and establishing regular engagement.