I found steemit through a Google search for something involving cryptocurency. At first glance, it seemed like a Reddit type of platform to me. However being that I work in digital marketing and SEO, I am well versed in whether any given search query provides quality results or if it somehow fell through Googles cracks. I was impressed with the fact that a steemit post came up on page one for what was likely a keyword with a decent search volume (don't remember what the keyword was, but I remember thinking about this).
I signed up for steemit before I understood that it itself was it's own technology, before I understood that everytime you upvoted someone's post, you were actually carrying out a type of action on the blockchain, equivalent (from what I understand) to exchanging bitcoin. Before I knew that upvoting a post would have any impact on me as a reader.
A few things that attracted to steemit to break it down:
- Level of Engagement & Community - The level of engagement to me when I first explored the posts on steemit was amazing to me, this must be like the new Reddit, I basically assumed again. With people commenting on and engaging with posts all written in a recent timeframe, I was super impressed. At first I thought maybe it was more focused on cryptocurency, but then I noticed all the different tags at the bottom of posts as well as the topics available to read and or write about
- Quality of Content - Obviously this is what brought me to steemit to begin with, Google's algorithms have incorporated artificial intelligence as we know, with one of its top three "ranking signals" for organic search being RankBrain. My point is that Google is smart and recognizes quality content. The future of steemit for digital marketing is a different topic I originally intended on this post being about, but my mind took me in a different direction.
- The Little Numbers Under the Posts Next to The Upvote - I believe there have been platforms that have tried to pay the content creators or curators, but none of them are like steemit. However when I first saw the numbers obviously indicating money, I thought wow great, it must be like a Reddit that pays writers to obviously promote good quality content. Little did I know that it is so much more then that (I discovered steemit less than 2 weeks ago I should point out)
- Diversity of Topics - This was exciting to me and is probably what prompted me take the time and sign up, once I saw that it wasn't just a community focused on the topic of the post I have found via a Google Search. I have been heavily researching cryptocurency the last couple of months. I have found that there are a great number of communities to join, many are active right now and I do sometimes frequent them to "lurk," or get information, however I have not joined not one community besides steemit. In fact the only other place I typically engage is Reddit and YouTube in regards to cryptocurrency.
I typically am the type of techy person who gets excited to tell people about new things and technology. I was telling everyone about kodi years ago, everyone thought I was nuts, hell I even was selling on eBay before they had any type of verification for selling and the primary method of payment was cash in the mail and checks - 10 years old and I actually introduced eBay to my family and teachers at school I remember......
My point is, I am not trying (too hard) to toot my own horn, because I believe I am a student for life who has so much to learn, but every once in a while a technology or product or platform cones along, and you just know. You know it's going to blow up, you know so many people from all walks of life can benefit from it.....I feel that way about blockchain in General, and steemit has managed again to entice me to sign up before I even understood that you can obtain a financial reward by posting and upvoting content. I told some of the (extremely talented) writers that I work with (writing isn't my profession I work closely with writers though) about steemit and they thought it sounded like the most awesome thing ever.....I suddenly thought about their perspective, I write anyway, I enjoy writing, and imagine learning about this new technology that is associated with bitcoin and I don't know a lot about it, but I know it's going to blow up (this is how I imagine some people may think), and I should jump on this train early before it starts full speed ahead.
Someone recently wrote a post on here on why steemit isn't succeeding, I guess at least currently to the point where long time Steemers have hoped and expected it to be by now...... that was an interesting post to me because I am so new to steemit and thought the platform looked fantastic.
At the same time, taking it from that perspective if you guys have been investing in steem and on here for a long time, I am sure it can be frustrating. I agree with what that post said about allowing tags on the posts, for even more diversification. Maybe I haven't explored steemit enough, maybe I was under the impression that it's more diversified than it actually is, but hey, it got me to sign up, right?
And another key thing for marketing and expanding steemit in my opinion, building on the idea of tags or just other types of topics, is to attract people who maybe are a little less technical than me ..... again I found steemit in organic results while doing a search about cryptocurrency. Everyday thousands of people are discovering bitcoin and searching for it more than ever, Google is smarter than ever with RankBrain and AI, able to answer our questions more and more every single day. The potential of this platform is phenomenal, and in my opinion it's success could come from discovey via organic search.
I know a lot of this probably exists, but to any steemit blogger out there - post more beginner tutorials, "for dummies," types of tutorials.
One of the top searches for crypto or bitcoin is bitcoin for dummies. Even my mother, (who works in the financial sector and didn't hear of bitcoin or blockchain until I told her about it), keeps saying she has to do research and she doesn't know where to start, she asks me if there's a type of for dummies book or resource.
I think steemit can see success by bridging the gap between the technical and non technical on the blockchain. The key to success is to make it easy to understand, that is both on the lower level to attract new users (by posting content for people who are just discovering btc and crypto and want to explore it) and also on the higher level or the platform itself.
My last point, and I say this with all due respect, but sometimes you need a fresh perspective and set of eyes to look at something to understand what can be improved or done better .....and again, I thought steemit was and is on the come up ... didn't even know of the challenges it faced until I read a couple of posts about it's slight struggle to grow. It's probably safe to assume a high percentage of people on steemit are more technical than the average person, if the plan is to grow steemit to the non technical, we have to attract the non-technical on both content levels to attract eyeballs and on the platform level to attract user signup.
I almost feel as if I have no right to come off and make it like I am telling you steemers who have been on here for years what to do, and I am certainly not trying to do that. I am sure half the people on here are way more well versed in crypto and this market than I am. ut as a user, from the user experience standpoint, I thought it would he useful for me to share my experience which was only a couple of weeks ago, as well as my thoughts on how it could grow, like I said from a fresh set of eyes..... I hope no one takes offense to that.
With that being said, thank you to all the great content creators and curators on here, I am greatly enjoying this community and excited about where it will go. I will help spread the word about steemit to people I know as well, I am really confident in this platform... don't wanna sound like a cheesepuff but come on yo let's spread positivity, sky's the limit like biggie.... (I also write rhymes, will post some soon on here!)
In summary, the key to seeing steemit surpass the elite may be it's inherent ability to appear in searches performed by typical newbies.
Diversify topics, add tags, simplify the platform we on as much as possible, continue to make great content, maintain confidence, spread the word like the church (not really tho this is just my mind venturing off), and most importantly let us all be positive, steems are a dream to some who just haven't found it yet, don't forget to check each other's perspectives and spread a good message..... that's all for now this was meant to be a short post on a sub topic of this, but hey now I got something else good to write for next time. I hope this offers some insight to you Steemers ..... any advice or feedback also appreciated ... I didn't draft and edit this so it's not very polished but I figured what the hell!