I have to admit it, discovering Steemit kind of felt like discovering a secret basement where very nice people are sharing lots of cool stuff and then you realize the basement is way more huge then you were imagining and the whole thing looks like a secret society, with their own rules and their own money. Although I felt a little lost in the beginning, here I am in my 7th day completely converted to this new "society". Today, seeing how my account grew and just reached its 100 followers mark I felt like it was a good time to share a few things I learned so far on Steemit. I dedicate this post to other beginners like me but if you are an experienced user here, please check this post and correct me if you think I learn the wrong way!
1 -A huge following doesn't matter
I know. This totally contradicts my title, but that's the idea. If you have only 30 followers but they actively participate on your posts it's way better than having 100 and only 2 or 3 checking what you're posting! So that's why begging for followers like I see many people doing is a total waste of time and waste of comment. People will only be a useless number in your account. So allow people to follow you because they want it and want to keep in tune with what you're sharing not because you asked them to. Like followings in any social media, quality is better than quantity.
2 - Don't be selfish
What I love about Steemit is that people are encouraged to actively and critically participate and we can really get uplifted by the quality comments of others. So take the oportunity to recognize people's content. Don't comment a generic "nice post", or even a "nice post, check mine". Dude! Relax! Forget about yourself for awhile. Use the comment space to really share and express your ideas, hold a discussion and especially learn. There are so many good content on Steemit that if you are a thirsty-for-knowledge person you can easily spend a day on it, just learning new things with others. Also, it is by active participation that you can be seen by followers who will sincerely be interested in your ideas and posts, and as I mentioned in the previous topic, that's the followers that matters.
3 - You should choose to be rewarded in Steem Power in the beginning.
Imagine a multitude of people speaking at the same time. It doesn't matter how good your content is. You'll hardly be heard. Wouldn't it be great if you could find a way to speak louder? That's how Steem Power can help you. It gives you more influence in the platform increasing your vote power. And it kind of gives you a little piece in the Steemit heaven. I know is tempting, we all have that bill waiting to be payed so a few extra dollars is always welcome. But without Steem Power you will take forever to make any considerable amount on Steemit. Only a few are lucky to start on Steemit making good quantities, maybe only those with extremely nice and viral content. But Steemit by itself is set to make all beginners start little by little. So in the beginning be courageous and power up your content and get more strength on Steemit.
4 - If you don't know what to write about, write about you passion.
In one week on Steemit I noticed that the best profiles are those focused on a subject that the blogger is fascinated about or talented in what they do. Not those who share every subject below the sky no matter how interesting it is. For me this is the most special thing I learned. Steemit not only rewards your content, it rewards proportionally to your passion towards it. In fact, everything we do with passion is well-done, it has quality. So no matter what your passion is, there will be people on Steemit who will appreciate it. No matter if it's travel, books, photography, money, cats, Italian food, politics. Follow what excites you the most, write what you love to talk about.
Edit:
After I published I realize there was a 5th thing left out: