I'm writing this post a few days after I've hit the 30 day mark on Steemit. It's been a great time so far and I'm proud to have hit my modest goal of 100 followers and at least 100SP. For all the new minnows arriving I would like to share a few simple do's and don'ts that can help you achieve Steemit success. Well realistic success that is. I can't guarantee you'll be the next Steemit millionaire with my advice but I do think you'll swim upstream a little faster.
Don't plagiarize
This is the first tip for a reason, it's the most important. Don't even think of trying to game the system by plagiarizing content. You will be caught, you will be punished and you might end up destroying your reputation so badly that you'll need to abandon the account and start a new if you ever want to have a post seen again.
The general rule of thumb when sharing articles that aren't your own is to use about 3 paragraphs from the top of the article in your post and then leave a link to the full article. This should allow you to share content in a reddit like fashion without incurring the wraith of 
Don't blow your wad right away
This tip is a little different then what some others may tell you but I'm going to be real with you. If you have some really great long form unique content that you think should catch like a wildfire you might want to hold off on using it until you reach 50 followers.
I'm just trying to save you some heartache as your follower list grows your ability to gain traction by just publishing an article grows but when you are just starting and no one is following you, your odds of gaining traction are going to be severely limited and reliant on the luck of fickle whale votes.
Think of your initial content as a calling card and experiment to see what resonates. Once you have a bit of a following you'll can whip out that beautiful essay you have tucked away.
Don't go over 4 posts a day
If you go over 4 posts in 24 hours the payouts on each post over 4 will degrade the payout of all the posts in that time frame. If you go on a posting spree and one of them get's a few bucks in upvotes you may be in for some heartbreak when you see the actual payout you get after it's been taxed for over posting.
Do go over 4 posts a day
I know, I know... I just said don't do this. Well here's the thing when you are new and don't have many followers you're probably not going to earn much anyways off those posts so you might as well not worry about the limit too much. Focus on putting out a variety of appealing content to get followers. The higher paying upvotes will come with time as you net more followers.
Get on Steemit.chat
Open up the site menu bar by clicking those three horizontal lines in the top right hand corner. Click on the Steemit.chat link and signup an account to come and join live chat channels.
There are a couple rules you should know ahead of time. Only post Steemit links in chat rooms designated for promotion. Never post Steemit links in the general chat room and never ever use 
Take some time to stick around and chat with people in the general chat room, you will make some new friends and gain some followers.
Get on SteemSpeak
In addition to the text chat there an active voice chat community of Steemit users on SteemSpeak. The process is a little more complicated than the text chat but you can find instructions here: SteemSpeak Instructions
Comment, upvote and comment
Your best tool for gaining followers will be to make insightful comments on their posts. You could invite them over to come follow you but make sure to do it in a tasteful manner and not on a large scale or you'll risk getting flagged. If you make a good comment many people will click through to your profile to check out your posts and some will follow.
Comment, comment, comment. These will probably be your highest paying interactions in the beginning.
Have Fun!
I think this one explains itself but never lose sight of it.