Are you telling people what you do on Steem?
This is an important question that we all should consider. There is a lot of talk about marketing and how do we get more attention for Steem. After all, we have a lot of applications on here that are being developed and that people are actually using.
In fact, we, ourselves, are using them.
Then, how come we are not telling people about that? If we find an application that is fun and we enjoy, why are we not telling our friends?
Obviously, selling people on the idea of crypto is next to impossible. Most of us tried that. The last things our families and closest friends want to hear is another pitch about crypto. Hell, we might have a better chance getting them to an Amway meeting.
That said, there is much that is exciting taking place. 
Gone (hopefully) are the days of telling people to come to Steem and earn insane amounts of money after a few posts. The idea of pitching Steem as a "get rich quick" scheme is absurd. While I do believe, as early adopter, there is the potential for the get rich slowly method, it is not a selling point.
What is our selling point? What do we offer?
In my mind, it is the applications that we use on a daily basis that should be put front and center. Since we enjoy them, there is no reason to believe others will not also. Are you a fan of Splinterlands and think it a cool game? Did you tell a number of people about this? Perhaps they would be interested too.
How about all the Actifiters out there? It is impressive to see the growth on that application. There are many more new users over the last month which is encouraging. With over 700 people posting a day, you would think they could share that with friends, co-workers, walking companions, and workout buddies. The question is are people?
I recently got a couple interested in Actifit using a simply process. I know they each walk all day long since they are responsible for the grounds of an apartment complex. I used a very simple approach with them.
I met him outside this week and asked him if him and his wife walked near 5 miles a day? Of course, like trial attorneys are taught, I knew the answer (that is why approached him to start). When he responded in the affirmative, I asked him why they did not get paid for the steps they took? He looked at me dumbfounded and said let me explain.
I them mentioned how I walked each day and was paid for my steps. I "posted" them each night and over time, the tokens I received added up. Him and his wife could do the same thing, get paid for walking they already did.
Then I said, and this is important, he would probably be able to get a new pair of sneakers every 6 or 9 months simply by using the application.
Notice there was no mention of cryptocurrency, Steem, blockchain, or anything of the sort. It is just a simply benefit statement based upon my knowledge of his activity. After all, who would not want a free pair of sneakers every 6-9 months.
And yes, there are discussions about having products like that on the Actifit marketplace over the next few months.
Here is another simple thing I did.
An ex co-worker of mine is really into music. He is an awesome guitarist. This week, there was a post introducing the TUNES token. He knows the difficulties musicians have making a living in this age, so I emailed him the post. I said this might be something he is interested in and could find a way to discuss and promote music.
The email was only sent yesterday so I haven't heard back yet. It might go nowhere, but it was a simple activity that is worth a try.
We all know word of mouth is the best marketing. Grassroot movements take off not because they hire fancy PR teams and put together well polished ad campaigns. They grow because the people who are involved are committed and willing to talk about it. Their passion and enthusiasm comes out from the onset of the first conversation.
In fact, I could make a case that the most successful items were due to this as opposed to the efforts of Madison Avenue. Take a successful movie or television program. What is it that almost everyone does when they see a movie that they love? They tell anyone who will listen. And what do most people do when they hear such a glowing review? They put it in the back of their mind that they have to check that film out.
It sure beats a slick trailer or a great write up on Rotten Tomatoes.
My point is that we are the best advocates for Steem since we are the ones who use it and believe in it. Our experience here, whatever it is that keeps bringing us back, most likely will resonate with a few other people we know.
Does that mean we promote blogging? Not likely unless we are surrounded by a bunch of writers. The same goes true for video. If you kid is into video production and making cool videos from drones, they introduce him or her to D.Tube or 3Speak. However, if there is no talent there, don't mention it.
Steem offers a lot more than just blogging (vlogging). I am not a gamer but there are a few games that seem to be of interest to people. We now have Sportstalk which certainly will appeal to those sports fanatics (which there are billions of them) around the world. Steemleo is turning into a very informative source, in my opinion, for investment information. Perhaps lift a few articles off there and email them to a couple friends who are into investing.
In addition to everything else, Steem is a wonderful information source. There are many articles posted here each day by people who are very knowledgeable about the topics which they write. Sure there are a lot of posts that do not fall in this category (maybe most), but there are many which are helpful to people.
Are we sharing them?
People share stuff from Facebook all the time. I swear, Facebook memes are the new email chain. Remember when one of your friends or family members would forward you a message, usually political, that was forwarded by 8,000 other people? Perhaps there are a couple in your inbox right now from your mom or dad. Now that shifted to people texting stuff they found off Facebook.
Do we do that?
Are we sharing the content we find on Steem? If there is something that resonates with us, do we pass it along?
These are some of the things we can do which will enhance the exposure Steem has. Think about it for a second. There are roughly 15K-20K people on here daily. If each person, over the next month gets one person to come onto Steem and get active, we double our active users in one month.
That is not that difficult a task. Of course, to do that, we need to promote and forward. Sharing on social media is helpful but it is just mass blasting. A better approach is the personalized message. Target one or two people we know will be interested in the topic we are bringing up. Show them there are resources available they are not aware of.
And who knows, that person might end up being one of Steem's biggest advocates down the road.
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.
