Sometimes I get the feeling that people have unrealistic expectations when they join Steemit; it's as if they think Steemit is this wonderful place where Facebook posts are suddenly worth money...
Image by Denise Krebs - source: Flickr
Some users of Steemit believe that if they spend time to post, they should reap the benefits from that by getting payed their due from the reward pool. They heard somewhere, about this social media platform that pays for your blogging efforts, which is of course a welcome change from Facebook where the reverse is true; they get payed for your blogging efforts...
Steemit sounds great! I can keep on posting like I did on Facebook, but now I'll get payed, which is only fair, isn't it? I mean it cost me time to write the text and post the pictures, so...
Well, I'm sorry, but that's not how this works. That's not how life works. You're entitled to absolutely nothing at all. What you do have here, is a fair chance to present your contribution to the marketplace of ideas that is Steemit. Like in any marketplace, the success of your particular idea will depend on how much interest it generates among the other marketplace-dwellers; if people like your contribution, and if it gets seen at all, then you'll have a chance to earn something. It's in the very nature of a market that there's no such thing as being entitled to any profit at all
If you think that you can manage to get seen and liked by just continuing on your Facebook way, publishing your adventures of the day, showing what you had for dinner, sharing that darn sweet picture of your pregnant GF, I say: go for it. But please don't whine and complain that Steemit didn't keep its promise if that little counter on the bottom of the page gets stuck at one cent, if even that. It's a jungle out there, it's hard work to get noticed, let alone to get upvotes and let's not even talk about getting whales to upvote your stuff.
Of course, you can make it work for you, even with the proverbial shit-post consisting of a picture and a line of text. But it won't be the posts themselves that bring the success; how could they? It'll be you having taken the time and effort to build a network around you. This can be done in several ways, like joining one of the many communities (@helpie being the best for serious starters that aren't here for a quick profit only), or commenting on other people's posts and building relationships that way.
Or you post about something you're particularly good at, or about things that you are genuinely interested in, and be consistent. Without the networking this will develop slow, but if you manage to post good quality articles at regular intervals, you'll build trust and slowly gain more followers and upvotes; this is my strategy, mainly because I simply lack the time to do much networking or to hang out in Discord on the Steem related channels all day.
Mine!
The gold is where you can do both; build relationships combined with regular quality content. It's just like real life really; if you expect to get payed, it'll take time and effort. Nothing's for free and no one is entitled to anything. All of us are unique, but none of us are special. But we all have a fair chance on the marketplace of ideas, and yes, that's with bot abuse and spam accounts taken into consideration. And you are here to grab that fair chance to let your content be made special by an appreciative audience.
Now, having said all that, I know it can be hard to get started on Steemit. But it's that much harder if you get here with the wrong or unrealistic expectations. Like in any other department of our lives, success on Steemit takes time and effort. And I know it can be demoralizing to see someone post a graphic with Bitcoin's market-price, or a meme they didn't even create themselves, and get that post on the trending page by buying a ton of votes. But they do nothing inherently wrong, and you gain nothing by comparing yourself to them, other than feelings of discontent, so don't.
Instead have a strategy of your own. A good strategy for starters is to apply for @helpie membership, provided you're not just here for a quick profit, but genuinely want to share your knowledge, experience or creativity with a community of diverse souls. Don't let my little rant discourage you, because even without posting anything, but just commenting in a meaningful way on other people's posts can make you money. And money isn't even the main reason for staying here, at least not for me; it's something about the community of people here that makes it special. Who was it that said "they come for the money and stay for the community"?
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, keep steeming!
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Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you really liked this content, if you disagree (or if you do agree), please leave a comment. Of course, upvotes, follows, resteems are all greatly appreciated, but nothing brings me and you more growth than sharing our ideas. It's what Steemit is made for!
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