Since I started curating for curation projects in 2018, I have seen a lot of complains from authors not getting the attention and votes they expected. Most of them are, of course, gone now, for the same reason.
Upon getting onboarded on Hive, some authors expect they could just post, go to sleep, and expect to get votes magically after they wake up. I'm gonna be frank,
that's not how it works, my friend.
No matter how good you think your post is, if you don't make efforts, there will only be a small chance that your post will get noticed.
BUT ISN'T THAT THE CURATORS' JOB?
The role of the curators on chain is to look for posts they want to vote on. Curation groups have different criteria of what to upvote, but most of them find quality posts that are under-rewarded.
So if you are a new author or a returning author, if you still haven't figured that out, I'll tell you some of the things that you can to do increase visibility for your posts.
Tell me how
Don't compare yourself to other authors
I guess this is the most important thing to remember so I'm putting this first. The moment you joined Hive, you might have looked in another author's blog and was like "Damn he earns big shit for this type of content. I can do better than that so I should earn more." Then you post your first content and it didn't get the rewards that you were expecting, so you went to some random Discord servers and complain about whales circle jerking and they only care about their friends blah blah blah.
No.
Don't do that.
You're new. That author you saw who earned $30 for a witness update with a short text was probably a witness and an investor who did lotsa shit to improve the blockchain, and is probably one of the reasons why you got here in the first place. They're getting those rewards because people voted for them, they want to reward them because they knew what he has done and is doing to the platform.
Pretty sure those authors started from the bottom first before earning the trust of the community. You? You have to start from there. Climb up the ladder, nobody reaches the top in an instant.
So, walk your own path, focus on it instead of glancing at your neighbors. You'll soon get there if you put in some effort.
Make use of the communities
Before the communities exist, we, curators, look for content on different tags, self-promotion channels on Disord, other people's feeds, literally everywhere. It was quite harder but since now we got commmunities, we are able to find new authors easily. Make use of that. Create your content and post them to appropriate communities. Soon enough people will see your content once they visit that community or if they are subscribed. And you will meet people of the same interests. :)
Engage
Do you ever wonder how a new user got followers and comments right away even when they just joined Hive days ago? Well of course, because they engage.
Hive is a social media platform and it makes no sense if you're not going to socialize. Like why are you even here in the first place lmao. (unless if you want to just invest but I'm talking to a content creator)
In order for you to increase the chance of exposure, ENGAGE. This could mean commenting on other author's post, joining different Discord servers, making friends, joining Discord meetings, etc.
Of course, engage without spamming the chain. That means don't just comment on 20 posts and be like "Nice", "Great post", etc. Because that would look like you're just there to get noticed. You should engage sincerely you know.
If you want people to read your posts, read their posts too.
Browse your feed
It's for you to know what's going on and what content the community is posting. Find authors you would like to follow. Look at Trending to see some updates with the latest juicy drama or some Hive party update. Just explore the chain.
Create content consistently
This will give you more chance of getting seen because, duh lol. Like any other social media platform, those who don't post every day get fewer engagements than those who post every day. More entries, more chances of winning but of course, still keep in mind the quality that you create.
Don't spam too. 1-3 posts are enough for the day.
Also, there are a few curation projects that I know that includes consistency in their criteria for voting. They'd rather curate those who post consistently than those who post today and be gone in a second and come back 2 months later.
Know your audience
Do you have more followers from this country than that country? Then consider the time zones and the time of your posting. It isn't much important but it's also one of the things that you might be forgetting about.
We have users all over the world. Some have fucked up sleep but you'll notice when your friends are awake and are actively posting/engaging.
If you think you have more followers that are active in the morning (your time), then expect that there's less chance that your followers will see your content that you posted at 2am after you just jerked off.
There's a good thing for that too, other authors are active during that time so who knows you might be making new sets of followers. Just experiment.
Bee involved
If you really want to know more people, then consider getting involved in some projects. There are several competitions on chain or some activities or projects that might interest you. Of course if users see you regularly, there are more chances that they'll remember you.
Nickelback is the best metal band ever
Are you still with me?
No, I don't think they are the best band. xD
But if you have read up to this point, then I am effective in keeping your attention... which leads me to my next point.
Be creative with your content
Okay, so you already got their attention, now what? Each person has different interests and you should do your best to keep the attention going. The reason why I am writing like I'm just talking to my close friend throwing cuss words above is because I want my content to be funny. It's just how I write. And apparently it is effective since you're still here, reading my shit.
Anyway, the point is, you'd want your readers to keep on reading til the end. How? I don't know. You figure that out. We have different styles so choose what works best for you. Do you think your readers would like to see a post with a big wall of text with no proper spacing and other stuff? Some might like it. Personally, I don't. If you want to add GIFs or whatever, you do what's best for you but consider the readers' first impressions on your post.
One author that I would recommend that you look at as a role model, is @derangedvisions. Look at his neat formatting and how he tells the story. You'd want to finish reading everything. :D
Final thoughts
So yeah. If you really want to be succesful on the platform, you need to make big efforts. Nobody gets noticed in here that easy since there are thousands of posts everyday.
You can't just expect the curators to do everything for you.
You have to make moves yourself too.
TL;DR
No, lazy ass. Read the whole post if you want us to read your posts.
We wish you good luck on your journey and looking forward to your next posts.
This, I needed to read...
Thank you dear! Hopefully when I'm back at the end of winter, I'll be active pretty much everyday...
Unfotunately I'll have to be absent a few months but I promise by the end of march your gonna see my posts every freaking day lady! ;) <3
Lol I got this post after two years of posting. I am glad I have found it at least.Thanks to him who re-blogged it.Time zone you mentioned is really matters. I have witnessed it. Thanks for this helpful bolg. Though I knew many of the points you mention but needed a reminder.I always forget things getting attracted to bad and easy to getting ones...XD. points to be noted. ! LUV
Thank you for reading the whole thing! It's been 2 years and yes it's still relevant haha. Have fun on your Hive journey
I read your post full of guilt, why? Because in your post it is written a lot about my behavior and the mistakes I have made these past few days.
I started living in this hive full of selfishness and a fast process, it turns out I was wrong, after reading this post, it turns out that my mistake was very big
Like you said, I want to be like a person who just started posting has got a big vote and I don't get that, I feel ignored and I'm nagging on discord
Even though as you said, maybe other people have been playing for a long time and already have lots of friends and I'm new. This post really hit me for the better. Thank you very much.
I will be more patient and passionate about creating content. Once again, thank you for making me aware.🙏
So many great points here. The two most important things for newcomers is to engage and not compare yourself with others. I remember when I first started on Steem. I went a month without earning anything and posting every single day. It wasn't until I learned that engaging with others on the platform and being a part of a community was the way to success. Thanks for the shout out as well.
I remember you posting your quality content everyday and getting low rewards but you never complained! Just like how it should be. :D
Exactly. This is just a very good point. I joined hive fee days ago and was like this. I always wondered how people earn so big until I got to know about something like this. Thanks for the information. It will be of a great help to me
I love shopping for thongs at the thrift store, a little bleach and theyre good as new. ;)
True dat!
lol
All excellent points. One, no two, points you missed which I have learned in more than 6 years of blogging: different topics draw different readers on different platforms.
Secondly, a post I think is brilliant may not seem so to my readers and vice versa. Based on that, I have to make some decisions: write what they like or what I feel compelled to write.
So an honest answer to that implied question must inform how one should be viewing rewards on the blockchain.
So true! That's why I'm glad the community feature was built so it's easier to find topics that interest you. :3 Thanks for the add-ons! They are also excellent points :D
I have so say that I don't like the community feature. I find it too limiting. My posts and proclivities are rather eclectic. But that's just me. 🤭🤐
Appreciate the follow!
What makes you think it is limiting? Hmm, I have noticed you haven't used the "reblog" feature, which makes your posts appear in your blog instead of them being all piled up in "All posts" tab. Maybe you don't know there's a feature for this yet? I do this to somehow organize my blog. :D
I post from WordPress using SteemPress. It means I have to come and post manually. That there's a five minute time limit / hold on posting is a real timewaster and it's very clunky. Blogging's a hobby and when I've spent a couple of hours or in some cases a couple of days on a post, it just want to get done. I've tried things a little differently with my most recent post. Let's see.
Not too long ago, I thought about Hive and considered "What this Place is All About." I knew it was time to more actively participate, and for me that means to:
Thinking a bit more deeply, to me, I realized each of the above means to:
I'm still balancing work commitments and personal time, but I'm actively working at it. The reading and engaging is so important.
Thanks for this post.
The deeper meanings are on point! Especially the help and grow. I've experienced them personally, no exaggeration. Glad to hear you're working to balance those. That is not an easy task to do in my opinion hahah. Thanks for reading!
@hiddenblade I am new here and it's really getting somehow difficult to get noticed but thanks to @galenkp for his advise and I am really working on it right now . It's requires alot of efforts and engaging with others inorder to make a way.
I appreciate your advise and it's well noted.
Regards
Yeah like other social media platform, it is quite difficult, but easier than before. Thanks for your comment. If not for this, I would probably see you in the next months lol. Welcome to Hive. Keep doing what you're doing now. :)
Thanks once again!
I agree. This is very nicely put (including that there are better bands than Nickleback).
Entitlement is something we have to face with every day, as well as the lack of engagement. I observe it a lot in the community I rarely go out from (i.e. STEMsocial), but I easily believe it is a general state of affair on Hive at the moment (at least from discussions with others).
My main worry concerns engagement. How to change things? I have no clear answer to that now but there are few things I would like to try in the next weeks (like comment curation for what concerns the curated posts).
Man I swear if you've seen some entitled comments it will make your blood boil lol. It's actually the reason why I wrote this.
Hmm, I think the easiest thing to do with that is to do the engagement ourselves. Once we start doing it, everyone will be encouraged to do it as well.. Because they genuinely like doing it, and not solely for the rewards although rewarding them is also good.
I agree. The problem is really the time here: I do tons of other things for the community I belong, on top of a very time-consuming job.
We currently try to motivate our entire crew of curators to leave comments in the posts they curate, and we are planning to make some noise about our "honour members" (i.e. a honourary title given to dedicated community members who are exemplary in terms of engagement) in a few days. Any mean (some gamification here) is good to fight on this front! I just hope this will go somewhere...
As long as someone believes in it, it will. Honour members sounds fun. I would do my best just to get the Queen Of Engagement 2020 title. :p
I couldn't agree more. Especially with this:
Pretty sure those authors started from the bottom first before earning the trust of the community. You? You have to start from there. Climb up the ladder, nobody reaches the top in an instant.
In the past 4 years of bringing many users onboard, only some have understood this concept in my experience. The grind, patience and time it takes to receive engagement/rewards is overshadowed by post rewards that new users see on the posts. Which ofc disheartens them and forces them to leave. It is really necessary for users to understand the importance of consistency and that it's more about quality rather than quantity!
Such great points here @hiddenblade. 🧡🌸
That is true and I've personally seen those kinds of authors too. They failed with understanding the most basic things in life lol. Yes! Quality over quantity is the best way to go! :D
This article is worthy to read for. There are many urgent details I learned from it especially for beginners who are looking forward to having a piece of knowledge on how to engage and create quality content that can help individuals. It's been a year I stopped from steemit due to personal reasons. When I posted my introduction in hive then you commented. Through that, I was motivated to be active and create quality content. The values I got from this are not just about to post something for forsaking but preparing yourself in socializing people by responding to comments or communicate with one other. I won't hesitate to recommend this to my fellow hive community because there is an assurance your questions will be answered through reading this. Have a great Sunday. Daghan Salamat IDOL hehehehe
Haha thank you! It would be so nice if you share to them :D
Btw.. kita kos emu mga short film sa youtube,mga payter kaayo kadto home , para sayo inay, og para sayo kaibigan .Idola jud kaayo nemu grabeee.
Hala salamat hahah nakita diay to nimo. Dugay2 na sad ko wala kabuhat ug mga short films ba.
Gahi kaayo og storytelling emung short film Miss! usa ra jud ako ika estorya.. payter gifted jud!
I have read it all before, even wrote it before!.., but it's good for new peeps to know this. The jealous thing especially can be a killer.
But did you write it while investigating some old ruins or abandoned factory, all while being pestered by some nosey good for naughts?
Oh I think I remember :D Yeah most authors who are here for a long time know this already, but I have seen a lot of new ones in here, and of course the same old complaints. True with the jealous thing.
I go for the start drama approach.
Haha that's the most effective one. Will recommend 100%
Great advice @hiddenblade It's never a good idea to compare oneself with others and there certainly is no short cut to success. And @derangedvisions is a great role model here on Hive.
We get out of something, what we are prepared to put in. Thank you for sharing these gems.
Thank you trudeehunter :D
🌺 💗 🌺
I almost saw my recently eaten lunch upon seeing that bit about a certain Canadian band being the best metal band, ever. 🤮 🤣
hahaha I guess you got trigrrr3d! :p lol you can't even spell the band name XD
Hmmm, is it "Nickelblah"? "Nickelbanned"? Or "Nickelbork"? 🤣 🤣 🤣
Even I am an old user, I feel like I still need advice like these. Thanks! :)
Thanks for reading, and you're welcome! :D
Yes. Very valid points :)
lmfao :)
Great post, and all great tips. Engage, engage, engage :) Signed up for the engagement league this week, curious to see how I will do the first week (assuming I didn't join yet as it was halfway through the week).
Have a wonderful Sunday! It's raining here :(
Haha oh goodluck! Joining that contest is like a training. Next time you'll be surprised that commenting becomes a habit. :D
Thanks :) Hopefully, lol.. Sometimes I think let's comment later, and then forget it for a couple of days. Oops :)
Finally! A post is badly needed after complaints that seemed to be repetitive were made on Discord. I realized there seems to be a pattern regarding those complaints. Those who complain often don't understand how things work and don't have a slightest idea about quality.
Haha yes! They're actually the reason why I decided to post about it cos even though these points are just common sense, apparently common sense isn't common lol. They feel they are entitled to votes too. This is why it is also important to onboard people and focus on the how is blockchain important rather than focusing on how much they're gonna earn here.
That's the problem really with people. They become entitled when they see that others are earning more than they are, without considering the effort and time others have spent in the platform.
I stayed away from onboarding lately because people seemed to be oblivious about how important the blockchain is and focused on earning rewards. Even in my other group chats, people are always after maximizing rewards. If it's always about money, it becomes boring.
Yeah that's the kinda sad part of this. When I onboard someone I really do my best to not focus on the earning part. I always reiterate that the rewards are just the bonus and not a paycheck. I hope your friends can finally see the value... though I think we are already getting there in general.. slowly.. more people are learning about blockchain, I've noticed.
Yes. People are learning about blockchain, but some don't even bother to do a little bit of research. Some of my friends even laugh at me and questioned why I continued blogging here. But they keep on posting on instagram and twitter. I think we are still on the very early stages of blockchain adoption. People will eventually pick up, but by that time, I hope we will be in a much better position.
Goodmorning and I made it to the end but tl.dr I had to look up. Ok too long didn’t read Doesn’t excist in a bloggers life.
I loved the post and all of it is true. I have been on steem and here everyday since 1-1-18 and saw a lot of complaints and I also had a few in bad times. But I am here for me and making my library of life and do what’s needed to make it grand.
Being a greeter for daily curation in @hethaveyamet and a founder of discord help channel the terminal I see complaints every day.
I have one answer READ PEOPLE READ. We have the redfishrally now. And makes neat contests for them nd they can win amazing prizes. But the simplest things are not done to succeed. So my added advice is read and take advice or tips.
Note: the tips blog we made was not read by all contestants , it’s not for me i knew all the tips already.
And if you are in it for the money GO . You will be here a while.
Thanks for letting me blow of steam and the nice read. And for the record I was a nickelback fan
Have a great Sunday and stay safe
Britt
Haha hello there! I actually remember you even before when you were still a minnow (back when I was curating 24/7 lol). Now I've been seeing you a lot especially on introduction posts of new authors.
Oh damn you also receive complaints? I hope they do understand now after you have said the advice. I've seen authors who want other people to read their posts but won't even comment on others' post and support them lol.
WAS? What happened why you stopped listening to them?
You sum up nicely , one can say very well drafted crux of Hive Blockchain.to get success on Hive..obviously success does not come over night and complaining won't get you reward. The concept of community on hive make the whole difference...you need to make you presenve felt to let your existence known.👍
I can't stress this enough. It seems they know that already but they just want the easiest way haha.
Not easiest..but not like to work hard.....such is the mindset. ...for example..by now your effort on writing this post must put the content on trending ...still it could not yet...this is an example.of how things going up....nothing is granted.
I totally agree on everything that you've written. I just returned from being hiatus and I've realized my past mistakes - just writing and not engaging. Yet, I'm trying to correct it now. :)
Also, I don't like it when someone compares one post rewards from the other. Obviously, there's a reason why certain posts have higher reward than the others in which you clearly explained.
Hopefully, more Hivers will understand how the system works before complaining.
This blog is worth sharing. ❤
Thank you! It's never too late to correct them. Glad you found your way back to posting! :D
I'm also a newbie.. and this blog helps me more to understand some info that can help me...
Great summary but it also highlights the limitations of the system and how curation dictates the actions on the platform! Like let’s take curation communities like gems or ocd people just blast out posts in their without reason or rhyme looking for rewards and for someone who follows the community it’s a horror show to want to look through.
Curators can only do so much yes and theirs always going to be things that slip through the cracks but I think it can’t be the be all and end all of distribution
Personally I would have liked to see people concentrate on their blogs and community mods pulling posts into communities for group curation
That way we see more relevant content and people will go pick out the users they want to follow personally
Maybe I’m selfish but curating manually as I do I’d appreciate something like that
I don't think it dictates, sure authors can do whatever they want but they shouldn't complain when they have a few audiences. Yeah lol OCD is now encouraging authors to post in more specific communities.
Yep, that is exactly what OCD is doing now lol
Some good advice, I'm going to cross post this to Alien art hive!
Thank you! :D
Sound advice my friend. I’m glad I discovered your blog a short time ago.
Thanks! :D
okay, so i clearly need to get some writing skills. i probably suck at keeping peoples attention through writing.....
I don't think so, the way you write gives us time to breathe since there are photos in between text. :D But we all improve so just keep on writing
May i do a version of this in Spanish? It wouldnt be a exact translation since there are a few things i would like to change so it adapts better to that community but can i?
This is a very important thing to know not only for noobs but for some old users that still dont know how to get attention to their posts.
Sure :)
I can relate to this, what you are saying is really a fact.
Looking to other post give me inspiration, and courage to do more.
Thank you for giving us advice.
Thanks for reading!
Good that you wrote this post, so it's on the blockchain for ever. Even when you're here creating content for a while, you can not expect that every blog is going to get big rewards. But that's okay. After all, you have to create the content because you like to create content ... and yes, of course it's very nice when you get rewarded for that. So yes ... you like to be rewarded, well everybody likes to be rewarded. But ... (and now I'm talking for myself), I love to be rewarded for the content I create, but that's not all ... it's also very lovely to get a comment that shows that your post really was appreciated. That shows that the person really did read what you wrote down. And I'm sure that for everybody goes the same.
So yes, ENGAGING is very important. It helps the one you're engaging with, and yes, much of a chance that they are going to check out your content.
Good write up ... but that's no surprise as this post is coming from you. Thanks for this one!
True! Most of us here came for the rewards (without knowing about the other beauties of the blockchain before) but once you'd seen the value, the rewards won't matter that much anymore and you'll value the community more. I honestly never experienced this on other platforms (where people genuinely read your posts cos they're interested). We should market Hive not mainly cos of the rewards, cos the rewards are just the bonus. Otherwise the newbies will get frustrated.
Thanks for reading! :D
You're right about one thing. Nickelback is the best band never......and all the other stuff too!
People always had mixed opinions about Nickelback, but that's not my point. I laughed so much at this post because your brutal sincerity is awesome. And yeah, they are not the best band 😂👍
Haha well I listened to them before only because it gives me nostalgia. I'm glad you had fun reading. I try my best to be funny lol
Oh I remember my "I am so misunderstood" teen times when listening to them😂 oh the days of teenage hormonal rebelion... And this is how you remind(ed) me haha
As I read this, It helps a lot, especially for a newbies like me. I got a lot of ideas, to create a quality blog. Thanks for making this post.
Welcome! Glad to see more people joining :D
Agaaaay! Haha sorry :(
hahah ganern
Thanks for sharing this, Im a newbie and it can help me a lot. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this information. I am a newbie and it will help me a lot on my journey here. Thank you!
Welcome! I suggest you write an introduction post for us to know you! :D
Impressive thoughts. I strongly agree with all points you've stated. Heard them all from those who mentored me till this point, and it has really helped me gained the little attention I presently have on my blog.
I also did like the mode and tone you used in writing. Thanks for sharing.
Well the fact that you're commenting here brought me to your blog, so thanks!:D
😀 Never imagined it will. Thanks for checking out my blog.
You said something like investing on the platform. Please I will need more information on how i can invest in the platform.
You can invest by buying Hive or you can also invest your time by making content, engaging, building projects, etc.
This is a great post.
We are launching a new community helping young non crypto users get into the Hive.
We have many ideas for onboarding and engage with them and one of them is to tell them how they can engage with all other users.
This post is for sure one we will include in our must-read collection.
Here's our community webpage in the event you want to take a look at.
Wow that's nice! Glad I could help in a small way. :D
I see your target audience is mostly Spanish. @victoriabsb wrote a Spanish version of this post the other day so maybe you'd like to recommend that to the Spanish people as well.
Thank you!
We are based in Barcelona and the first people we will onboard are close friends but the community is open to anyone and the site will be in Spanish English, Russian, and Catalan :) our local language.
Will use @victoriabsb Spanish version too.
You have summed it very well. Even if you are a newcomer or you are here for long, engaging is one of the factor to get involved. Which most of us should do
True! I remember months ago I had very little engagement and sometimes zero comments despite me being here for 2 years. It's very important to remain being engaged.
Yes that's what I am trying to do from the last 1 month or so, and trust me I like being like this so that I get to know so many different aspects of the same thing
awhh this needed to be said so bad! Thank you for putting this out there. It was a good read and the part where you talked about how the ones at the top had to work there way up really actually changed my perspective, so I thank you for that!
You're welcome and thank you for reading!
I love how this is a long post and yet feel so breeze to get through. I've been enjoying my way around here since I joined and have been fortunate enough to receive so much support.
You have listed some great points of which I find engaging with others is the most fun and effective.
p.s. I love Nickelback
It's also cos of your continuous engagement which I believe was the reason why I found your blog. Glad you're enjoying here!
Such a well thought out post!
My partner @idkpdx encouraged me to check out this post and I'm so thankful that I did.
I really did feel like I was having a casual conversation while reading this and actually let a few laughs slip out loud.
Thanks for the tips!
Take care!
Lol I'm glad you enjoyed reading it despite it being a long post. Thank you! :D
Can we somehow pin this post higher up in the search results?
Seriously, this is a total package primer to help steer new users in the right direction. It tells them everything they need to know to get start started with being successful. Thank you for leaving out all of the confusing mumbo jumbo about reward equations that turns most people away. This article stayed on topic with the title and tags extremely well.
Oh, which reminds me I should pin this in my blog which is possible in Peakd. Haha thanks for that! Yeah I do believe there should be some explanations like this in the FAQs or whatever section in some frontends. Right now this is the best I could do though.
Thanks for reminding me I should pin this in my blog! :D
Great points here and thank you for sharing!
I do think it's human nature to compare yourself with others and it is a hard one to over come... But not impossible!
Consistency is key for sure and posting everyday can be a challenge but it does pay off in more ways than one.
There are a load of fun initiatives to get involved with and help gamify engagement on chain from leagues to contests.
Communities are so important for interest specific groups and I've noticed a big difference in the quality of interaction I've received since I started posting in them.
So true! I do this as well in other things haha but it's important to be reminded for it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I do agree with all of them :D
Haha, yeah, competitiveness is never far away. Having an older brother and a competitive group of friends really influenced me 😄 But have tamed the beast in recent years - think you only get a wake up call when you see someone more competitive than you and you're like "ok, maybe chill out a bit" haha!
Considering I just woke up and didn't have my caffeine when I wrote those short sentences, I didn't do too badly haha
Thanks for putting this together for us to enlighten us how Hive works, with emphases on ENGAGE, I will hold on to this, when you don't engage people who have same interest with you, using the tags, sorry but you might not be addressing the right audience.
Thanks @hiddenblade
True! Thanks for reading!
It's my pleasure❤️
Awesome!
Very good advice really, they are super useful and they are very right, it is important to respect the ladder and go up gradually to reach the top, you have to socialize since the connection with your people is super important. I feel good knowing that I am doing the things you say and little by little I am working on my account and content to have better quality to show.
This is so difficult, can't I just give someone a handjob and cutout all these steps?
Some do accept those. :D