My Thoughts on How to Build the Steemit User Base

Fresh from reading @JerryBanfield's post about using Facebook Ads to get new Steemit users, I couldn't help but start getting some ideas of my own...

Paid advertising definitely has it's place, but there are also some downsides. For one, it can be expensive if you don't know what you're doing. And secondly, we're at the mercy of the gatekeeper, for example Facebook have banned any cryptocurrency related ads from their networks.

For those reasons I believe the majority of us should take an organic approach. Here are some ways I believe we can all work to build this platform organically.

Go "All-In"

At this point there are options for every model of expression here on Steemit.

We have the base platform which provides a platform for writers and bloggers & photographers.
We have @DTube and @DLive for video content creators and streamers.
And we have @DSound for musicians and podcasters.

If you are a content creator, there is a way for you to express yourself here regardless of your preferred medium. Better yet, there is a way to monetize your content here, regardless of your preferred medium.

I believe your end goal as a content creator should be to get people to consume your content here. This means exclusively releasing your content here (or at the very least, keeping some of your content exclusive to a SteemIt platform), and leveraging other communities you've built in a different way.

Leverage Existing Communities

Now that you're regularly creating content here, it's time to get outside people to it. Of course, we want existing Steemit users to see it too, but the goal of this post is to discuss ways to grow the user base. The best way to do that is to leverage any existing communities we've built outside of our Steemit community.

We've seen a couple of people who have already seen success with this. Steemians like @LouisThomas successfully brought his audience from YouTube.

Users from other major platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram can absolutely do the same.

I think YouTube is slightly different in this regard, but I fully believe that Twitter and Facebook are better served as marketing platforms for content creators rather than a place to monetize. Simply create your content exclusively on a Steem powered platform and share it with your audience there.

On Twitter it's as easy as sharing a small blurb with a link, same with Facebook. On YouTube you could make a short teaser video with a link in the description to the full video on DTube.

Overcome Objections

At this point we've got great content, we're getting people over to consume it, but what about once they get here?

Steemit is new, it's different, not to mention the cryptocurrency aspect of it. This can be confusing, overwhelming, and sometimes scary for people seeing any or all of this at the same time.

For that reason I believe we should take the approach that Patreon recommends taking when you create a "Welcome Video" to your Patreon page, which is basically to explain what Patreon is and how it works within the first few seconds of the video.

Maybe at the beginning or end of each blog post have something like "Welcome to SteemIt, a decentralized blogging platform where creators and their fans can be compensated for their contributions! For more info, check out the FAQ link at the end of this post."

Of course for Podcasts do a quick audio blurb, as well as on video.

This type of community effort where we're all collectively hammering this message home in all of our content will spread the word very quickly, begin to overcome objections of the everyday user, and I believe will create widespread adoption as fast a possible.

Leverage SEO

Another way to get new users organically is to use tried and true SEO tactics on all of your Steem content.

People still use Google, and one of the great things about SteemIt is that it is set up perfectly to utilize SEO in a way that Google likes. Before long, I won't be surprised to find SteemIt articles popping up on the first page for search results the way that Wiki-How articles do.

I think it's also important to remember here to also do this with DTube, DLive, and DSound content as well. I've seen that the majority of Steemians on these other, less text oriented platforms, often neglect adding even so much as a description to their content. Do yourself a favor and help more people find your stuff!

Lastly, tell other creators in your niche!

YouTube is a big one right now with the latest announcement that hurts small creators. If you go to YouTube right now, you can find hundreds of thousands of videos about how YouTube is hurting small channels.

Gaining traction on streaming services like Twitch is becoming more difficult everyday due to the popularity of large streamers.

Within the last 6 months, Patreon made a change to the way it charged Patrons that was detrimental to their creators' paycheck.

Finding a place to host your podcast and distribute it to major podcasting services can be pricey.

Distributing your music online can be tricky, and trying to figure out how to charge for it, what you should charge for it, and worry about people stealing it is overwhelming as well.

There's currently no real way to monetize your content directly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

SteemIt is a great option for any and all of these content creators, and it's as simple as telling them about it! Just say "Hey, I've seen you've been having some struggles with YouTube/Twitch/etc. I've been seeing some traction over on this new platform called SteemIt. You should at least give it a look, here's a link where you can check it out."

I don't recommend sending the link to your personal content unless you know them really well, otherwise it will probably come across as you just trying to get traffic.

Organic Is The Way Forward

As I said before, paid ads definitely have their place in this schema, and can absolutely provide faster results. In the meantime I feel like we should also be utilizing classic grass roots methods which I believe will yield stronger, more long-term results with the added benefit of it being something we can all do.

Let's work smart and build this awesome community together!

Follow Me At @EddieTheOrange For More Updates!

New to SteemIt? WELCOME!

Steemit is a social network that looks and functions a lot like Reddit, but with one HUGE difference: Steemit pays both the content creators when their work gets upvoted, as well as the people who curate the best content on the site by upvoting others' work.

Be sure to check out the FAQ as well as this handy SteemIt for Dummies guide by @mindover to get started!