Biddle's Steemit Tips For Beginners - ENGAGING YOUR AUDIENCE AND MAKING FRIENDS

Social Media is all about making connections, friends, and bringing the world together. It's important to connect with your audience and there are different ways to connect with them that will make them have a positive perception of you. You may just even make some friends along the way and if that isn't the point of it all, then I don't know what is! :) Some different good habits that can help make people feel welcome on your page and can help in starting dialogues between you and other Steemians, include:

1. Answering Thoughtful Comments - People often will post poignant reactions, good questions, and give great feedback regarding your article. In these cases, it is very important for you to respond to their feedback and participation, as well as reward them if you find value in their comment, using the upvote system. This will make them want to add valuable input more often, will create a good relationship with them, and will make friends. I've made some great friends through Steemit because of the connections made in the comment feed between me and those who post regular comments in my content! That being said, some responses (namely, automated ones, with some rare exceptions) shouldn't really be positively reinforced in my opinion. There are some exceptions to that, but I personally think that you can ignore comments such as "My post is vote" (doesn't make too much sense), "Great stuff!" (first time this is fine, but if they habitually add this same content, with no variation, it is likely a bot), "Please vote for me", (that's all) and others like that. But, point is, answering thoughtful responses is a great way to make friends and engage the audience!

2. Reciprocation - Reciprocation can be in the form of upvoting thoughtful comments, resteeming articles you find value in from audience members, upvoting their articles, as well as promoting them in your content. A good example is when I wrote an article regarding the new 'cover image' feature in Steemit. One of the members of my audience shared a comment that pointed to an article that gave free access to 10 great cover photos, as well as asked for feedback on his. Now, I could tell this guy was a great artist, because his cover image was AWESOME! So, I recommended in the comment section that my viewers take a look at his cover image for a great example of what can be done with it; I made a friend and I helped a fellow Steemian get more exposure to viewers! There are different ways to reciprocate, but the point is that you make sure you do, because it is a very important part of being successful on Steemit!

3. Audience Participation - Audience participation is a great way to get people involved, make connections, and gain followers, which lead to rewards. Some ways to get the audience involved is to directly ask for feedback/opinions/thoughts in your article, to create a contest of some time with the promise of rewards, or to open the floor for debate at the end of your article. Another way is to give your audience a challenge, such as a special diet, a special task, or the challenge to write a specific type of article, and ask that the users follow up with you. The sky is the limit with ways you can get your audience to participate and doing so will make their connection stronger with you and will help you in your journey to ultimate success in Steemit.

These three things can go a long way in creating a fun, interactive profile that will lead to people having a good time and wanting to come back, follow you, and award you for your great contributions. For more tips and tricks, feel free to visit my site as well, gainingsteem.com (this article is included there)! :) Tell other interested friends about my site if they are looking to gain a lot of followers, engage a lot of people, and make a lot of friends. :)