We popped another article where we discuss a little bit more about curation and how to improve your engagement. It will be a less of a massive read than our previous articles, but still valuable and worth your time if you wish to become a great content creator/curator. Our previous posts received a tremendous amount of engagement from all of you, which we are grateful for. We saw old and new faces which makes us happy. And yes, we read all comments and try to reply to everyone.

Content Curation and Engagement are two topics that can go a long way if being used the right way. We know that quality doesn't always lead to big rewards, simply because there isn't enough engagement. What can you do to get more engagement? In our post about quality content, we discussed small parts of some aspects. The following guidelines can be combined with parts from that article.

Fun facts

• The Copyright post has been resteemed 97 times and received 486 votes and 281 replies.
• The Quality Content post has been resteemed 63 times and received 323 votes and 160 replies.

You could think that the engagement on our posts is high. We got followed by 244 people and we will now test how 'loyal' and 'valuable' you are ;-). If you are following us, scroll all the way down and let us know that you're here by commenting "Reward me later". We promise it will be fun.

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Our guidelines.

1. Headlines
2. Tags
3. Comments and replies
4. Curation
5. Frequency
6. Clicktroughs
7. Q&A
8. Join groups and communities
9. Contests

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Headlines.

There it is again, headlines. Ask yourself the following: What am I doing when I open the newspaper before reading an article? That's right, you browse for interesting headlines. We changed our headline for the sake of this article. The power of words is something we should not underestimate.

Word balance.

The structure of a great headline has strict guidelines.

Characters

Don't use too many characters in your headline. Most preferrable keep it at or under 55 characters.

Words

Keep the amount of words used between 6 and 9.

First and last

When you browse headlines, you're skimming content. People mostly read the first- and last three words of a headline.

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Tags.

Make sure your content is found by the right people. Using relevant tags will increase the chances for engagement. Irrelevant and abusive tags will increase the chance for negative engagement and can result in downvotes.

Even if the tag you're using is not popular, it is more likely that you have found a niche tag. This means that when someone finds your post through that tag, there is a high possibility that you share common interests.

Tagging relevant people in your post is a great way to get their attention. Be careful, better make it interesting for them to read, not everyone enjoys being tagged in a post without notification.

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Comments and reply.

Another way to increase your engagement is to reply to every comment you receive on your own posts. Ask questions and start a conversation.

Visit other content creators and write contributing comments that add value. If you think something is good, tell them why you think it is good. A simple "good post" has no substantive value. If you're curious why the author did something, or you can relate to them, show it in a comment.

Avoid comments like the following:

1. Nice post. Read mine.
2. I upvote it, upvote me too.
3. Great images. They look nice.
4. Good information. I learned a lot.
5. Please upvote me, I did to!
6. I have followed you, please follow me back.

Instead make your comments authentic.

1. Ask questions that you want to ask.
2. Tell why you personally like the content.
3. Share what you have learned.

Giving your comments substance by sharing personal views on what you have discovered, learned, found enjoyable or if you would like to share your personal opinion can drastically add more value to your comment.

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Curation.

In our quick read we talk about two different curation formats, content curation, and social curation. We also said that you as an individual can start curating content. While curation on Steemit is similar to likes on Facebook, adding a comment to your curation can be more engaging towards the author. Curating comments can be more engaging towards readers.

Readers that comment on your post are rewarding you with some of their time. Reward them back with an up-vote and some of your time by replying to them.

The fun part we promised.

We asked you to comment on our blog post when you started reading. If you haven't, don't worry, you can cheat. When you're finished reading, reply to your own comment and comment "What is the time". Finishing this article as fast as possible is irrelevant, so take your time.

We will reward 5% of this posts SBD pay-out to everyone who placed both comments.

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Frequency.

How is frequency going to increase the engagement between you and your audience? If you have a returning theme that you're publishing, you slowly start to notice the same people will come back. It is also a great opportunity for new followers to join the conversation.

1. Be disciplined.
2. Be patient.
3. Have fun!
4. Connect with your audience.

Before going into frequently publishing posts to your blog-feed, it is good to know when your audience is on. Do some research when you receive the best/fastest response from your audience. You will sooner or later find out when your followers are most active.

1. Post 1 time a day.
2. Curate a post at least once a day.
3. Resteem a post (relevant to your blog) once or twice a week.
4. Comment 10-15 times a day.

Resteeming other people's content might be a noble deed for a friend or family member. Keep in mind that your followers are following you, for who you are and not because you resteem other peoples content. Resteeming too many posts will make it harder for your own posts to stand out or to find, making your followers unfollow you.

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Clickthroughs.

Have you posted related content before that you can add in your new post? Do it, especially when the pending pay-out is still open. Loyal readers that find your content valuable will read it. Which means more chances of getting more genuine feedback from your audience.

When you hold down CTRL or CMND while clicking on a hyperlink, you will automatically open it in a new tab from your browser.

Be cautious with clickthroughs, phishing links can be hidden in hyperlinks that will lead you to other websites that collect sensitive information stored on your website. Like your private key for example.

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Questions and Answers.

If you have a big audience it is a good idea to host a Q&A session with your fan-base to strengthen the connection between you and your followers. They will love it! The direct line of communication is a great way to get approached by your followers since you will be the one answering their questions.

A Q&A is similar to an interview, but with a lot of interviewers asking one or a few questions. You could do it live on D-Live, gather all the questions from one post and publish it in a video or answer them in a text-based blog post.

1. Strengthen the connection with your followers.
2. Build a stronger reputation.
3. Anounce the Q&A beforehand.
4. Think of different themes or topics.
5. Prepare for tough questions.

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Join groups and communities.

The best way to get started is to be where the people are. Join groups, communities and stick there. Connect with people that you find interesting. There are many groups that are welcoming new Steemians.

We have found Discord one of the most useful app that is easily accessible from your desktop, browser or phone. Other ways to connect with other Steemians is through Steemit.chat, a website hosted by one of our witnesses that makes it possible for us to chat with each other on the blockchain.

We have created a discord channel (not much is going on right now) that you can join if you're interested in content creation and photography. Join our discord channel.

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Hold quality contests.

We all love rewards for the content that we publish on Steemit. But sometimes our content does not get rewarded as much as we would like to. There are a few communities that sponsor or hold contests.

Found a contest that you like? Give it your best shot and maybe you are the lucky winner.

Hosting a contest is one way to increase engagement as your follower-base will grow. Hosting a (related to your brand identity) contest will boost the engagement between those who already follow you and those who do not.

A contest with free Steem or SBD's can be motivating for others. Participating to get exposure is another example.

1. Be established on the platform.
2. Be clear with rules.
3. When does the contest end?
4. Announce winners on the dead-line.
5. Invite a judge.
6. Let your audience vote for a winner
7. Curate all entries.

Avoid participating to [x] day challenges.

Although the [x] day challenges are sometimes really fun to do. It will kill your engagement for sure. Your content starts to bore your followers if you only post a specific theme.

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Conclussion

These are some ideas you can use for more engagement on your posts. Do some research, what is already done and what isn't? What works best for you? What does your audience want to see from you the most? Maybe you are one of the first to think of something new and refreshing. If you have trouble with writing a good post, read our guidelines about quality content.

Did we miss something?

Do you have a great tip for increasing engagement? Share it with us in the comments below.

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