8 Content Strategies to Excite & Engage your Steemit Followers

in howto •  7 years ago 

Let’s face it: attention span is such a commodity these days, especially on social media. One moment you could be engaged with one thing, and before you know it, you’re lured by the “bright and shiny” attractions you happen to chance upon, or a simple notification and pop-up steals you away from whatever you're doing.

Want to know the truth? Your followers are just like you, too. We're talking about fundamental human psychology here. They want excitement and thrills, variety and flair, and in today's post, we're gonna look at a few strategies to keep them attracted to your blog feed.

#1. Content That Connects

I'll be honest, you won't be able to please everybody. Just like how you will find some Steemians' contents more exciting that others, your followers will behave the same, and it's ok. This means you don't have to create content that are too broad and generalised, because in the process to appeal to everyone, you'll fail to draw the attention of the right kind of audience - your audience.

In my marketing consultation, we always have this little exercise of painting the client profiles, which is applicable your content strategy too. You can download the worksheet here and reuse it as many times as you want.

Basically, how this works is think of one target audience, and fill up all the info about them. I'll skip the demographics and psychographics because it's quite easy for you to fill those, but I'll give you an example of fields on the right.

Target Audience: Steemians who wants to build their brand and following on the platform, and produce more lucrative contents. Kinda like you if you're reading this far. :)

PAIN & FRUSTRATIONS

  • I'm frustrated about my writer's block! I can't seem to write whenever I want!
  • I'm jealous of the upvotes my friends' contents are getting. How can I get followers like that too?
  • I'm tired of thinking up ideas to write about every day. Is there an app that can give me a random idea every time I press on the button?

GOALS & DREAMS

  • I want to see my posts getting tons of comments and interactions. It makes me feel happy because I know I'm producing good stuff.
  • I feel proud knowing I'm a valuable member of the community.
  • I'm certain that I can become an influencer in my own space, and I want to be an authority figure too.

Note: bolded words are the emotions.

Once this worksheet is completely filled, I know I need to create contents around those pain and pleasure points, to satisfy my target audience. And when you do that, you will be able to "speak" to your them. They will feel that you understand what they are going through, and that's how the connection will happen.

Will every Steemian find my contents useful? Not really, which is fine, because neither am I targeting all of them anyway. I just want to speak to those who want to 10x their success on the platform.

Exercise: Identify a few audience profiles you want to target, and fill up the worksheets to paint their persona. One worksheet for one target audience.

####2. Exclusive Contents

Once you know the target audience profiles, it's way, way easier to identify topics to please or attract them. And nothing tells your fans they are your #1 priority more than exclusive contents that they can’t get anywhere else. And before you say “Hey, if it’s already on Steemit/the internet, can’t they just resteem and share it with their network? Isn’t that no longer exclusive anymore?”

That may be true, but you’re forgetting how their network gets access to those contents in the first place. Yup, through your followers! Your fans will feel special because they get to be the first to spread the news, and if you take a step back, isn’t that what you wanted all along? Talk about killing two birds at one go, right?

Also, if you have followers outside of Steemit, like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, they will be keen to join Steemit because they want your exclusive contents first hand, fresh off the oven. Which is why at the end of my posts, I usually have a brief intro about Steemit, and talk to audience on how they can be part of the platform too.

####3. A Mix of the Senses

When it comes to your Steemit blog feed, remember that people from diverse backgrounds and makeup will visit them. Some of them would like to watch videos, while others may enjoy a good read. Some would even indulge in podcast interviews, and the others marvel at infographics.

That means you have to mix up your content types. Have different themes everyday, inject emotions into your copywriting, and play with different approaches - long form, poetry, short burst, insights, reviews, tutorials, @steepshot photos, @dtube and @dlive videos, @dmania and so much more.

I'll admit, in terms on content medium, this is one that I've yet to fully explore, because I've not done much videos or podcasts yet. In time, perhaps, when I'm tired of writing. (Yeah, right…)

#4. A Mix of Flavours

As much as your loyal fans may love you, it's to have a mix of other people's contents too. Resteem fellow Steemian's contents that are within your scope of interest, and whose content may appeal to your target audience profiles too.

Plus, this will also help you strengthen your bond with the Steemian whose content you just shared. Leave them a genuine comment, and you may mention that you've resteem their articles.

####5. Don't Be Afraid to Get Personal

Tell behind-the-scene stories of your life inside and outside of Steemit, and perhaps some “origin” stories. You can do it in a candid, casual interview style, or even get your friends (or better yet, fellow Steemians) to ask spontaneous questions and record your reaction.

When talking about your origin story, you can even bring family members into the mix. These will help showcase to your followers that you are as real as they are, and when they see you attempting to change the world through your projects, they will be more likely to rally behind you. We all want to support “brothers and sisters”, people we can personally relate too, and nothing is more familiar than the bond between family and friends.

####6. Catchy Titles

If you observe your own social media habits, you will realize you tend to click on titles that are structured in a certain way.

For example:

  • This kid thought he’s going to get a crappy computer. But when he opened the box, you wouldn’t believe his reaction.
  • 7 Reasons why we Asians will not live as long as our parents
  • How to make sure every single dollar you are donating to your charity is put to good use
  • Real Case Study: Poor kid from village now world’s leading data scientist


Image source

While there are many copywriting tips we can give you when it comes to structuring your titles, here’s one tool that you can receive instant feedback on - Headline Analyzer by Co-Schedule. It’s free, and all you need to do in enter your title and it will output the score, breaking down areas you can improve as well. Nifty, eh?

I've also two other Steemit tutorials specifically written to help you sprinkle some copywriting magic on your post titles. You can check them out below:

  1. Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
  2. Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "List Type" Post Titles

####7. Contest & Giveaways

One of the tags that are constantly trending is on the various contests and challenges.

As a matter of fact, contests are not only to engage your existing fans and followers, but to also attract new ones. Being part of contests - both the ones you join and the ones you organise - are great for visibility.

Most of the time, the prizes are SBDs or Steem, which is enticing on their own. But nothing is stopping you from being creative. For example, why not run a contest and the winner gets a special animated Steemit footer image designed by @zord189?

Of course you'll have to pay/incentivise him…

While everyone can possibly afford the prizes you will be offering in your contests, remember, it’s not about affordability here; it’s about how they obtain their rewards in the first place. Everybody loves some quick fun, and the easier you make your contests, the more participative your audience will be.

Do a research on how others are running their contests and pinpoint the success strategies.

Personally, I have yet to try this, but after observing others reaping tons of benefits from it, I think it's totally worth trying.

####8. Don’t be afraid to show your personality

You know how some social media pages you go to project a cold, exclusive, corporate feel to it, and it just makes you wanna steer away? That's one thing to take note for your Steemit profile too.

Show some vulnerability, and try to inject some human emotions and responses into your posts. Don’t be afraid to use slangs or common lingo, because these are amazing rapport-building methods.

You can even leverage on trending news items and if it’s tied to your areas of interest, lay down your opinion on it. Your fans would appreciate that instead of shying away or being diplomatic, they know you are someone that would voice out for things you believe in.

You can also be vocal about your views on certain matters that you care deeply about, and make a stand for it. Don't be afraid that you will create enemies. In fact, an old mentor once told me, if you're not making enough enemies, you're probably not bold enough. As long as you're not out there trying to wage an all out war, it's good. We're all entitled to our opinions anyway.

BOOM!

Bet you have shit load of ideas to spice up your Steemit profile now? Let me do you a favour and end this post here, because I don't want to hold you back from taking action.

Oh, but hey, if any of the strategies resonate with you, leave a comment below. Of course, an upvote makes my day too, but only if you think this piece had been useful for you.


Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I mostly blog about Steemit Success Strategies, business, marketing, entrepreneurship, psychology, community and random thoughts.

Talking about Steemit Success Strategies, if you want to 10x your results on this platform, perhaps some of these guides will be able to help you.

  1. How to generate at least 365 post ideas for your Steemit Life (and possibly never run out of ideas again!)
  2. 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 1)
  3. 29 Steemit Post Types to Attract More Followers & Boost Your Popularity (Part 2)
  4. Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "How To" Post Titles
  5. Copywriting Magic for Steemit: "List Type" Post Titles
  6. Steemit Success Strategies #1 - The Law of Requisite Variety
  7. Steemit Success Strategies #2 - Batching + Parkinson's Law
  8. How to apply the 80/20 rule to your Steemit Life
  9. Steemit Experiment Report: 21 days, 21 minutes, 21 posts later, PLUS an 8-Step Guide on How to Write a Steemit Post every day under 30 minutes
  10. Case Study on Bid Botting - A Steemit Bootcamp follow-up module, a cheatsheet and why I probably won't use it

At least once a month, I run Steemit community events and training workshops with my buddies at #teammalaysia too. Some examples are:

  1. Steemit Bootcamp March 2018 - KICKSTART Your Steemit Success
  2. BoilerRoom 03.03.2018 | Let's Huddle, Hustle & Hack Out Awesome Steemit Contents!

I'm also grateful to be part of #steemitbloggers , SmartSteem and the sndbox.

Steemit Bloggers

Appreciator
Animated Banner Created By @zord189

follow_maverickfoo.gif


Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?

Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD5, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:

  • Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
  • Upvote (like) other people contents
  • Comment on other people's posts
  • Have discussions, share opinions etc!

Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!

The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!

Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
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Hey @Maverickfoo, this is a really well written article with tons of helpful and applicable success secrets for producing great content. I know many of them, but still working to apply them to my posting habits. This will go a long way towards increasing engagement.
Oh and the consultation worksheet is a great resource for not only Steem content but any creative business out.
Thanks a lot and resteeming. :)

Oh hey, thanks for the "pat on the back". Really means a lot.

Yup, I'll be sharing a couple more of the worksheets I used with my clients, especially those I can angle to serve the Steemit community.

Have a great weekend!

Wow! Lots of useful information in here. This is a great guide @maverickfoo, in particular I can second the recommendation for that CoSchedule Headline Analyzer which I have used all the time for my freelance writing work.

Yup, it's a super cool tool. It teaches you how to structure your words for sure. However, I don't follow it 100%, because like it or not, at the end of the day, you understand the market best, and sadly, it's still a bunch of programming code for now. Comes the day it's powered by AI... WOW!

Though it takes little time to read this post but i found every single word is helpful to me as a new user of this platform. Specially, i liked those ideas you've pointed out is that not to afraid to showing my personality and getting personal and of course, "Catchy titles" as well as " a mix of flavors" are good ideas indeed. I hope, i can improve myself to create contents applying these ideas.

and one last time Thank you @Maverickfoo to share such a supportive and useful post.

Glad to know you found it useful, @tanzil2020. Pick one or two to implement first, because attempting all at the same time way be too overwhelming. :)

All the best!

Yeah ! I'm agree with you. I'll apply one or two ideas first as you said.
Thank you @Maverickfoo

Whoa, no doubt this is helpful and refreshing. Personally, I think it is tough to get from "I want everything" kind of guy to "I focus on one thing" kind of guy. When I am at the "I want everything" mindset, I lose focus on what I want to write and have a hard time to get something done. When I am focus and well prepared with templates and planning, then it makes me more productive and it works so far!

Focus is key, because being too generalize means the message will be a hit or miss. In my experience, most of the time is miss, haha!

Even if you have multiple interests and different audience profiles, it's okay to rotate your content regularly to serve the different profiles. Sure, some days some of your followers may not find what you're sharing is relevant to them, but they will come back looking for new stuff later. Just make sure the gap is not too far apart!

True, that’s what my change of strategy comes in place. Gotta have more weightage on my architectural posting while letting my random thoughts to be less domain here. Or else, it is chaotic and no theme at all.

Thanks for the constant guidance too! It helps when I see some relevant reference that I can relate :)

Thank you for this amazing article @maverickfoo! Love the part about client profiles - we are doing something similar when designing web pages at the digital agency where I work - identifying personas. I have never thought about it in connection to Steemit. Thanks!

Yeap, the customer avatar or client persona is a powerful tool to help us craft messages that are more powerful and "connect" with our audience. I love to see the other stuff you do at your digital agency that you can bring into Steemit. Marketing has a lot to do with psychology, and as I believe since most Steemians are humans (kidding, but I gotta factor in the bots), the same principles will apply too.

Totally agree. I love the connection of psychology and marketing. This definitely makes the field more interesting:)

Amazing!! This is one of those posts that leaves me thinking of how I could be better. I have a few ideas to try from here especially since I have had a terrible block the past few days.
Thank you.

Glad that you find it useful. If the block is due to idea generation, I wrote one long guide on how to get lotads of content ideas. You can check it out here.

Hope it helps. :)

Great list of tips you have there, @maverickfoo
It’s nice to see more and more marketing strategies are being brought to SteemIt.
When I first came here, I discovered there was an absolute lack of marketing knowledge. These last couple of weeks, it seems like more and more people are bringing the marketing ‘tricks’ to SteemIt, something of which the community can only benefit from...

Yeah, I realised that too! High Five!

Sometimes we forget that Steemit is pretty much a social media platform as well, so a lot of the marketing tricks do apply well. Just need to make a few tweaks here and there, but most of the time, the fundamentals are high relevant.

Thank you for the worksheet ? I'm going to put it to good use. Thinking about your tips just gave me great focus , I think that you should really try to do some videos just to spice things up.

Videos on @dtube are great, because a huge upvote from them will help you gain enough SBDs to power up.

As with anything, there are always "experts" on any given subject, blogging has more than it's fair share, although I think it's great that some who are actually "doing good" on certain sites try to help. I use many strategies to try and increase my audience, usually to no avail, but I still try. the one thing I try to do though, is offer good content. Maybe that's my problem, some feel it isn't good enough! :)

I'll be honest, because quality content is just half the puzzle, because not having an audience to read them, it'll just be an unread masterpiece. Keep it up with the good content, but reach out more. Stalk other Steemians with tools like Steemworld.org, Steem.supply and Steemtracked.com. Join Discord groups. Leave comments in the posts of other infuencers. :)

I especially like when a user uses his personality in his posts. It makes reading much more fun and engaging!

Agreed! It's not about picking fights, but taking a stand. Much respect!

Great Post my friend.
You put a lot of effort into it. It's visible​.

Oh hey, thanks @modernpastor

Love these ideas, thanks friend! As a pretty new Steemian, this kind of thing really helps :)

Glad you found it useful, @annemariemay!

Thanl you for the tips :)

Glad you liked it.

Man, I have become a fan of your work. You really take out the time to educate and help us out with these detailed posts and what I loved about this one in particular is that it is quite different from the majority of advice out here on 'how to engage and excite your followers' aka 'get more followers'. The tool you shared to help create catchy titles is so great- going to try it now for my new post.

Glad you found it useful, @sharoonyasir, and yes, I believe if properly applied, you will be able to increase your follower count.

Thank you for this great list! I realize focusing on an audience is something I think I started out doing, but have gotten away from. It helps to be reminded of these things. Hopefully I can incorporate some of these things going forward! Thanks again!

Steemit has a very diverse audience, which is great. Which also means we have to craft our message to cater for one specific (or just a very few at least) audience profile.

This is a job well done. Thanks for sharing. I just resteemed. #smiles

Appreciate it. Thanks for the share!

This is so good!! There's is so much value in this post. I will be coming back to it again. Re-steeming! :)

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I have found useful content. I have to share it with other friends.

Important post.....Helpfull..

Thanks a lot for this useful information, it is really helpful.

This is an evergreen post. I love your blog for these evergreen contents. Thanks a lot, @maverickfoo.
I'll surely resteem this post on my blog.

I really like this post, is so helpfull to me, i hope someday write like this

nice sharing @maverickfoo.. tq2

Thanks for the idea @maverickfoo.. Hehehe....

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Thank for the guide @maverickfoo. Followed.

This article worth the time to read it

Hey Maverick, thanks for the post - so much food for thought here, will be revisiting and taking notes so I can use your tips. Thank you!

This post is 2 months old as of the time I am writing this comment. But I have to say, this is one one best posts I have read for helping people to get more interaction from their posts. Thank you!

Thanks for the in depth post, the headline analyzer is in-deed a great tool, i used for my multiple sites and blogs.

Just the post I needed! Been struggling for a little