Do You Know What The 80/20 Rule Is? - Why You Should Make A Steemit Post Ever Day Regardless Of Your Rewards

in steemit-help •  7 years ago  (edited)

Are your posts rewards unpredictable? Did your last post not do as well as the one before that? Do you get a lot of votes one day and barely any the next? There's a reason for that called the 80/20 rule. The 80/20 rule is why you should keep posting content on Steemit regardless of the price of Steem or your earnings.

What is the 80/20 rule?

It's a rule that states that roughly 80% of the your results will come from 20% of your efforts.

the 80-20 rule for steemit.png

This rule (also known as the Pareto principle, or the principle of factor sparsity, or the law of the vital few) is evident in many examples in the world.

A few examples I found on Wikipedia are:

  • It is said that about 20% of sportsmen participate in 80% of big competitions and out of them, 20% win 80% of the awards.
  • Occupational health and safety professionals discovered 20% of the hazards account for 80% of the injuries.
  • the richest 20% of the world's population controlling 82.7% of the world's income.
  • It is a common rule of thumb in business that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.
  • Microsoft noted that by fixing the top 20% of the most-reported bugs, 80% of the related errors and crashes in a given system would be eliminated. credit

These examples are commonly mimicked in nature.

When I built 300 WordPress sites selling everything you can possibly imagine I found that 20% of the websites earned 80% of the profit.

On any single website, 20% of the pages on that site got 80% of the traffic.

Of the pages that were earning money from sales, 20% of those pages earned 80% of the profit.

This is so common for just about any business.

This also worked in reverse where 80% of the content I created earned 20% of the profits.

So this means of any particular piece of content I created only 2 out of 10 earned substantially more than the other 8.

So what does that have to do with posting on Steemit?

If you don't understand the 80/20 rule then you may get discouraged when you make a post that earns well one day followed by another post that earns very little. This is completely normal and should not discourage you.

The successful reaction is to make another post. Understanding the 80/20 rule means you know you need to write 10 posts to get 2 to do really well.

Instead of getting disheartened from an earnings dip get enthusiastic to write a better post. The more you post good, engaging content on Steemit regardless of what the price of Steem is or how many rewards you made, the more posts you'll have and the more posts you have the more results you'll get.

Remember only 20% of your posts are going to earn about 80% of your results.

So more posts = more results.

Knowing the 80/20 rule and how it works gives you the psychological support you need to Steem on regardless of what is going on with the price of Steem or the amount of votes your post gets. It's just how the universe works baby so get over it and get on with it.

Once you have at least 100 posts the data you can extract from them will be useful to increasing your success on Steemit.

Key questions to ask yourself are:

  • What are your top 20 (out of 100) posts?
  • How much did they earn?
  • How many views/upvotes/comments/resteems did they get?
  • What are the topics of those posts about?
  • What do they all have in common?
  • How are they different from your other posts?

pareto-principle.jpg

Image credit

With this data, you can now fine tune your future posts, including the qualities you observed in your most successful posts. This will help build your expertise or niche and attract more genuine followers.

It will also increase your ability to engage with your audience and give them what they are most responsive to.

How Pareto's Principle Applies To Social Media

In the chart below there are some very interesting observations of the Pareto principle as it applies to Steemit and the way we interact on the platform.

As a new user looking to build their social currency on Steemit it is tempting to add links to your content in as many comments as you can.

If we look at the data though we find that those who help others on social media have better long term results.

the 80-20 rule for social media.png

Image credit

Linking to others content when it helps their readers understand the topic better not only helps your reader but gains the favor of the author you linked to.

Linking to another Steemian's story to embellish your own post is what I call Steemweaving and is something to aspire to as a good Steemian citizen.

It builds a strong community by connecting users with common interests with each other. Acting as a conduit that binds the community serves more than just you and attracts the people that you have commonality with to you.

I have found that by adding links to others content to a comment that answers their question gets me more of a positive reaction than if I added a link to my own post.

Why that is I have no idea but there is the data to back it up.

Conclusions

The takeaway from this post is very simple. Only 2 out of 10 of your posts are really going to have an impact and knowing this helps keep you focused on writing the best content you can instead of focusing on the rewards of any single post.

In short, Steem on!

Related Posts

3 Ways You Can Make Up Losses In Your Wallet When Steem Is At A Usd1 00 --- by @walkingkeys

The Most Valuable Steemit Post Begins In Your Head Tips To Mazimize Your Social Currency On Steemit --- by @luzcypher

How To Lose Friends And Irritate People Two Big Mistakes You Want To Avoid Making On Steemit --- by @luzcypher

luzcypher-emoji-verified-2.png

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wow thank you so much for explaining this rule.
I posted almost every day anyways (except for the last 10 days, since I was on holidays), but this rule is even more a reason why I should continue doing so ;)
enjoy your day! :)

I would say your number of followers is pretty good proof that you are doing something right too!

yeah it is another proof to me that consistency and interacting with the community is key ;)

It's wild how many different areas this principle applies. When I was in sales, this was a very helpful insight. Consistency definitely pays off because it can be hard to predict which efforts will be most successful. Onward and upward, through the fog!

nice :)
that's good to hear ;)

Consistency is a powerful force and builds on itself.

Totally! There's always a creative solution to make things happen. We just have to hold the vision and get the failures out of the way.

Hold the vision and get the failures out of the way. I like that.

Make it a habit and then fine tune the results to build your audience. Posting every day is a good thing to do.

totally agree :)
thanks again for your great advice ;)

Consistency has many benefits and keep your readers remembering you and engaged.

I completely agree, though I havent posted for a couple days. extenuating circumstances.. I will post something later today. my circumstances have resolved themselves! I like to think of small victories.. If a post makes you 10 cents, but you gain even 1 follower. Its a victory really.

If a post makes you 10 cents, but you gain even 1 follower. It's a victory really.

That is true and even that 10 cents could be worth a lot later on as the price of Steem rises. I remember when the price of Steem was 4 cent and those who powered it up and continued posting are happy campers now.

There is also something to be said for momentum which is hard to achieve without daily, or almost daily posting.

By the way u have some steem dollars I want to convert to steem. People keep saying it is better to go through the market instead of converting through the system.

May I ask how to go through the market? I have don't know how to do that.

Thanks

The easiest way is to just power up your Steem Dollars (SBD).
With SBD currently under $1 you would do well to just Power it up which will convert it to Steem.

The quickest way to transfer SBD into Bitcoin (or Steem) on an exchange is using blocktrades. Instead of converting it to Bitcoin like in this video you would choose to convert it to Steem.

This video will show you how to use BlockTrades.

When the price of a SBD is above a dollar this extra step will get you more Steem per Steem Dollar. But when SBD is close to or below $1 it makes more sense to just power up your SBD directly in your Steemit wallet.

Here is a video to show you how to power up on Steemit.

I found that the Market was quicker than BlockTrades. You don't to leave STEEMit to do it.

The Quickest Way to Go From Steem Dollars to Power Up

Also, using the Market or BlockTrades might be quicker, but in the long run it might not be beneficial, since the SBD IOU is still out there. The Conversion method, while slower, eliminates that IOU.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing

Upvoted... excellent and encouraging post :)

I have been working on my next article for 2 nights now and last night was my 40th birthday.

Right now passion has to be above profit :)

Happy Birthday!

Passion over profit

I like that.

This is the post I have been waiting for. Thank you! I am only a five-day old Steemian and I am already getting discouraged that my post won't even be visible to the community because it gets buried too fast by new posts . I see a lot of posts that get a lot of upvotes even though it doesn't show a lot of effort from the author. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way so I am very grateful that you wrote this. I know about the 80/20 rule but never thought it could apply to Steemit. You have my "resteem" for highlighting great and useful points! *Resteeming and *Following now....

There's a reason why seemingly posts of very little value can earn more than your well-researched, and well-written post and it's hard to see why when you only have a 5-day old view of this community.

I go into it in greater detail in a post titled, The Most Valuable Steemit Post Begins In Your Head - Tips To Mazimize Your Social Currency On Steemit

Have a look at it and I think you'll have a better understanding and feel more encouraged.

Thanks for the follow and the resteem.

Will check it out. Thanks! :)

Well said buddy. As an ex-business owner I agree. I think you should create a post and don't worry about the results at all.

Exactly.

Thanks@luzcypher. I really appreciate the reminder of the 80/20 rule. Your graphics are really helpful as well. I especially like the idea of steemweaving.

I was just reading the post by @denmarkguy called "One of ny Posts Made it to Trending" (https://steemit.com/steemit/@denmarkguy/one-of-my-posts-made-it-to-trending-wow-and-why-that-s-pretty-random#@wecanbesublime/re-denmarkguy-one-of-my-posts-made-it-to-trending-wow-and-why-that-s-pretty-random-20170718t215408621z).

Just keep posting is the message I'm getting today. Just keep posting. And remember the customer needs 80% of your focus. Even in social Media, remember that we are all in this together. So writing to a specific audience and their wants, needs, and desires is an important thing to consider.

Thanks. I am still trying to figure my way around here. I really appreciate your perspective.

It sounds like you have a good understanding of the 80/20 rule already. Consistency really helps get more of those 20% efforts getting 80% of the results posts under our belt. Steem on and on and on my friend.

I'll do my best. Thanks @lucupher. Love the name

Yours is pretty cool too.

Very true @luzcypher, and if you are a true Steemian - here for the long-haul, then you should have no problem contributing content for the community, the rewards come over time. Incredibly thorough explanation of the 80/20 rule.

Yes, contributing to Steemit is the value and rewards are a result of that.

Indeed.

You have such a great way of heartening and encouraging others, thank you so much for taking the time to share your wisdom and knowledge. You're a really great teacher! Resteemed and sharing in other networks.

Thank you SO much for the resteem and kind comments.

You're welcome :)

Im going to keep this in mind always going forward. Thanks for the life hack tip.

I life hack tip? Never thought of it that way.

Though I've never heard about it before, this intuitively makes sense to me. II'll keep it in mind, thanks!

Did you know we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time.

and

  • 80% of work is completed by 20% of your team
  • 80% of customers only use 20% of software features
  • 80% of your complaints come from 20% of your customers
  • 80% of your accomplishments come from 20% of your task list.

The trick for you is to identify your 20% effort that gives you 80% of your results.

And then you hone it down to 20% of that, and so on...this is just turning into good life advice about putting the work in and discovering your strengths in the process. I'm trying to do a lot of stuff right now in preparation for a big move, and this is helping!

Cool. Where are you moving to?

Kansas City, MO, to be with my long-distance partner (who I met on (gasp) Facebook!), and probably hang out with @jessamynorchard, @melodyrussell, and @jasonrussell too! I spent all of June there with her, and now I'm saving up money and whatnot to go back for good.

Awesome! Say hi to those guys for me.

Will do!

Hi @luzcypher! Thanks for sharing... it's my first time to actually learn about 80/20 rule but it makes absolute sense!. Now time to work on those quality posts... 😉

Have a great day!

Thank you too.

A great post @luzcypher! I have seen your name often when scouring the steemit pages but must admit this is the first time I have checked outr one of your posts and I must say your advice is spot on in my opinion.

Very well said my friend!

Hope you are having a wonderful day! :[)

Thanks for stopping by and yes, I'm having a wonderful day which is easy to do when you live in paradise.

We must be neighbors then! :)

I'm in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

That really does look like paradise! :[) You are very fortunate to be surrounded by such beauty and tranquility. Enjoy it my friend! :)

It is pretty amazing here.

If you mean in paradise, I would say you are right on, though it is ultimately a matter of perspective. :) If you mean on steemit which I'm sure you don't, then I'm not so sure the words pretty amazing apply. Extremely interesting would perhaps be a better description.

Steemit is one big social experiment and it's fun to be part of it.

Great post. Frequency is key. Keep kaBOOMIN over here!

There are a lot of reasons frequency of posting is a good thing as long as the quality improves. For one the reader doesn't forget about you.

Facebook has done some amazing research on how frequency effects online audience engagement that you can read about called, Effective Frequency: Reaching Full Campaign Potential

I had heard about the Pareto principle but didn't know it had such a widespread effect. Thanks for the interesting post 🙏🏽

I keep finding more and more things it applies to every day. It's uncanny really.

I appreciate the info, I hope this will help me gain more Steem, followers, Steem power and dollars. ESPECIALLY MO' STEEM DOLLARS.

Just keep giving and the getting will take care of itself.

@pastbastard this is the formula for a prolific writer!

Thank You for the advice. Thanks to him, I released a post today, although could do it tomorrow=))

Thanks

Woow very interesting post thank you for your a great job mate

I'm glad you liked it.

Good points and great writeup, thanks!

Best article on Steem regarding posting - good motivation knowing the statistics behind it! I would like to add that we all should be posting, not (purely) for the money, but because we can add value to people's lives in one way or another! That's the bigger reward I think.

That's the Steemian spirit. Besides, value follows rewards not the other way around.

I am definitely seeing this pattern my posts as well. It is amazingly consistent.

The consistency is beyond coincidence. I see it everywhere. Look at any data on Steemit and you'll see it.
20% of the users earn 80% of the rewards.
20% of users have 80% of the Steem Power
20% of the posts get 80% of the views

and on and on and on.

Weird username bud!

Good information

So is yours

Good read, I need to make a better effort to post daily...I have been working way too much lately.

Maybe you should make this post new again @luzcypher its wisdom that many of the new open mic minnows would benefit from. They need to read this...

Thats crazy. 80\20 rule eh? Seems to apply to a lot of things in life, not just steem. Thanks for the info.

It applies to an incredible amount of things in life.

And here I thought it was 90/10 😳

Great write up as usual!!

Thanks

Can't argue about that it's a very smart way to look at things and keep the courage and hope going thank you for sharing

You are most welcome.

Thanks for the info!

I didn't know this was actually a thing. I try to at least post everyday and be active. But yes I was unaware of this. Good post by the way. :)

An excellent illustration of 80/20 rule and it's application to steem. Thanks for sharing

You're welcome.

Nice post @Luzcypher. So the 80/20 rule is old stuff. But your tips and links on serving social media customers was the real gem.

Thanks for noticing that part.

This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the first half of Jul 19. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $12.56 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.

See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Jul 19 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.

If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.

Good work, and good reminder. Slow and steady wins the race :)

Thanks

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Thank you @luzcypher , this makes me feel better , I was thinking maybe people don't like to see my videos and they don't want to hear me , because when I started in here my 3rd post was a song which I posted it in openmic and it won 155 dollars and many people upvoted me and after it I posted some mixed and mastered songs some videos which I recorded in nature and mixed it really good working more on them and nobody even looked at me ! , I posted photography still nobody cares , I draw things and sketch and posted and still little views , I just feel like I got ignored by people , I think maybe I am not good enough or I don't know but thanks for your article about this problem and I know you say the truth , I only have one question , how many posts can I post in steemit ? someone said I have to stop posting much .

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

and too I wanna know your idea about my works , I wanna know if I am not good enough I wanna change it , I want to know it from you , you can tell me my problem , sometimes I used instrumental mp3 songs and I played them in background and I sing on them , I think maybe this is a problem for openmic , ok I wrote so long , sorry , but tell me how is my works ?

Music is such a subjective topic it is hard to predict any listeners reaction at any given moment. Just because a lot of people liked your music one day doesn't mean they always will.

I don't think you can predict any of it or do anything about it. Just get in touch with your soul and perform with all of it and don't worry about what anyone thinks. That's one of the things about music that make it so special.

When a performer performs a piece of music they are not living in the past or the future, they are just living in that moment. That's a sacred thing and cannot be quantified.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Thank you @luzcypher , I thought maybe you wouldn't answer me on this , but I am glad that you answered it , you are right , and I wanna do my works without thinking about people or other things , I wanna do them free from anything , like you said , something from the soul and senses and heart. I will become better . I won't give up. but I think we also need a place for those who produce musics too . I mean I can Produce musics but in openmic they dont accept recorded and mixed songs , just live performances. and I like it , its great that you gave us this chance to be seen in the society. but I also want to do other stuffs in another tag , if you can open another tag for it. I'll be glad.

There used to be a reduction in payouts after the 4th post in a 24-hour period. I'm not sure if they removed that limit after Hard Fork 17, but I still don't post more than that.

Great, informative guidelines to all steemitian, like me a newbie@luzcypher

Welcome to Steemit.

How can I learn how to add a link to my content? I obviously have much to learn..haha...

Excellent article. Goes further in debt to the 80/20 Rule. 80% of what you do yields 20% of your results and 20% of what you do yields 80% of your results.

#keepitup and #spreadtheknowledge

Exactly. Thanks for reading my post.

This matter and the "Focus on the 33% of the audience that loves your work" were the arguments in which you convinced me that steemit was the next step on my life... i still remember that conversation man! This post is so accurate and so on point, I am so glad you wrote about it, you could also write about the 33%!!!

♨️ I think you mean the 25/25/50 rule.

When I was a professional, touring musician I had a publicist who taught me about the 25/25/50 rule of publicity.

He explained that in anything you promote publicly in any media, be it print, television, or online:

25% of the people will absolutely love everything you do, say, or stand for.
25% of the people will dislike everything you do, say, or stand for just as passionately as the people who love you.
and 50% will have no idea you even exist and will go on about their lives.
A publicist job is to concentrate on growing the 25% of people that love everything about you and ignore the rest.

Easy for a publicist to say because they don't have to live with the 25% that hate them. The celebrity does and that's why they get paid the big bucks.

Now, let me ask you. "Which group of people do you want following you on Steemit?"

Obviously, the group that loves everything about your blog, right?

So why would you ask everyone to follow you? Let the ones that love your content come to you and forget about the rest.

Very interesting post and made a lot of sense maybe 20 should be my new lucky number :)

LOL, 20 is your new lucky number

Excellent guidance, thanks for pushing us to be active

always

Nice post ! I found it interesting, and thought provoking... I try to post everyday but i still skip a day here and there....

I try as well but have missed a few days.

I've been killin 2 birds with one stone.... Going through my old travel footage, and making videos... Mostly for me... for the Memories.. VHS doesn't last forever.. but who knows maybe someone will get a kick out of them..

thank you luzcypher for inspiring me the more. i post every not minding the outcome.my concern is to impact, add value and affect lives of my fellow steemians.

Just post about the things you are passionate about. That will do.

Thanks for this info. I own a business, but I never really knew the 80/20 rule, yet when I read this it all made perfect sense when I applied it to my own businesses. It is a bit of a mind game too, when you post and put your heart into what you're doing, knowing it's good quality content, and somedays you're lucky to get more than $1!

But keep on keepin' on is the name of the game! :)

So practical. I love it! I remember that principal in trying to order my day and take, but it never occurred to me to apply it to steemit. Very encouraging when put that way.

Great post. Sadly it would apply to our followers as well where 80% of them are perhaps F4F and never actual read or comment on your post (don't mean you #luzcypher personally, I mean you as in general). Having said that if one has 20% loyal followers who appreciate what you post and provide quality comments and supports, thats surely a gain, at least in my humble opinion.

That is probably true. On the other hand, that 20% of your followers probably account for 80% of your upvotes, comments, and rewards.