Imagine a social media platform that pays you to use it. Well, good news… There is such a thing! It is called Steemit and it was founded by Ned Scott and Dan Larimer in 2016.
But exactly what is Steemit? If you haven’t heard of it before, it is essentially a content-sharing site like Reddit or Medium, powered by the Steem blockchain.
In this week’s article by Tenba Group, we reveal all you need to know about Steemit and its cryptocurrency STEEM. We also take a look at the role of Steemit in China and reveal 2 ways, how your business can benefit from being active on Steemit.
What is Steemit?
The first thing to know is that Steemit was built on top of the Steem blockchain in March 2016. Imagine going on Reddit or Medium. You read and upvote the content, and that’s the end of the story. But on Steemit, you can actually generate revenue (STEEM) if the heavily upvoted content is yours. Additionally, if you “curate” or share content that becomes popular later on, you will get paid in STEEM. So essentially, STEEM is the foundational cryptocurrency of Steemit that is controlled by the Steem blockchain.
In February 2020, the CEO of the Tron Foundation, Justin Sun, acquired the decentralized social media platform, Steemit, with over 10,000 daily active users. Mr. Sun is a protégé of Chinese tycoon Jack Ma, the co-founder of the Alibaba Group. An example of their ties is Justin Sun’s 1.5 USD million donation to his alma mater Hupan University, which was established by Jack Ma. With this, one can assume, that China will play a more and more significant role in Steemit in the near future.
How exactly does blockchain technology work?
Even if you haven’t heard of Steem before, chances are, you’ve probably heard of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. But how does it all work? A blockchain, by definition, is a decentralized and open ledger that records every economic transaction in real-time.
Imagine that every person has a spreadsheet that has information about every sale that has ever happened. As more sales occur, a computer updates each spreadsheet just as every sale occurs. This is what blockchain technology is.
For blockchain to work as it does, every block (a group of transactions) in the chain must be in agreement. Data cannot be corrupted because changing any information on the blockchain means that one computer would have to overpower an entire network, and this is almost impossible with a decentralized network. A cryptocurrency, for example, Bitcoin, is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that depends on blockchain technology to work. So anytime you make a transaction using a cryptocurrency that transaction is checked by every member of the network to make sure that it matches the information in “the spreadsheet.”
You may also find it interesting to read that, in June 2019, also Facebook published the whitepaper of its very own cryptocurrency Libra. And the BAT (Basic Attention Token Project) has revolutionized the digital advertising space as we know it with the use of blockchain technology in marketing.
So, is STEEM just like Bitcoin? Like comparing USD to EUR?
Not quite. They both use the same technology but they use it slightly differently. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency but STEEM is a social media platform that the Steem blockchain supports. That means that user interaction (in the form of upvotes or shares) relates directly to the Steem tokens a user makes.
What is the value of Steem tokens?
The Steemit network actually has three different cryptocurrencies: STEEM, Steem Power, and Steem Dollars. STEEM is the foundational digital currency of Steemit and it can be traded like any other currency. You can buy Steem, sell it, or convert it into other cryptocurrencies. It can also be converted into Steem Dollars (SBD), or “powered up” to receive Steem Power (SP).
Steem dollars are what users send to each other when they upvote or share each other’s content and you can only use them within the Steemit platform. The price of Steem is often measured against the U.S. dollar. One Steem dollar is the amount of Steem that it takes to reach one U.S dollar depending on the exchange rate.
Steem Power (SP) is essentially a token that symbolizes how much influence you have within the platform. The more Steem Power you have, the more your upvotes and downvotes count.
How can we use Steemit for marketing?
If you are already using social media networks as part of your marketing strategy, Steemit is a great network to add to the list. Steemit has a strong leaning toward tech topics but it is expanding as influencers from other platforms are beginning to use it. In fact, as more people learn about Steem it will continue opening up to other industries and your business could be among the earliest to join.
The goal of using social networking sites is to grow your audience, engage, and eventually convert audience engagement into sales. Steemit is essentially following the same plan, but with some different motivators.
The Importance of Value
On other social media platforms, you can post just about anything on behalf of your brand: pictures, motivational quotes, product info, etc. But on Steem, the key is value. Since there is a monetary reward, users are more selective with what content they upvote. Additionally, the effect of downvotes coming from users holding a lot of Steem Power is amplified.
Steemit in China
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As Medium is blocked in China, Steemit is rather useful to share articles with your Chinese business associates. Although there is no Chinese version of Steemit, the Chinese community on this platform is very large.
Beware that although the Steem blockchain is resistant to Chinese censorship, the government entities continuously attempt to block individual sites that display the Steemit content. Therefore, you can expect a game of whack-a-mole now.
With the Chinese e-commerce sector skyrocketing, and access to digital information limited, sharing useful information on Steemit for the Chinese market, will be sure to benefit your Chinese-oriented business. Click here for more tips on doing business in China.
If you are building a Chinese website, backlinks from Steemit are a good source, as it has a high DA (domain authority). This contributes to the optimization of search engines (SEO). To further improve your content for Baidu, the Chinese version of Google, make sure to acquire backlinks from Chinese .cn domains with Chinese content.
How can my business be active on Steemit?
Don’t let the above sentence frighten you. Remember our previous post about the importance of blogging? Well after you have written the blog the next step would be to share it on Steemit. No, you will not generate revenue just from sharing. But if you share valuable content and engage with users you will begin to see the results.
- Be a Curator
A way of earning Steem is to discover content before it’s “hot”. Steemit rewards users who share content before it starts to trend. As an industry expert, this is a great opportunity for you because you likely already have some knowledge of trends and developments in your industry. If not, doing the research can help you both in your business and your interactions with Steemit. Two birds, one stone.
- Be an Authority
In SEO, we are constantly talking about being an authority in your industry. On Steemit, being an authority means holding Steem Power. The more you gain, the more valuable your contributions and shares gain. When that happens, other users will seek your support and may even come to you for endorsements. This will increase your Steem Power and the cycle will continue.
The Takeaway
Steemit is a long-term investment and certainly not something you can spend half an hour a week doing to expect results. Steemit rewards creators and curators and for most users that reward means making money.
For businesses that means cementing your brand as an expert on a new social media platform… and making money. And just thinking about it – a little extra revenue for doing something you are already doing on other social media platforms is just like icing on a cake to us.
If you want help with your digital marketing strategy, feel free to send us a message. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
