How To Get Whale Votes?

• Are you using some super-special bait while you're fishing for their votes?

Fellow Steemians.. - There are no secrets.

• And there's definitely no magic involved.

A few hours ago a fellow Steemian messaged me on Discord.

• As usual, the discussion started out with something like:

Hello! - I am trying to make new friends and I would love to get some feedback from you. Feel free to upvote my content and I will do the same.

• And a link to their recent article was obviously included.

Most of the times I ignore these things.

• Today, I decided to do the opposite.

I simply responded that I don't appreciate to get links and I told this person to stop sending links to other people too, as it's inappropriate behaviour.

After that, something pretty neat happened..

The follow-up questions I got were these:

Would you mind sharing your Steemit experience?

And...

I want to give high quality articles more exposure. Do you have any ideas?

---

We talked for about 40 minutes or so in total.

However, I gave him my insights and I shared my thoughts and ideas. He was thankful and everything went smooth... Until he suddenly asked me (after telling me a bunch of times that he was not interested in rewards himself):

How do we get attention from whales?

In all honesty, I was about to hit that "X" immediately and close the chat... But I didn't. I discussed things further, because I was eager to find out what he was aiming for. - The thing is, that this person seemed to believe that whales were something special.

And don't get me wrong here, I truly appreciate the existence of whales and I'm super thankful for all the support I've got during my year on Steemit. - And, I won't lie, it definitely feels amazing and special when you get an upvote from a whale.

That's basically how I react as soon as any of my posts reach more than $100... And 11 months ago, when I reached more than $800 on one of my posts.. - I reacted like this:

That being said.. - I know the feeling and it feels truly incredible.

• However, I would never say that a whale was special. The feeling from an upvote is special, and you can feel special if you're lucky enough to get an upvote from a whale. - That's a fact. - But you're crazy if you believe they are special.

Whales are just like you and me. They are people. They are individuals just like a minnow or a dolphin. - They like different things, they read different things and they will reward different things too... - Just like you, me and everyone else.

• Is that special?
  No, it's not. You believe they are "special" because they are heavily invested and can rocket your earnings with a couple of hundred dollars, with a single click of a button...

So, what's your chances to receive an upvote from a whale?

At first glance, I'd say that you have the same chance to receive upvotes from whales as from a minnow or a dolphin. - And I bet there's some truth in that... However, it's not entirely true.

Whales often reward the same authors as they earn curation rewards... And they often support a handful of authors who gets all their votes.

Anyhow, just like I recommended to the person I talked to on Discord. You can analyze people's voting pattern. - It's easy and anyone can do it.

• https://steemwhales.com/
• https://steemd.com/

Use these two sites. Use the first to find a whale and use the second site to find out how they've been voting. What content they voted on and you can even read their replies, in case they've replied to anyone.. - That way, you might be able to figure out why they upvoted the specific content.

• Do I recommend doing that?
  No. I've been using both sites multiple times, both to analyze peoples behaviour and other things but I wouldn't recommend using them to find a voting pattern. - And why?

First of all, you'll get disappointed if you find a whale who always upvote content related to balloons.. Except when you publish your super-awesome balloon article. -That would basically kill you inside.

Secondly, because you should not look for the rewards. You should focus to be yourself and to bring the best of you. - No matter what niche or article it is. - Always be you. And be the best you can be. Rewards will come, at some point.

---

Focus on more important things than rewards.

Make sure to build your own following. Make sure to increase your reputation (both the actual number beside your username, but also amongst people you talk with). - Be you and work hard to increase the amount of eyeballs on your content. Work hard to get more exposure and encourage people to discuss things with you. - Make sure to reply to peoples comments etc.

• That's how you'll succeed. Look for everyone and not for whales.

When you least expect it...

A whale will drop by and say hi!

---

Image Source #1-Image Source #2

---