Still Pissed Off About That Time You Did Something Awesome and Nobody Noticed?
Sunday
For a lot of us, that's a damn good day to relax.
Are you a content producer? If the answer is yes, we have a lot in common.
Were your first days here full of 'where the hell is everyone' moments?
Did you spend eight hours writing an epic post, only to discover nobody noticed your efforts, all day, as you sat there, hitting refresh, while working on your new future drinking problem?
I'll tell you something! Even after nearly three years of producing content for this platform, I still experience those quiet days.
It can be heartbreaking but at the same time, it's quite normal. Head on over to Youtube someday, pick your favorite content producer with a large following, and look at their views per video. Imagine how it must feel producing something one week, seeing nearly one million views, then the next week there's a video there with only a couple hundred thousand views.
Now look at the views rolling in for a content producer with a tiny following. Not much and some days, nothing.
That's life.
And here, our market or potential viewership/readership is much smaller.
Sundays on this platform are notoriously quiet. Sundays are also a good day to relax. Legitimate content producers push themselves too hard. Maybe part of the reason some people quit is because of the stress and potential burnout they experience trying to put something new and exciting out, daily.
So
Instead of killing yourself.
Use Sundays to breathe new life into old material.
As a way to promote yourself and what you do best.
Yesterday, which just so happened to be Sunday, I decided to post three previously published short stories in one shot. I felt it would have been spammy to re-post only one, even though at the time of the original publishing, the short stories by themselves were solid and could stand on their own.
I have my doubts new followers have read those stories. I also felt placing three in one post would do a finer job of showing people exactly what I'm capable of when I'm in the zone. Choosing some of my favorites also gave curators a chance to just kick back on a slow Sunday while they enjoy some proven quality material, making their life easier on a day meant for relaxing.
This approach is quite normal in this industry.
The benefits of producing timeless content.
It holds its value and remains relevant.
Artists, photographers, creative writers, musicians, etc.: I see your usual approach. I'm a curator as well. I can safely say, after being here for three years, some of you are struggling and it has more to do with your approach and presentation than issues with the platform or general lack of interest.
With these most recent changes there's now a huge push for quality over quantity all while more and more curators are stepping up to the plate, looking for value, and hitting that upvote button. In order to make up for any losses you may have experienced recently, you'll need to step up your game to attract more eyes and then, hopefully, votes.
I'm not here to tell anyone how to run their blog but if your usual approach is to simply share one image and very few words — as a curator with a limited number of votes to hand out daily (ten at full power) — it's very difficult to choose your simplistic post over the one next to it with plenty of photos and commentary or the artwork/creative writing combo next to that.
I can almost guarantee if you decided to take your best photograph from the past, then used the same low effort approach to re-post it, you'd get the same depressing result. Please carry on doing what you do, how you want to do it, but please don't be afraid to step out of that comfort zone sometimes. That's why I'm suggesting, if you find yourself running into problems getting eyes on your work, going the extra mile, putting the best of the best all into one amazing presentation from time to time can only help improve your situation.
And I'm sayin' Sunday
That's the day to do it.
Use the tag 'showcase-sunday' and let folks know you're either re-posting something awesome or producing a compilation best of style post.
I hope this catches on, since so many of you have felt like you've wasted time. I also hope people don't abuse it. Re-posting too much of the same material will only annoy your following, so do it in moderation. I'm not even sure if I'll do it again this Sunday or just take the day off.
You're doing it right if:
- It's Sunday.
- You used the 'showcase-sunday' tag.
- Fixed typos in the original article, slight improvements maybe.
- You're not just doing it to be lazy.
- It's one of your best posts ever and you're proud of it but didn't have to create the entire thing from scratch.
- It makes you and your work look good.
You're doing it wrong if:
- It's a shit post.
- You heard about a tag and thought you'd earn free money so you used the tag on a Wednesday.
- You did it to be lazy.
- You post the same damn nonsense every Sunday.
- You lack self-awareness.
- You used bidbots thinking it would be wise to bury others, placing them and their work in the same damn position they were in when their work was overlooked the first time.
- You're just a spammer and don't care about anything.
- You suck at following suggestions like the one at the top of the post asking you to leave since this wasn't for you to begin with.
All kidding aside.
It's a simple concept.
My goal with this crazy idea most people won't be interested in is to make Sundays seem a little more lively around here. Give content producers a chance to take a bit of a break but still put out quality that was once overlooked or made them shine in the past, long ago. The tag also gives curators an opportunity to find quality work they've most likely never seen, on a Sunday, when it's sometimes hard to find good stuff. Then, maybe that Monday morning trending page will look awesome but of course, that's just wishful thinking.
To conclude.
I didn't want to publish a boring post today.
But at the same time, I don't like seeing people struggling. That two year old post you wrote when you just started is awesome and maybe, this time around, with some subtle improvements, it'll get some love, especially now since curating is a thing again.
A selection of your favorite photos or artwork from that seemingly never-ending stream of one image say nothing posts along with some commentary might actually impress a few folks so they follow along while not assuming you'll just be spamming their feed ten times per day. Wouldn't that be nice?!?!
Anyway, I'm just being a smartass. If you're interested, I'll be looking for that tag this Sunday. Maybe it'll catch on, maybe it won't. Maybe more curators will want to help, maybe not. Can't blame a guy for trying.
Hey man, I have many posts I've spent hours and hours on, that mean a lot to me and figured it would be wrong to repost them. This is a good concept though and provided they identify it as a repost I reckon it's a winner - And follow your guidelines of course.
Since curating for curangel I've been looking a lot harder for good content but I just can't promote a single blurry photo of a flower with the text A flower at the bus stop or some such thing. I see so many posts that with 150-250 words of thoughtful text, an explanation maybe, I would be happy to promote and upvote. Many are just lazy and so I leave them to their 0.04 payouts and move on. It's a shame but a reality of the environment now I think. I can't count how many times I've seen a single photo post and said in my head just write some damned words!
I'm not sure if I'll repost any of mine...Time will tell, but I see it as a good opportunity for others. Hope to see some good ones.
Good post mate.
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We all have those posts. Now that you've built up a larger following and hopefully this concept gets rolling so a few new eyes browsing the tag can see, on a day that's meant to kick back and enjoy some long form content, why not show it off again. Most will probably want to make it better as well. Combinations of shorter posts, maybe with a similar theme, why not make a post of it. To me, when done responsibly, it's normal. Even with movies one can watch it with commentary, or with the deleted scenes included. So many different variations of the same content. I trust people will be able to find ways to make old stuff work again.
Those simple one photo one liner posts... I've voted for some in the past but now it's like — I can't. Not when the post next to it probably took the producer a few hours to put together and that time doesn't even include the time spent producing some of the content within, like artwork, or processing actual photos, editing video, whatever. I don't mind a one photo with a decent amount of interesting words post at all. I've done that with my art quite a few times. The art probably took half the day to produce!
Your bro did a post recently where he took some photos that he's used here in the past, arranged it all, made it look cool... and I was thinking why don't more people do stuff like this? I was impressed with that post, even though I'd already seen some of the content. It was still a new experience.
And yeah, it's totally up to you. I don't think I've annoyed you folks with a repost before? Some of those are jokes. It sucks if you already know how it ends. I try to be careful. There's also the part about me not seeing a lot of good stuff from the past produced by others. Most of the folks commenting here today, and plenty of others, I know for a fact I haven't seen all their stuff. I'm hoping to see some interesting stuff, maybe.
I guess we'll see how it goes.
You convinced me...I'll make it happen and see how it goes. You make some valid points about my greater following and the promotion of this tag so yeah, I'll find something I like and make something of it. Thanks for the inspiration.
EDIT: P.s. @nonameslefttouse I tried to start a tag #whereonwednesday a while back. Tomorrow my ninth one will go live. I thought it may give people a good excuse to post about something in their life...Anything. Anyway, I do it and enjoy it. I see your tag as a good opportunity and hope it catches on. I have one picked out for this Sunday already. Will work out how to present it. :)
Well, I'm happy to hear that. I'll be voting only for that tag on Sundays. We all know I don't have the most powerful vote on the platform so I can't make people rich! I just hope it catches on and more curators help make it worthwhile. I mean, I'm already looking forward to Sunday now and for me, that's a day when I actually have time to focus on reading and curating. Most days I'm in a rush.
Since this post is currently trending, I'll upvote your comment to the top and maybe that'll get some eyes on your tag. #whereonwednesday!
Thanks mate, I hope you like what I have selected. I'm working on it now actually and will post a link to the original also. I'll post it Sunday my time, Australian CST, not sure where you are so you might have to search for it. :)
All I'd have to do to find it is write #showcase-sunday in the post editor, click the link in the preview, and away I go to the Showcase Sunday trending page. Or I can come to this post and click the links here. Different time zones might mean I'm late but I'll be there... eventually!
Cool...Surprise surprise mine's an historical post...A topic I'm passionate about. You'll see. :)
I will see but for now, I think it's time to catch some z's. Been a busy one here today. Might have to hire an assistant...
@whatamidoing has (or used to have) a dead post contest where on his comment section you would share posts that you thought were great but didn't get attention for whatever reason.
It was lots of fun.
You can make some improvements to the old post and label it "2nd Edition", with the proper link to the first one so that cheetah doesn't get you.
Yup, that's true and very good advice. I haven't run into any problems with cheetah but it might not be the same experience for everyone. As a matter of fact, I totally forgot about that little helper who can be quite confused some days. I'll vote this comment to the top so people see. There's some good stuff, good information being added in this comment section. Thanks for the help!
Thanks. Always watching for the big cat.
Thanks, @snook for presenting this post on @pypt #pypt
I've been a content producer for quite some time.
It's always interesting seeing what others are going thru... some of the issues, and struggles, too.
Thanks for sharing and engaging with Pimp Your Post Thursday.
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I'm still rather new here, but
strugglingworking for an audience is difficult no matter where you go, for sure! I've tried to start a couple things of my own that have slowly - very slowly - begun to catch on, but it takes work and patience. I like the idea of showcase-sunday. Not sure if I have enough "old stuff" yet, but I like the idea.I concur about needing to put words around an image and not just dropping it (unless you're @axeman, then your pictures speak for themselves). To further that I think it's also important to try to interact with the people you're voting. Personally, I always try to leave a comment when I vote, even if it's just a sentence that lets the person know that I have actually read their work and I appreciate it. Hopefully that begins to come back around.
Working. That word is important. Everyone, everywhere, started with one account and no followers.
If you don't have enough old stuff, I'm sure you can still find ways to make yourself look good using commentary, letting people know this old work exists, even linking to old work. Hey I'm here and this is what I've been up to kind of stuff.
Some photographers can do it like that with the one photo approach. If it's working, it's working. But what works for one won't always work for everyone.
And of course getting to know people is beneficial. Posting, then sitting and waiting for a miracle vote to fall from the sky makes life difficult. If a blogger falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
LoL!
A good idea. Here you need to seriously think. I’ve had to do something out of nothing more than once in my life... :)
Nothing wrong with a bit of ingenuity!
I agree, this is interesting on the contrary.
A new look at the old rags :-))
That's a lovely idea!! I'm sure we all have some deadposts that we worked hard but never got any attention because of the lack of following at the time of posting or...it was sunday. I might revisit some of them, I guess I never thought of it as an option or recycling some of my pieces from 2 years ago. I may not participate every week but on occasion I don't see any harm in making an appearance. I still remember one of my Metallica concert posts that got 6 up-votes, I was kinda devastated...lol
I heard Lars was replaced by a drum bot that doesn't drag tempo? 🤗 Metallica only 6 upvotes! Ridiculous !! that material should get at least 20 nibbles on this master of sock puppets platform..
Haha @skramatters!! Probably :) I was too far away to tell the difference!
I know right!! deserved more than 6 votes! To be fair I probably had about 50 followers with mostly older ladies posting flower photos. My blog and following has evolved quite a bit since then (thankfully!) It was a good show ad they even made a cd of the entire live concert in Edmonton and sent it to everyone that attended, it has become our roadtrip cd, we just blast it and relive the show.
Exactly. We all have so much that could be slightly reworked into something greater, or even stand alone posts like you said, that nobody saw. I just don't want to see folks doing it to be lazy. Over time we all end up improving how we format, even the way we originally worded things could be improved for the second go. It's our material and these are our blogs. We can do whatever we want, as long as it's done responsibly and not in a way that will annoy people. I've been experimenting with it now for quite some time and I haven't had any complaints so I feel it's safe now some of those who aren't as established as I am could possibly give it a go. I don't do it all the time though. Too many reruns and people change the channel. Another thing: I always tell people it's something old as a little sidenote. Sometimes I'll even give the exact date it was published. Things like that, just so they know I'm not trying to pull a fast one.
Totally agree, shouldn't be a full re-run of the entire life of a blog week after week but like you said, it is our blog. If I repost something I will make sure that it is clearly stated, why I reposted it and include the original link to the story as well. We all grow overtime, I'm sure there is always something we can improve on every post. It's probably a nice journey to go back to the past and see where we have evolved and where we still need to evolve, like a self discovery journey all at the same time. at my anniversary or the new year, I do like to make a post that includes some old photos and the links as in a "best of posts" (or when the blockchain is down and most can't post but I can...gives some reading material!!) and they are generally well received but it's not something I do very often. I have enough new material that I never posted yet and some even dates back like a year!! I do my best to work on the newer stuff I don't post. If you have experimented and gotten no negative results if done responsibly then I will trust your word. You are way more established than I am!
I have some work from way back when that is so shitty, I'd never even think of embarrassing myself like that again. BUT, it would be humorous to put it all together and show folks what a miserable failure looks like! That's something I've already done though... and nobody complained! Something like that, I'm taking a page right of the Simpsons book. We've all seen those shows where they'll make a new episode using clips from previous shows. They even did a show making fun of themselves for doing something like that; but really, it's normal. People can get creative and find unique ways to present old stuff. It's still work. My previous post took a few hours of scanning through old stuff, finding good stuff, then narrowing it down, checking for typos, formulating the post, then still sticking around to shoot the shit and talk with people after.
I can only think of one piece I did That I kinda regret and wouldn't embarrass myself like that, being a photo blog I'm already kinda picky about which ones I post. At the beginning, I definitely was the one picture poster with barely any text and wouldn't do that again but I still like the photos. Didn't take me too long to figure out the vibe around here and started doing better early on. I also don't take my blog too seriously, I just have fun with it and whatever happens happens. The best part is the conversations with online friends that follow, it's so rewarding and made so many genuine lasting connections with people from around the globe.
I bet that would be pretty funny to make a "worst of" post and crack a bunch of self jokes. I think it's also inviting others to be silly on the post too. I bet some of the jokes would be hilarious. I think sometimes people fear the flag wars and are afraid to be themselves both in posting or commenting. That's mainly what I look for tho, posts where folks are being true to themselves and just have fun with it. After all, this is social media not an official professional publishing house.
I run my blog like a business but a lot my business is fun. I noticed early on, rather than simply sharing my art, I could combine it all with interesting words. Maybe fiction, a lot of humor, sometimes telling life stories, whatever. So I can be an artist, but still appeal to those who don't even like art. I often tell folks to add their personality into their posts somehow. I think I like to follow artists more than just art. That goes for photography and music as well. Without the social media elements somehow mixed in, it's hard for me to stay interested. People follow other people, not posts. I prefer to see it more as a publishing platform that is as professional as you want it to be, with social media elements combined.
Each and everyone of us has a different definition of what steemit means to us and it's functions, that's the beauty of this place, so many possibilities in so many directions. It has the potential of being something for professionals use one day but a lot of things will have to change before that can happen but we don't need to get into those details. Like you say, I much prefer following people and artists rather than just art. I feel the same , without the social aspect ,it takes away from the full experience. I follow many that I may not necessarily be into their art but the personal connection makes them worthy of my full penny up-vote based on the fun had with them.
By sharing both your art and humor, you are also taping into a wider audience rather that limiting yourself to one thing. Your art Is nice by the way, I forgot to mention that in the original comment!
I'm not saying I don't see a future in my photography and blogging, I try not to go full tradesmen on it and degenerate my brand, I would probably scare half of the platform away, then again I would probably attract the other half...LMFAO. I have a career in the oil and energy sector and that's my main focus for now but my photography/stories is a potential retirement path/hobby that I'm slowly paving the way for myself. Maybe if I build an audience first, when I'm ready to be more serious about it, I will already have a base that I slowly built overtime. I find the old connections and support goes a long way rather than the insta-fame the disappears as quick as it came. I'm kind of an introvert in nature so social media stardom is probably not really a priority or something I will achieve quickly. I feel burdened and it takes the fun out of it when I have to think of something to write about everyday.
Some of this art was first released years ago. That's another thing I've been doing lately just to spice up my posts and breathe new life into old material. I've produced so much, I basically have my own Pixabay, so I may as well use it. Thank you for the compliment.
I was beginning to see an incredible future doing this blogging thing, back when the tokens shot up in value, making my account value worth almost a third of a million Canadian... and here's the part where I can't say any more about that... LOL!
Just laugh it off...
We all go at our own pace. I tend to burn the candle at both ends, get extremely tired, then take a break. Out of the three years I've been here, I've probably worked about two years, maybe a little more. One post per day, sometimes but rarely two.
Insta-fame.. pff. One hit wonders. I've been underground here for most of my stay. Those tribes popped up, suddenly I was making the trending pages there. This hardfork happened, suddenly I'm trending on Steemit. All I did was work and try to be entertaining most days. Nothing special really. Certainly don't take anything for granted either. Each contribution is still me just grinding away, trying to get higher. No comfort zones.
Definitely! See you Sunday!!! Can't wait to see what everyone else posts!
Could be interesting, could be a total flop, might take a few weeks to catch on — I guess we'll see how it goes.
I'll definitely jump in on this. I have a ton of work buried in the long long ago. What I'd been doing was decorating my posts where I'm talking about other stuff with old art to let some of that stuff see the light of day. I did also used to do recap posts at time milestones, but I stopped keeping track of how long I've been here. I think it'll be two years in Dec. Anyway, great idea.
I've been decorating as well lately. Even did it here in this post. Made my own image catalog over the years, so it's probably a good idea to at least use it. I'll usually do my once a month post that includes all of my recent artwork. Other than that, there's a mile long list of material just sitting there, and we all have that problem, while everyone is scrambling to find good stuff.
Glad to have you on board.
That's a pretty cool concept! Awesome man!
Thanks! And I think as long as folks use it responsibly, as a way to make their blog look impressive, or something, then I hope it helps.
Yes, I agree! I think #newsteem forces them to use it responsibly :)
Well, I was going to include a little tidbit in the post about how I'm not afraid to use my downvotes...
but I wanted it to be a surprise.
HA! I just hope people can respect an opportunity. If they do good and still run into problems, I can probably get that sorted out.
I thought the same hah :) Nevertheless, I think most will respect it!
Brilliant Idea!!
I was looking back at some of my old video songs yesterday wishing I could post them again but......I guess I should have read your Sunday post instead LOLL
Resteeming this so maybe I will not forget by next Sunday!!
Thank You for sharing your idea!!
Thank you also for the ticket upvotes. They did not go unnoticed. <3
Hey @snook! Thanks for visiting.
I'm sure you could throw in a few videos, maybe some lyrics or commentary, maybe even talk about how things went originally when posting the first time. There's a million ways. I'm hoping to see a lot of long form posts where the stuff has already been created and now it's just being reworked into something more. I feel my previous post with the three included short stories like that is one my best posts lately. Still took some work to put together, certainly wasn't being lazy, and now I'm satisfied.
As for the ticket upvotes, well, I felt a bit odd sitting at the top with a joke, because I can't go, I just wanted to make people laugh. When I wrote my comment I didn't realize the post would be sitting so high and seen by so many. It only felt right, after being a goof, to push other people up with a few votes and I'll probably go visit again soon to see what's new in there.
First I have to say it's good to know I slept for about 7.5 hours. My comment above was the last thing I did before going to bed.
as to the post, yes, I was already grouping the videos in my head of what ones went together and why so I could tell a new story with them. I have been here too long to just copy and paste an old post. LOL
and I loved your story on the ticket post. It did deserve to be on top of the comments. < had to reword that 3 times
Happy, "OMG what day is it?