Steemit: Find Your 1000 True Fans Here
Kevin Kelly’s famous article on 1000 true fans is a must read for creative types. When looking to build an audience, we don’t need millions of followers, so much as a core group of fans who enjoy your material so much they’ll buy anything and everything you sell. These fans are going to be your core group who keep you going. These are your true fans[1]. Kelly’s classic article was written during a period of massive growth in Web 2.0, when Twitter and Facebook began to get popular, and before bitcoin was invented. It remains true today.
Steemit is a platform that allows users to monetize a variety of digital content, from articles, to podcasts, to video. It costs nothing to join and is free to use. The economics of Steemit may seem a little complicated, but posting and earning rewards is simple. There is nothing to lose by posting content on steem before crossposting to Medium or YouTube.
Steemit can be used casually without any expectation of profit, but many of us in the information age are trying to supplement (or replace) our income and create meaningful content from anywhere with an internet connection.
To get 1000 true fans, I’ll assume that 20 percent of my fans will have 80 percent of the actual interest in what I write. I’d also expect 20 percent of my fans to have 80 percent of the steem power for upvoting. Quick math shows I need at least 5000 followers/fans to have 1000 true fans.
Image courtesy of kk.org
Right now I have a little under 500 followers. If the 20 percent rule works, I have nearly 100 true fans. But that’s not exactly right, as I’ve not sold nearly enough of my eBook to support that hypothesis. Perhaps 20% of my followers are actually regular users of steemit, which means 20% of that group might be true fans. So 20% of the 20% (4% of the total) are my true fans. I’ve sold 25 books, and a few of those are family and friends, so that number is in line with the true fan theory.
Nevertheless, my sample size is small. I joined steemit in July of 2016, so I may have followers who have abandoned the platform since my first couple posts. Many of my followers may not have access to Amazon, and some are flat out bots! But there is a core of you out there who are reading and enjoying what I write, and I am thankful for that.
Comments
Let’s talk about comments. 80 percent of the best comments come from 20 percent of steemians. These are the people I want to grow relationships with. These are the people we want to follow; we want them to follow us and we want their quality comments to accompany our articles. This isn’t the YouTube comments section!
How do we find one another? I think the best way is by commenting on others’ posts. Let’s investigate which posts to comment on.
There are a few mega stars on steemit who have a 70+ rating and hundreds of comments. Generally, I don’t comment on mega threads, in steemit or otherwise. If you’re not in the first few comments, yours will get buried. Our time is worth much more than that.
However, there are plenty of steemians who are hacking away and learning steemit, who are hustling every day to build relationships and create good content. Here we all are, trying to learn this next generation blockchain enabled social media co-op, and it’s a team effort to make-and keep-this platform great.
I’m going to make it a goal to comment on others’ posts every day. I’m not sure what the number will be yet, because I need to ensure I balance work and family before steemit, but I’ll see if I can get 5 thoughtful comments a day posted outside of people I currently follow. I challenge you to do this as well!
Lowering Your Platform Risk
The world of cryptocurrency is young, and there is a lot of risk investing in these assets. For that reason, I avoid making carte blanche statements about what cryptocurrency to buy. I’d rather focus on protecting you from making awful mistakes and losing a bunch of money. Personally, however, I have a good deal invested in steem power. And while it is hard imagining the price of steem dropping below $1 again, it is certainly a possibility (that’s a weird turn of phrase…). If I lose my investment in steem, but gain 1000 true fans, I win.
This is why Steemit is such an important tool for creatives. Earn money while you build your audience, and there is the possibility that the price of steem continues to rise and you do even better than expected.
Find Your 1000 True Fans on Steemit
Steemit brings new incentives to monetizing content online. Many of the legacy social media platforms have become obnoxious and divisive, with more nimble users fleeing to other platforms that better connect them to like minded people. Steemit gives us all the opportunity to build an audience that attracts those who share our interests.
Have you found your 1000 true fans yet? I’d love to read your comments below. What are your plans with Steemit?
[1] While Kelly uses the number 1000, with the goal of selling each of those fans $100 worth over a year’s time for a $100,000 annual income, he points out that the number is not set in stone, and can be changed depending upon your needs.
-Jeff
Check out my book for more information on cryptocurrency trading. Free for Amazon Unlimited readers!
I'm with you there. There were a few authors that I started following because I liked their stuff, but they get so buried in comments that they're not able to respond. I may still read their stuff and give them a vote, but I'm not able to have the relationship with them. I try to focus my time on those with whom I can have a conversation and build a relationship.
^^This is how it's done, people!^^
Thanks for the useful comment, @themanwithnoname
The Blockchain really shows us how important decentralization is, even when it comes to community. When a community becomes too large anonymity and apathy run rampant.
Agree. It will be interesting to see what 50 more years of social media and self selecting communities do to the "real world".
I have heard the 1000 true fan model discussed on multiple podcasts, but wonder how time consuming it is to find your fans. I really like your application of the 80/20 rule. You can apply that to just about every aspect of your life to find ways to improve.
Plans for Steemit
One aspect that drew me to steemit was that I could compensate those who work I was already following and find value with upvotes that have actual value. But creating my own content has been a struggle. Finding the time to create new content I think is work posting has been difficult.
Creating high quality content (for me) is very time consuming. I have several different areas I would like to write, but have no idea if there is an audience for it.
As a newbie and someone who feels like they are mostly looking in from the outside, I have seen a few groups where there is great interaction and commenting. But I see so many awful posts and replies I sometimes wonder if Its worth the time or financial investments to grow and be seen. Its hard when unlike yourself you see content producers never interact, and just collect upvotes, I have had to unfollow a few and add a few to my do not upvote list.
Do you have a profile pic? That would help a little.
There are plenty of bad posts...80% most likely! Find your people on here, though, or bring them here from Reddit or Facebook and keep at it.
I do need a profile pic, need either a avatar or a picture, I hadn't decided yet.
This is my first attempt at building an audience. Thanks for to encouragement, fighting back the feeling that I started too late is my biggest weakness.
That was extremely informative. I quickly learned not to spend time commenting on the giant threads either; and I totally agree about other social media being "obnoxious and divisive" because those are the two perfect words for them!
I'm trying to balance my desire to grow and expand with my opposing desire to cozy up with a small core group and call it good, ha!
To be honest I find it hard to gain followers at first especially that I am not good in writing. Why would they follow me if they dont get something from me?
But as time goes by, I realized that we are all talented. I discovered new talents in me throught steemit. We just really need to find our spot in this platform. And right now, im still in the middle of my search. Hehe.
I’m your official fan now :)
Yes, we all have some sort of talent, that's exactly right!
I used to get discouraged when I would see somebody who had an incredible amount of talent in one field (or many), but as I've gotten older I've grown both 1, more dedicated to improving my own creations, and 2, less concerned with any inequality in abilities.
What I keep trying to tell my friends is that they can use steemit for blogs, photos, vlogs, podcasts, and more. Good at cooking? You can make a recipe blog on here with photos and instructions. @sagescrub has a cool series on how he made his backyard into an edible garden.
Thanks for following and your comments!
I definitely agree with you on more dedication in improving own creations and less concerned with any inequality in abilities. That’s really true especially to a person with low self esteem and would easily get discouraged.
I will give myself a shot in cooking. So as photography and tutorials.
You’re welcome @protogeaa! Anytime :) Thank you for being such an inspiration for new comers here in this platform. Looking forward for more of your inspiring thoughts! Steem on! :D
Thanks, cooking posts are always fun and helpful! Especially with the global range of steemians.
Beep! Beep! @shadow3scalpel at your service. I am here to assist all military members on Steemit. This HumVee will be scouting posts from a list of Veterans that is maintained by @chairborne. If you are a Veteran and new to Steemit, and you have questions or want to join the Veterans community, reply to this comment. We got your six, unless you are in the rear with the gear. Ooh-Rah!
Comment by @inthenow. This is a opt-in bot.
You right here
there is a bit different between the amount of followers to the amount of the true followers
some of the followers are not longer active some of them not really following
Great post interesting info
I really enjoy your post because you write them very well and i can really see that you put a lot of effort in them. I have only been on the platform for about a week as you know, but i would really like to follow and read all your posts, but i feel bad commenting and looking like one of those people whos only looking for upvotes and earning money and that im not beeing able to give back. Great post as always though!
I write enough that if you don't have a comment to make on one post, maybe another will tickle your fancy.
:)
Of course i will comment on the posts that i find interest in but i am more of a guy who follows a person because how they are not what kind of stuff they make so much, if that makes sense haha. Like my buddy showed my a video when a guy played fifa and i found the guy very nice so i continued watching him even though i dont play fifa. I just feel guilty commenting on steemit because of the reward system, i mean im not denying that i created an account because of the rewards ;), but i found the community great. Hopefully when i have bought and gained more steem i will be able to give back!
The only guilt you should feel is if you are cheating or lying.
The comment system in steemit rewards constructive comments, not spam or trash. So every little bit you do (and every penny or two you earn!) is proving that economic incentives can create better user engagement than YouTube comment sections (as one toxic example).
Exactly @protegeaa. Initially I was excited about finding an outlet to practise blogging, but the idea of supplementing and eventually replacing my income by doing this is very appealing and encouraging. Thanks for this article, makes sense .... still have a loooong way to go!
Pretty much exactly my story too. If the least you do is improve communication skills, it is worth it.
Maybe I should call it Toastmasters for bloggers. : )
Toastmasters for bloggers! that is exactly right. Definitely do think more of how others will react to your content. Do you captivate that main audience you are going for. Which does show why it is important to find your true fans to tailor content with them actively in mind. (Getting majority SP back in few days, then ill come back and upvote)
Awesome to read this and it is why I think Steemit has so much potential. If it does continue to grow and take off the ability to get those 1000 core fans continues to grow as well.
I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket, but I am definitly putting in a considerable amount.
i'm one of your true fans 😋
Thank you! I hope I can add some value to your steemit experience.