I have been here on Steemit for a little over a month, but I began writing daily just last week. In that time I have gained followers and reputation as a decent writer. But I wanted to get better and grow more, then I got this idea!
An Idea the Size of a Whale
Over the course of this week, a thought crossed my mind, "how do I become a whale." So, I began to do research! The past two days I have gone through over 50 accounts analyzing them one by one. Checking their posts, comments, replies and even their wallets!
My analysis consists of 25 whale accounts and 25 bad accounts, whose reputation in down in the dumps and way below 0! I know it sounds crazy, but there are accounts almost -20 in status. Today we will be focusing on the whales and how to become one!
Without further a due let's jump right into the research!
The 25 Whales I Researched
The Research
From these 25 giants, I took all of their data and found out the average of each column. Here is what I found.
These are all rounded to the nearest whole number.
RP: 75
Followers: 5409
Following: 2310
Posts: 7568
Estimated Value: $82,839.00
The Bench Mark of Being a Whale
So the average whale has a reputation of 75, and they have 5,409 followers while following back 2,310 of them. Posting in total 7,568 times and their wallet on average is worth $83,839.
We can use this as a bench mark to aim for; this is what we need to reach to be considered the average whale on Steemit.
The Age of the Whales Accounts
Before we jump into their posts, one thing they all had in common was the account was a year old or older. The account is at least a year old means they had spent over 365 days, writing, reading, commenting, and creating new posts!
Judging from the age of all of their accounts, it seems most of them are early adopters in Steemit. There is no issue in not being an early adopter because I see people growing their accounts quickly all with in a few months!
How to Post like a Whale
Now, we know the bench mark for the typical account we need to have to be considered a whale. Next is how to post like a whale!
I went through all 25 of these whale accounts and had found a common practice amongst all of their posts. There were over 29 things these whales did to succeed, but I am going to narrow it down to the ten most important.
The 10 Key's
[1] - Consistency
Every single whale was consistent in posting every day or according to their post schedules. Consistent posting enables you to grow an audience; we can see proof of the data above showing they have thousands of fans.
[2]- Standard post layout
Every post they made had a standard layout. As a beginner, you tend to make a post, and every post looks different. Whales have standardized the way their posts look, so every blog does not have a new funky design every time.
[3]- Full time on Steemit
This is an essential component of becoming a whale, almost all of them if not all, are full-time on Steemit. They treat it like a daily job, spending hours upon hours to grow and create content. Since they generate income through their posts, this enables them to be full-time.
[4]- High-quality photos
All their posts had a standard, and a very high standard to post only high-quality photos. There were no pixelated photos or amateur shot pictures either, so there was no finger blocking half the shot.
[5]- Use custom banner at the bottom of post
Creating custom banners for your posts is important, it shows professionalism and care. They all had banners at the bottom to optimize their posts.
[6]- Original content
All of their content is original, not copied from elsewhere. Everything was a fresh new idea unless it was a news post but those also had fresh ideas and a twist to it. New ideas keep the audience engaged and interested for future posts.
[7]- They have series
Since the whales have large audiences, they have created "episodes" and even seasons to those episode posts. Depending on the post it could say "Travel with me Episode: 39" this helps regular viewers to stay on track.
[8]- Quality thumb nails
They usually did the thumb nails in photoshop. It has a clear picture usually with a Steemit logo on it and their face. If the post topic were about something else, they would use royalty free pictures.
[9]- Proficient writers
Apparently from posting every day for over a year they have become very well learned in writing. Their posts are grammar mistake and spelling error free. This ensures a standardized quality for every blog!
[10]- Active in the Steemit community
Every single whale is active in the Steemit community; they are regularly looking for good upcoming writers to upvote. The whales tend to create second accounts that offer a service to the community to grow the minnows into dolphins and even one day into a whale!
The Most Important Factor of Whales
The most important element of a whale is that they have invested large amounts of money into their accounts. Either the person was an early adopter, and STEEM was worth a few cents or, they spent their own money into the account to increase the SP of it!
What You Should Do to Become a Whale!
Now, what you and I should do to become a whale. We need to post every single day, at least 3-5 times a week for a year straight. While posting creates original content that has a standard layout and looks attractive. During this whole time, you should invest money now and then into your account to increase the power of the account; this will accumulate to a significant amount eventually.
Since you posted so much and for an extended period, your account will have many followers. The members will follow you and not just for your posts; they become fans! Once you have fans reading regularly they upvote and resteem, this blossoms an income for you, and eventually, you can become full time on Steemit. You will become a baby whale and then a full blow whale that can help the community grow together!
This post took me over two days to gather data, organize, review and write. Look out for the next post coming up showing the data of the lowest ranked people on Steemit, you will be shocked!
If you enjoyed this post give it a upvote and feel free to follow me for the next episode! Resteem this to teach the community how to grow!
I like these facts seeing put in one place, described and comented. Seems all known and familiar, but still fun to read. I will wait even more for your low end participant review.
Whales are big in every respect, and to grow BIG takes time. Even the smartest players can not go around it.
It was interesting for me to find that followers keep growing even on low posting weeks.
Posting every day is hard. And only the hard works are usually rewarder well.
+1 on my followers list. ( with this post)
Even I am latelly trying hard to reduce this list.
It is not acceptable to self upvote your comment and not upvoting the original post. I've got screenshot proofs. That's why I flagged your comment. Perhaps it won't even matter to you. Too greedy.
@yogesssh I fully agree, and I share your point. In fact I normally do not upvote my own comments, only the initial posts. Sometimes, on a rare occations, when I want my comment go to the TOP of the list, on a busy threads, I do an exception.
How it happened here, that the original @distress2success post was left without an upvote, is not much clear to me. You now, sometimes it happens ( mistakes)
I completely accept this as my tough mistake ( which has been corrected easily today)
Thank you for acknowledging! I see that you have quite a hefty amount invested and your reputation is quite good. Please be careful and support authors you like while earning for yourself as well which I believe all steemians here are for.
Thank you, your going to enjoy the low end user article also once it comes out! I appreciate the follow 😊
This is quite and helpful post specially for minnows just like me! However after few weeks of staying in here, I must admit steemit is addicting but there exists trends like selfvoting by some greedy ones, BTW there is one down in your comment section who has selfvoted his/her comment but not your post. Well, maybe not everyone is same but this trend is not good for minnows starting out even if they post quality content. BTW I am flagging the comment. Hope others follow. I have taken screenshots of the voters list and onealfa voting himself/herself.
BTW I followed and upvoted and would like to see your research on bad accounts as well.
Thank you very much, I'm happy you enjoyed it! Actually voting for yourself is one of the thing I found out that lowers your RP and many of the low end accounts did that.
Its interesting to know that RP is lowered in case of self upvoting. However I was not really concerned even when I noticed trending authors upvoting themselves and I don't think lowering of RP works effeciently in the case of post which gets lots of votes. Hope you have cleared that in your upcoming post. Further I was really concerned when I saw the user voting his/her own comment and not voting your post even if he/she has praised your post in the comment.
You will see in the next post how they ended up losing RP for upvoting them selves :) its not directly correlated but indirectly. Yes it is sad some never upvote the post, I always end up on the top of the list of most undervalued posts :(.
Further I call @originalworks
A whale is a whale because of Steem Power, not Reputation. It take a billion vests to be a whale:
https://steemit.com/minnowsunite/@preparedwombat/so-you-ll-never-be-a-whale-meh
https://steemit.com/whales/@preparedwombat/yes-whales-are-big-here-but-do-you-realize-just-how-big
This post received a 1.5% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @distress2success! For more information, click here!
Thank you!
This post recieved an upvote from minnowpond. If you would like to recieve upvotes from minnowpond on all your posts, simply FOLLOW @minnowpond
Where is the list of the negative rep accounts!
(Feelin gossipy)
Hahaha It will be released today! The things some of them did is filthy and sad.
Excellent article @distress2success..
Absolutely correct observations and fantastic advice.. Thank you so much for your in-depth analysis!! Upvoted & Resteemed...
I appreciate the feed back, Thank you for that! Hopefully you will enjoy my future articles.
thanks for giving great information,i really appreciate you!
Thank you , I hope this helps you grow.
really.....
Hi @distress2success! @oscarps is sending you 0.1 SBD tip and @tipU upvote
:)
@tipU - send tips by writing tip! in the comment, get share of the profit :)Very good informations. I just started my Steemit experience one week ago. The more I get into it, the more I have to learn. It looks not to complicated , but there are many things I don't know . I also made a few beginner mistakes (e.g. upvoting on old posts -- > lowering down my voting power, posting my introduceyourself at the wrong time etc. ) So your article was very helpful . It is very important to think carefully about strategies. But I am on my way and I am patient. So let's see what happens. Cheers!
No worries ahah we all make begginer mistakes. Give it a little time you will get much better at it and your audience will grow fast!
Thanks for the kind words. I will do my best.
So very helpful and thank you for taking the time to do your research so that you can help Newbies like myself to succeed. I've only joined about 3 weeks ago but really enjoy reading all the posts and the ones that I value, I upvoted, resteemed and add a little chat about my take on the post. I really like the idea that we are all in here trying to help each other to succeed in business and in life. Thank you for your contribution. Will learn and get better at writing so I can contribute more.
Thank you for taking the time to give me feed back on the post. A little trick I use to get better at writing is auto correct tools, so when I write and make a mistake it fixes it for me. 🙂
Sorry to ruin your dreams. But from posting alone, you will not become a whale. To be a whale you will need to buy SP, that's how you attract all these followers. To buy today SP is very expensive in contrast to a year ago. There is some exceptions, but in general that's the way it works.
I agree , and that's why I mentioned it to be the most important key to the growth. All the whales have way over 50,000 SP and that needs to be done with investing into your own account. I appreciate the feed back 😀.
Bravo! You set a fine example with this post and your hard work is appreciated. I also like your screen name. When learning and doing something you enjoy doing, there's much less time and energy to squander of worries.
Thank you ahaha the name was hard to think of 😂. I agree when you love what you do it becomes fun.
I think your analysis is very correct and you are not stingy to share. I like your effort coz this takes time. I admire your tenacity! Signs of a young whale.
Thank you ahah, I always wondered how the whales became what they are! I guess my curiosity helped solve a few questions for us all ahaha.
Its a sad affair. They upvote each other and we dont get any share.
I have had some whales upvote my post actually :), they usually look for very good ones to vote for.
You are lucky. But there are many decent whales out there that looks for contents.
Yup :)
Really interesting post. YOu have researched some interesting facts. However, i think it is more complex than that. I assume many of them have bought more Steem than earned. Others started early when the Steem distribution was shared with fewer people at a lower prize which allowed them to earn more than today. And also some of them have Steem businesses running earning them extra Steem like being a witness or runng bots or lending money and so on. I don't know exactly what any of the listed people do but these are a few assumptions of mine.
Thank you! Yes I agree that's why investing large amounts of money into the account becomes the most important factor to being a whale and a regular. All of their accounts are a year old, this makes it apperantly they start Steem when it was very cheap. Although I do believe a person can eventually become a whale through time making continuous small investments. Activity in the community is key as well. 😊 I always enjoy your feed back, Thank you!
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STOPThanks
Very well constructed post @distress2success 👏 if you continue producing such high quality posts, then I believe that you will ne on the right path to becoming a whale yourself in no time at all. 😁 good luck to you sir
Thank you ahaha I try my best and try to improve! Hopefully we both become whales 😊.
Excellent article, thank you very much
Your welcome, i hope you enjoyed it!
Good report, well studied, concise and with the keys to growth, thank you for sharing it @distress2success tip!
Thank you, I hope we can all succeed in this rat race 😀.
LOl, the description is very accurate, I'm really focused on the quality of the photographic work and do not upload trash, greetings bro @distress2success
Keep up the hard work! It will pay off, especially since Steem takes so much repetitive work you will get so good at photography, eventually, you will have a beautiful portfolio to show clients!
Nice post, followed
Thanks!
Amazing post for me. You are the best my friend. Thank for all information about Steemit. Pls follow and upvote me.
Thank you!
Thank you for your work and analysis @distress2success
Upvoted & Resteemed!
Thank you! Ahah it took a lot of work researching 😋
this is very informative! thank you so much for giving us this tips...I can use this in my journey here in steemit. @distress2success
Your very welcome! You can definitely grow from implementing these tips and eventually get big!
a very well laid out and informative post.. Thank you
Thank you 🤗.
good points. happy to learn all the points.... upvoted.. followed.. and resteemed...
Thank you!
Consistency pays at the end of the day buddy.
I agree!
Well done article. Keep on the good work!
Thank you, I try my best!
@distress2success well said .thanks for the information.
Your welcome , I hope you benefit from it!
Thanks for this important article and very usefull for all of us in Steemit. See my post too.
Thank you, I'll definitely check yours out also!
A good, easy read with excellent research and analysis. Thank you. Resteemed!
Thank you! I hope everyone benefits.
i love streem
Ahahahah sleeping with the wifey 😉.
great job..thank you for sharing this information @distress2success ,Upvoted this post..
Thank you! Once everyone can learn what is needed of them to become better than we can all grow as a community 😊.
Thanks for the information.
You welcome.
Very good research and report!!
I upvote you and resteem it
Thank you! Wait till the article comes out about the low RP users, you will be shocked!
I'm very curious ! What will happen to it?
Some of them have done very filthy stuff! I couldn't believe it my self :(.
Thanks for the great analysis! I will keep these tips in mind when blogging!! Upvoted and followed!
Thank you! These will benefit us all for sure.
Thank you for this post ..
Your welcome 😊.
Thanks for the write up ...it was educating
Your welcome I hope it helps.
excellent post - thanks for taking the time to tabulate that information. Consistency is to success in every profession - I look forward to more of your posts - you have a new fan.
Thank you!! I hope to entertain you in future posts and I hope you learn something new each time 😊.
Useful research on this. Will follow these. Thank u.
Your welcome! These tips have helped me tremendously.
Very informative and deep insight you give us here.
Thank you for taking the time to share this information with us!
Your welcome, eventually we will all grow with time and effort.
Very nice post with a lot of time spent for research. Keep up the good work and you will become the whale too! :)
Thank you very much!
I found that followbacks , tags ,and content are only half the equation ,what people really love is hype , story and opportunity. Without capturing an audience by feeding their needs and desires , all the hard work in the the world will not make you grow .
I agree, the audience is the most important factor to grow.
@distress2success Great day I value all the info and hard work thank you :).
I appreciate you 😃 thank you!
Interesting to see the data you have collected. I am not into the idea of investing money into this though. I imagine that means it will all take longer.
Thank you! Yea the biggest part of becoming a whale is to put in thousands of dollars into your account 😶.
Nice to meet you, @holl.boll
Wow, this is somehow a dream come true after all these years envisioning it coming to our everyday world.
I votes you post plase vote my post thank you
Thanks a lot for sharing, great job as always,
Ahaha thank you! I hope it helps every one out to grow!
Whao....thanks for this useful information and tip
You welcome !
thank you helpfully
Your welcome!
Thank you for taking so much time to help newbies like me. :)
It's my pleasure I hope you benefit from it!
definitely did!
This post has received a 10.30 % upvote from @bellyrub thanks to: @distress2success.