Image Source
Do you know what really gets me?
Seeing people wasting money STEEM & SBD.
Now, I'm not talking about having a slightly bad ROI while using promotion services. As even then, the goal of promoting the post is still achieved.
What I'm referring to is something which should be obvious but what many users aren't realising and thus wasting many, many SBDs & STEEMs.
The Promotion Tab
You are probably aware of this in-built service of Steem, but if you're not, let me give you a quick introduction:
Steem has an in-built service of showcasing posts under the Promoted tab, which have been paid for with SBD or STEEM through a transfer to @null.
These funds are automatically burned, which is good for the rest of the SBD & STEEM tokens as their value increases due to less supply.
Problem: Nobody is looking
Now the problem here is that promoting the posts this way can be quite expensive as no ROI is guaranteed and it solely relies on users actually seeing the post.
And I can only speak for myself and those people I've talked with, but over the last 6 months, I have never looked into the promoted tab.
I only started looking into it, when I noticed huge chunks of money being transferred to @null.
Analysing the transfers over the last 2 months showed that over 7700 SBD & 2 STEEM have been spend for promotion through @null.
import { Client } from 'dsteem'
const client = new Client('https://gtg.steem.house:8090')
export default async function main() {
let trxs = await client.call('condenser_api', 'get_account_history', ['null', -1, 10000])
trxs = trxs.map(x => {
let op = x[1].op[1]
op.time = x[1].timestamp
return op
})
trxs = trxs.filter(x => {
if (!x.memo) return false
return x.memo.includes('@')
})
console.log(trxs[0])
console.log(trxs.length)
let sum_steem = trxs.reduce((a, b) => +a + (b.amount.includes('STEEM') ? +Number(b.amount.replace(` STEEM`, ``)) : +0), 0)
let sum_sbd = trxs.reduce((a, b) => +a + (b.amount.includes('SBD') ? +Number(b.amount.replace(` SBD`, ``)) : +0), 0)
alert(`SBD ${sum_sbd} | STEEM ${sum_steem}`)
}
Test the code directly in your browser: https://playground.steem.vc/ (just copy & paste it)
And now?
Don't get me wrong. I think the idea of having an in-built promotion function is important, but fact is: the current system doesn't work and unknowing users are losing big chunks of money.
So what now?
1.) The Promoted Tab has to be re-designed or re-incentivized.
2.) Promotion shouldn't be done through the Promotion Tab until things change or unless you're aware of the fact that you're losing money.
But promotion of your posts is important, right?
The Alternative
Correct. Promotion is a crucial element in being successful on Steem. It doesn't matter how much time you invest into your posts & videos, if nobody sees them.
So, a much better alternative instead of the promote tab is to use Smartsteem.com.
Just go to Smartsteem.com, login with your Steem posting-key and click on Promote.
Fill out the fields and soon your post will be visible to a lot more readers and Steemians.
Now, I want to mention that I'm the founder of Smartsteem, which makes my opinion theoretically biased and there are of course other promotion services but honestly: if you're making the best pizza by working tirelessly on your craft, and you're eating the pizza yourself, why shouldn't you be proud about it, right?
Epilogue
Alright my fellow Steemians. Always keep in mind that while Steem might not be worth that much today than few months ago, the past tells us that it's possible.
So treat your activity and rewards on Steem as an investment and act & think smart.
Have a great day!
Your witness,
@therealwolf
Making Steem Greater
Projects developed by @therealwolf for Steem
| Smartsteem.com | Steem Chat-Wallet |
|---|---|
| Witness Essentials | Utopian.io Signup |
More about me
Do you share my vision for Steem? Let's work together to achieve it!
You can vote for me at https://steemit.com/~witnesses.
Or you can simply use steemconnect to vote for me or to set me as a proxy.
A big and sincere Thank you to all of those who support my efforts!
Thanks for the great information!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Sure thing!
I use Smartsteem frequently and also delegate SP because it’s a fantastic service. In fact, I published a post on it here https://steemit.com/smartsteem/@kenmelendez/gembl92p. Love what you are doing Wolf. Steem on!
-Ken
Posted using Partiko iOS
Thank you ken! Amazing post! Next time, let me know in advance so I can upvote it when the upvote algorithm is worth it :)
Anytime! I love promoting cool stuff like Smartsteem. What is the best way to let you know in advance?
Posted using Partiko iOS
Ah, normally mentioning @therealwolf or @smartsteem would be enough, but I guess I skipped your notification.
Hold tight your money! Dont waste it easily
Hodl tight your money - exactly!
I started using Smartsteem now with all my posts haha, after watching a video that @kenmelendez did. Ken also answered my questions in Discord when I had them. The service is great! I was like a kid in a candy store when I did the bid for votes, and wound up with a 13.73 ROI. hehe I know that doesn't happen all the time, but it was awesome. Cool service, thanks!
Hehe, glad to hear that! Bid-bots can be either a positive or negative surprise. If you want more stability, then you can use: https://smartsteem.com/promote/buy (@smartmarket)
hahaha yeah I only did the "bid for votes" one time, and was lucky to get the high ROI. I normally do the promote/buy. Usually not a whole lot, like 5 to 10 STEEM, but it rarely uses it all, and sends me back the balance that it can't use. :)
Btw. if anybody wants to burn something to increase the value of the currency consider @burnpost or just send directly to @null :)
If you want to promote your posts and get a good roi while doing so: @smartsteem ;)
That's a good way for big stakeholders to do something good for their tokens, but not so much for small or medium-sized users :)
as someone who spend few but all SBD with promoting option I totally agree wiith your interpretation.
At least it wasn't too much!
Danke Wolf, dass du uns wieder am laufenden haltest. 👍
Posted using Partiko Android
Sehr gerne!
Thank you for the good read. However, I would like to comment on a few things:
1.) First and foremost, Smartsteem is the best promoting service out there and I want to thank you for offering such a service.
2.) However, I think it is undoubtedly necessary to have an inbuilt-function in Steemit available where Steem and SBD get burned, consequently leading to a more stable ecosystem. Therefore I would suggest co-operating with @ned and the rest of the developer team to build a really good promoting service which burns SBD and Steem. After all, it should be in everyone's interest to wipe out some liquid Steem.
3.) For the given reasons above, however, it is a little bit counterintuitive in my mind to advertise against the 'promoting'-tab, because regardless of whether the person who burns Steem and SBD was aware of the consequences, this still helped to a minimum extent to maintain a stable ecosystem.
Thank you for reading.
If you want to promote, it should all be burned.
The ability to spend 500 SBD, push a post to the top of tending, and get that 500 back is a fucking joke.
1.) Thank you very much and it is my pleasure!
2.) Great idea!
3.) I'm only advertising against the promoted tab as it's not worth it in its current form. If the promoted tab will be worth it in the future, I'll obviously write a post about it. The last part about Smartsteem wasn't the goal - it's just something I thought would fit into the post.
Thank you for commenting!
Oh yes, good looking out... I remember you showing me that account sending 250 sbd for a post with no views, no comments.
7k to @null is pretty crazy... as much as it may be a good thing to fight inflation, because it is, doing so unwillingly, meaning that those people are just misinformed and thus get no results, im sure hurts the name of the platform too.
not hard to imagine someone saying:
"steemit is a scam, i sent 100 sbd for promo, didnt get a refund, nobody even saw my post"
Exactly. I should have posted a screenshot of it in there, but I didn't find it.
Burning SBD & STEEM is good for the platform, but bad for the individual without a lot of tokens. If you have 2 Million Steem - it's obviously better if STEEM grows from 1$ to 1.1$ instead of gaining 1000 STEEM.
I knew the promoted tab was there but I had no idea how to get my posts to show up on there (I wasn't really interested in having my posts on there but still...thanks for the info)
I think this post will be really helpful to those that are looking to promote their posts in a more effecient way. The site https://steembottracker.com/#paid also works really well when decided how and what service to use when promoting.
I should promote this post inside the promoted tab to make people aware who want to promote their posts there, eh? ;)
That is actually a good idea haha
I never look in the promoted tab and I would bet that the majority of users on the platform don't either.
I haven't used the promote feature on smartsteem yet, but I have been taking advantage of the invest feature for a little while now. I'll have to throw a few SBD's at one of my post and give it a go.
I find the combo of promoting your post and vote-selling an effective way to be active on Steem, while earning with your investment.
Great information! Thanks for this awesome post. That is pretty sad that there is no ROI for the promotion tab. I have used SmartSteem in the past and have been very happy with it.
Very glad to hear that. My hope is that in the future the promotion tab is being improved.
My problem with @null was that at the beginning of my experience I wanted to promote a post, sent the SBD to the above mentioned user and never saw my post listed there. EVER. It was not a big amount of money, but for me it simply didn't work. You're probably right also with the fact that not too many still visit the Promoted page.
Hm, maybe it was not enough as the ranking algorithm takes in consideration your amount in comparison to other promotion amounts. And some people were sending crazy amounts to @null. Even up to 200 SBD..
steemit.com should automatically show randomly chosen promoted post on the trending page.
Would be better than the promoted shite for sure.
@therealwolf
Do we have any alternative to this promotion services..
Posted using Partiko Android
Yep. Work hard. Comment with honestly and insightful replies, and you will piss on anything this or any service can offer.
Bonus: you will not jack the shit out the trending page.
meep
Never a truer word spoken.
meep
🍉👁🌹
meep
you have nice blog @abh12345
@abh12345
Do I need to invest as well to grow.
or any possible way to grow the steempower??
Posted using Partiko Android
SP = influence. I will not hurt to invest, but it's not an option for some.
Good luck!
One solution to the lack of visibility for promoted posts is to include them along with all the other posts on trending/hot, but to have a small tag beside the post saying 'Promoted' or something to that effect.
That way, at least promoters get some exposure.
hello i use @smartsteem to promote my posts and sell my upvotes and I'm really happy, thank you for your job
Thanks for the info!
That's a very useful information. But since you're the founder of smartsteem, most people will think that you're being biased in your view of the promotion tab. It's only those using it that can actually tell whether it's profitable to them or not
We should have to take effort to change this. This promotion should we worthy to us so we have to unite @therealwolf you have raise a great topic sir
@therealwolf I sent 10 steem to this account still-observer last night. This morning I got a message from a woman saying,
Looks like I’ve been had. I’d like other to not suffer the same fate of thieves like this if it can be helped.
Thanks
Sorry to hear that, but it's probably a Scam. If things sound too good to be true, they probably are. Better use Smartsteem - it's trusted and battle-tested for nearly a year.
Thanks. I fell for the too good to be true bit. oops.
I use smartsteem as well.
Interesting info, I'll go and explore it more.
what you could do would be to implement it as a kind of ad. like facebook ads which appear next to the current posts. It would actually only be a small change in the UI.
So these promotedposts would keep their range and would still give the Steem ecosystem more value through the burned tokens.
But smartsteem is currently really a better alternative for range :3
But wait there is more...
hehe
Congratulations @therealwolf! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
SteemitBoard and the Veterans on Steemit - The First Community Badge.
You know I'm going to disagree with you about this.
See you at Steemfest.
Of course - who needs promotion-services if you have dolphin-, orca- and whale-friends. ;)
If you want to take jabs at me on Steem all the time, your decision. But don't expect me to tolerate that face-to-face.
I'm interested in bringing positive changes to Steem, not discussing about your idiology towards promotion services.
With that said: I'm sorry if your life is tough right now, here is something to cheer your up.
How do you make those friends do you think? Delegating to a bot or working your arse off to encourage engagement and retention?
For those who don't know the answer to this question, I am repeatedly told by larger accounts that they are watching out for those who are working.
The choice is yours people, turn your influence into dust or make an effort to put things right here.
Do you think I sneezed and this post was done? I'm working my arse off for nearly every post I make. And if I don't, I won't promote it.
Promotion for me is a way to share important information and to reach new users, who are not following me yet.
If other people are abusing this promotion system, then that's their responsibility. And if they abuse too much, they get blacklisted. And this is the responsibility of the promotion services.
I make friends, regardless of the wallet-size. And there are people who prefer your way and there are those, who don't have the time or need to socialize as much and who prefer my way.
I'm not sure what you think I'm doing the whole day - but developing the technical and business side of all my projects, writing blog-posts, designing thumbnails etc etc. is taking a very big chunk of my time.
And socializing as a way to have people curate my posts, is simply not an effective option. It's nearly 2 am in the morning for me and since about an hour ago I found the time to socialize, comment on comments etc.
If you found your way to be successful on Steem - that's great. Even amazing. But don't enforce your ideology on other people - especially in a decentralised social network.
With that said: have a peaceful night!
Thank you kindly sir!
With all being said I will gladly enjoy a beer with you at the festival.
Buenas noches a ti.
I mainly use smartsteem for its vote selling service. I think the best way not to waste and stee power is by having it in constant use. I love the fact that I use my power whenever I want to but anytime that it's not being used it is still working for me and making a roi.
Like you said I've never even looked at the promotion tab like most other people so obviously it's not doing what it was set up to and therefore needs an overhaul.
Posted using Partiko Android
Good information ..
This sounds amazing.
Tbh I think promotion is a great idea, problem is it is way to expensive.
Really great information
Something is wrong with your bot today. I sent 10 steem and it never voted. A few other people are having the same issue on discord.
Looks like it went through finally. Must have been a glitch!
Smartsteem is a really good machine to clearly promote and sell vote. Especially I started using sell-vote function actively. Clear return structure and real-time calculation. LOVE it!
Posted using Partiko iOS
I've never really used the promoted posts, I've used bidbots a couple times and found them to be useless. Some people seem to find them alright. The little I make off my posts I just let accumulate. I don't think an early retirement is coming anytime soon! :) Thanks for the info, it's always great to learn new and helpful information.
Sure smartsteem services are very good.
I didnt know about the promote service include in Post page.
Thank you for sharing this information.
Promotion is quite broken out here in Steemit, you need the promotion like Facebook where the promoted blogs should be shown in between the other posts.
Posted using Partiko Android
This is another great tip. I think I have only used the promoted feature a long time ago and I havent actually saw any results :D
The smart play is ALWAYS the correct one...good post!
I am new sttemit user, really i happy to get this information from your post. good article indeed
Congratulations @therealwolf! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPi'm guessing steemit inc wants to be the centralized body for promotions.
but the promoted tab is just garbage.. 😦
nice informative post! btw I witness you ;)
Hello,
I am making a list of people who actively read, react to or upvote comments on their articles.
This list will be everyone that I follow (my following list).
You are actively engaged in your comment section and upvote the usefull feedback, so I have added you to this list.
I hope this will bring you and the others like you good fortune! keep it up!
If you know someone who you think should be added to this list please let me know in the comment section under the article in the link below, so far I have found around 30 authors that are worth commenting on after reading.
https://steemit.com/list/@flyingdutchman/help-me-make-a-list-of-people-worth-reading-and-upvoting-your-opinion-is-worth-something-earn-more-steem-by-only-reading