Knowing where to post, why you should prioritize your content and why manual curation matters... let's discuss a few of the most important lessons I've learned here in the Hive ecosystem, and how I'm applying them.
Anecdotally, the definition of "insanity" is: doing the same exact thing repeatedly and expecting different results. Most people have heard this, and would agree whole-heartedly, but many will themselves remain entrenched in routines that aren't necessarily doing them any favours-- or may be outright destroying their potential, in some cases.
People are creatures of habit, I suppose... and I am no exception! I can definitely fall into the same traps, and I often do, but I try to step back occasionally to assess the results of different things I'm doing-- and what I can be doing to improve those results. Time is always our number one hurdle though, so an optimistic realism helps.
We All Have Hive Lessons to Learn!
And once you learn them, I think it's important to pass on the knowledge to the #Hive community! The more people know, and the more comfortable they become with #HiveEngine tokenomics and using the different platforms, the more apt they're likely to be to get engaged and create great content!
So here are three lessons I've learned that may help new users get rolling (or shine a light on something that even a few veterans hadn't considered). They sure have helped me get the most out of my time here!
1. POST TO SUITABLE HIVE TRIBES!
If this term eludes you, Hive "tribes" are the different communities within the ecosystem... my own tribes, for instance, are LEOFINANCE for crypto and finance, CTP for entrepreneurship and affiliate-related stuff, CINETV for movies and TV content and FOODIE for everything food-related, obviously.
You really should try to publish each of your posts to the specific tribe platform that best fits the subject matter. Your content will still be included in your general blog feed, so it’s not one or the other… but it’s important to participate in the tribes (platforms/communities) that you identify with.
(Just a quick heads-up though: not every site will automatically reblog the content for you… they might ask if you want it to be reblogged, as is the case on #LeoFinance. It’s the only example I can think of at the moment, actually, but there may be others-- and there are new tribes popping up all the time, so just keep your eyes open.)
You can also use the more general-use Hive platforms like PEAKD and HIVE.BLOG if nothing else feels right. But the main benefit to posting on tribe platforms, in my opinion, is earning the different native Hive Engine tokens! When users stake them-- LEO, CTP, CINE, FOODIE and so on-- their curation is paid to creators in these tokens.
2. (YOUR) CONTENT IS KING!
Not much needs to be said about this lesson, but it should still be emphasized: one of the smartest things you can do is to PRIORITIZE YOUR OWN CONTENT! It’s certainly not a prerequisite to getting value out of the Hive ecosystem, but it's the single best way to bolster the income you can make here (hands down).
But remember my caveat earlier: be optimistically realistic. I don't publish nearly as much as I would like, but my struggles are due more to time and energy constraints rather than oversight. I digress (you should too) and I see more clearly now that the more consistent my writing output becomes, the more I earn overall.
Now... I don’t want people to hear that advice and then proceed to pump out a bunch of bullshit content that offers no value. Keep your quality up and speak about things your audience is interested in... you'll see your results improve.
3. (MANUAL) CURATION IS ENGAGEMENT.
If you didn’t catch my RECENT POST about auto-voting, my preferred tool is out of commission and I was venting my frustration to other potential Rewarding.App users. No change since... no updates from anyone.
My frustration has subsided a bit though. Because, more than anything else, it forced me to do some soul searching and realize something fundamental about my experience here in the Hive ecosystem: auto-voting, more often than not, leads to laziness and a lack of engagement. I am speaking for myself, but surely many of you can admit that we actually consume less content and leave fewer comments when our upvotes are shelled out automatically.
So I am TURNING MY AUTO-VOTER OFF! Right now, actually, as I write these very words. I will be MANUALLY CURATING your content from now on. So I probably won't cast as many votes overall, but each will be worth more... when using the auto-voter, I had to reduce upvote values as the list got longer and longer. So that's one thing off my plate!
And it's not only about my upvotes being worth more, but I will also be engaging with my favourite content creators MUCH more often (which will prove to be MUCH more valuable in time).
Class Dismissed!
There may or may not be a pop quiz first thing tomorrow morning, so read this post through four more times and commit it to memory. I'm joking, of course, but it's not the worst advice I've ever given... applying these lessons is definitely going to propel me to greater Hive heights, and I know it would do the same for you!