Steemit's marketing opportunity as a gateway to cryptocurrency
I recently wrote about what #SteemitIsToMe. There are a lot of things this platform means to me, but one of its biggest impacts on my life has been the platform's ability to introduce me to the bigger world of cryptocurrency.
And I don't think I'm the only one who has had this experience.
I'd be interested to see solid stats behind this, but my prediction is that newer users (2017) are more likely to have no previous cryptocurrency background than many of the long-time Steemians (who have been with the platform since, or prior to, July 2016). And, if my prediction is true, I believe this trend will continue to increase. In other words, more and more people will lose their cryptocurrency virginity to Steemit.
"Pop your crypto cherry with Steemit!"
(Just kidding)
Steemit has used taglines in the past such as "money talks" or "your voice is worth something," which is accurate... but I'm curious if there's another opportunity here.
The timing
Funny enough, the original Steemit homepage message sort of captured what I'll be suggesting, but I think there's a better way to do it (and I think Steemit used the term "blockchain" before the masses knew what blockchain meant).
When I joined Steemit, the image above is what the home page looked like. At this point, I had no idea what "the blockchain" was (feel free to laugh at me). I signed up because a friend of mine insisted that I check this platform out. "You can blog and make money," he said. But I was incredibly skeptical. The message "Welcome to the Blockchain" did nothing to entice me to join; rather, it almost scared me away. But I gave Steemit a chance. And I'm glad I did.
People have shared different opinions of what Steemit's homepage should be, and it has changed a few times over the past year-and-a-half for a handful of reasons. To be clear, this blog post isn't my opinion about what the homepage should be. It is merely a suggestion of one way the platform can be marketed elsewhere (to drive traffic to Steemit and grow the user base).
In the early Steemit days, the challenge was to teach the average person who had no knowledge of crypto that this thing you received on Steemit called "Steem" or "SBD" had real value, just like USD. The ideas essentially were:
- You can make money by blogging on Steemit
- What other social media network pays you to post your thoughts?
These are good messages, but by focusing solely on the fact you can be financially compensated, I believe we're missing out on the way that you are financially compensated. Being paid in Steem instead of USD is a good thing.
(And that is based on timing, because I don't think this blog post would've been as relevant a year-and-a-half ago as it is today.)
What perhaps was once a pain in some people's minds: "Oh man, I've got to take this weird "Steem" and trade it for Bitcoin then trade it for USD to use it!? What a pain!" ... is now shifting to: "I want to invest in cryptocurrency, but how do I trade USD for Bitcoin? And they're going to charge how much in fees to do that!?"
I base this on anecdotal evidence from the conversations I had with friends in July 2016 vs. the conversations I'm having with friends today. "I've been hearing more and more about cryptocurrencies, but I'm not sure how to invest," I've heard several friends say over the past couple of months. Or, "I want to invest in cryptocurrencies, but I don't have any money saved up right now." In both scenarios, I've responded with, "You should check out Steemit."
If my anecdotal experiences and predictions have any truth to them at all (I'll let you debate that in the comments section), then we may have an opportunity to harness the fact that Steemit is a place where content creators become cryptocurrency investors. And they can do so in a simple and (fairly) user-friendly environment.
I'm not suggesting we drop everything and make this Steemit's only marketing message. But in my opinion, it should be part of the value proposition. Especially when we target people who have more time than money. Because there are many examples Steemians who utilized their time, worked hard, and have had success on Steemit.
Now, those people are not just successful bloggers, they're also cryptocurrency investors.
I’m hoping steemit will come out with some sort of referral system shortly so I can start a massive marketing campaign around it
I'm interested to see what this will look like. My fear surrounding any sort of referral campaign is that it comes across looking like a pyramid/ponzi scheme; however, if done right, it could definitely help boost membership.
I agree it does. There are many out there which might not be but that is the first thought. In fact, I was involved in one which had a referral program and I spent a great deal of my time explaining that it wasnt a network marketing company like Amway.
yes i agree with you @jeffjagoe
Great post @wadepaterson
It's funny because it was the opposite for me, I was into cryptocurrency first, which then introduced me to steemit. And now both are important!
Thanks for this.
I think that’s the case for many early users... but I feel like as time goes on, Steemit’s gateway appeal will bring in a lot of users who have never owned a different crypto currency before.
Thank you for the article @wadepaterson.....I had not thought about it is such terms but I agree with your conclusion. In fact I was talking to someone the other day and she asked how one should get starting in cryptocurrencies and I said people need to join steemit since they can earn the currency as opposed to having to buy it.
So I think what you propose makes a great deal of sense. This is one of the few arenas where people can earn currency without having to fork out money (which many do not have).
Invest in cryptocurrency by using your brain....what a novel concept.
Thanks for your comment! I know not everyone is a writer or content creator; however, there are a lot of people out there who are... and this is a natural way for them to take their first steps in the world of cryptocurrency.
Informative post
Thanks.
right sir
Did somebody say something about marketing?!?
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Steemit has a very unique offering for the non-crypto initiated. It has started conversations with people I know wanting to learn more about crypto once they hear about Steemit.
For me, I already knew about blockchains. I was standing in the lab, looking at it move and grow. Steemit was the scientist that walked up and said, "you wanna touch it?"
Since joining Steemit I've bought crypto with my fiat and gained experience in a couple different exchanges. Blockchains are the way of the future and Steem could be a big part of getting people started early in the transition.