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# Tactics.. 
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There's so many of them. How to maximize, how to distribute that, how to be good in this, how to get 1000 of that.

I'm no expert in how to "hack" the system without putting actual effort and value. But i can say confidently that my observation and experience of Steemit so far warrants some truth in my judgement.

I hate tactics, they're shallow. Sure you can make money with tactics, its how people make money for a living at times. But for me, tactics are a short term means to an end. Especially on Steemit, tactics wont get you far. 

There is only one way that i know of If you were to take the "Make money as a writer with Steemit" path. All other PALES in comparison, regardless of how good of a writer you are, regardless of how you "game" the system.

There is no "gaming" the system, at least not for long. You will be put down, you will be purged out. Your BS will be called out for.


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# The greatest feature of Steem

Ever since being a part of the Steemit community, I've had the privilege (yes, for me, I see it as a privilege) to learn the workings of the system myself, to stumble and learn by trial and error on how do I go about this "thing". I'm grateful that I'm doing as well as i can so far in the short time I'm on here with the limited skill-set i currently posses.

The community has given me quite alot for what i do around here. It's amazing how staring at a screen for 3 hours a day after work can make you a side income of more than your 9-5 salary if you know what you're doing.
There's nothing to be boasted about though, I do really make very little on my regular job. So reaching 1:1 "side-income to main-income" ratio is easy, given what the Steem Blockchain can do.

I'd say the greatest feature of Steem isn't the 3-second block time, or the feeless transaction, or that the trasaction activity now does not even scratch the surface of it's "full" capacity and it can be scaled to meet any throughput demand regardless of how much strain is being put on the Blockchain.

No, the greatest feature of Steem is that it opens up opportunity for everyone with an internet connection and by doing so makes the term "globalization" go from a buzzword to a reality. 

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Everyone With an Internet Connection, do you know that signifies more people than the banked population of the world?

Take one example Myanmar, out of it's almost 53 million population, only about 2 and half are banked. While 36 million of them owns a smartphone with regular data subscription.

There are more Facebook accounts than Checking accounts despite one's function as a pastime activity and the other a financial need. Unlocking the creative potential of the many unbanked people and allowing them opportunities previously only reserved to the rich and those in the developed nation will vastly change the economic landscape of the people affected. 

Coupled with the emergence of Cryptocurrencies in general, this makes a truly connected world possible. The power of Geo-economics wanes by the day where anyone near a cell tower has a potential to not just break free from poverty and inspire huge improvements in their lives but potentially impact some big changes in this world.

Just take myself for example, never in my last 23 years living have i thought to have an opportunity travel all the way to the European continent to attend a conference centered around a cryptocurrency, fully paid from my earnings off the Steem Blockchain. Money which would otherwise never find me if not for The Steem Blockchain.

As for whether I'd bring change to the world.... well....... let's hope for the best eh..😂😂

Imagine what this does to the people in the struggling economy, in fact we dont need to look far from our community itself. Just take the OneLife initiative, TeamMalaysia Initiative, TeamPhiliphines initiative, Indonesian Komunitas, and probably a dozen other groups within Steemit that is only possible because of Steemit.

We've always heard of the "Attention Economy" buzzword from the mouths of gurus and tech news outlet without actually understanding what it really does.. 

Steemit, among other good things, is the Attention Economy in action.


![circles3.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdq4Y29JQ5TywGZ1qwnY72wArY8xS5HZFraHoJv9aE75H/circles3.png)

# My "Investment"

In the beginning of me joining Steemit, I've put in about $75 USD worth of Bitcoins I gained from my years of faucet hunting (I wasn't good in faucets strategizing) as a "screw it lets all in" move on Steemit after reading the whitepaper. I was instantly hooked on Ned and Dan's vision of a new type of social media and censorship resistance free speech platform.
At the time of writing, that initial $75 USD gesture of faith (or strictly speaking, "investment") has now bought me a plane ticket from Malaysia to Lisbon, at a price of my typical 2 months wage, and i still have over a thousand dollars in my account in the form of Steem and Steem Power.

That is roughly 2566% percent "ROI" on my $75 USD. 

So how did i do it? 

You can already notice from this post that I'm not a stellar writer (we are all still learning, right?), no digital marketing background and skill to speak of(these skills are what im VERY VERY interested in learning), Never blogged anywhere else in my life, and what you can label "a normal kid that never went to university".
I know i can do better but generally i feel that i am on a right path, Steemit-wise. And if you have just started out and wants to find the best way, I am more than willing to share.

# Engagement

If you follow some the best personalities on Steemit with very "inspiring" numbers attached to their profile and below each of their post, you'd notice a trait they all share in common.

Their comment count is through to roof!! For every post they've made that might get them on average $300 (for the sake of example), they must have made at least 50 comments on their own post and at least 50 comments on posts they've read. 

YES! this means that for each great post they've written, they have already read at least 50 of other peoples' great posts and gave a thoughtful reply on each of them, AND THEN reply each and every comment people put on their post.

Rinse and repeat, and over the months they've become the personalities they are today.

The best the very best example I can give to you that you can go see right this very moment is none other than @papa-pepper. I think few so far can match his tenacity and ferociousness in engaging everyone. 

<center>https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://i.imgur.com/WaLiZbv.jpg</center>
<center><sub>@papa-pepper and his "proof-of-papa-pepper-just-being-a-homesteader" picture</sub></center>

On average he has made at least 2 posts a day (even during his wife's childbirth to a new precious baby member in the pepper family) and at least 3 dozen comments. Take a look at his comment history and you can see what i mean.
Whats important here is that he ENGAGES everyone, none of comments are copied, each and everyone of them genuine and thoughtful to the original article he wants to reply.

People desire authentic and original communication. It is the one thing that our society lacks nowadays in my observation. Rest assured unlike what you think, your time and thought spend into giving a thoughtful reply does not go unnoticed.

@papa-pepper has wrote a very comprehensive series titled <a href="https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@papa-pepper/the-stranger-papa-s-advice-for-newer-users-part-1">The Stranger</a> that gives an analogy of how engagement plays out in your favor in the long run.
I can confidently say that my results today is one example of following his advice. If you haven't done so, go take some time and read that series, as well as many other advice that @papa-pepper gives out frequently.

In my previous 2 part series titled <a href="https://steemit.com/steemit/@awesomianist/do-s-and-dont-s-for-a-steemit-minnow-my-observations-so-far-with-tried-and-true-methods">"The Do's and Dont's for a Steemit Minnow"</a>. I have briefly mentioned engagement as one of the do's that you should follow. Personally, I did not "follow" anyone's advice per se, it was something that I have discovered through trial and error, and maybe some rants by Gary Vaynerchuk which made me think "why not do it on Steem?". 

This, in my opinion and experience, is the fastest way to let your voice be heard and position yourself as a noticeable part of the steemit community.

# You have a voice, let it be heard

Everyone has a voice and deserves to be heard, everyone has a story to be told, everyone is an expert in a particular topic that may potentially worth a trove of gold to the right people.
"My voice is not worth listening" or "I don't have anything to say" to the exact excuse and the only reason your voice stays unheard and unworthy.

Often in this capitalist world, value is found by connecting a supply to demand, and whoever put an effort to make that connection will, by virtue of capitalism, be rewarded for their effort.

You being a local who knows your small town inside out because "there's not even anything much here" presents an opportunity to a tourist firm because it just so happens that your town is a century-old historical early colonist settlement site and a recent historical breakthrough has suddenly opened a demand by a certain community when they become interested to visit a town their great-great-grandfather once visited.
Your nifty gardening trick could potentially lay the foundation for an agricultural breakthrough that could save millions in reduction of water needs through a new form of hydroponics.
Your seemingly boring life story of how you somehow breaking free from smoking might be exactly what some smokers need to hear to strike their right chords and put down for good the habit that have destroyed their family lives over and over.

No matter who you are, your thoughts, opinion, story, creativity, and whatever you can offer is worth something. <b>If only enough people hear you</b> to bring up the odds of striking the right set of ears.
Before people are willing to hear you, they must know who you are. Before they can even trust you, they should already know the 1-sentence-summary of your life story and why you do what you do.

And there is only one way to go about it.

# Empathy

To get people interested in you, you must first be interested in people. Before you can get them to even land on your Steemit profile page, you should already have given them something of value to them to warrant curiosity of who you are.
You can't expect people to listen to you if you yourself don't have the ability and willingness to listen to them at the first place.

When I say "Engagement" what i mean by full definition would be

>"to pay your undivided attention and full emphaty to what someone has to offer in their post and let them know that you either 
>1. appreciate what they offer and why you appreciate them
>2. are able to respond to their request and provide them something of value which they might or might not have seeked
>3. agree or disagree to their opinions and provide your arguments in a healthy and open manner
and then acknowledge them for their effort"

I would love to liken my definition to my idol Gary Vaynerchuk's saying "Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. Give, Give, Give and then Ask [with no expectation]"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jylS5dIwViI


Rinse and repeat engaging with people. Sooner or later, even if only 1 person out 100 have "returned" the favor, by the time you'vereached over 9000 person on Steemit in the comments, you'd have 90 "fans", people who would keep an eye on your posts in their homepage and is ready to talk to you. Your Steemit Buddies. Which will worth more than the "9000" as just a number on your profile. 

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Never ask and certainly never demand someone to "upvote,resteem my post and follow me". We are Steemians, we KNOW how to click that upvote, resteem, and follow button.
The trick is to make me want to to click them, have you given me a reason to? What you should do is to continue giving. what if you've commented on his post 7 times? you should comment on his post 7 times for 7 times because it is not about you. You are giving value to him, don't expect and don't ask for anything in return. 

Be Empathetic to what people want and  do your best to contribute to that.

![U5dsPuCRrcGBYFrmdAJXzjHQYxcsFxc_1680x8400.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSDKV1fECCUCh66KbsT6bk8VBqvePspMM6osUNJZsCedU/U5dsPuCRrcGBYFrmdAJXzjHQYxcsFxc_1680x8400.png)

# "Target Audience"

Who should you engage with? is that person even worth engaging with?

Don't be a snob. There's a kind of people here whereby all they do is be the yes-man of whales in hopes for some upvotes. Whale posted gibberish? "That was awesome!", Whale said some extremely unpopular and uncomfortable opinion? "That was awesome!", Whale made some serious criminal allegations without proof on someone that seriously border on libel? "That was awesome!"

You get the drift, dont be that person. Often time these are the exact same people thats borderline "rep-cist", "i only rub the balls of personalities above my rep, you lowly rep 25 stay away from!".... yea....
You want respect, judge a person by his content, let his words speak on behalf of him, not the 2 digit number beside his/her account name or the 5/6 digit (not including decimals) in his/her "wallet" section.

Be open to everyone, regardless of who they are. In a strictly selfish way of speaking, I'd much rather support a talented minnow and give him/her all the attention he/she needs that one day when he/she becomes a whale, I'll be on his/her "thank you" list. Rather than compete with others in cozying up to a whale in hopes for some votes.

Rep 25, rep 40, rep 55, 60, 76.. I don't care. If your opinion and content interests me, I'll engage. that's who I am.  And if you are just starting out, again, i'll say, this is the best "strategy". In fact, this doesnt even need to be a strategy, it's a way of life.

<center>https://media.giphy.com/media/egZNrrnqNmHwQ/giphy.gif</center>

<hr>

# Tactics

If you want to talk strictly "tactics", i think you can form some here from what i've blabbed.

Simple, comment more than you post, for every post you've written, make sure you've read 10 other posts and converse with the authors. It goes without saying you must already comment every thoughtful comment by people to your posts. 
you can get away with "upvote me" comments frankly they are not worth the time since they wont read anything. If you use to be like that, or is curently like that, and somehow you stumbled upon this post and have read thus so far, thank you, this paragraph is dedicated to you.
Stop being a spammer because your "conversion rate" is below the floor. Stop wasting Steem Blockchain bandwidth and start doing this "higher yield" thing.

# To warp up

There you have it, I've gone off many of tangents and I apologize for taking so much of your time. I hope it's worth it, if its not, please please let me know and tell me where you feel i can improve. 


As for this "strategy", it's something that I've done (though of course with failures mistakes along the road) largely without too much change. 

Judging by my "Returns", I'd say it's a good "investment".

![separtors10.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmTpm44jkonQkKutfmJNsnTXyK3Kxbi6eGwvMtzJJN8FPx/separtors10.png)

I'm @awesomianist

Stay Awesome!


<center>Source | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/390898442643457158/">1</a> - <a href="http://stokpic.com/project/morning-coffee-on-outside-cafe-table-with-plant-menu/">2</a> - <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/424112489881269961/">3</a> - <a href="https://steemit.com/homesteading/@papa-pepper/farmer-or-homesteader-some-thoughts-from-papa">4</a> - <a href="http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3p172y">5</a> - </center>