Hi there. Well I joined Steemit earlier this year and after an initial addiction I stopped posting for about 3 months. Now im just returning and I find its so sporadic as to what my posts make. Ive written original content posts that have taken me hours to write that gain less than 2 dollars. One post recently made $27. I'd love them all to be in that range. 

My followers continue to grow so i'm just posting really for me and if people like what I write hopefully a few months from now I will see a difference. 

For myself I love Steemit because of the positivity here. Facebook is so depressing and people are so rude to each other there. I hope that never happens here. I love our Steemit community!

Great post, thanks! It's interesting, engagement in Steemit. We've been building our YouTube channel for about two years now, and I guess in videos you get to be so personal with people (if you want). And people will respond to you in same way. In written text, what Steemit is more about, I'm still looking for how to open up without boring people, how to share what I am passionate about that adds value to others. One thing I'm noticing is people aren't necessarily on the look out for the biggest answers to their biggest questions. Rather, they love to see and hear about what you love, what I love, the special little things. The things that they may or may not recognize from their own lives, but that they can relate to nonetheless. I've noticed that when I share on topics like that, people respond a lot. And that when others post like that, I enjoy responding and building relationship too.
Thanks for opening great topic for discussion!

[nice post](https://steemit.com/steemit/@everittdmickey/do-you-want-to-be)







no..wait...don't hit me!
I don't  know what come over me.
I hardly ever act like that.
I'm usually so charming and deboner.

um.

moving along.
You got it exactly right. To be on a social network you must BE social
(dunno what the mechanical turk is..do I really want to?)

as always..the problem is bots.
bots can vote for you
and comment for you
'nice post'

I am with you. Engagement is key. I am relatively new here (still plankton) and even I get those awful bots. I just keep plodding along giving my two cents worth and try to make posts with good content. I did not join Steemit to make mega bucks. I joined because I felt I might have something of value to share, meet new and interesting people, learn something new on the way and just have fun. If I make some money that is bonus.

Great piece boss...really learnt something new

I always try to create engaging content because it helps me know what I can improve on or if others have a similar situation they are going through or have been through and they can provide feedback

Was listed among the top 10 hit-parade by comments 7 hours ago, engagement is key. Thanks man

I'm so in alignment with this. Steemit really has the potential to be so incredible and different, meaningful and engaging. So while I don't necessarily care what others post, I don't want to see my feed turn to drivel. There could come a point where it's so watered down that it's not worth it. 
And for sure I always reply to and upvote every comment that's not spam or bot.

As your post popped up in my feed and among others, I was grabbed by your title: *"If You Want People to ENGAGE with Your Content... Create Engaging Content!"* 
My first thought was a bit sarcastic like - ***Really?! You must be kidding me! I would never think of that!*** 

But well, then I read the whole article. And I must admit that I completely agree with you although it might seem so obvious and self-understanding. Despite that we often (for some unknown reason) forget about it. Sometimes is even irritating to see people around completely neglecting that part, especially when it comes to the comment part and replying to our readers and commentators. 

I was kinda zombified today and instead of creating some posts, although it was my first intention, I find myself digging and researching some Steemit data. I came across the guy who has been on Steemit only for several months but despite that fact, few of his posts have been the most shared ones among all the other Steemians for the whole past year where one of those posts received even more than 50K shares. 

But when I looked that post here on Steemit I saw it earned only about $12 bucks and had only 4 comments there. It was kinda weird to see that such highly popular content (otherwise and on other networks) on Steemit attracted it such a small audience. Besides, the article was original, very well written and the topic was also quite interesting. So, I was thinking - **Why?** 

And then I spotted just what you are talking about here in your article. ***He didn't respond to any of those 4 comments left there either upvoted them even just a bit to let those readers know he saw it and appreciate it.  - He is not engaging!!!*** *(Despite the fact that his content is in fact very engaging, as with 50K shares we really can't deny that).*

My last post got some conversations going, so I did something right in stirring up a hornet's nest there.

I unlike you am a newbie to this world. So much to learn and you outline it well here as to how to navigate within steemit. Thank you for the help.

Social is king at this place, from both the perspective of value and money. You dont earn big votes too if you dont have a big fanbase. Well written.

Yup, I have definitely 'lulled' from steemit for the last week or so (10 day..?).

Everything you say is correct, but my motivation was to wax lyrical, and getting paid for it, to be honest.
My initial ( and very content) target was to make 10 dollars a day, which I didn't feel was too excessive/greedy for my input.

I had to back away from steemit out of a sheer negative cycle I found myself getting into, because of lack of (how I perceived it) $ for my input.

I hate poker  (considering I love games, that's kind of hilarious)- but can grind 10 dollars a day out of it - so I took a holiday from steemit -and made my 10 dollars a day since, doing something I get no pleasure from but by the end of the week, I find myself not in a negative cycle, and feeling my time was productive(at east a little)

Plus I CAN paint up my war gaming armies, while playing !


It's nice to be back though, in my refreshed state of mind..

> Are you getting good engagement on your posts?

Oh yeah! **ENGAGEMENT.** Haha, that still seems pretty elusive for me to enter into that *privileged club* through my usually entangled content & extravagant posts. LoL

<center><a href="https://steemit.com/psychology/@por500bolos/do-you-wonder-how-people-perceive-you-when-you-talk-without-previously-knowing-you-closely-inside-and-out"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmb2N2moUnpt8mZ8Ro2jeSUmKztogCR59z1DpnmGKeyYxT/Challenging.jpg" alt="Engagement"/></a></center>

# }:)

You ask about my experience with engagement on other social media platforms. That is an interesting subject because based on my experience, they feel like different *types* of engagement. If someone were to look at my Facebook page, they would say that I have a very high engagement rate based on the number of likes and comments I receive. The difference is that most of those comments will be short responses like, “looks like you had fun!” or “beautiful photo!”.

Even though I sincerely appreciate the good thoughts and intentions from each of those comments, I wouldn’t really consider them to be *meaningful* points of engagement.  I may get fewer overall comments on steemit(at least at this point!), but I feel as though I am actually getting to know people better.  I am always thrilled when a fun conversation sparks up in the comments, or someone shares a piece of their life experience that they felt inspired to share based on the post. 

Side note... I really like the *way* you sparked engagement at the end of this post. Instead of a generic “Let me know what you think!” statement, you asked detailed questions that really gets the reader thinking. I’m definitely taking notes so I can play with that more on my own posts.

Hi, thanks for your perspective on this! I’m a “freshly minted minnow” so any tips are appreciated. I have had one problem so far...the iOS app is very slow. I left a comment on a rather lengthy post about a budget proposal system and found that my app froze and it didn’t get sent. Not really your problem, but maybe you could direct me to a place or person to whom I could address this concern? Anyway, thanks again for the tip!

Good evening @denmarkguy!

Thank you for including @penguinpablo's stats in there, it is really crazy to see more accounts, but less commenting! Engagement is so important, how are people going to know who you are if they never see you? 

Making money is cool, but I feel that interactions are less genuine or viewed as secondary. To succeed on social media, you gotta get to know others, before becoming known yourself. I'm going as far to like and comment everything I like, if rewards are meant for me, they'll come at some point. 

I've been on social media and blogs before, but nothing like this, where thinking is actually required! Before I even write my post I make sure that I replied everyone properly. Tending to your own post's comments is the best evidence of caring for your followers. 

Let's go on a commenting spree! 
<3 shello

On Steemit, we have the upvotes and our reputation score. It would be nice to have some engagement score. It is, like you say, all about the engagement. I gauge my posts by the number of good comments -- and how many people come back to comment over time. Getting to know people is what keeps people on Steemit - that sense of community. It is hard to keep up with more and more people though!

It has been my dream to become a street performer, but I never follow through...
I am not feeling very creative neither lately, still engaging in others posts that I particularly like, but I don't get many engaging comments on my posts.
Patience will repay I guess?!?

Wow, this is the most enteresting piece i've ever read. It really helps me a lot as a newbie blogger. Thanks for your content that i stumble upon. It enlighthens my doubts and quest.

I think I should go around and gather all of the great posts I've read this week regarding this, it definitely has been a theme- from what I gather seems to be in response to a lot of newer people complaining about the lack of people on their posts, or maybe a defense for why they are buying votes, possibly a combination of the two. Sorry, I'm playing a bit of catch up, the past several weeks were really busy at home, getting our winter business going, it's been the least amount of commenting I've done in my time-nearly a year- here.  

There was a person in @surfermarly's article about vote buying who defended his choice by saying that it was the only way he could make any money.  His comments were very well written and I probably would have felt for him-if meesterboom hadn't done a bit of research to find that this person had only cast twenty..four I think it was, votes in the past 28 days, and one fifth of them were on his own posts.  His defense was that he didn't have a slider so his votes were pretty much worthless. Hmm. I remember the days of my votes not being worth anything and my god was that so much easier, I could merrily read and vote all day long without a single worry about my percentage tanking.  
So what I think we have going on is a massive influx of 'entitled' people. Which I believe in the past any who came here with that mindset, either had a change of perspective or left. But now because of the ability to buy votes they're not only sticking around, they're growing in numbers.  Yeahh, I definitely feel a post of my own coming on, lol.

Anyway, sorry, I would prefer to be leaving a positive comment.  And so I will end on a positive note-  this post was great, you are awesome, and I promise the next time I comment it will be uplifting :)

I love to interact with people, i have seen a decline in numbers too. Maybe my posts are the slop you mentioned lol