MARKETING STEEM # 3 : What are we marketing?
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We all know that Steem needs marketing - but the key question is 'What are we marketing?'
Are we marketing a blogging platform, a social network, a test bed for developers, a DeFi investment system, or is it just a place to post and earn...
Is the answer 'All of the above', or should we be more selective and targeted in our marketing efforts?
Selling Points & Target Audiences
Steem has strengths and weaknesses in all these areas.
So when marketing Steem we will need to play to the strengths, and sidestep the weaknesses.
Steem as a Blogging Platform
Steem is certainly a place where people can blog. But it is not 'clean and tidy'.
The signal to noise ratio is very poor. It may be unpopular to say but there is way too much low level, distracting content for Steem to be taken seriously as a blogging platform.
Platforms like Medium.com undoubtedly have a better reputation in this area.
How often do you see companies make news announcements on Medium.com?
Why is Steem never used in the same way?
How many real bloggers do we have on Steem? Not too many alas.
Can this be changed? Could Steem be remoulded or remodelled to attract serious bloggers?
It is possibly possible - but difficult.
Marketing potential for Steem = 5 out of 10.
Steem as a Social Network
Although Steem is often referred to as a 'crypto social network' it is a struggle to see it in that light.
Steem's major weakness as a social network is the lack of interaction and engagement.
If you look any mainstream social network like Facebook, Instagram or YouTube they all thrive on comments and interaction.
Steem has little genuine engagement on posts.
Another weakness of Steem as a social network is that because of the content author reward model the platform is very much focused on people producing long form content.
Most social networks on the other hand are very much about short form content.
Could Steem be reworked to be more like a conventional social network - more short form content, and much, much more comment and engagement?
Yes it definitely could but it would require a major re-imagining of curation models and how people are willing to participate on the platform.
As a social network Steem can offer one very strong Unique Selling Point - engagement, as well as creation, can be rewarded.
You cannot earn by making comments on Facebook or Instagram or X. On Steem you can.
Marketing potential for Steem = 7 out of 10.
Steem as a Testbed for Developers
Historically Steem has proved to be a very good incubator for developers.
With delegations and posting rewards developers have been able to earn while trying out ideas.
Steem has also been able to provide a ready made audience to test new games and apps.
With open minds and good vision the recent reawakening of the Steem DAO may provide another strong incentive to attract new developers to the platform.
Steem Monsters / Splinterlands proved that successful games can be launched on the platform.
With some good packaging and careful targeting Steem could be marketed as an attractive home for aspiring and talented developers.
As @remlaps mentioned on a previous post the Open Source community could be a prime target audience.
Marketing potential for Steem = 7 out of 10.
Steem as a DeFi investment platform
Steem can be an attractive investment platform.
Which multiple ways to earn - through content creation, curation and delegation - Steem can offer a strong win-win investment opportunity.
Using vehicles like UpVu investors can achieve very attractive returns of 30% or more (?).
While SBDs are being printed the returns can climb even higher.
The only risk of course is if the price of Steem drops significantly - but that is the gamble of any crypto investment.
The flip side of all this is though how investment driven content creation interacts with the rest of the content on the platform. Perhaps there is a solution to separate out the two types of content?
While this investment driven content can be seen as an appreciable downside, it is most definitely this investment that has helped maintain the price of Steem which is a benefit to everyone on the platform.
Marketing potential for Steem = 9 out of 10.
Steem as a Place to Post & Earn
For purists on the platform the 'Post & Earn' marketing pitch for Steem has been the source of much of what is less desirable on the platform now.
This has always been there on Steem, particularly for audiences in more economically disadvantaged countries, but in 'Old Steem' (pre-split) it was rather frowned upon and kept largely undercover.
In 'New Steem' it became very much a dominant trend and certainly helped build a new community after the split.
The community dynamics of the platform have definitely changed.
There is still much scope for readjustment and rebalancing, but the reality is that for many people, particularly in poorer countries, Steem has provided an economic lifeline - especially in the pandemic and post pandemic years.
Should this facility to earn through posting content on Steem be suppressed? Should it be celebrated?
Should it be marketed?
It can definitely be an easy win in terms of marketing - but it does have serious downsides.
Marketing potential for Steem = 2 or 9 out of 10 ???
This is a quick race through the possible selling points to use for marketing Steem.
There may well be others that I have missed.
They all need probing and exploring more.
We do need to work out how we want to market Steem.
Then we can decide who we want to target and how we reach them.
Thank you
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