![20180315_185632_0001.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmR138k68VDC5KJzUu6ZeCJDeDb2Nh8EwJY4h3eiBu7ukM/20180315_185632_0001.png) Hello Steemians, Welcome to SteemAcademy! What is SteemAcademy I hear you asking? I have started up the tag #steemacademy tag to share my experiences on Steem and what I learn as I continue my journey here. I have shared a few posts in the past about my experiences on Steemit and what I am learning, and I plan to continue as I learn more. It is all good and well attracting 100s if not 1000s of followers to your page, but because of the way Steemit works they need to be engaged with your content or you will end up with minimal rewards. Today I want to share some of the things that I believe can help to build a GENUINE following on Steemit.

Engage in steem.chat and the Steemit discord servers

One of the best things you can do to generate a genuine following on Steemit is to engage in the community! This means joining the chat rooms and generating conversation and making friends - steem.chat and discord are the best places for this. Don't just drop into the room and try and share your link (alot of people hate it anyway!). Get to know people - what are their interests - are they similar to what your blog is about? Check out others blogs and ask questions about them. People on the chat are generally really friendly and ready and happy to talk and help out newer users. I am still new to the Discord servers but I have managed to join the Minnow Support Project [(Click here for istructions on how to join)](https://steemit.com/minnowsupportproject/@lexiconical/quick-process-checklist-for-joining-minnow-support-group), which I think is a great place to start and get to meet fellow minnows and Steemians. Try and find channels that relate to what your blog is about - for me this is music, mental health and also having fun! There is a list of discord servers [here](https://steemit.com/discord/@torico/torico-s-magickal-list-of-steemit-discord-servers), but im sure there are plenty more servers available. It takes time at first but people slowly get to know and trust you and become willing to answer questions (Steemit can be confusing at times!) ![mobile-phone-1917737_1280.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmR5TsuVGZ2BRe7pyVUGJLnK5BUfw2HP6Ppb1kW3121H1a/mobile-phone-1917737_1280.jpg)

Gina Bot

Talking of Discord I have recently joined GINAbot and use it as a way to track my following - who is following me and unfollowing me? GINAbot is customisable and you can get notifications for pretty much anything on you page. By tracking who is following me and unfollowing me I can getter a better idea of the following: 1) What the demographic of my following is - am I creating content to engage them? 2) When people unfollow me - why did they unfollow me, and how can I use this to improve my blog in the future. For instructions on joining GINAbot, click [here](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@ginabot/hi-i-am-gina-i-m-here-to-help) ![divider-1024.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmb9i2KiKpKHoj63jj482Z2HpRPSbx1UyAPXrRGYxXzhEj/divider-1024.png)

Comment on others blogs

Steemit is a SOCIAL MEDIA platform - which means you have to be social. A great way to be social is to engage in people's content. Don't just write ‘nice post’ or ‘thanks for sharing’ - try and add some value or insight into the content they are sharing. I have made over 1300 posts in just over a month here and a lot of that is commenting on and engaging in others posts. I tend to think it's best to comment on posts you are interested in and have some knowledge about! Most people are genuinely happy that your read their content and will often atleast check out your blog to see what you are all about. Often I have full conversations in the comments section on people's blogs - so make sure to check back often and keep the conversation going. ![man-791049_1280.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYVSc8s2zAeZnAk1aPuhFJeZRSKBBWnpRQLSeJgyDHeY5/man-791049_1280.jpg)

Reply to comments

I make a huge effort to reply to all comments on my page - I see it as being courteous - someone has dropped by and read your post and commented, the least you can do it to acknowledge and thank them for reading. Usually if I comment on someone's post and they dont reply I assume they aren't interested in what I have to say. By replying you are also opening up discussion and can lead to debates and new ways of looking at things. ![divider-1024.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmb9i2KiKpKHoj63jj482Z2HpRPSbx1UyAPXrRGYxXzhEj/divider-1024.png)

The bots debate

There is a constant debate about using bots - are they ethical and profitable. I won't get into that debate but rather talk about how they affect your following. I have been using the bots a fair bit as what I thought would be a way of getting my content seen by more people. Yes having more money next to your post is more likely to get it to the ‘hot’ page and seen by more people. But boosting every post this way doesnt mean that more people will be engaged with what you are writing about. I think there is a place for bots for minnows but they should be used sporadically rather than on everything that you post. I think that the more ‘niche’ your post is the less likely you should be to boost it with a bot - but rather spend time engaging with that community. If it is a broad post that is very popular on steemit (such as crypto, steemit help (such as this post!) or travel) then it might be helpful to use a bot to increase that posts reach. I welcome discussion about this in the comments! ![divider-1024.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmb9i2KiKpKHoj63jj482Z2HpRPSbx1UyAPXrRGYxXzhEj/divider-1024.png)

Conclusion

When you are using Steem it is key to remember that it is a social network - and this means being social and getting know people will help you build a genuine following. Some great ways to engage and get to know people include interacting in the chat rooms, commenting on others blogs and making sure you reply to people who comment on your content! I look forward to seeing you all in the next edition of #steemacademy ![DQmQzFM2sDp5wYpaoktgk9L8RzJCCwPgheNTHo23JUwfAGZ.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPiMyWjycJ8P7a6wEc4VZhbqNknk4eDZSsjxgmo2UneAr/DQmQzFM2sDp5wYpaoktgk9L8RzJCCwPgheNTHo23JUwfAGZ.jpeg)