An Onboarder's Tale - Pains & Tricks Revealed

Just recently, I was on a small chat with some of my Hive friends about how hard it is becoming to bring a user to the blockchain and see them thrive. It's a huge success for me when I see a new user I brought to Hive spending more time here and being active to an extent even if not so consistent.

It is never easy when you have to convince someone to do something they've not been doing and in a few cases, to do what they've never heard of before.

I can still remember a reaction from a friend when I first talked about Hive to her... You mean it is possible to write and earn money online? I couldn't hide my surprise but that paved a smooth way for me to guide her through Hive and she got active for a while.

Being an Onboarder, it involves a lot to be successful... Patient, easy going and ready to not succeed with a prospect. I'm not sure if I have been able to hone my skill in the aspect of being ready to lose a prospect after so many talks and guides as I still feel pained when I don't see a new user stay active after their first post or even before their first post.

One thing that has helped reduce the pain I feel as an Onboarder is believing that "Hive is for everyone but not everyone can be on Hive".

I wished this isn't true but there's nothing that can be done about it. A lot of people would love to be on Hive when they find it and we would also come across a lot who want to be part of Hive but time, offline work and worries won't let them understand enough to stay active here on Hive. Of course, we would also meet the ones that won't give a dim to what Hive is about even after all your explanation and best approaches.

I've spent almost three years on Hive and in those times I've spent here, I never give up any opportunity to talk about Hive to any who was interested and guide any who wants to be part of it. Because of that, I've succeeded in guiding more than 37 persons to creating an account for themselves.

These 37 accounts are just the ones I've onboarded to Hive using my link with hiveonboard, there are more I guided using other referral methods and some I paid to get an account for them. Sadly, I can't count up to 7 that are active right now but I still feel like I've achieved something huge with this aspect of my Hive life when I see the few who are very much active and growing fine on the blockchain.

From my different experiences in onboarding different kinds of people to Hive, I've learnt to bear with the pain of not winning over some of them and also learnt some tricks to bring in more users when I get the chance.

While there are tricks I could use, it doesn't guarantee them staying for the long term as that seem to totally depend on them so long I make sure to do my part as giving back to the community and not keeping something good to myself.

What are the tricks I use to onboard and keep users on Hive?

I'm just going to share them but make sure to use what works for you. These tricks came to mind when I kept bringing in people who don't stay long or don't even get to start. At first, I thought it was how I approached them but that didn't seem to be the case since I've also had success stories with that method. The tip here is, I don't start with the rewards to gain on Hive but I do mention the reward while they are getting interested.

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More tricks I've come to learn in form of lessons as an Onboarder, are:

• Make them curious about Hive and not you pressuring them about Hive.

Even in other settings, people tend to stay longer if they are the ones who showed interest in something and they were not pressured to do it.

• Emphasis more on the other advantages of being a Hive user.

I've once started by sharing that the user would gain friends from around the world and learn from different brains regarding their skills or whatever they love to do, it worked to an extent.

• Get them to explore the blockchain while guiding them first.

No, I don't make them create an account based on their interest. I share some contents with them which they read first, ask questions and some at this point decides to back out or get started.

• Create an account and give guides on how to continue.

One mistake some onboarders make is letting their new users be in their first to third months on Hive, that is if they are still active. I have my DM opened for them whenever and also make sure to check their accounts sometimes to make sure they are still in the right.

• Talk extensively about the reward aspect of Hive to them.

They may have learnt about earning money while being active on Hive but I make sure to explain why it is important to build their accounts, not thinking withdrawal too early and keeping connections to grow the support they get on their contents.

There are more tricks I try to use but I'll stop here and maybe get more in the comment section. _{This is my response to the Hive Naija Weekly Prompt and you are invited to participate too.}