Inkito & Hive - Let's talk marketing!

Good evening Hive,

I thought I'd share my thoughts on how to spread the word about Inkito and the Hive blockchain.

You can read more about the Inkito project in the Hive proposal in which I explain all of it.

But what is Inkito ?

Inkito is a new platform based on the Hive blockchain build specifically for the long form episodic content like comics or novels. It makes the reading experience better with an infinite loop and organises content as series throughout the site.

So what have I done this week?

It really feels like I haven't accomplished much this week. I have focused on networking to have feedback and more content on the site. I reached out to artists on Tapas, the famous webcomic platform and to the Comic Fury forum. Those two places are where I felt I'd be the most trusted as I used the platform before.

Feedback An overall very positive feedback! Artists are impressed by the site and intrigued by the crypto currency rewards. Some recurring critism goes to the site having too much "empty space". But that is mainly due to the lack of content.

Even tough I had such positive feedback no one took the time to give it a try. I soon realized that the hardest thing would not be development of the site but getting authors to use it!

Possible obstacles Here I'd like to enumerate reasons that an author could have not to post content on Inkito, in order to elaborate my strategy.
- Not enough readers.
- Not enough content.
- No community to engage with.
- Does not trust the website.
- Looks unprofessional.
- Knows nothing about crypto currency.
- Hard to cash out.
Solutions Here are possible solutions to those issues:
- Not enough readers:
  - Inform users that the content is shared on the Hive networks therefore is visible to a large community already.
- Not enough content.
  - Contact Hive content creators so their work can be displayed on Inkito. They can continue posting through Hive and so would not change posting habits except for the series id tag.
- No community to engage with.
  - Being able to redirect the Inkito users to the Hive blogging platform (@bryan-imhoff 's comic creating community maybe?) or a discord forum in order to engage. I see this point as a long term goal as community building takes time.
- Does not trust the website.
  - Trust could come from other creators actively using the platform.
  - From Inkito itself by launching a youtube channel presenting the project, making tutorials and information.
- Looks unprofessional.
  - Ask for more feedback in order to locate improvement areas. Redesign the home page to add more structure. (From the feedback I received so far, design seems to be okay.)
  - Add new core functionalites, such as the user feed, reading list, author micro blog (wall)...
- Knows nothing about crypto currency.
  - Add information in the FAQ to make things clearer.
  - Tutorials through the youtube channel to show it's not that difficult.
- Hard to cash out.
  - Provide a list of solutions to cash out.
  - Make or refer to tutorials on how to do.
  - Find smooth solution to cash out. (I've been using coinsbee to buy gift cards with bitcoin. If they offered Hive support it would be super easy!)

So I have a solution to everything. But I need a way to pass the message to users. Social media will definitely have a big role in building trust and educating people about the blockchain. However it does take time to build an audience.

Here are possible solutions to boost communication around the project.

Launch a social media giveaway.
- A chance to win 100$ in Hive by posting your story on Inkito?
- Share for a chance to win a gift?
- Character design contest paid in Hive.
Pay an influencer/author to post exclusive content on Inkito.
- I'm thinking Jason Brubaker who actually used Steemit a couple years back...
Buy ads on specialized websites.
- Topwebcomics has a skyscraper ad space at 6.5 $ per day and is very specialized but would attract readers as well. I could probably do a week with my current budget but the project might not be mature enough.
Buy ads on specialized podcasts.
- No specific podcast in mind. I used to listen to the gutter talk by making comics. Like the previous point, I think this alpha version of the project is not ready for big paid ads but more for a smaller group of creators.
Launch a Kickstarter.
- Wait but for what? Kickstarter is known for being a huge advertisement boost. I can do a campaign to ask funds for the development of the platform. It would be a good opportunity to present the concept and bring people on board. Rewards could be exclusive art from Inkito artists, ad space when the site grows enough ...
Go to a comic/novel convention.
- Best way to convince people would probably be to meet them in person. A costly communication boost but an effective at building trust and network.

Now is your time to share your thoughts. Which solutions has the best potential? What is the best way to reach out to content creators and convince them to use the platform?

In the mean time, I'll continue to share the word to my connections and elaborate the strategy.

For any interested Hive creator out there!

You can already add your content to the platform using the right tags.

Adding the series id on all corresponding posts, writing it as follows "author-seriesname" (example: "jrej-shadesofmen") The series name is for you to choose but must be the same for all episodes.

Adding the tag "inkito-comics" or "inkito-novels" on your most recent post for ranking.

Optionally you can add categories as tags in your first episode. The categories could be any of the following. "action, comedy, drama, fantasy, horror, mystery, romance, scifi, sliceoflife"

The first post would include some of the main series info. The first image would be your series cover image and the title, the series title. Hope to see some of you over there.

Thanks for your support.

You can now check out the alpha version of Inkito at www.inkito.io Now is your time to shine. Please share your thoughts so we can spread the word about the Hive blockchain! Let's get some people on board!

See you on the other side.

Jrej

Looks interesting? Please consider approving the project to help me spread the word to story tellers and develop some new feature for the Inkito platform. Click here to Approve the proposal