#candicewright

When you're talking about engagement, there are two types: short-term engagement and long-term engagement. Short-term is the instant gratification type. You upload a post and it happens to do well, yay! It's great, but the next time you may not be that lucky. Long-term ensures that you have a certain idea of how well a post is going to do regardless of any luck or lack thereof. For example, when I post a new art piece, I can expect it to get between 200 and 600 notes. Sometimes, it can bee more (see: my Lan Xichen piece) but it's mostly in that range. That's because I have a following that engages with these posts consistently.

So how do you get more notes?

First, create the content that you want to create. People will notice when you like what you're putting out and you'll also be happier if it does good and if it doesn't, you'll still be proud of what you made regardless.

Take advantage of the tags.

When you make a post, it will show in the first 5 tags you use. There are some things to consider when choosing these. The first one I've discovered is that if it ensures that it will get reblogged to a page with a bigger platform, it's usually a better bet than just using fandom tags. What I mean by this is that I'd rather use the tag #fytheuntamed when posting original MDZS/CQL content because it means that I have a better chance of getting people to see it. I will also try to see which fandom tags have a bigger following and use those over ones with fewer people because the more people that are tracking a tag, the bigger the chances of my posts showing up on their dash. Also, make sure your post is actually showing up in the tags when you post it. Tumblr sometimes has a tendency to not do that if you add links or if you just...do nothing. So check just in case.

Now that we're talking about this, if you want me to reblog your content, use the tag #candicewright and I'll try to boost it!

Great! Now you have people interacting with your post. But how do you get them to stay? There's a lot to this question because it really depends on what you want your blog to be. If it's just an art blog, my advice would be to make it consistent and make it exclusive to that type of content. What I mean is that if people like your art and go to your blog to find a page full of other works you've made, they're more likely to stay because they know they will get exactly what they're there for.

Now, you may have noticed that's not what I do. At all. My blog is not just an art blog, nor do I want it to be. Yes, I post my art/fics sometimes, but I also reblog a lot of stuff, talk about my life, answer asks, etc. This is my personal blog. Would I get more attention if I kept my content consistent? Maybe, but I don't want that. That said, I still get a decent share of notes in my posts. So how do I keep people here or, more importantly, how do you?

Make yourself memorable.

The truth is this: the more you engage with other people's posts, the more likely they are to notice you. That's just a fact. For example, I recognize the URLs of everyone who engages with my posts consistently and I get happy when I see them around. This means that if one of their posts happens to make it on my dash, I will be more likely to like or reblog it in return. That said, a lot of people like and reblog posts, but there are few that I find memorable. The two examples of blogs that stand out that I can think of are the following.

The tag blog.

This is the blog model most similar to mine. The first blog I ever became a fan of does this and I find it very noteworthy. They have an art blog, but they also reblog other people's content. Okay, cool. But what makes them unique is that they always write some sort of comment in the tags. I do this too, it's fun and it makes people want to follow you not only for your original content, but also for who you are as a person. I really like this and I feel that other people do too.

Another type of blog I've seen is the one that reblogs content and leaves a comment on the reblog. This one is also a good bet because people get used to seeing your name in posts very fast, now you're someone who you can expect. You have a lot of visibility.

Also just make friends! Talk to people! Everyone here is mostly very friendly and happy to talk to others, so just speaking to them is a good bet. You can maybe get some insight into how they do things or just gain a cool friend. I strongly recommend it!