I don't sell this place as a social network to friends and colleagues. Doing that only sets them up for disappointment because then they think all it takes is a facebook style post numerous times per day to get anywhere. I tell the capable folks I know this is a good platform to publish your own online magazine, or something like that.
I don't cross post. This entity works here exclusively. There's more money in that I find. If people can go anywhere to see what I do here, they don't need to come here, and that's not good. I want them here, I want them signing up, I hope they purchase some stake so they can tip forever. It's a good deal. Best in town.
You're right. Most don't get this business model. Most don't even realize it's a business.
I do understand that logic and don't see anything wrong with staying exclusively on one site. Personally I'd rather be easily accessible and have backups in case something goes poof :) Having said that I'm pretty much down to just steem that gets everything my blog gets, because cross-posting is a time consuming pain in the system. Managing just one account would be much easier! XD The other sites I post to are just getting my finished art, Narrative might also be getting my homeschooling miscellany but I'm back on observer mode with it, either way pretty few and far between posts.
If I had to explain this place I think I'd describe it as kind of like a two-way ko-fi :)
The style this entity uses requires the community and social elements found here. On the surface, it might look strange to stumble across a rambling post with random questions and suddenly tomatoes, like my most recent post, anywhere else. That stuff doubles as consumer friendly marketing and has brought in a lot of eyes to view my sometimes bizarre outsider art style. There's a method to my madness.