Hello Steemians, today we are happy to present to you the protocol we've designed (spearheaded by @andrarchy) with the goal of empowering users with ideas, proposals, and projects aimed at growing Steem by giving them a predefined path for bringing them to the community and the Steemit Team for support.

Version 1

I, @andrarchy, developed this protocol with feedback from @zurvanic (Mitchell Loureiro, VP of Marketing for Steemit Inc.) and members of the community. This is only version 1 and it is intended to bridge the gap until that time when we can build out better infrastructure that is custom-tailored for this purpose. For those who have ideas about how to improve this system, or develop that infrastructure, feel free to use this protocol to propose them. I, and the Steemit Team, will be paying close attention to such proposals.

The goal of this protocol is to create a standardized format that enables those who are interested in supporting marketing or growth related projects (including but not limited to the Steemit Team) to find those projects. At the same time, we want to give those who are interested in spearheading such projects a pre-defined path for getting support for their projects.

Why This Matters

As we discussed in Mitchell’s 2017 Growth Plan we’re convinced that combining our own expertise and efforts with the best ideas and projects coming from our amazing community will be the most effective strategy for increasing Steem adoption. It will enable us to grow the value of Steem as sustainably, organically, and rapidly as possible which benefits every Steem holder, big and small.

TL;DR Video

3 PHASES

There are 3 phases to the process: Idea, Proposal, and Project

Each phase begins with a post on steemit.com

Phase #1: Post “Ideas” under the “growth-ideas” tag

The first step is to create a post outlining your idea and to post it under the “growth-ideas” tag on steemit.com. You should only proceed to the subsequent phases if you receive positive feedback from either the community or the Steemit Team regarding the idea.

If the feedback is mixed or negative, you can always modify the idea and create another “idea post” until you do get sufficient positive feedback. What constitutes “sufficient” will be up to you for now, but we’ll monitor the results and if it becomes apparent that providing “harder” targets will improve the process, we’ll do so at a future date.

We suggest using your “idea post” to answer the following questions:

What is the problem?
What is the solution?
How will you prove your project was a success?

Idea posts should be as short as possible so that those looking to support projects can view as many ideas as possible, but we are withholding from imposing any specific constraints until a reliable pattern emerges. That being said, the posts still need to be compelling enough to generate enough interest and enthusiasm to fuel its development.

Phase #2: Post “Proposals” under the “growth-proposals” tag

If an “idea post” receives sufficient positive feedback, create a “proposal post” under the “growth-proposals” tag which conforms to the following format:

Metrics on the positive feedback (E.g. Idea post received 200 upvotes, steempoll received 60 votes 80% favorable to the idea)
Summary
Problem
Solution
Desired Outcome
Cost

Phase #3: Post “Projects” under the “growth-projects” tag

If the “proposal post” receives sufficient support, submit a “project post” and post it under the “growth-projects” tag.

We define “sufficient support” as: gaining enough people to “staff” the project as well as parties willing to support the project if certain goal-posts are met, which should be included in the “project post.”

The Steemit Team will support those projects which our analysis indicates would deliver the most value to the Steem blockchain, though this doesn’t necessarily mean that we will be entirely data driven. Other parties are free to apply whatever standard they wish.

The “project post” should conform to the following format:

Mission/Vision Statement
Team Members
Roadmap with specific goal posts, including scheduled progress and status updates
Description of support needed: This could be anything from an official partnership with the Steemit Team, to publicity support (e.g. a promise to promote the project to one's followers), to financial support
Justification for support: why is it necessary?
Schedule detailing when the support will be required. If the support is financial in nature then the schedule should detail when the funds, or portions of the funds, will be needed.

That’s it! One of the primary goals for this protocol is to provide just enough detail for people to get started, but not so much detail that it could potentially scare people off or otherwise limit the number of people who feel comfortable presenting their ideas to the community. I’m sure it has plenty of room for improvement and look forward to using your constructive feedback to make the process more efficient and productive.

Example Proposals

Below you will find links to proposals by @voronoi under @hansikhouse, as well as @pgarcgo and @gargon under @cervantes. These are real proposals which we hope you will consider sharing and supporting, but which also serve as examples of the types of posts we are looking for.

@voronoi and @hansikhouse via @hitheryon

Idea: Steem-Powered Education + Design
Proposal: Steemit as an Educational Design Tool - Introducing "Social x Design"
Project: Power Up Your Neighborhood - Introducing "Sandbox"

@pgarcgo and @gargon via @cervantes

Cripto-cervantes: International short stories writing competition on the blockchain / Premio internacional de relatos cortos en el blockchain [ENG/ESP]

User Spotlight: @lovejoy

I also want to give a very special “Thank You” to the user @lovejoy who has been a tremendous help in jumpstarting this crowdsourced marketing effort. @lovejoy started a crowdsourced community map as well as the #steem-community channel in steemit.chat and an associated blog, @steem-community, for anyone interested in contributing to the crowdsourced marketing effort. Lastly, @lovejoy has also launched @imagine with a Steem Design Challenge and Steem Community Directory which I urge you all to check out. The goal of the @imagine channel is to inspire, incentivize, and support steem(it) community creatives to build awareness of the steem blockchain and its whole family of apps.