You may not know it, but these 'problem solving' techniques are commonly used in commerce. Marketing has shifted towards psychology and 'shortcuts' to the process are what make marketing either effective or worthless. The people with a large following - they use these and most of us don't even realize it. I'd like to share these 6 heuristics that can enhance your experience on Steemit. If you're not already signed up, you may sign-up here.

These simple practices can be applied to Steemit to enhance your experience just as they apply to social commerce. Because Steemit is no ordinary social platform and because there is a monetary element - this is basically social commerce wearing a new uniform. Hopefully, readers will gain a better understanding of these simple heuristics and how they may apply them to Steemit. Let's get the brain cells bouncing around, shall we?

What the hell are heuristics?

Definition of heuristic

: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods heuristic techniques a heuristic assumption; also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (such as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance
via: merriam-webster.com

Chasing That Funky Cheese

So, you see we are lab rats running the maze and the maze can be confusing. It is wise to learn from the elder mice who have traversed the maze, made mistakes and wrong turns, and have identified efficient processes to get to that funky cheese that we all chase (we aren't talking dairy here). Just don't let that scent blind you from your path forward.

It's easy to forget why we are doing something as it becomes more habitual. Hopefully, what I am going to share will help more of you to progress and find success in your Steemit journey. Be true to you and don't lose yourself in the maze because it is easy to forget why we are here. T-Rex had short arms, so he used his tools to attain what was just out of reach. 😉

Here are the 6 heuristics that I will cover:

SOCIAL PROOF • SCARCITY • CONSISTENCY • AUTHORITY • LIKE • RECIPROCITY

1. SOCIAL PROOF

Social Proof

What is "Social Proof"? Think of it as strikingly similar to 'herd mentality'. Human nature is to look at what others are doing. We are social creatures and it is no secret if you glance at some social media data or turn on the TV for 5 minutes. We are constantly watching what others are doing and our technology continues to grow, allowing us to see more than any past generation of humans have ever seen in a lifetime.

Applying it to Steemit

When we first arrive on Steemit, it is intensely confusing. There is nothing like Steemit to compare it to and we all sort of do the same thing; we look to see what others are doing because we are uncertain. Our first instinct is to try to do what the biggest users are doing. The problem is that is impossible for most people without a large, powerful network and capital investment. Find users that are new, like you, and observe what elements you both share that seem to bring success. Meaning, find your 'strengths' and take pride in what you put onto the blockchain.

Observation is Powerful and So Are YOU

Observe those you admire and learn from those you respect and like. Observe those who are building community and finding success (not just in their wallets). Our natural instinct is to look at what is already successful and mimic that. I can't emphasize this enough: DO NOT DO THAT. BE YOURSELF. Many times success will find you this way.

Essential Takeaway:

Don't waste too much time trying to learn strategy and do observe those who you share common interests with. You might even find a friend. Don't be overly concerned about what the top users are doing, focus more on the community building. BE YOURSELF and CARVE YOUR OWN PATH. That will inevitably lead other newcomers to do the same. We all have something unique to offer and this is a place where you can express those traits - so by all means, please do!

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2. SCARCITY

Scarcity

The old saying "less is more" applies to Steemit in many ways. Too much of a good thing is bad. Have you heard that one? Many of us see the $ symbol under our first post and once those votes come in, many of us catch the 'Steem-Fever'. It is important to remember that more posts does not equate to more earnings in most cases. I earned more with a few quality posts than I could have with 35 half-assed posts. Like I mentioned in number 1, be yourself. That is scarce enough! There is only one YOU, right?

It's about quality NOT quantity

Don't be overly concerned about making a ton of money here, especially if you are a new user with zero capital investment and trying to post incessantly to earn. I can tell you that is not the way. I have seen many people try it and they do not last long. Focus on creating original content and be yourself. Engage with others in the community and you will grow much faster than thinking that you can shit-post your way to success. It doesn't work like that. Be genuine and have fun. How much does Twitter or Facebook let you earn? Anything more than ZERO is a bonus - not a guarantee.

We All Know FOMO

In the land of Cryptopia, the force of FOMO can be strong! Like a tractor-beam just drawing us towards the chart that looks like the Stairway to Heaven but most often times leads to Hell and back. If you do plan to invest, do your due diligence and never make hasty decisions because those are almost always costly. I was raised to understand that it takes a little money to make a little money. That is pretty much true here on Steemit, however, if you focus on genuine engagement and quality content then you can certainly earn a great deal. Whatever you decide, please remember to do your homework before investing your hard-earned money. (This applies to Steemit and ALL investments)

Essential Takeaway:

Too many people mistakenly believe that posting as many times a day as possible will increase their exposure, however, let me remind everyone that there is a Mute button. Posting too frequently and with no care as to the quality is surely not a path to social success. Copy & pasting comments like "good post" or "this is helpful" is going to earn you votes, but in the wrong direction (flags).

There is quite a lot of this taking place here on Steemit and I cannot stress enough how terribly ineffective it is. If your intention is to earn on Steemit, then engage with people in a meaningful way. There are too many people here that wish to earn and aren't willing to do a damn thing for it.

Nothing is owed to anyone here, we all reward each other based on our own determinations. None of us are entitled to the privilege to use this platform and we all have the ability to have our account rendered useless. Use your time here wisely and it can pay off. Remember that 'less is more' when it comes to posting. Write 20 comments per day, NOT 20 posts.

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3. CONSISTENCY

Consistency

Being successful on any social platform requires diligent effort and consistent action.People trust what they know and are familiar with. Presence is 'being seen' and people are most likely to trust those who are consistently present. In commerce this is 'brand awareness' and the reason why the big brands are omnipresent (everywhere all at once).

It is a pattern, like a rhythm for musicians. When you disrupt the rhythm you disrupt the entire flow. Timing is just as important on Steemit as it is in music. Getting out of rhythm can be hard to recover from. Keeping a consistent pattern is how observers identify you. Our nature is to identify and like things that are consistent with our beliefs. When you are out of sight - you are out of mind. The reason why every big city has a big church and huge state buildings. It's simply a presence so that we do not forget. Much of this functions on a deeply subconscious level.

Applying it to Steemit

Just as I mentioned above, regarding Scarcity, posting once per day is quite difficult to sustain if you focus on quality. High-quality authors typically post much less because quality content takes time. Readers identify consistent authors and that is what builds a following. You cannot annoy everyone into liking you, right?

Life Happens

We cannot always maintain a rigorous schedule and sometimes we just can't keep to deadlines. Falling behind is no way to progress. So, I suggest setting a reasonable pace. Don't take on too much (I know this from many mistakes and failures) because sustaining becomes increasingly difficult as time progresses. You don't want that. Reduce the resistance in your path to success and give yourself a little extra time to live and commit a little less to the rest.

Essential Takeaway:

Take your time. Do it right. Share what you love and create your own content. If you use content from the web - always cite your source! If you plan to post everyday, be sure to plan your content and set a schedule. Once you establish a reader-base of people that expect your content every single day - you better deliver. Being inconsistent will stunt your progress, so it is important to set a pace and keep with it.

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4. AUTHORITY

Authority

This is all about 'command' in a particular area, field of study or profession. Basically, it is the number of people who believe you. I know that sounds crazy, but think about political, religious, and academic leaders and how many times the general public has been mislead because we assume the information coming from those of 'authority' are true. That isn't always true, however, that is why it is important to question. George Carlin once said "I have just as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it."

Net Authority

Big names of social platforms are often used/exploited because they express command and authority over social groups. Just like how ICO's use celebrities to 'pump' their token sale or even how Steemit sort of works - there are figures of authority on every platform and they have a lot of influence. By influence I mean they are more easily able to persuade large groups of people. Obviously, this gets used for both good and bad.

Applying it to Steemit

Focusing on one or two topics and expressing your knowledge (command) in these areas will build your presence on Steemit. If you are into cars - talk about cars and share what you know in your own ways. Don't regurgitate a bunch of crap from the web and think that will do (it won't). To truly build authority in an area you must be consistently putting your knowledge into practice (action). People will identify you as someone of authority once they have seen consistent output from you. Steemit still has a small user base (under 1 million currently), so you have a great opportunity to establish yourself now before you are competing with 50 million people for the same attention.

NEW USERS BEWARE!!

Follower Count is worthless - I have seen accounts that are 5 hours old and already following 50,000+ people. That is a robot and these people are tricking users into thinking they have 'authority' and command when really it is a 'follow-4-follow' ring. Don't fall for that.

ALWAYS look at content before follower count. There are TONS of people who follow thousands and see who will follow them back. Then they unfollow to make it appear as if more people follow them than they follow themselves = FRAUD. The best part of this is STEEMIT is a blockchain and every one of those actions is recorded for all of us to see. Any one of us can use a back-end tool like https://www.Steemd.com and check any user activity.

Essential Takeaway:

In order for you to become a person of authority, you must first take the proper steps to get there. There are no shortcuts here, only a reset button. The last thing you want to do is to talk about everything and seem like you know nothing. At least, for me that sounds terrible. If people know that you specialize in something or are knowledgable in an area that many are not - you are scarce (number 2 above!).

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5. LIKE

Like

Like attracts like*, we've all heard that one. There are many reasons why people are attracted to others. We are naturally drawn to people we like, admire, respect, agree with, love, adore, and those we 'click' or 'resonate' well with. That is our nature, but why do we do it? That is a question that I am surely not qualified, nor am I capable of answering.

Most often people are attracted to others because they see something they like or something they can use. I think that is a fair observation. Isn't that how employers hire their employees? They look for someone they like and can use.

We listen to those we like

That is the 'authority' that we naturally grant to others we like. We listen to those we like and align with our beliefs. Humans tend to gravitate towards others that share similar beliefs. We have not always been community animals, but rather this behavior has been learned over thousands of years of evolution. The human species has adapted to become more community oriented and we can verify that simply by looking at the world population over the last several thousand years, it has grown exponentially! That suggests that we are learning to live together a little better. That is not to say we are without conflict, quite obviously

Applying this to Steemit

Vote for content you like. Follow people you like. These two things seem so basic you might wonder why i bother to mention them. The truth is many people on Steemit fail to understand these two things.

I'm not speaking about new users, but rather many of them are well established users of the platform for more than one year. I observe that many users on Steemit with a large sum of VP, vote only for what is profitable for them to vote on. I am not saying that they should not have the right to vote on whatever they wish, but I am saying that they could surely consider quality over profit a bit more than they do. .

Don't follow people based on their wallet size, their reputation level, or their follower count. Toss all that out the window because it means nothing. Since this is the blockchain, we can see it all. I get notifications when people follow or unfollow. I have very high SP followers that follow & unfollow me all the time. It is no loss to me because I can see if they have ever voted on my content or comments (almost always they do not do either). There are too many people playing the "follow for follow" game and trying to trick people. Does anyone really believe this is effective? How can you build a following of people that trust you when you are blatantly lying and misleading everyone?

Essential Takeaway:

Don't worry about the number of followers you have if only a handful of people truly support you. What good is that? It goes back to being genuine and honest. The reason I stress this is because many of you do not realize that we can all see the actions because they are recored in the blockchain data so you aren't fooling anyone. In fact, you are ruining your chances and future success by doing this. It is not going to go away - that data is there forever. I highly advise more of you start realizing that before you've dug your hole too deep to recover.

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6. RECIPROCITY

Reciprocity

In the literal sense of the word, we are talking about exchange for mutual benefit. Pretty simple concept and one that most humans grasp, maybe even instinctively. The beneficiaries do not always have to be the parties taking part in the exchange.

Paying it Forward

Instead of exchanging something for mutual benefit, we can also pay it forward. Rather than accepting the benefit for ourselves, we can pass it on to another beneficiary. This gesture is something that can carry on and encourage the same actions by others, essentially multiplying the effect.

Applying it to Steemit

There are so many ways we can apply this simple concept to Steemit and the platform is built for it! Think about it...

We can vote, based on our voting weight/power, rewarding content creators and it does not come out of our wallet. It is generated from the reward pool and granted to the user (the author) that we cast our vote for. Not only does it not get deducted from your own wallet, but it also allows you (the curator) to earn for casting your vote. Both parties get rewarded. Many users that have found success on Steemit tend to 'pay it forward' in their own unique ways. Some host contests and giveaways or even fun challenges to offer others a chance to benefit from their success as well. You could even run a program like this one: PAY IT FORWARD ART SERVICE PROGRAM • OFFERED BY @GROW-PRO #payitforward

The beauty of the Steemit platform is that it's built for this. There are innumerable ways to reciprocate here.

Essential Takeaway:

What I do not mean by reciprocating: Voting circle-jerks, follow-4-follow rings, vote-4-vote exchanging. These are things that I have touched on in several of the heuristics above. They really do function in tandem, so it is important to remember you can't really do 4 of 6 and expect maximum results.

Sharing knowledge is an exchange. We share ideas, content and media that interests us. Others can find our content and if it is something that interests them they can upvote, resteem and/or leave a meaningful comment. It's our nature to respond to those who engage us. Help each other out because we all need a favor once in a while. Most people tend to reciprocate to those who have done them a favor. It is just our nature. Use it to do something good today.

An old scrap from Pinterest that I referenced & refreshed for Steemit:

^source

The 6 Pillars Of Social Commerce: Understanding The Psychology Of Engagement
BY BRIAN SOLIS

Concluding Thoughts:

Since I left FB years ago (never to return) I wanted to apply this to Steemit. I felt that these heuristics could really help my fellow steemians navigate the waters of uncertainty and confusion. Let's face it, this is a tough platform to wrap your head around at first. With so much to learn about crypto, exchanges, formatting, and then the 3rd party apps - it get's overwhelming for new users. These simple practices can really be useful if you apply them into your Steemit experience.

I hope that your experience on Steemit is an enjoyable one and I wish all of you a prosperous 2018 & beyond! Thanks for reading and I appreciate all of you who read and share my content. THINK BEFORE YOU STEEMIT ✌️😎