I'm a FIRM believer that to many people, Steemit sounds "Too Good to be True."
Had I heard of this site from an advertisement (internet, TV, billboard, etc.) I'd honestly not have given it a second thought. What it took to get me to listen was having somebody I personally knew, whose judgement I respected, to tell me about this place. This instantly got me curious and asking lots of questions, like "Where does the money come from?" Outside of hearing about Bitcoin some years back, I didn't know anything about cryptocurrency, but luckily I didn't need to.
Steemit makes it so that you can sign up, earn some Steem Dollars, and work backwards by asking the question of "How do I get and/or spend my earnings?" Suddenly it's not a question of knowing everything crypto, it's a straight forward question of how can I access my earnings. I covered the basics of these questions in a previous post called What is Cryptocurrency and Why It's Not Scary, so I won't go into depth about this here.
A Few Word of Mouth Statistics
84% of consumers say they either completely or somewhat trust recommendations from family, colleagues, and friends about products and services – making these recommendations the highest ranked source for trustworthiness.
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89% of millennial women trust recommendations from a friend, peer, or family member more than recommendations from a brand (11%)
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Women are 25% more likely than men to rely on friends or family for advice on personal finance matters
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Steemit Ambassador Challenge
Believing that traditional advertising isn't terribly effective in these early stages of Steemit, I wan't to challenge EVERY USER to talk to at least one person about Steemit. This is only meant to plant the seed in their mind that it's something YOU do, have earned from and believe in. No need to be pushy, they will join if they want to, in their own due time. Often my friends took weeks to think about it, seeing that I am still an active member here and speaking highly of the site. Many have already joined up, with others I'm expecting to join in the near future.
Just here in my mid-sized Missouri town, we've grown from 
What I'd Like From You
What I'd love to hear from you include:
- How these discussions went? (positive, negative, dismissive, etc.)
- What questions or concepts seemed to concern others, preventing them from joining?
- How comfortable were YOU in discussing Steemit or certain components?
- What topics did you find most difficult to explain?
- What worked well for you? Any people thinking about it or successful signups?
- Were people aware of the various resources available such as
's Steempower Editor, copy/paste ready templates, new user guides and intro post template, Steemprentice, the beginners FAQ, or the official FAQ?
Looking for Posts on Spending your Earnings
Being able to show people how accessible their money can be is important. With this in mind I'd love to hear your own experiences in SPENDING your Steemit earnings. Here's a perfect example post by 
Videos of you using the card successfully are even better! (Be very careful to not show the card numbers OR your pin if you do a video!) But the more examples we can generate SHOWING how we spend our Steem Dollars in the real world will only make it easier to bring other people onboard with us.
Let's Be the Frontline of Marketing Steemit
We are all Steemit ambassadors, carrying around our own personal brand that others have a reason to trust. Be honest, be passionate, help others find things they see as trivial but Steemit finds value in. Regardless of if they ultimately join Steemit or not, make their day a little brighter, help them feel a little better about themselves, add YOUR value to those you care about. After all, in the end, were not just trying to build up this website...were hopefully building a better world.
Image Sources:
Word of Mouth
Statistics Graphic