Also, know the difference of being joyful and boastful, receiving merits (especially from well known members) here doesn't give us the right to brag ourselves. Always choose to stay humble and kind.
You can brag... just keep in mind that until you get to maybe 50-100 received merits from 20+ different senders you can't really draw any statistically significant conclusions from it.
I have received nearly 800 merit from over 100 unique people in the span of approximately 18 months. I don't try to earn merit, but I do try to put a lot of effort into what I write, especially when I am wearing a paid signature, but also in general.
I have noticed my posts that I put more effort into tend to receive more merit. This means if someone has received merit for a post, they should try to put similar amounts of effort into other posts.