As far as I know, there isn't a concerted marketing effort going on for STEEM. At least not in any sustained, traditional way. And actually, not having ads flooding the airwaves or internet space is fine—but there really ought to be some kind of uniform message going out from us, the STEEM community—and when I say uniform, I mean, a consistent message of what STEEM is and what it can do and how that might help people.
There's enough diversity of living, thought and experience that people can tailor the message to fit their own groups. But within those micro-messages, there should be some kind of consistency with what STEEM is, what it can do, how it can help, etc. Tone should probably be similar somewhat, too, I think.
STEEM can be a lot of things to a lot of people, but there's also things STEEM expects from users, too. Stake to play is one. Some positivity and level of loyalty is another. Maybe that's more dependent on who's got the most stake weight, meaning who's making up the rules and enforcing them, but a dose of reality, positivity and some respect for STEEM's capabilities will go a long way, regardless.
re: coins
Well, see, that's just it. Facebook is worldwide, and if their coin suddenly allows people to do more than just buy and play games on Facebook—but it starts solving real life problems—then it's not just the US and our Congress that begins to lose hold on their citizens.
But the problem with the big companies doing this is they're already heavily regulated, and going to be even more so, by the governments they could potentially supplant, so I'm doubtful they'll be doing anything that would somehow undermine the government. It's more likely they will be doing the opposite—deter people from getting into cryptocurrency because of this or that.
Whether it's a monolithic federal government or an international conglomerate, which is influenced by many countries but not really controlled by any, neither really scream out "decentralized" or "private" or "uncensored."
So, basically, they'll control a narrative to educate the masses on what a cryptocurrency is, which won't include any of the things that has attracted the rest of us to them so far.
I agree sir glen but like your last sentence says, the information and education about cryptos will come and the sheeple will get in, just not for the same reason as we did. At least that's one possibility.
The only thing I know for sure is that big changes are coming in the financial realm and lots of forces will be battling it out for the top spots. I just wish I knew who is going to win so I can invest in them early!