Great article with some really valid concerns and suggestions, Chris!
Earning money from posting is yesterday's story. Talking tech doesn't win over the average Jo. Lack of censorship has minor appeal to the masses. And communities, maybe - but they are everywhere.
Nicely summed up! I bet that's the challenge we - those who try to market / promote Steem - are all facing.
Besides the gaming and contest approach I very much like the idea of building. Something like:
Steem is a social blockchain that enables you to build things on top of it that are benefitial to people and businesses, both on- and off-chain.
To me personally Steem is a bridge between my day-to-day real life activities / my life off-chain and opportunities in the digital world and the blockchain space.
The fact that we already have a lot of communities on Steem plus the technological basis for construction, this place is the ideal playground for new businesses that want to experiment in the crypto space.
Steem can be many things to many people while the common denominator may be: building socially relevant projects.
Thanks for this thought-provoking piece of content!