It looks like Steemit probably needs more simple, everyday content to become fully mainstream. I think it's got plenty of quality content right now, more than I can read in any case, but mainstream users probably don't want to read about crypto all day long.

Most helpful thing for the growth of any coin is of course demand. How to actually create demand is a more complex question - apparently, the prevailing solution is to inflate ANY demand you might actually have and multiply it with hype, PR and marketing. In the long run things will probably change though.