You have hit the nail on the head so to speak, with a comment at the start of your blog, where you state that "when a friend tells me to do something I am often reluctant". I find this same psychological effect when telling friends about anything, in general a good trick is to make them think they have found the information for themselves by pointing them to it without it coming straight from you!
People love to have that "wow" moment as they "discover something new" even though thousands before them have already discovered it, these are not people from their direct peer group so they still feel like the "first mover" in this new space. And so, as you suggest, the contents relevance itself will bring more people along than someone you know pointing out that this content exists.
I have a solid, real life example where I have been buying boxed Lego sets over the years, telling friends to do the same, as an investment. None did. Now some of my sets bought for a couple of hundred pounds are worth thousands each. One of my friends recently started a collection after seeing something in a documentary. Years after I first told him to look into it. And he hasn't learnt a thing, when I told him about bitcoin (2012) he replied "no one cares!!" and carried on with his life!!! All you can do is shout from the rooftops and hope that what you say is being heard by strangers...who are more likely to listen than some of your closest friends. I'll still keep telling mine though, I have to try!
RE: How a "trending" topic is bringing thousands of viewers to Steemit