There are a number of things you can do:
- Invite people personally by sending a personal email or IM.
- Write about your honest experiences in a post on a different site, as well as on Steemit. When you share your story, if it's coming from a different website, sometimes that's more effective. ex: I wrote a post on Medium that explained my feelings about Steemit. I shared this on facebook as my own post. People became curious and started asking about it. I engaged with the ones who expressed interest. As a result of engaging with them, answering their questions, I recruited about 10+ people. I received no "credit" for it as i wasn't aware of the referral link. Actually, I'm happy either way, as now some of my friends have arrived, and I feel more supported here.
Those are just a few ways to get the word out. Giving people individual attention seems to be the best way. It shows you care about them. It's sort of old school social skills.