I really like this idea of kickstarting network spread and also would be happy to help in any way I can!
I think going after categories that play well in other non-monetized social arenas are the way to go. I look at gaming, for instance, see the copious amounts of work people put into their posts, and think it wouldn't take much convincing for many to move their work here.
Also, for reference and research, here is a list of the current top subreddits and a SEO guide written about two years back that separated out social categories on reddit by amount of subscribers and posting type (links, blog, etc.).
Looking through both lists, some "high intellect" non-nerdy categories might just be something like DIY , or politics. A wildcard for me was the fitness category. High amount of subscribers, low link sharing, and the largest amount of posts are those that share their fitness stories or their own custom workout plans. Might play very well here.
sounds like you will be able to rank the upcoming categories. #trading was an easy one to identify. #gaming also seems to fall in that category. For now we are working on making a cookie cutter process to go from identified category to a self-sustained category, starting with #trading.
Not sure how long it will take to jump start #trading, but it will be a fair amount of research to identify the most effective dozen #categories that will have the most impact.
For now, let's coordinate in #trading in the steemit chat, even for non-#trading things