Looking forward to reading your ideas! From my experience, one of the best ways to onboard new people is by word of mouth. In my case, I joined because I saw an ad on Facebook 3 years ago, but I believe that method is not effective for everyone.
I have also seen that if users feel appreciated, they will stay active and motivated, and with time, they will even consider investing in HIVE to grow their account. There are many ways to grow HIVE, and if we all come together, we will be successful.
Yes, word of mouth is the key. However, we truly need to reduce the friction associated with creating an account and getting started. Widespread engagement requires both word-of-mouth and ease of adoption.
Yes, that is also very important. At the moment, one of the easiest ways to create an account is through LeoFinance.io. It can be made with a Twitter account, or for people who are already familiar with crypto, they can use Metamask. This option is fully decentralized and more private.
I'm sure that there will be more alternatives in the future, hiveonboard.com is also a good option, but it can be a little difficult for some.