OK, let me take a swing at it, although I am not great at it. That is where the real networking goes on. Have you noticed how rare real conversations are in the comments? And yet everyone talks about these great connections they are making. It is because they are in discord WHILE they are on steemit. They listen to the audio shows, or they just chat with people in the groups they have joined. It is where you pick up FOLLOWERS. That is the magic ingredient in your steemit pie. With no followers, no one sees you stuff to even think about upvoting it. There are resteem services and bots, but the truly engaged followers are made in those chat rooms.
And here is the latest trick this old dog learned: Sign up for @ginabot. She sits there in discord and tells you EVERYTHING that happens on steemit. I am more on top of my replies and mentions and such than I even know how to be without it. That bot can find things I would miss, and knows more about me than I do as far as who is upvoting and mentioning me in their posts.
And now for my twisted humor. I know everyone calls her "Gee-nuh bot" I call her "Gynabot" because she is so far up my... ahem!
But it really has made "networking" possible for me, and I have struggled with that.