I can concur that engaging Steemians in the comments is one of the best ways to grow as a small minnow. For the first few months this was my main source of revenue on Steemit.

I myself make it a point to upvote serious responses as well. I waste most of my voting power that way, but that's fine. After all, I'm glad that people are actually reading and upvoting my posts! But other than getting some SBD from upvotes, if you actually engage people and make friends that way, you might actually gain a follower which will help you in return.

The way to success on Steemit isn't to get as many followers per se, but getting followers that matter. Making friends and proving to be a respectable Steemian will eventually gain you some serious followers, who may even go as far as upvoting your posts a little bit by default.

I would recommend every Steemian under 500 followers to take commenting seriously. After 500 followers or so, posting stuff yourself starts to become more of a thing.