Most arrive feeling lost, by presenting good content, visiting others commenting, it all takes time before people start extending invitation/follow. Use tags to identify, many communities welcome folks, joining the small contests gives a good overall feel with certain communities really helping newbies.
Connect and chat in Discord where you get to know others a little better, perseverance definitely pays off. Not all, but some whales are there guiding and sharing, it is up to individual to find them on the system.
I am an idea inventor
You said earlier that I would need to take part in the 5 min free writing program.
The problem with this is that it's you that write to you and other writers like you.
I'm not a writer and I don't want to take part in this.
And it's not interesting to other people who don't like free writing.
And it's not targeted to the whole community or taking them in the program.
So, here's my newest suggestion.
This let's you dive in to other people's articles.
And makes you ANSWER to them!!
https://esteem.app/contest/@mr72bussi/contest-find-3-posts-and-reply-to-them-in-an-interesting-way