Looking down upon my noob Steemit world from a bird's eye view...it would appear the most important thing to consider is what is good for Steemit. It's a self-fulfilling system in my eyes. You help the Steemit community; the Steemit community helps you!
Interaction seems to be key. Posting is great, but to get followers I feel commenting on others works is a better route; you can only post so much without diluting the quality of your reputation, whereas you can comment as much as you like, the more the better in fact.
And when commenting or posting, its all about ADDING VALUE! People appreciate when they put the time into a post, and then someone adds a new point of view or opinion, "enriching" the quality of the post, so-to-speak!