Every morning, I begin my day with a simple yet significant ritual. I sit down and answer all the messages that come to me.
I believe it's a matter of respect to answer the messages that come your way, especially if they take time to make some thoughtful comments, so I'm glad you have this approach.
I don't expect someone who receives hundreds or thousands of messages to answer them all. Maybe if they hire someone to do it for them. But otherwise, this is what social media should be about - engagement, interactions. Votes, followers are or should be a consequence, not something we should expect first or unconditional.
For example, I have a relatively big upvote that probably automatically upvotes my posts. I remember having a good conversation with the guy at some point on one of my posts, I even helped him understand something about our ecosystem, and after a while I saw these upvotes coming in regularly. And I saw he upvotes quite a few less visible authors he probably feels are under rewarded (I got that feeling from the discussion with him).
Wow what an awesome experience.. this has actually happened to me last week... I spoke with one of the dolphins and orcas and I now see consistent Upvotes from them... Thanks so much... I'm actually taking your comment as an advice for myself., to keep engaging 🥰