I am doing the exact same thing. It has been a 1 to 2 followers per day due to my posts or commenting on others posts. I never had a You Tube channel or a Twitter account to pull people from. I started from scratch. I also do not have the privileged of being a young attractive 20 year old to get followers. LOL
I've never had a big following elsewhere either. I am however a certified "inbound" marketer, so I know a thing or two about attracting people without "selling" myself.
That is a good skill to have. Good article you posted!