engagement is what will help build a following in the long run... the whole "begging for votes/follows" might earn you a few cents right now... but those people tend to disappear very quickly when they discover there's no "easy money" here.@allfabeta, precisely the correct approach to start out with...
Part of our responsibility as Steemit citizens is also to sometimes flag abusive use of the site (as I just did with another comment here).