No bot on the followers. I think Steemit devs did away with some of that (i.e. @steemfollower). I followed a bunch of people early on. Thought it a good networking idea to follow the people some of the big fish do. I'm from NJYC metro so I always seem to juggle a bigger friends list than most. I am extremely adept at managing large groups without programming, bot or logistical assistance. Have been reading high speed information wires for decades- ever since delivering papers from the metro streets on a BMX.
I say I read content first in about 10% of my followers. The rest are like recommendation of others follow/follower lists. For instance, Ned, Dan, Stan, anyone in aviation, etc. I noticed my followers tend to grow on days I post content. I always use all five tags. Usually my content rolls off of stuff happening on Steemit. Then there are things like contests, Steemjet, and @artzone. I also use @smartsteem, and am on Discord with @curie, @minnowsupport, and on Telegram for new ICOs and stuff.
I respond to my share of comments and always reply.
If you have obscure content, and need to reach people in the alleyways of the Internet, then try starting you own hashtag. Just send me a link to your post once you get a game plan of of how to lure flies to your zapper. #Steemjet did this well. It is quite liberal in promoting the Steemit platform. In contrast, #eos enforces EOS only content.
from pixabay