I agree with the commenting on others; especially when starting, at least poking in on other active posts can be less depressing than writing a 500 word essay that gets read by like 2-3 people.
On the giveaways: Your note about not doing it too regularly, I've had a chat with bunny puncher, who was regularly giving away stuff and contests, but then when they stopped because the costs were more than the benefits. It wasn't just an issue where people would be upset, but started actively down voting them and otherwise "punishing" for not doing the giveaways....
What's funny about the followers building more easily as numbers increase, I had noticed that, but then took a break from posting for a few weeks... long story short, it turned out that of the first 250 followers, approximately 150 were from profiles that had never made a post, only resteems of others... apparent bots. Did a test, and ya, within 10 seconds of posting I had added several followers.
Thanks for addressing the questions from me... very good insights.
Keep up the good work.