I was just considering what to post about early today and this topic stood out for me. I follow a small section of the accounts that follow mine. In the early days of Twitter, I used to follow back everyone that followed me. This gave me a number of dormant/useless accounts and I learned from that. 

On Steemit, I have a core group of people who create interesting posts and leave thoughtful comments. I usually ask a question at the end to spark discussion and a call to action as well. Anyone who leaves a real comment gets a response from me, and an upvote if I have enough VP. 

I do believe there is something to be said for "social proof." Working in retail, one thing we learned was that shoppers are more likely to purchase something if the shelves are full and they see other shoppers browsing as well. 

The best thing we can do to support Steemit is to: create engaging content, and interact like the real people that we are.